On Nov 12th, 2005 the Caribbean BBQ Association held its first barbecue cooking class. The instructor for the class was Garry Howard from The Smoke Ring website, www.thesmokering.com. Garry is an experienced barbecue cook and a veteran of numerous competition barbecue events on the mainland.

28 students attended the class held at the Bamboobei beachfront restaurant in Piñones. This was a hands-on class. The students were divided into groups of four and each group created its own BBQ spice rub, BBQ sauce, and prepared spare ribs, baby back ribs and chicken. After the barbecue was done, each team nominated a member to judge the barbecue and a competition was held to determine which teams prepared the best barbecue.

Several different types of cooking equipment were provided and tips were given on how to make the most effective use of each one. The equipment included a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, a Brinkmann water smoker, a Weber kettle grill, a New Braunfels horizontal offset smoker, and Dwayne Ramirez's Austin National trailer mounted smoker. In addition to providing tips and techniques on the preparation of rubs, sauces, ribs and chicken, the class also offered tips on competition barbecue, sharing some of Garry's secrets.

The class was a huge success and everyone had a great time. A followup class is scheduled for the spring so if you missed the first class, watch for it and signup early.