Smoke, Temperature, and the People Behind the Cook: FireBoard at the American Royal

What does it take to cook competition barbecue?

A smoker, certainly. Good meat helps. And most cooks have a rub or sauce they are pretty particular about.

But those are just the things you can see. Behind each cook are hours of preparation, years of experience, and plenty of decisions about what to do next. And, somewhere in the middle of all of that, there is temperature.

That is where our work at FireBoard connects with the people doing the cooking.

This past weekend, the American Royal World Series of Barbecue brought that connection close to home. Held September 30 through October 4, this year’s event also marked a new chapter for the Royal at its new campus in Kansas City, Kansas. For a Kansas City company whose work centers on measuring temperature, it is an event with a pretty natural connection to what FireBoard does.

The FireBoard media team spent the weekend talking with teams using FireBoard products and talking with teams about how FireBoard could assist in their competition. We found many teams using the FireBoard 2 Drive to control the fire in their pit. Some teams were using the FireBoard DC Drive on their Masterbuilt Gravity Series for full pit control. And, of course, teams were using the FireBoard Spark to take spot temps and to check for meat resistance.

Competition barbecue requires cooks to pay attention to a lot of things at once. What is the pit doing? How quickly is the meat cooking? Is it time to wrap? And will everything be ready when it needs to be?

Temperature helps answer some of those questions. Experience helps answer the rest. A thermometer can tell you what is happening, but the cook still has to decide what to do with that information.

At FireBoard, that is what makes the barbecue community so valuable to our work. The people using our products bring their own methods, questions, and expectations. Hearing about those experiences helps us understand what matters when a cook is underway.

FireBoard was especially proud of several teams. Blind Fox BBQ cooked for both the Invitational and Open competitions and received a call for their brisket. Burnt Finger BBQ won Grand Champion of Sides (their 3rd such trophy in 4 years!) and Grand Champion of Sausage. And finally, FireBoard DC Drive user Charles Winslow-Bey of Smokey Bey’s BBQ took home the ultimate prize, the Grand Champion of the Open!

There is plenty to celebrate when a team gets its name called. There is also a lot of work behind that moment. Congratulations to the teams who earned a call this weekend, and to everyone who put the time and effort into competing.

We appreciate being part of a community that cares this much about the cook.