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Pleased to meat you – judges had to taste dozens of different cuts.
Whangateau was awash with the smell of woodsmoke and charred meat over Anzac Day weekend, as the second annual Smoke on the Coast barbecue competition was held at the community’s holiday park.
Some 40 teams of guerrilla grillers pitched camp for two days of hardcore charcoal cooking on barbecues ranging from basic converted oil drums up to massive triple-burner rigs on double-axle trailers.
More than 36 judges were recruited to taste and rank categories that included chicken, pork, ribs, steak and slow-cooked brisket. Each entry was served in identical numbered, parsley-lined white cardboard boxes, so that judges didn’t know whose cooking they were trying.
There was almost as much skill on show in the naming of the teams as in what they were cooking, with such gems as Joint Smokers, Yabba Dabba Q, Truck Norris, Low I-QUE, Crate Expectations, Locally Sauced and Blood, Sweat & Beers.
The winner of the NZ Barbecue Alliance Jack Daniels Championship trophy was Rum & Que, the Steak Cookoff Association grand champion was Michael Cook of Cook Cartel, and Troy Bilborough of Bacon Bros, Christchurch was the Super Steak Saturday winner.
