1. Only amateur teams are eligible. To be recognized as amateur by AABS a team must not:
(a) Have ever placed in the top ten of any category on the pro side of a contest sanctioned by KCBS, IBCA,MIM etc.
(b) Be a restaurant owner or professional caterer.

2. Teams will consist of a chief cook and as many assistants as the chief cook deems necessary (some contest may limit the number of members if a ticket for the public is required)

3. It is the responsibility of the chief cook to maintain clean and safe food handling practices.
(a) Raw meat to be held at 40 degrees or below (packed in ice preferably)
(b) Cooked pork to be held at 140 degrees or above, Chicken 160 in breast 180 in thigh
(c) A sanitizing solution of one cap bleach to one gallon water is recommended to sterilize work surfaces and cooking utensils
(d) Shirt and shoes are required to be worn

4. Each team will provide all equipment and meats needed to prep and cook their entries for the AABS sanctioned categories.

5. All cookers/smokers/grills shall be heated with wood, charcoal or wood pellets. Electric or gas heat sources shall not be permitted. Electric powered fans (guru’s stokers etc) augers for pellets or rotisseries are permitted.

6. No open fires, pits or holes in the ground are permitted. Fires may not be built on the ground.

7. Competition meats are to be inspected prior to seasoning or cooking by the assigned meat inspector.

8. All cooking, marinating or seasoning of competition meats to be done inside of assigned cook space.

9. The three AABS sanctioned categories:
(a) Chicken
(b) Ribs
(c) Sauce
**Please note a winner will be announced for the “People’s Choice” (not sanctioned by AABS)

10. Turn in times will be announced at mandatory cooks meeting. There will be a ten minute window allowed for turn ins, (five minutes before the official turn in time till five minutes after the official turn in time).

11. Chicken will be the first sanctioned category turned in, then there will be one hour before ribs are turned in. Lastly there will only be 30 minutes between ribs and sauce. That will conclude the AABS sanctioned portion of the contest. The combined scores of these three categories will determine a Grand Champion for the contest. Any other categories will be judged separately and winners determined per category.

12. Turn in containers will be a full size disposable aluminum pan with separate lid for Ribs and a half size pan with lid for Chicken , these are for appearance entries. You will also receive a second container for the taste and tenderness samples. These will be provided for you.

Turn in requirements:
(a) Chicken: ˝ chicken fully jointed not sliced or separated including wing, breast, thigh and drumstick (for appearance score) and 8 separate and identifiable pieces, examples are (8 thighs, 8 breast, 8 leg quarters, 4 thighs and 4 breast, 8 slices of breast, 2 wings,2 breast,2 thighs and 2 legs) any combination the cook wants but must be at least a minimum of 8 individual pieces (for taste and tenderness scoring)
(b) Ribs: Whole slab not sliced or separated (for appearance scores) and at least a minimum of 8 separate one bone ribs ,meat must be on the bone (for taste and tenderness scores)
(c)Sauce: There will be a small Styrofoam cup supplied, fill a at least ˝ the capacity of the cup

13. Garnish: Garnish is optional. The only garnish that will be allowed is fresh green leaf lettuce. No other foreign objects other than the described competition meats are to be in the turn in containers. Any marking or sculpting inside or outside of container will be cause for disqualification and will be brought to the attention of the AABS reps who will make the decision. Sauce on chicken and ribs is optional. No pooling of sauce and no side sauce in the meat containers. Sauce may be applied to the meat only.

14. Judging will be blind double numbered system to ensure anonymity. Rib and Chicken entries will be judged on:
(a) Appearance:
(b) Taste
(c)Tenderness
Sauce
(a) Appearance
(b) Taste

15. Scoring: Entries will be scored on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 representing excellent. The whole number score will then be calculated as follows...
(a) score for appearance multiplied by 1.243
(b) score for taste multiplied by 4.972
(c ) score for tenderness multiplied by 2.486

16. Results will be tallied and in the event of a tie in one of the categories, it will be broken by comparing scores. First by the highest score in taste, if still tied compare tenderness score, then appearance. If still tied, then an electronic coin toss will determine the winner. In the event of a tie for grand champion tie breaking procedures are the same starting with Ribs, then Chicken and finally sauce.

17. There will be a Grand Champion. It is required by AABS that the winner plus first three places of each category be announced also.

18. The most important AABS rule is that you have fun!!

Remember that these contest are fund-raisers for non profit organizations run by volunteers. Some things probably will not go the way that everyone wishes it would so try to be flexible. AABS was formed by competition cooks to ensure the cooks and the organizers that the event will be handled as fairly and smoothly as possible. So enjoy yourself and don’t sweat the small stuff.