Some of Australia’s best amateur outdoor beef cooks will apply their barbecue skills in a cook-off to be staged as part of Meat and Livestock Australia’s upcoming summer barbecue marketing campaign.

As part of MLA’s attempts to ‘take ownership’ of summer as BBQ beef season, a series of BBQ recipe/taste test competitions will be held to find five State ‘Beef Tongmasters.’

The winners from these finals not only earn the Tongmaster title, but will earn a place in the Australian team heading to Lexington, in the US state of Kentucky to compete in the US BBQ Capital Cook-off held in April next year. Each prize is valued at up to $6900.

From the submitted recipes, five finalists will be chosen in each state, competing over the burners to produce the very best beef meal they can, with judges looking for the most delicious offerings that demonstrate creativity and innovation in both style and presentation.

The competition is strictly regulated with each piece of meat to be taken from the same cut measured to precisely the same size and cooked on the same BBQ plate before being tasted by the judges.

Contestants will be judged on a nationally consistent criteria to produce a dish that best reflects the modern Australian outdoor barbecue cooking style.

BBQ beef aficionados are encouraged to log on to the Tongmaster/Main Meal website (click here) where they can read the terms and conditions, and submit their details along with the secret Beef Steak BBQ recipe that will form their competition entry.

Once the finalists are selected in each state, a panel of food-loving judges will taste-test their way through the entries, cooked by the competitors, from which a state champion will be selected for each state.

Entries can be posted on line or faxed to (02) 9463 9173.

The Adelaide final has already been decided, but here are the event details and entry closure dates for remaining states:

• Queensland: Queen Street Mall Stage, Brisbane . Final held 11 November. Entries close: 7 November
• Victoria: Queen Victoria Market, Melbourne. Final held 25 November. Entries close: 15 November
• Western Australia: Perth event location yet to be confirmed. Final held 1 December. Entries close: 21 November
• New South Wales: Sydney event location yet to be confirmed. Final held 4 December. Entries close: 24 November.