Cooking Contests: Overview: Competition Barbecue

Cooking meat slowly over hot coals, known as barbecuing, has been done in America since colonial days. It is characterized by a high-spirited competitiveness based on distinct regional preferences relative to pork versus beef, the best type of firewood, and what concoctions should be used to marinate, rub, mop, and baste the meat. True aficionados of the art of barbecue have marshaled that competitive spirit into formal barbecue cook-offs, which have grown from a few dozen in the mid-1980s to more than five hundred annual events attended by some five million people. The pinnacle of serious all-American barbecue is represented by three major competitive events known as MiM, the Royal, and the Jack.