Most places have only one type of barbecue. South Carolina has four — tomato based, light tomato based, mustard based and vinegar based. And everybody likes their own.

That can make for interesting judging when a barbecue contest comes up.

“If you enter a contest in Orangeburg and you’re a local Orangeburg guy and have nothing but local judges, you know you will have a pretty good chance of winning,” said Lake High, president of the South Carolina Barbecue Association.

But if the Orangeburg chef goes to another region of the state, he doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning, High said.

The S.C. Barbecue Association tries to level the playing field across the state by providing a roster of trained judges who can go to a South Carolina barbecue contest and judge all barbecue types based on what tastes best — not what barbecue you grew up with.

“We level the playing field,” High said.

The association’s method of barbecue judging will get its first tryout in Orangeburg on Saturday, Jan. 28, when the first Garden City Barbecue Cook-Off is held at the Orangeburg Mall. Teams of barbecue chefs from all over the state will gather at the mall to prove they’ve got the best. Barbecue plates will be sold at the event.

“It’s going to draw other people from other towns to see these people compete. We’ll have our hands full. It’ll be like the Taste of Orangeburg,” said Scott Ayers, who is organizing the contest.

More than 20 chefs have already signed up for the competition, which is the first event in a year-long contest to see who has the best barbecue in the state.

Chefs go to several association contests over the course of a year, earning points for their barbecue. The one with the most points at the end of the year wins.

“They keep calling me every day, asking for applications,” Ayers said. “This being the first points competition of the year, everybody is trying to get in on it.”

Teams of chefs will be participating from such far-flung locations as North Carolina, Andrews, Greenville, Lake Wylie and Hilton Head, representing a variety of barbecue styles.

With trained judges from around the state, High said “A Pee Dee guy may win in Orangeburg and, if he does, it will be because he has the best barbecue.”

“They’ve all got their different sauces and marinades and rubs,” Ayers said. “I’m sure that there will be different types.”

It’s those different types that makes High, a certified wine judge, so enthusiastic about South Carolina barbecue. He says it’s the best in the country; people just don’t know it because there were no independent judges to say so until the creation of the S.C. Barbecue Association. Instead, folks tend to think about Kansas City when they think about barbecue.

South Carolina has better barbecue because South Carolinians have so many different types to choose from, High said.

“South Carolina is the only state in the nation with four types of barbecue. ... South Carolinians have sophisticated palates,” he said.

The association formed in 2004 and now has 400 members. About 300 people have been through the association’s day-long seminar for potential judges, with about 125 to 135 completing the full process to become certified judges.

“The cooks who enter a SCBA contest realize they will be judged by judges who, one, are trained and ... two, will not reflect a local bias. It will reflect a statewide bias,” he said.

“One guy called me from North and said when he found out the SCBA was going to judge, he signed up,” High said. “He said he knows the judging is going to be fair and that’s why he signed up.”

In Orangeburg, the group will use blind judging — a method preferred by the cooks.

The chefs “are a paranoid bunch. They always think we’re going to do something bad to them,” High said.

The Garden City Barbecue Cook-Off will begin on Friday, Jan. 27 with an “anything but pork” competition. The public isn’t being fed on Friday night, because the cooks are having to supply their own food. David Cooler will be performing at The Bank Friday night as part of the event.

On Saturday, the public will get its taste, with plates selling for $7 between noon and 3 p.m. Cooked meat will also be sold in five and 10-pound packages. Proceeds will benefit Jason Wayne Starnes, who has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and the Shriner’s hospital.

The main judging will begin on Saturday, with the first-place winner receiving $1,000, the second-place winner receiving $500 and the third-place winner receiving $250.

The entrance fee for the contest is $150. The deadline is Monday. Call Scott Ayers at 308-1314 or Mike Bozard at 614-0014 for more information.

Ayers is thinking that in barbecue-crazy Orangeburg County, the event could become a large annual gathering.

And it helps with the barbecue association’s effort to make South Carolina the acknowledged King of Barbecue.

“What does Kansas City know about barbecue,” High asked.

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