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| Brett A. Varnell: Master Judge & CEO of BBQJudges.org : What BBQ Means to Him |
Forward: Recently I started my BBQ Interviews column where I wanted to ask a variety of barbecue gurus about their love of BBQ and what BBQ means to them. I had an opportunity to talk with Brett. A. Varnell, who is a barbecue guru through and through. He's a KCBS Master Judge, and the Founder / CEO of BBQJudges.org. Hear his barbecue story, and what BBQ means to him. So here we go!
How did your love of BBQ start?
"My
love of barbecue began as a small child.
My father took me to Knotty Pine Barbecue in Tulsa, OK. The place didn’t look like much, but the
dining room was packed and the take-out line was out the door. My father was a huge Elvis fan, and he led
me to a picture of the King with the owners of Knotty Pine. "
"He explained to me that Elvis would fly in
occasionally just to get some of this barbecue.
I don’t know if this was true, or not; but it made a huge impression on
me, and gave me an idea of the power of good barbecue. "
"My love was further enhanced during my years
serving in the Army. As a result of my
service, I was stationed all over the country and the world. Everywhere I went, I would find someone
serving barbecue of some kind. I was
fascinated by how barbecue changed depending on what part of the country or
world you were in. It didn’t matter
whether it was mutton in Tennessee, or schnitzels in Germany; I loved all of
it."
When did you decide to start judging, or how did you get into judging?
"Barbecue
was always my favorite food, and I never thought that it would be anything more
than that.
After I retired from the
Army, I moved back to Oklahoma.
In the
fall of 2009, I was watching another show when I saw an advertisement for
BBQPitmasters. I wanted to check out the
show to see if maybe I could pick up some pointers on how to make my barbecue
even better.
I had no idea where
watching this show would lead to.
Luckily, I began watching the show before they switched to the current
format.
I was able to watch the cook
teams performing at actual contests, and watch the judging process.
I had no idea how judges were selected for
these contests, but after seeing the show I went to the KCBS website and found
a class in Bixby, OK that was within a few miles of my house.
When I walked into the class, I found out
that the instructor was
Merl Whitebrook from
BBQPitmasters. The certification class was great.
It taught me there is so much more to judging
than I thought; it is not just what you like.
"
So tell us more about your experience becoming a judge.
"My
first year of judging was a little intimidating.
I only did six contests that year.
I knew a little, but I wanted to increase my
knowledge.
I learned at my first KCBS
contest that the people in the royal blue KCBS shirts were Master Judges.
After that I would make it a point to sit
next to these people, and ask as many questions as I could.
The Masters were amazing, and patiently
taught me from their vast stores of knowledge.
It made me a much better judge, but the event that completed my judges’
training was actually cooking at a KCBS sanctioned event.
The cook is part of the requirement to become
a Master Judge.
"
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| 2nd Place in Brisket is a great accomplishment on a first cook! Photo: StadiumTrophy |
Did you ever compete?
"A friend from my judging
class, and I decided to start our own team instead of cooking with an
established team.
The experience was eye
opening.
I was shocked how much money,
work, and stress were involved in putting together a team and getting your
product to turn in on time.
We used a
stick burner, and the two of us ended up staying awake for 31 straight hours.
We were worn out, but the experience was
invaluable.
The experience wasn’t the
only payoff; we also came in
second in brisket.
Not only did this cook make me a much better judge, it instilled in me a
passion for competitive cooking."
That is great! So, what do you consider your best accomplishments and why?
"When
asked what my greatest accomplishments in barbecue are, I respond that I have
had three so far.
Two of them I set as
goals when I first started.
The last
one was something I would have never dreamed of.
The first one I have already touched on.
I wanted to get a call as a cook at a
sanctioned event.
I accomplished this at
the 2011 Grand Lake BBQ Festival in Langley, Oklahoma with a second place
finish in brisket.
The second was to
become a KCBS Master Judge.
I was able
to accomplish this in October of 2012.
This was a major goal of mine because I wanted to give back to new
judges what the Master Judges had imparted to me.
I wear the badge with an immense sense of
pride, and even though I have reached this milestone I still believe that I
have much to learn.
"
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| Read how BBQ Judges website was born! |
"The
third accomplishment came out of the blue during the 2011 American Royal Open
Championship in Kansas City.
Prior to
the start of the contest, the judges from Oklahoma found each other in the
crowd and began discussing how we could have carpooled to the event if we had a
place organize it.
Out of this
discussion a Facebook page was born.
It
soon became apparent to me that this would not be sufficient, due to the
limitations of the page and the rules of Facebook.
As a result, I decided to create a webpage
oklahomakcbsjudges.org.
The first year I
promoted the site at contests in Oklahoma, and it was extremely popular.
The first website contained nine pages,
including pages where members could post pictures, reviews, arrange carpools
and classes, and discuss topics with other judges.
By the end of the first season, it had become
so popular that I had judges from 17 states as members."
"Due
to the popularity of the webpage, it soon became apparent that this webpage
would not be sufficient to meet all the needs of our members.
In October of 2012, I decided to take the
site national, and give each state a homepage with subpages.
During this time I began getting request from
other countries requesting pages also.
I
made the decision to take the website internationally.
As a result, I had to change the name of the
website to
bbqjudges.org.
"
Tell us more about BBQ Judges.org and what you wish to accomplish.
"The site is open
to all members of the barbecue community: judges, organizers, cooks, and enthusiasts. It is open to all barbecue organizations,
nationally and internationally. It is a
central hub where people from all over the world can come together for a free
flow of information, and ideas. It is a place where you can post news and
pictures, create a profile, arrange carpools, check on events, cross reference
with organizers and cook teams, write reviews, organize or check on classes,
and get to know each other."
"We are also building a private judges database for every BBQ
Judge in the world. All information is kept private, and will only be used to
disseminate information that is pertinent to you (i. e. judges needed, new contests,
off-season events etc.). Cook teams can
also submit their information for a database of all the cook teams in the
world. It contains the teams’ name,
members, and links to all their social media pages including webpages,
Facebook, twitter, or any other social media your team has. Organizers are free to post their events,
request judges, or disseminate information about their event. "
What are your long term goals for the site?
"The site continues to evolve to fit
the needs of our visitors. My goal is to
have the site become a central hub where all members of the worldwide barbecue
community: associations, judges, organizers, cook teams, and contest representatives
can come together to get the most out of their barbecue experience."
So now, the question of all questions, "What does barbecue mean to
you?"
"If asked this question I would have
to say that it means so much more to me than just food. Barbecue to me means a huge community of some
of the best people on the planet. No
matter where in the world I traveled, I could always find someone
barbecuing. Whether it was in a
restaurant, backyard, festival, or competition event, I could find people
cooking barbecue. Regardless of the
language, or culture people loved to talk about how they approached
barbecuing. And of course, they were the
one that knew exactly how it should be done and wanted to make sure that you
knew it. I am thankful for all the
people I have met, and the knowledge they have imparted. I look forward to many more years of judging,
cooking, and discussing barbecue; and all the experience and information that
will be added knowledge. "
Thanks Brett, I couldn't agree more--barbecue is a huge community of some of the best people on this planet! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us!!
To reach out and contact Brett:
KCBS Master Judge
417 W. Birmingham St.
Broken Arrow, OK 74011
