Free BBQ

Free BBQ Rules

Scoring

Free BBQ judges have scoring range of 1 to 5, and are encouraged to use the entire range. We actively discourage window-scoring, eg. "don't score lower than X". Zero is used to communicate to competitors that there was something seriously wrong with their entry, and must be accompanied with feedback.

  1. Inedible, I'm not eating it (requires approval from a contest official, and feedback)
  2. Edible, but I wouldn't finish it (requires feedback)
  3. Average, it was ok
  4. Nice, I enjoyed it
  5. Great, my friends should try it
  6. Outstanding, I ain't sharing it

Scores are weighted: (presentation x 3) + (texture x 7) + (taste x 10)
So your max score per judge is: (5*3) + (5*7) + (5*10) = 100 points

Entries are judged by 6 judges, with the lowest scoring judge shifted to a decimal.
100 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 100 + (99/100) = 500.99

A Free BBQ perfect score is 500 points. But even more elusive than a perfect score, is the Free BBQ score of 501. If you ace all 6 judges and your worst score is a 100, your score will tumble over by +1. ie. 500 + (100/100) = 501.

Championship points

Championship points are only accumulated at formal competitions, informal competitions are inelligible. Points are the average for all PRIMARY categories cooked at a competition plus a defeated team bonus. In a competition with 5 categories but only 3 are primary categories, your championship score for that round is:
(category1 + category2 + category3) / 3 + defeat bonus.

Which begs the question, why bother cooking secondary categories? Well if you're just chasing championship points, you don't have to. But generally secondary categories will be part of the Grand Champion winnings for each competition, or have its own individual winnings.

If you come 3rd in the primary categories in a 50 team comp, you've defeated 94% of the teams (47/50).
(500 + 450 + 400 ) / 3 = 450 points
450 + 94 defeat bonus = 544 points

Championship points are accumulated for your top 3 finishes at any formal competition.

Competition Rules

  1. Permitted BBQ's include any heated by timber or timber-derived products. This includes natural timber, charcoal, and pellets. Not permitted fuels include gas, methylated spirits, and solid fuels including firelighters and hexamine tablets.
  2. Proteins may only be cooked by direct or indirect bbq heat. No frying, poaching, boiling, or sous vide'ing.
  3. The hand-in window runs from 5 minutes before to 5 minutes after the window. For example, a 12pm turn in window is 11:55am to 12:05pm. This is strictly enforced.
  4. Each turn in is to include enough category for 6 separate tasting portions.
  5. Approved garnishes include curly or italian parsley, iceberg lettuce, and green kale. Coriander/cilantro, red-tip lettuce, and purple kale are not permitted.
  6. No cooking process may begin until the team has passed inspection. This includes injecting, brining, and marinating. Trimming is permitted.
  7. When turning in, the lid on the box must close.
  8. Boxes cannot be marked in any way, including but not limited to; grease marks, scratches, and general box damage.
  9. No pooling sauces, any sauce must be wholly contained on the category.
  10. No foreign objects, the box may only contain the category and approved garnish. Chopped objects considered to be part of the sauce must be no larger than a 5mm dice (eg. a full herb leaf is not permitted).
  11. Starting devices such as electric wands, gas torches, and pellet ignition systems are permitted provided there is no protein in the pit at the time of use.
  12. Proteins must not form geometric or identifiable shapes. Permitted shapes include mounds (including those formed with an icecream scoop) and straight lines. Crossed lines are not permitted.
  13. Straight and diamond grill sear marks are permitted. Any other form of sear marks (eg. branding) will be considered box marking.
  14. Any decision made by contest officials or adjudicators is final, and no further correspondence will be entered into.

Disqualifications

Every formal competition is supported by two adjudicators who vote on all disqualification decisions, with the exception of security related decisions which are primarily the decision of the promoter (and supported by Free BBQ). Adjudicators can be the Formal Officials for the competition, however all competitions have TWO adjudicators, so at competitions with one Formal Official, the second adjudicator is a suitably qualified volunteer from the BBQ community. Both adjudicators must vote to disqualify an entry, or the decision goes the way of the cook.

The following are the disqualification criteria within the Free BBQ system.

  • Wrong category turned in
  • Sauce pooling
  • Foreign object - excludes hair or bugs
  • Illegal garnish
  • Marked box - includes box or category marking
  • Category failure - eg. no bone in ribs
  • Security - incidents including but not limited to; unacceptable noise, violence, drunk/disorderly, and drug usage.

Undercooked proteins are not a disqualification but the judges should score the entry accordingly.

Judge Rules

  1. Judges receive 5 points per round entered on their phone, and 1 point per round scored on a manual scorecard.
  2. Judges must not be team members of a team competing at the event, or partner/spouses of a team competing at the event.
  3. Judges may not fraternize with teams from 3am on the day of judging, until the conclusion of the judging window. This cutoff time may be altered at the discretion of the contest official.
  4. Judges may not smoke or drink alcohol during the judging window.
  5. Judges are strongly discouraged from discussing entries with competitors. For their own sake.
  6. Judges are not permitted to take photos of competition boxes, but they are permitted to take a photo of their placemat. If they do so they must be incredibly careful not to photograph the phones (scorecards) of other judges.
  7. Judges must reasonably taste each entry presented to them (including offal), or they will be removed as a judge. Judges may refuse to taste an entry under the following conditions:

Organiser Restrictions for Formal competitions

Free BBQ recognises the importance of offering promoters the ultimate flexibility in their competitions.

  1. Turn ins must be spaced a minimum of 30 minutes appart
  2. Organisers must provide the resources listed on the organisers calculator.