One of our mentors had been taught to go to a town's large grocery and look at the bbq sauce shelves.
Not counting the cheap "lossleader",look at what sells mostly.
The other is" new to travel cooks" ask what changes they should make to go to different areas to suit the judges.
The judges are trained to a "standard",altho just taste can be somewhat subjective.
The other thing is many of the certified judges travel the whole bbq circuit,so you could get the same guy in FL,TN,and Canada.
Most advise to "cook what you cook best".
There are also so many cooking classes that much of the good product out there can seem almost "generic to America".
Just a couple things to ponder.
