The top barbecue teams from around the world will be competing in the Jack Daniel’s BBQ World Championships in October. Several will enter the Cook’s Choice category, which is where they can get really creative and show their culinary point of view.
Pitmaster Christie Vanover, who has both cooked and judged the Jack, shares examples of what she and other teams have turned in.
So last week we talked all about the Jack, which is the World Championship Invitational barbecue competition coming up in October. And we touched on the sauce category.
Today I’m going to talk to you about the Cook’s Choice category.
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BBQ Jackpot Update
Before we move on to the Jack, I’ve got a couple of updates for the BBQ Jackpot. That’s the competition that I’m organizing here in Las Vegas in December.
As you guys know, it’s sold out. Super quick. We may have an opportunity for eight more spots to open up. We are trying to find a new location for the judges tent that is indoors, and if that happens, we will be able to open up those parking spaces so we can fit eight more teams.
Jim Palmer, who is my co organizer, was just out here with me today at Bass Pro Shops and we were checking out some indoor spaces. It may or may not work. We’ve got our fingers crossed.
Hopefully one of them will so we’ll be able to invite more teams out. As I mentioned, we’ve got 79 teams. I think they’re from 16 states Canada and Mexico.
We have over 100 judges. All of them are certified barbecue judges. I think more than half of them are Master CBJs, which means they’ve judged over 30 competitions and they’ve cooked with a cook team.
We also have 100% so far JCUP certified, which is really important because those are the newest rules for KCBS.
So all of the judges will be judging to those rules, which is a a really high standard and a bar that I wanted to set, because I think it’s important for the teams to be cooking to the certain rules and the judges to also be following those same rules.
Whoever wins the grand championship for the BBQ Jackpot is going to get a Nevada bung for the Jack for 2025. So we’re going to be talking about the Jack a lot today.
Each year, about 80 or 90 teams usually qualify for the Jack. That’s why I wanted to remind you guys about the Competition BBQ Scorebook. You can pick this up on Amazon. It’s available for about ten bucks, and they ship it pretty quickly within a couple of days.
This allows you to track your scores so that you can get better and better over time, so you can earn that GC and eventually make your way to the Jack.
I started competing in 2017 and I cooked my first Jack within five years, so in 2022 I was able to get qualified. It happened because I tracked my scores and I figured out what I needed to do to improve along the way so that I could get some multiple GCs get some bungs, and eventually get that draw for the Jack.
So I’ve cooked it for two years now. But this is what really helped me out. So check this out on Amazon.
If you do Steak Cookoffs, I have a steak scorebook as well.
Cook’s Choice Rules
Moving onto the Jack 2024. So last week we talked about the sauce ancillary category. The next ancillary category that we’re going to talk about today is Cook’s Choice.
There are actually two contests for this category. There’s Cook’s Choice, which is for the U.S. based teams, and then there’s Home Cookin’ From The Heartland, which is for the international teams.
They all have the same rules, but technically you’re supposed to cook something that’s representative of your state or of your country. You’re not allowed to mark your platter with like, flags or something to, like, really identify your state because they don’t want to know who the team is.
It should still be blind, but it should be something that’s close to home for you.
The way that they do awards for these categories is they award first through third for the U.S. teams and first through third for the international teams. And they get cash prizes.
The rules are the same for the U.S. teams and the international teams. And if you are cooking the Jack, make sure that you read every document that they send you because there’s probably like 8 to 10 different PDF documents.
Some rules are located in some areas and some rules are located in others. But I did go ahead and look at the 2024 rules, and I’m going to consolidate some of those related to this category for you.
Requirements
The main rule is that you need to turn in meat, but it can’t be one of the meats that you’re turning in for the other four meats. So no chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
You can’t like cut pieces off of that and turn that in as your cook’s choice. It needs to be an independent dish. Whether or not you have a side is completely optional.
I’m going to talk to you about some of the dishes that have been turned in, and you’re probably going to want to add a side or a garnish or something if you want to stand out.
You will turn this in on your own platter. They will also give you a little number sticker that you need to have on that platter. So when you turn it in, they know what your box number is. I know one year I forgot my sticker and a team member had to run back to our area to get the sticker, and we almost didn’t make turn ins in time.
Platter Size
When it comes to platter size, the rules have changed. I didn’t notice any dimension requirements this year, but in years past they did limit it to 18 inches by 18 inches like wide and deep and then 18 inches tall.
I remember one year somebody had like a three story thing that they were turning in and trying to deliver that to the judges. And it was just too cumbersome.
But this year’s rules, I didn’t see any requirements or restrictions on size. The only main restriction is it has to be able to be carried by one person.
So one team member has to deliver it, and then only one person in the judges tent should be able to lift it and easily carry it to the table captain, who can then carry it to the table.
You don’t want something that’s so bulky that it takes two people to lift because it’s heavy, or that it’s wobbly, and that things are going to fall off your plate because you put in so much time and effort. It’s should just be something that’s easily carried and transported to the judges.
Timeline
When it comes to the timeline, this gets turned in right after your sauce. So as I mentioned before, it’s not a normal chicken turn-in at noon. Everything’s shifted just a little bit.
You’ve got your sauce turned in first. Then you’ve got 30 minutes. And then it’s your Cooks Choice turn-in and then you’ve got another 30 minutes.
And then you go into your chicken ribs, pork brisket and then finally dessert. If you choose to do that category.
And not every team does Cook’s Choice because it’s definitely more burdensome than just doing sauce.
Now the sauce category, like I talked about last week, is a lot easier because you can cook it at home, you can bring it, you can heat it up on site and turn it in. So a lot of people do the sauce category. Definitely Cook’s Choice, and Home Cookin’ From The Heartland is more burdensome because you need to cook your meat on site, which is really something in addition to all the four meats that you’re cooking also.
So in my experience, it’s usually about 30 teams or so that do the Cook’s Choice, but that also improves your odds for getting an award.
So if you really want to go out there and you really want to try to get a call at the Jack, then definitely consider doing Cook’s Choice.
Cook’s Choice Examples
So you’re probably wondering what on earth should I cook? What are the other teams turning in? Well, I’ve judged it since 2017. I cooked the Jack since 2022-2023. I’m going to be judging it again this year, so I’m going to go over some of the dishes that I have seen as both a cook and a judge.
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When I was a judge, a lot of things that I would see would be surf and turf. Some people do like huge tomahawk steaks, some are more like smaller, petite filet mignon.
I’ve seen filet mignon with crab on top. I have seen shrimp with steak. I’ve seen lobster. I’ve seen crabs, shellfish just give a really nice presentation, as do like big boned tomahawks.
But then I also see more put together assembled dishes like shrimp and grits, lobster mac and cheese. And then there’s more simple dishes like burgers and tacos.
And when you get to the Home Cooking From The Heartland, those dishes are so extreme. I remember judging a couple times and not even knowing what I was enjoying. I think one might have been goat. I’m really not sure. The flavor was just something unique that I’ve never tasted before.
I do recall having some sort of a German dish before. I can’t remember if it was schnitzel or something, but it definitely had some German overtones to it, which is fun and exciting to have something new and different to judge.
But again, it should be something that is well composed and something that is representative of your state if possible, or at least your culinary point of view.
Judges’ Feedback
In my experience, the judges usually love everything that’s turned in in this category because it’s the first food category. You know, we had sauce, but now they actually get to eat. They are there, they are hungry.
They’ve been socializing, hanging out with all the other judges, and now they’re ready to just dig in and start scoring.
So when these impressive platters get served, they’re looking around at the other judges tables to see what’s out there, because they’re only getting like 2 to 3 actual cooks choice entry since there are only 30-40 that get turned in.
So they’re looking around sometimes envious of what the other judges are getting, but then they get excited when their platter gets presented and they get to judge that.
I don’t recall too many negative comments at my judges table when it comes to Cook’s Choice. I know one year we had some sort of a steak, some sort of beef. I’m not really sure the cut. It was shaped like a filet mignon, but it was definitely not tender, like a filet mignon.
It was almost like a rolled, spinalis but it was a little bit tough. So it tasted great. It had beautiful smoke flavor and the seasoning was great. So I remember the judges were really complimentary in the taste score, but in the tenderness score, I know I personally docked it a little bit.
I don’t know what other judges do because we kind of keep that private, but I just their verbal cues of it afterwards. I remember them thinking it was a little bit tough too.
So if you’re going to do beef, make sure you cook it perfectly. Seafood especially don’t overcook those shrimp or that lobster or crab. Same thing with scallops. If you want to go that direction, make sure that they’re nice and moist and that they don’t get rubbery because tenderness is a factor in your Cook’s Choice.
Cook’s Choice Presentation
Now, when it comes to presentation itself, like I said, you have to have your own platter. That can be a platter that you buy online. That can be a piece of wood that you make. Sometimes people do that, but then when it comes to your individual portions, you’re going to want something a little bit creative to plate your food on.
I’ve created a collection of cook’s choice products on Amazon.
So this right here is like a little mini fryer basket. And you can put like French fries in here. So if you had like a burger and you want to do burger and fries, you can have a little burger on the side.
You could do some fries in here or you know, whatever else you want to put in this, but it’s just a like a cute little thing that you could, you could use.
I used these plates last year with my assembly, which I’ll talk to you about that dish shortly, but I had seven of these on the platter, and I just thought that they looked really nice.
I also have used coasters for Cook’s Choice turn ins. If you’re looking for small plates, a lot of times they’ll be six inches, which is pretty big.
Coasters are going to be more like 3.5 to 4.5 inches, which I find is the perfect size for just a little sampling of food.
If you’re doing a lobster mac and cheese, there’s lots of little small bowls on Amazon and different places. You just want to use keywords like sushi, tapas and appetizer when searching and you’ll usually find a good variety of different things that you can buy out there on Amazon or or Walmart or other websites.
Garnish
In addition to the cute plates, a lot of times people will also add some sort of garnish. It does not have to be edible.
People will do fall leaves sometimes they’re fake leaves. Sometimes they’re real leaves. They’ll do like fall colored ribbons.
And almost always they will include some sort of Jack Daniel’s component. There is a Jack Daniel’s Hardware Store on site, and you can actually go there and shop for things like different cups, different napkins, different like toothpick things.
There’s there’s a wide variety of Jack Daniel’s things that you can buy on site. So you don’t have to preorder those and then you can add those to your platter.
I have found that a lot of teams actually serve Jack Daniel’s. They’ll do the little mini bottles and they’ll put those on their platter as well.
Now, I do recommend buying your mini bottles in advance, because even though you’re at the distillery, they sell liquor in the liquor store at the distillery itself. But I don’t recall them having a lot of the mini bottles.
But there are liquor stores along the way from Nashville to Lynchburg that you can stop at, and they’ve got plenty at those stores.
My Cook’s Choice Entries
All right, so you guys want to know what I’ve turned in and how I’ve performed the first year, 2022?
I decided to do beef plate ribs. I thought those would be really nice and huge and epic and just look really pretty as a presentation. So I went ahead and I smoked my whole rack of the plate ribs on Saturday morning.
I cut them up and then I put two of the big bones on the platter and left them whole because I thought that that would be a really sexy presentation. And then I took the meat off of the other bone, and then I kind of shingled that. In a little mini cast iron skillet, I had some pureed potatoes.
I put that nice slice of Snake River Farm’s beef rib right on top. I topped it with some pickled red onions and some pickled relish. And then I also put on just some chives and some sea salt.
I decorated the platter with that, with those big bones, with some fresh herbs and butcher paper. And then each of those little mini skillets.
That year, I placed 15th out of 39 teams with a score of 174. I got a couple eights in taste and tenderness, and I got one seven in taste so that was my low score that dropped out.
I was pretty happy with those results. No calls, middle of the pack. But for my first time cooking at the Jack, 15th place, I was pretty happy with.
Fast forward to 2023. I did Cook’s Choice again, but I realized that cooking Cook’s Choice the day of Saturday morning was actually a lot. It kind of was too much to do the smoked ribs, plus all the sides that went with it, you know, all of the garnishes and everything and get that all ready while still trying to pull off my chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
So in 2023, what I did was I did some filet mignons, but I cooked them in advance. So I talked to my buddy, Chef Harold, who I was on BBQ Brawl with. He advised me what the restaurants do is they actually will sear their filet mignon first, not all the way through, just to get some nice color and char on the outside.
They’ll chill them, vacuum, seal them, and then the day of service for restaurants or competition for me. Then you sous vide them at 129F degrees for two hours. And they are the perfect medium rare, beautiful red on the inside. And they’ve already got that nice sear on the outside. So I totally took that approach.
So I went ahead and did that advanced prep work. And that really helped me out in 2023. It really shaved some time off of things.
For my turn in, I used the cute little rectangle trays and I put a smear of homemade ranch dressing down the center in the back. I had some grilled ancho bacon wrapped shrimp. I had two nice little succulent shrimp, perfectly cooked.
There was some grilled asparagus in the center that had some lemon garlic butter on it. And they were they’re really thin, tender spears, and they were cut short to kind of fit the plate.
And then I had three slices of that filet mignon that I dipped in some garlic, lemon, thyme, butter that were filleted right there on the bottom.
So it was a cute little surf and turf presentation. That ranch dressing went really well with a little bit of spice from that ancho shrimp. And then of course, garlic butter on steak. Who doesn’t love that?
For my presentation, I had a wooden platter, and I had three of the rectangular plates in the back, four in the front. Then down the center, I had seven shot glasses and I had these little ice cube molds, these little whiskey ball ice cubes that I put in each glass right before turn in.
And I went ahead and I served it with mini bottles of Gentleman Jack.
Tip for transporting your platter
Now, one little tip that I want to tell you is when I put all this on the platter and I practice at home, everything was slipping and sliding around because these things are pretty slippery.
So I bought some like mesh kind of netting, and I taped it on the bottom of these so that that way when we moved, they didn’t move around.
I also put some of that same stuff underneath the Jack bottles and little circles underneath the shot glass bottles. So that way I knew when I carried it everything was going to be stable.
And when the table captain carried it to the judges, it was also going to be stable because the last thing I wanted was everything to fall over.
And, you know, my dish that I worked so hard on to slide off of the platter. So that was a little tip that I did there.
The judges seemed to like my dish. I ended up 10th place in 2023 with a score of 176. I had a couple eights in taste and a couple eights in tenderness, so not quite getting me to that 180, which is what you really needed to be that top score.
Again, they only award top three. So even though I got 10th place, I didn’t get a call, which was a little disappointing.
But I improved my score significantly and I went up five places from the year before, so I was happy with those results.
I am really looking forward to judging this year’s Jack. I want to see what’s changed over the past two years; I don’t get to see as much outside the tent because obviously I’ve got my own stuff going on and you only see so many teams that are turning in at the same time when it comes to these fun, creative categories.
So now that I’ll be back in the tent this year, I’m going to see what teams are doing. I will take pictures, I will share those so you guys can see all the excitement.
Then if you guys make it to the Jack next year, if you’re not cooking this year, then you’ll also get some ideas for yourself about what other teams are doing.
I really hope that this has been helpful for you guys. If you are cooking in the Jack, I wish you the best of luck. I can’t wait to see you there. Make sure that you come see me and say hi if I haven’t met you before.
If we’re old friends, you better definitely come say hi. I’m going to be walking around and saying hi to everybody as well.
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