BBQ judge Ben Garfinkel prepares for national championships in Whistler

Judging barbecued meat — some of which has been slow-cooked for up to 18 hours — is a passion for certified barbecue judge and food blogger Ben Garfinkel.

"When you're sitting there and you're judging some of this stuff, a box of ribs that have come in, and that lid opens, it's like a golden rainbow shines off the top," Garfinkel said.

"You'll never see it that way in a restaurant."

Garfinkel, co-founder and editor of the food blog Foodists, is one of the judges at the Bulleit Bourbon Canadian BBQ Championships in Whistler from Friday, July 31 through to Sunday, Aug. 2.

The art of judging BBQ

Garfinkel said all that is required to become a certified barbecue judge is to take a course a few hours long, offered through a barbecue association.

But he said that certification alone doesn't make a good judge — it takes time and practice.

"The real art...is to know what you're looking for, to know what to taste, to know whether something is mushy or dry or overcooked or undercooked or balanced or not," he said.

Garfinkel, who is judging at Whistler's annual barbecue competition for the fifth time, said barbecue judges have to consider a number of factors including appearance, texture and taste.

He said the rules around presentation are very strict. For example, marks will be lost if the edges of the meat are ragged from being poorly cut with a knife, or if the meat has marks from a basting brush.

Competitive BBQ requires perfection

Garfinkel explained that competition barbecue is slow-style barbecue, which means it may take 18 hours to cook brisket or 13 hours for pork shoulder.

That makes it especially challenging for contestants to time their cooking so they can make the deadline to submit their meat for judging. 

Garfinkel added that the type of meat he judges is often very different from what a person would eat at a restaurant.

"Most of us are used to going to a restaurant and ordering ribs and they're expecting something to fall right off the bone. You pick it up and it doesn't even make it to your mouth with meat on it," he said.

"That's not competition barbecue. You have to be able to take a bite through the meat and the meat come cleanly off, away from the bone...so you actually have a rib with a big bite mark in it."

Garfinkel said that those who are looking to improve the quality of their barbecue cooking can glean a few tips from cooks who compete in barbecue competitions.

For example, Garfinkel uses wood chips in his gas grill to smoke the meat.

"Anything that's cooking for more than 10 or 15 minutes is going to benefit from some smoke."

Garfinkel also recommends using a digital meat thermometer with a probe that is separate from the read out, "because if you're looking you're not cooking," he said.

To hear the full interview click on the audio labelled: The art of judging barbecue