OUTDOOR CHEF TO SHARE TIPS WITH BARBECUE CONTESTS

When Charlie Knote starts talking about outdoor cookery, he has his "cooking bag" with him.

As he discuses meats, marinades and grilling, he displays a "Phillips" screwdriver, a deep-fat cooking temperature gauge, a spoon, fork, knife, and a 10-x-14 aluminum pan.

"All of these tools have specific purposes," said Knote, who will introduce his "tools" of the barbecue-cooking trade to backyard barbecuers during a special barbecue training session to be held in conjunction with the annual Cape BBQ Fest, to be held at Arena Park Friday and Saturday.

The two-day event is sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee, but includes a number of individual sponsors, including two "Gold" sponsors, the Southeast Missourian newspaper and KZIM-AM 960.

Grand champion winners of last year's barbecue fest were the team of Boatmen's Porkers. The team won first in the Boston butt and beef brisket categories and finished third in the hamburger category. Consolidated Grain was overall winner of the first BBQ Fest, in 1993.

Rules and entry forms are available at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office.

Knote said cooking teams (which can consist of a single person) must be amateur. Any type of grill can be used, though the cooking surface can't exceed 800 square inches.

A special category is "Showmanship." Barbecue teams can "show off" their creativity and imagination by use of skits, decorations, costumes, enthusiasm and crowd participation. Showmanship judging will be Friday from 7 to 9 p.m.

Knote's "Basics of BBQuing" seminar will be he conducted at 6 p.m. Friday.

Knote is a familiar name to area outdoor chefs. He is author of a barbecue cookbook and writes a cooking column. Knote and his wife, Ruth, are owners of the Culinary Institute of Smoke-Cooking.

He has appeared at a number of cookouts, including the St. Louis Friends of James Beard's "Fall Family Barbecue," conducted in the St. Louis area last year.

James Beard is recognized as the father of American cuisine. Knote has studied and cooked from Beard's informative cookbooks for more than 40 years.

"A lot of people oversauce meat," Knote said. "This is one of the things I will talk about at Friday's seminar. With too much sauce, the flavor of the meat is lost."

He will discuss how to remove fatty tissue from meat, utilizing the Phillips screwdriver, and a spoon. "The screwdriver is a great tool for removing the fat," said Knote, who will also demonstrate how to adjust a gas grill to lower the heat.

"People have trouble keeping the gas heat down," he said.

Another Knote special is a "baffle," made by an aluminum vegetable tray.

"I cut a 10-by-14 tray in half," he said. "One of the halves serves as a baffle to direct smoke to the meat."

The seminar will last about an hour.

Judging for the annual barbecue, which is designed for backyard cooks, will start about noon Saturday, with judging of the hamburger cooking. The judging will continue through the early afternoon, with judging of beef kabobs, pork ribs, pork steaks, Boston butt and beef brisket.

Winners will be announced at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

"We have about 20 entries now," Knote said. "We'd like to see more."

Other events at the festival include a washer-pitching contest, a kiddie tractor pull contest, a rolling-pin throw, bean bag contest and a watermelon-eating contest.