Jack's Old South, Comp BBQ School

Last weekend I attended Jack's Old South BBQ School in Unadilla Ga. This class is held at Myron Mixon's home and taught by Myron.

The class is structured to give the students a hands on experience in prepping all 4 KCBS meats, as well as watching Myron prep a whole hog and pig shoulder for Memphis in May comps.
Myron not only shows you how to do the trimming, injecting, saucing and making of turn in boxes, he also makes every sauce and injection right before your eys. No hidden ingredients were used in this class.

So who would benefit most from this type of class? In my opinion, this class is most helpful to cooks who don't already know how to do the above techniques. I recommend that if you want to get the most from this type of instruction, take it early in your comp educational progression. If you already know how to do the prep, the trimming, the injecting etc then the impact will be less for you.

As far as recipes used. Myron being an active competitor, and wanting to stay ahead of the curve, is always changing recipes. Some of those in his recent book have already changed. He will change his class again and again as time goes on and as he continues to compete.

Some folks have stated that "If I buy his book, I won't learn anything else at the class". In my opinion this is not entirely true. As a bonus you get to spend 2 days with Myron, a delightful fellow, a good educator, and 180 degress from his TV personality. A gracious host who has the wellbeing of his students in the forefront.
Myron has several assistants who help and in some regards do the cooking and prep. These fine gentleman are quite willing to give answers to your individual questions, as is Myron.

Ever tried Wagu brisket? Myron not only cooked one for the comp entry, he had the students all trim and inject Wagu. No skimping here. There were 60 students, I was told, and there was enough meat cooked for everyone to eat their fill on Sunday, as well as take home meat if you had that ability.

I met another TVWB member at the class and he said he also was going to write a review, so hopefully you all will get another point of view.

Mark

Thank you, Mark, for the review.

I have wanted to attend one of these classes in preparation for competiting next year, but have been put off by the cost.

I am also very much surprised by the number of students in the class that you attended. I would have thought these classes to be in the teens.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TimW:
Thank you, Mark, for the review.

I have wanted to attend one of these classes in preparation for competiting next year, but have been put off by the cost.

I am also very much surprised by the number of students in the class that you attended. I would have thought these classes to be in the teens. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I too was suprised at the stated size of the class. I tried doing a head count a couple times and got 40-45, I guess the bathrooms were full at the time!

Mark

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TimW:
I have wanted to attend one of these classes in preparation for competiting next year, but have been put off by the cost.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I have not taken Myron's class, but I did take a class by Scottie Johnson of cancersuckschicago.com. My take on it is exactly the opposite of yours -- if you take a competition class before competing, while you may get some recipes, you will miss out on a lot of the practical tips you get in the class. I took Scottie's class this year after competing for several years. I picked up some recipe ideas, but the most valuable things I learned were about Scottie's process and thinking. These were things I probably would not have picked up on had I not been an experienced competitor.

If you want to learn to compete, see if you can find an experienced local team to shadow for a comp or two. I don't care if they are a powerhouse or a perennial also-ran, you'll get real exposure to what happens at a competition. I think that is more valuable early on in your competition career.

I have also wanted to attend a BBQ cooking school, but the cost has kept me from going to one also. There are other ways to learn competition cooking however as Erik pointed out above.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Erik H.:
If you want to learn to compete, see if you can find an experienced local team to shadow for a comp or two. I don't care if they are a powerhouse or a perennial also-ran, you'll get real exposure to what happens at a competition. I think that is more valuable early on in your competition career. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Excellent advice, Erik.

You should be able to locate a team or individual willing to let you observe and even help with the competition process on this or other forums, especially if you offer some sweat equity for the experience. Teams will appreciate your willingness to help set up, tear down, keep the area clean, run turn-in boxes or at least let you watch the process.

There are several very excellent classes that are put on by different individuals. Most are very, very good. I've heard good things about Myron's class along with Forrest Dilmore (Forrest's Fine Foods), Rob 'Rub' Bagby (Swamp Boys), and others.

Most people that I've known to take a class do very well using that specific method/flavor profile/equipment/etc. Once they start to make changes then the scores fall off dramatically. I know a couple of teams that were top 10 right after taking the class but have since fallen way down the standings.

While classes are great, I prefer one-on-one or OJT type training. I've had a few people shadow/co-cook with me during a comp and I'm very happy to give out most everything I know about competing. I've got a guy scheduled who has been judging and wants to try out cooking. I told him that he should pick one of the meats and he could run that category entirely. I'll help or stay out as much as he wants. If he gets a walk in that category then the trophy is his.

I look at it this way, I learned because somebody was kind enough to take me on as an apprentice and I should pay it back. Sort of a Karma thing.

Russ

Russ, you bring up a very valid point. There are many students who follow exact recipes and techniques of winning teams, who's classes they went to. I probably could have done the same with Myron's class. I did not want to become a Jack's Old South Clone. As a cook for most of my life, the overal enjoyment is in learning HOW to develope your own style and make your own recipes. Obviously in BBQ as in any other style of cooking there is little that has not been done before and taught. It is hard to do a recipe that no one has tried before, even if you don't know about it. The challenge to me is to figure out how to make the parts, rubs, sauces, glazes etc. all fit together for that winning combo. I like a challenge, I also like to do well in the comp.
Classes are great especially if they give you the tools to develope your own winning recipes and cooking methods.
Reminds me of learning phonics way back in the day. Even if you didn't know what the word was or how it was supposed to be pronounced, the teacher had given you the tools to figure it out, and with practice you did.

Mark