Notes from an Alameda County Fair Barbecue Judge

 

By Cheryl Angelina Koehler, editor of Edible East Bay

Each year, the Alameda County Cattlewomen hold two beef cook-offs at the Alameda County Fair.

Professional chefs are sidelined for these contests as a group of backyard barbecue enthusiasts arrives early in the day to set up their outdoor kitchens and make a go at achieving that perfect “cook.” Judges arrive around noon in a hungry-but-convivial mood, and while they could easily kill time staring at their phones, instead, they are likely to spend the lead-up time trading stories from contests they judged in the past while trying not to breathe in too much of the delicious-smelling and ever-shifting smoke. You know, as someone or other always says, “it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.”

 

 

We’re pleased to be able to share the recipes from the Alameda County Cattlewomen’s July 5, 2025 Beef Is King contest here along with the results of the contest and highlights from the occasion.

 

Flat Iron Steak Tacos by Jack Simmons

While he calls himself a rib cooker and enters all the rib contests, Jack Simmons, a contractor based in Discovery Bay, decided to make tacos for this cook-off. Go figure….

Jack prepared 1½ delicious pounds of 100% grass-fed flat iron steak by marinating it overnight in 1 cup zesty Italian dressing, ¼ cup lime juice, ¼ cup low-salt soy sauce, 6 ounces pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. When time came to grill, he dried off the beef and then grilled it over high heat to a 130°F internal temperature. He got high points for tenderness and flavor. The only thing tough was the competition.

To garnish, Jack made a salsa with 4 ounces spicy tomato sauce, 3 chopped Roma tomatoes, 1 chopped poblano pepper, 1 chopped red bell pepper, 1 chopped jalapeño, a chopped half onion, 3 smashed garlic cloves, chopped cilantro, and salt and pepper. He also sliced and grilled some limes, which made a unique presentation as he served the tacos with sour cream and sliced avocados. Jack had indicated that some Flaming Hot Cheetos would be part of the garnish, but those seemed to have gone AWOL by the time judging began.

 

Smokin’ Joe’s Apple Bourbon Tri-Tip Enchiladas by Joe Silva

Joe Silva has been working to advance his barbecue skills outdoors in his rustic “country kitchen” in Tracy, and his passion was clear in his dreamily tender tri-tip enchiladas and gorgeous, restaurant-worthy plating.

Joe marinated his tri-tip in 2 cups apple juice, ½ cup apple cider vinegar, ½ cup Worcestershire sauce, ½ cup Jim Beam bourbon, and 1 cup hickory smoked barbecue sauce. At grill time, he patted the tri-tip dry and rubbed it with a mix of equal parts onion powder, sea salt, granulated garlic, paprika, and sugar. He cooked the meat to an internal temperature of 135-140°F at the thickest part and let it rest for 10-15 minutes before assembling the enchiladas.

Piling the meat on corn tortillas, Joe added shredded cheddar and enchilada sauce and then warmed the enchiladas to melt the cheese. He garnished with pico de gallo and cilantro, then plated with drizzles of sour cream and a glaze he had made with 2 cups of his marinade concoction that he mixed with 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup hickory smoked barbecue sauce.

 

 

Third Place: Grilled Beef Skirt Steak Tacos by Letticia (Letty) Villalobos

This judge will remember the pleasures of this delicious meal for years to come. The flavors of each component were fantastic and watching Letty’s team of five family members working together to prepare the gorgeous presentation was impressive.

While the skirt steak was marinating in minced garlic, black pepper, lime, Mexican oregano, beef tallow, and sea salt, Letty’s crew grilled onions, tomatoes, garlic, and serrano and jalapeño peppers for the garnish and two peppy salsas. To make their salsa verde they used charred tomatillos, serrano and jalapeño peppers, and garlic, which they crushed in Letty’s great-grandmother’s old stone molcajete before mixing in chopped cilantro, onion, and salt. Their pico de gallo featured nopales (cactus) with tomato, onion, cilantro, lime, salt, and oregano.

The team hand pressed their tortillas on-site, loaded them with the grilled meat plus pickled red onion, guacamole crema, and queso fresco. They arranged the tacos on a Dutch oven lid and surrounded them with roasted green onions, tomatoes, and jalapeños.

 

 

Second Place: Beef Tacos by Harry Pruyn

The tacos were delicious, and Harry’s story added some nostalgic cheer to the presentation. He told us how his mother-in-law had six kids and a backyard swimming pool at her home in LA, and on a hot summer’s day, her pool drew in all the other kids in the neighborhood. Since everybody was going to be wicked hungry, she came up with this meal of tacos and sides in order to get everyone fed and back in the pool. Harry had planned to serve the tacos with their usual corn pudding side dish (adapted from the Sweet Corn Tomalito on Allrecipes.com), but his propane ran out in the middle of cooking, so he had to ditch that part of his presentation. He was sure the judges would have given him first place if we had tasted the pudding, but, of course, he hadn’t gotten to try Katie’s first place–winning ribs like the judges did!

Harry used top sirloin, which he rubbed with Chef Merito Steak & Meat Seasoning and then marinated it overnight in a combo of sliced red onion, fresh squeezed orange juice, orange zest, and chopped cilantro. After grilling the meat, he piled it on a corn tortilla and served it with a salsa that he made with diced avocado, quartered cherry tomatoes, chopped onion, diced poblano pepper, chopped cilantro, minced garlic, lime juice, and salt and pepper.

 

First Place: Beef Ribs in a Barrel Smoker by Katie Balch Stone

Most of the judges agreed that these ribs were simply the best of the genre that we had ever had. Katie gives a lot of credit to her dad for teaching her how to barbecue, so this was a long-won effort.

Since you can’t taste these ribs, we decided to give you the chance to learn how Katie took first place in the Alameda County Fair Beef Is King Cook-off as you read through all her loving attention to detail as she wrote it out in her recipe below (which has been only very lightly edited for this purpose).

For the meat

• 1 whole beef rib rack

For the seasoning

• Minced garlic (approx. 5–6 cloves)
• Beef tallow
• Pappy’s Garlic and Herb Seasoning
• Garlic salt
• Montreal Steak Seasoning
• Seasoning salt
• Stonewall Kitchen Texas Rub

For the spray (Use equal parts and put in any spray bottle)

• 1 ½ cups apple juice
• 1 ½ cups orange juice
• 1 ½ cups Corona beer
• ¾ cup bourbon

For the sauce

• 1/4 cup Kinders Hickory Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce
• 1/8 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons orange juice

Fuel

• Kingsford Original Briquettes
• Fogo lump charcoal
• cherry wood

For smoking

• Small hickory chips for smoking (I do not pre-soak them in water. I add them dry to my mini pot)
• Bell peppers , onions, and whole garlic cloves
• Mini pot that can withstand being placed directly on hot coals (mine is 5″ diameter x 2″ deep)

Now, to get the cook started…

Heat barrel to 350°–375°F

Put a single layer of Kingsford down, top with Fogo lump charcoal to make a little mound, and light it up. I use a grill gun torch, but you can use a flame thrower if you’d like. I light my coals as they are stacked in a mound. Not all the coals will be lit or red hot, just the center area will be. The remaining coals will catch from the middle ones. This way you get added smoke from the Kingsford for the beginning stages of the cook. Put the barrel over the top of your coals. If your barrel is too hot, don’t worry, you can remove some coals and put them in your cherry fire pit—read ahead for cherry fire pit info).

Prep the ribs

While barrel heats up, remove the membrane from the ribs. Use a paper towel if you have a hard time getting hold of it. Paper towel will give you grip.

Season the ribs with fresh-pressed garlic cloves. Rub around to get all over. You can always use more or less garlic if you’d like.

Brush on light layer of beef tallow.

Sprinkle on all the dry seasoning (Pappy’s Garlic & Herb, garlic salt, seasoning salt, Stonewall Kitchen Texas Rub). You want to hit every side and inch of the meat.

Put three hooks in each rack—two toward each end of the rack facing one direction and one in the middle of the rack facing the opposite direction.

Time to cook

Hang the rack of ribs from rebar in the preheated barrel and cover.

Start cherry wood fire in a separate fire pit. This will be used to maintain heat in your barrel. You will be taking or adding hot coals from this to regulate the temperature in your barrel along with adding another flavor from your fuel to the meat.

Add sliced onions, bell peppers, and whole garlic cloves to the hot coals in the bottom of the barrel. This will add flavor to the meat throughout the cooking process.

Make your spray

See ingredients listed above. After about an hour or so of cooking you can spray both sides with the spray mixture. Do this every 30–45 minutes.

To smoke

Add hickory smoking chips to a fireproof pan and place directly onto the hot coals. (Chips will smoke for about 30–45 minutes depending on the pan size.) Note: you can do this anytime of the cook, except the end. You can even add chips multiple times throughout the cook for a more intense smoke flavor if you’d like. Choice is yours.

The temperature of the barrel will go down over time: We want that. Try to keep the temperature around 200 °F by adding or removing hot coals from your cherry wood pit. You can also toss on a few Kingsford briquettes.

For the last 30 minutes of the cook, mop on the sauce. Make sure to get the top and both sides of the racks with the sauce. With time permitting, this usually takes place around 5.5 hours into the cooking process. If you are crunched for time, then you’ll be cooking hotter, so this could happen anywhere from 3.5 hours on. All depends on the timeframe you are cooking in. It is best to cook low and slow if you can.

Ribs will be done when you can stick a probe in and it glides in without any resistance, like butter, and you see significant pull back from the meat on the bone.

Once done, pull the rack, wrap it in butcher paper and let it rest.

After 15 minutes or so, slice that baby up and enjoy!