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Marcel's
Master Cook
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Rhythm 'n QUE
has the deepest appreciation for BBQ judges. Some
judges are on the road weekend after weekend, and travel
nearly as many miles from contest to contest as teams
do. Judges don't have the chance to recoup any
expenses through prize monies, as teams have; they're out
there doing it for the love of the sport. And the
fact is, we can't do what we do unless they do what they
do -- it's not a contest without judges.
Among that group are those who have shown noteworthy
dedication over time -- the Master Judges. The
Kansas City BBQ Society offers the designation of Master
Judge to those individuals who have judged at least 30
contests, have cooked a sanctioned contest with a team,
and have completed a written exam and passed with a score
of 90% or better.
That's a laudable commitment of time and effort to further
the sport, and we were tremendously honored to be asked by
Marcel Fortin if he could fulfill his cooking requirement
with us at this fall's Lancaster, CA contest. We've
seen Marcel at contests for years. Like many judges,
he would stop by our camp after judging and chat. We
were always very impressed with the way he could give us
generalities about his impressions of the contest from
inside the judges' tent, yet was always careful to never
reveal specifics. His integrity, discretion and
professionalism made it easy for us to open our camp to
him, and let him see in detail our cook processes.
Marcel didn't intend to skate through the cook, either, or
swan in and swan out as a "guest". He told
us that he was going to be waiting for us at our arrival
at the venue, would stay onsite overnight, and would be
there until we were packed up and waving goodbye when it
was all over. He was as good as his word, too, as he
helped us set up camp and listened patiently through an
entire briefing of what prep had already occurred and a
summary of the process that was to follow. Anyone
who has ever gotten either of us wound up and talking
about BBQ knows the kind of endurance you need for that!
After meat inspection Marcel and I prepped two meats that
we intended for our dinner cook on Friday afternoon, and
he rubbed and slopped right alongside me. Then
Marcel assisted Vince in setting up the WSMs and their
Stoker hookups -- that experience would prove invaluable
on Saturday morning.
The next integral part of a competition cook that Marcel
experienced was no doubt every BBQer's favorite -- making
turn-in boxes! I handed him a styrofoam clamshell
and a bag of parsley, told him to go to town, and was
rewarded by a perfectly priceless blank look. We
walked through the mechanics of parsley-sorting, and
Marcel produced a very creditable box on his first
try. When the dinner meat was ready, we staged it in
Marcel's parsley box just to get in the practice, set it
aside to simulate the wait an entry would have during
renumbering and sorting, and were delighted to see that
when the pieces were removed they didn't carry a stuck-on
rug of parsley with them -- all the garnish stayed in the
box! Well done!
Marcel got the full overnight experience, too, complete
with sporadic 90-minute naps in his zero-gravity chair in
between meats having to be started or attended to, and the
fire department across the parking lot sending engines out
on calls. Early on Saturday morning a sticky
situation arose -- we had changed two elements of our
cook, and schedule conflicts had been created. There
was too much going on for just one set of hands, so Marcel
saved the day by restaging the WSMs and starting fires
while Vince had his hands full. Thanks to him,
potential disaster was averted and all the meats stayed on
schedule.
The rest of Saturday morning came with the rush of
activity that it always does. For a team as tightly
choreographed as we are, Marcel nevertheless integrated
seamlessly into the process, always keeping an eye on the
clock and ready for the next move, fielding questions from
passersby, giving the tiebreaking input when we were
trying to decide between one piece of meat and the next,
and blocking for me when it was time to run
boxes.
We all then observed the time-honored post-turn-in flop,
where everyone collapses in a chair, cracks a cold one,
and the obsessive post-mortem of the food products begins.
As it turned out, we hadn't quite run Marcel off his feet
enough that day; he got a little more exercise at the
awards ceremony too. He put in some additional
mileage taking the walks with us for 2nd chicken, 2nd
ribs, 4th pork and Reserve Grand Champion. He was
supposed to get the full team experience, and by golly he
did.
Of course, the full team experience isn't complete without
realizing after awards that you still have to pack
up. We slogged through busting down camp, and just
as he'd promised, he was there when the van door closed on
the last of it. From beginning to end, he'd been
right beside us doing everything a teammate does. He
told us the next day that he went home and slept twelve
straight hours!
This wasn't just a continuing education experience for
Marcel -- it was an incredible learning experience for us
as well. Everything Marcel told us about his end of
this sport that we all love highlighted his exemplary
dedication to judging with diligence, impartiality, and
thoughtful application of his years of experience.
It added another dimension to the gratitude and
appreciation we feel for all those who take their judging
just as seriously as we do competing, and it was a
privilege for us to contribute to that process.
Thanks, Marcel! |
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