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Rules Page
CENTRAL TEXAS BARBECUE ASSOCIATION (CTBA) CTBA RULES 1. COOKED ON SITE All meats that are entered into judging will be cooked from scratch within the constraints of the event. Pre-cooking, pre-marinating, etc. will not be allowed either on or off the cook site prior to start of the cook-off as defined by the cook-off promoter. Meat may not be seasoned or marinated prior to 6:00 p.m. on the day before a cook-off. 2. SANITATION All cooks are to prepare and cook in as sanitary manner as possible. Cooking conditions are subject to inspection by the judging committee at any given time. 3. MULTIPLE ENTRIES PER PIT CTBA recognizes that there may be times that more than one cook will cook on a given pit. It will be the head judge’s responsibility to monitor and handle this is a professional manner. Head cooks must notify the Head Judge on multiple entries. Multiple entries in the same category by the same cook will not be allowed. 4. COOK'S MEETING After the welcome by the PROMOTER, the HEAD JUDGE will be responsible to address the cooks on rules and judging procedures. Pit- Any commercial or homemade trailered or untrailered pit or smoker. May include gas or electricity to start natural fiber substance but under no condition can gas or electricity be used for cooking, however, electric rotisseries will be allowed. 5. OPEN FIRES CTBA further recognizes that no ground pits will be used and that all burn down barrels will have some sort of safety barrier placed across the top or around the barrel. Promoter to include this information in the invitation and non-compliance could be grounds for disqualification. 6. CATEGORIES Recognized categories for CTBA are as follows: NOTE: Brisket, Pork Ribs and Chicken Are the Only Categories Used for Determining the Grand Champion or Overall Winner. BEEF ¾ Brisket Only PORK RIBS ¾ Slab only, (spare or baby back) CHICKEN ¾ Any type- no Cornish Game Hen OPEN PORK ¾ Any type of pork meat as specified by promoter, other than slab ribs, if slab ribs is a category. PORK BUTT ¾ Garnished w/ green leaf lettuce & parsley only EXOTIC ¾ Any meat other than the above categories. BEANS ¾ Dry Pinto only cooked on site. OUTLAW CHILI ¾ Cooked on site 7. CRITERIA FOR TURN IN SAMPLES A minimum of one showpiece for each category plus a number of samples that will be determined by the head judge, an announced at the cooks meeting, on the day of the cook-off. Rib samples must have bone in it and can be any length as long as lid will close. 8. JUDGING TRAYS CTBA recommends the use of a Styrofoam tray with a hinged lid and without dividers or the best readily available judging container that is approximately 9 inches square on the bottom half. CTBA also states that silver foil must be used in the judging trays supplied by cookers. All judging containers shall be clean and free of obvious marks. Marked containers may be disqualified at the Head Judges discretion. Cooks are responsible for insuring that the containers they receive are clean and undamaged. If a judging tray become damaged it may be replaced when, along with the ticket attached to the lid, is returned to the Head Judge. 9. JUDGING TRAY CONTENTS CTBA requires that the promoter and/or Head Judge advise all cooks entered into competition at any given event of the exact quantities and cuts of meat or meats that will be placed into the judging tray. No exceptions permitted once decided. 10. GARNISHES Unless specified by the Cook-off Promoter, any and all garnishes and condiments are prohibited. Meats may be cooked with sauces, but once cooking is completed, sauces cannot be used. No sauce may be visible in the judging containers; this will be grounds for disqualification. 11. TURN-IN TIMES CTBA requires Promoter and/or Head Judge to pre-set firm turn-in times for each category to be judged. Once this time is set and announced to the contestants, no change or variation will be made. CTBA does allow for a turn-in time window that will be 5 minutes before turn-in time and 5 minutes after turn-in time. Judging trays received after this window time will be accepted but not judged. CTBA strongly recommends the following turn-in times: 3-categories 1:00 pm 2:00 pm 3:00 pm
4-categories 12:00 pm 1:00 pm 2:00 pm 3:00 pm 5-categories 11:00am 12:00 pm 1:00 pm 2:00 pm 3:00 pm 12. JUDGES CTBA prohibits the use of participating Cooks and/or assistants as tasting judges in all phases. They may however, be used as table monitors. 13. JUDGING Judging will be done by preliminary, secondary if needed and finals tables. Amount of Judges for tasting will be decided according to the number of entries. Twenty-five pieces should be the maximum per Judge per category. 14. PRIZES CTBA recommends that at cook-offs in which substantial money and/or prizes are awarded, that competition meat be inspected and/or tagged before cooking has started. All top ten entries will be called out in each category and if possible all trays that make the finals table, but not in the top ten, will be called in no particular order. 15. OUTLAW CHILI Anything goes, but cooks must take a bite at turn-in of their chili before being accepted. 16. BEAN CATEGORY Unless promoter gives prior notice, only dry pinto beans will be used for cooking. Nothing larger than the bean and no meat product will be allowed in cup. 17. SHOWMANSHIP CTBA recommends that the times for judging showmanship will be clearly stated by the promoter and further recommends that the time do not interfere with entry turn-in times. We suggest either before or after entry turn-ins. 18. BEST PIT/PIT AREA No time limit. These two categories will be judges at any time during the day. Judges are to remember that while judging these pits and areas, if done so during turn-in times, that they will take this into consideration. 19. ALL DECISIONS BY CTBA JUDGES ARE FINAL
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