Backyard competition to be held June 22-23 in Kipling
Mathew Bonville decided to buy a smoker.
On the surface, there would not appear to be anything noteworthy about that choice. Many people buy smokers. (Bonville himself notes that during COVID they were a particularly popular item). However, for Bonville that choice ignited a passion for preparing food this way.
“When I first bought a smoker and started doing food with it, I found I was pretty good at it. I started feeding the guys at work some of the food I’d done in the smoker, and they said it was great (though of course they were getting food!) I now have six different smokers and I’ll cook almost any kind of food in mine.”
Bonville was prompted to create Phantom Smoke & BBQ so that others could taste the food his coworkers had enjoyed. But while he “does a little bit of catering,” Bonville says that most of the food he prepares is enjoyed by “family and friends at private events.”
As is often the case with those who have a true passion for something, Bonville was drawn to the idea of taking part in BBQ Competitions.
“There are sanctioning bodies for BBQ Competitions. There’s the Canadian BBQ Society (CBBQS) which is Canada-wide. And then there’s the Kansas City BBQ Society (KCBS) that sanctions events worldwide.
“I’m involved in both and last year I started taking part in competitions. I jumped right into the KCBS level stuff, where you’re going up against guys who are champions from all over the world.
“They are a very accepting and welcoming group of people. But it’s also very intimidating, because some of those guys have been doing this for over 20 years. So, I did about as well in those competitions as I’d expected to!”
His experience prompted Bonville to create the Smokey Skies BBQ Competition, which will take place next month in Kipling and be designed for those new to BBQ.
“A group of us were talking about the need for more competitions geared towards newcomers to this, and for those who don’t take it seriously enough to want to jump into that higher level.
“So, I decided to hold the Smokey Skies BBQ Competition in Kipling (June 22-23). This is a ‘Backyard BBQ Competition’ which means that someone who is part of the KCBS circuit and does more than two or three competitions every year actually can’t take part in this. It really is a competition for people who just want to learn how to do this and have fun.”
Bonville explains that the two-day competition, where participants will be preparing four different types of meat, will begin with an inspection.
“People who sign up for this competition will pay $125 each to take part and will be supplying their own meat. They will be preparing entries in four meat categories: beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken and pork (or pork butt) and will have to turn in six equal pieces of each kind of meat.
“Competitors can set up either early Saturday morning or Friday evening if they wish. Then, before the competition starts, Grant Stinson, who competes under “Homestead Smoke Shack BBQ” and I will be doing a ‘Meat Inspection.’ That means we will be looking at each competitor’s food to make sure that it’s cold. Also, competitors aren’t allowed to do anything to the meat beforehand except trim it. So, we’ll be checking to make sure none of the food has been seasoned, marinated or brined. Once that’s done, competitors are pretty well left to their own devices until it’s time to turn their entries in.”
He goes on to explain that on Sunday, each entry will be evaluated by a panel of judges, who will be asked to rate the food on appearance, tenderness and taste.
“Beginning at noon on Sunday, people will be turning in the meat that they’ve prepared. They’ll be turning in chicken at noon, pork ribs at 12:30 p.m., pork at 1 p.m. and brisket at 1:30 p.m. and everyone will have a 10-minute window to turn their entry in. So, timing will be critical.
“It will be a double-blind judging process, so nobody will know who cooked the food that’s being judged. The Table Captain will take each box of food up to the judges and show it to them, so that they can rate each entry on its appearance. Then, each judge will take a piece of meat, take a bite, and evaluate it on both tenderness and taste.
“Tenderness is something that you can explain and measure. But taste is the hard part, because it is totally subjective. Nobody can dictate to you whether something tastes good and there’s no way to measure that. So, competitors will have to try and prepare food that appeals to all of those different palates.
“Then, after the six judges have rated each entry, their scores are put onto a spreadsheet, and the lowest score for each entry is taken off. But if there is a tie between two competitors, that low score will be used to break the tie.
“At the end, we’ll have winners in each of the four categories as well as a Grand Champion and a Reserve Grand Champion (the participants with the top score and second highest score).
Although prizes will be handed out, Bonville says that the competition is more of a learning opportunity for those who take part.
“We will be using the entry fees to create cash prizes for the winners. They will have bragging rights and there will be small trophies awarded.
But this is really a learning event. So, for example, after the meat checks are done on Saturday, Grant and I are going to be set up in a tent and doing demonstrations on things like how to trim meat for competition, because some of the competitors might not know how to do it properly. I’ll also have three or four different styles of smokers set up, so people can walk through, look at them, and find out more about each one.”
Currently, Bonville says that sponsors are being sought who might be interested in supporting the competition.
“We are looking for sponsors right now. Alan Batters (Gee Bee Construction) has already stepped up the way that he always does when there something happening in the community, and donated the space the property where his Outdoor Rink is located as the space where we can hold the competition.
“Hopefully, other sponsors will come on board with us to help with some of the operating costs associated with this. And if there was a sponsor willing to purchase meat for us, we would even be able to hand out free samples to people wo were visiting the event.”
Bonville goes on to say that he hopes members of the community will visit the Smokey Skies BBQ Competition and adds that he hopes to make the event a summer tradition for the community.
“I would love it if people would come out and see what we’re about, because I’m hoping this will be the first Annual Smokey Skies BBQ Competition. If we keep the competition going and get to the point where we have fifteen teams competing, we could register it with the KCBS. That would mean they would send their organizers out to help with it and it would be a sanctioned, world-class event.
