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Friday, July 30, 2010 | Serving Del Rio and Val Verde County: Since 1929
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Savoring the competition
Published February 14, 2010
If organizers have their say, a first time fund raising event could become an annual occurrence in Del Rio.
Saturday 10 teams from around the area took part in the inaugural Rams and Queens Track and Field Backyard BBQ Cook-off in the Plaza del Sol Mall parking lot.
The cook-off, which was the brainchild of track and field head coaches Rick Torres and Jesus Limon and track and field booster club president Lupe Costilla, was designed to raise funds for the Del Rio High School’s boys’ and girls’ track and field teams. Monies raised would go to cover the expenses of charter buses and the purchase of equipment for the teams.
Limon said that when the idea for the cook-off was created no real financial goal was established. He said that the ultimate goal was to bring the community together for an exciting and fun way to show support for some of Del Rio’s athletes.
“We got 10 teams to participate and I guess that was our goal,” Limon said.
After expenses, the teams are expected to add about $650 to their coffers for the upcoming season.
The event pitted teams of smokers, grillers and cooks against one another in a competition to see who could prepare the best entry in three categories – chicken, pork ribs and brisket.
Judging was based on four areas – presentation, aroma, taste and tenderness. Each area was judged on a scale of one to five, one being the poorest and five being the best, and each of the scores were combined to determine who placed where.
Teams arrived throughout the morning, some as early as 2 a.m., to start prepping their fire and their workstations.
Some teams had designated team members assigned to a category. Other had team members whose job it was to stoke the fires and ensure that the meat received the proper heat to cook to what they hoped would be a championship winning level.
Not every team was confident that all their entries would do well.
Richard Mead, team captain of Texas Border Outlaw Bar B Que, said his team didn’t enter the chicken portion of the competition but said they’d probably fare well in the ribs and brisket.
Light ‘Em Up, featuring members of the Ortiz, Liñan and DeLaGarza families, said Saturday’s event was their first cooking competition. Of the three meats, they said that ribs would be their strongest entry.
The team of Steel Smokin’ was also making its debut at a cooking competition Saturday, but they were more confident in their brisket entry above all others.
For others, they decided to leave their fate in the hands of the judges.
“I’ll tell you which one of our entries was the best after 4 p.m.,” Max West of the West Hills team said, referring to the time the event’s awards were to be presented.
Here are the results. The top three teams in each category each received a trophy and t-shirts for their team members.
In the chicken category, Big Lou’s BBQ took first, Julio’s BBQ was second and the BWR Cooking Birds and La Hacienda Meat Market tied for third.
In the pork ribs category, Steel Smokin’ took first, the team representing the Del Rio Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 3662 was second and Light ‘Em Up was third.
In the brisket category, Light ‘Em Up was first, the firefighters’ team was second and Texas Border Outlaw Bar B Q was third.
The event’s organizers are hoping to make the cook-off an annual event and hope it can one day serve as a local qualifier for a larger statewide cook-off.
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