The American Royal Barbecue (aka American Royal or The Royal) is the world’s largest BBQ Competition.

The event takes place in Kansas City’s historic Stockyards District.  Over 500 BBQ teams participate in The Royal.

The American Royal is actually two competitions… the Invitational and the Open.  Grand Champions from qualifying BBQ contests in the previous year are invited to the Invitational.  Anyone can register for the Open until all the slots are full.

Visit the American Royal website to learn more.

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The holy grail for BBQ competition cooks is to have bite through chicken skin for their turn ins.

Crispy chicken skin (like fried) is not typically associated with competition BBQ.  The goal is for the person eating the chicken to be able to take a bite right through the skin.

You never want the judges to bite into a piece of chicken and have the whole skin come off and slap him in the chin.

There are many techniques for producing bite thru chicken skin.  Some BBQ cooks scrape off the layer of fat on the skin prior to cooking.  Others smoke the chicken at lower temps then raise the temperature at the end to crisp up the skin.  While other cooks swear by putting ingredients like butter, olive oil, or mayonnaise on the skin prior to cooking.

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It is located parallel to and opposite the blade bone.

The money muscle is located on the outside edge of the pork butt so it forms a nice bark.

BBQ competitors have nicknamed this piece the “Money Muscle” because they feel you need to turn it in to the judges to take home the winner’s check.

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