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Barbecue: It's not just chopped meat anymore
Serious cooks compete for serious prize money
May 26, 1997
Web posted at: 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT)
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (CNN) -- With the official Memorial Day kickoff of summer, millions of amateur cooks will start taking to their barbecues, armed with spatula, brush and appetite.
But for serious outdoor cooks, barbecue is a year-long, consuming passion. No amateurs need apply.
At the recent Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, more than just chopped meat was on the line. The grand champion received $5,000, and cooks competed in categories of shoulder, whole hog, ribs and "anything but."
Anything but pork, that is.
"We have 235 teams. We have four international teams, and approximately 26 states represented here," said contest organizer Mark Pospisil.
While the Memphis contest may be the biggest, lines of trophies on proud display by cooks here attest that this isn't the only porky prize available. Indeed, there's a barbecue contest somewhere almost every weekend from February to December.
M e m p h i s B B Q C o o k i n g C o n t e s t
Memphis
BBQ contest
(974K/16 sec. QuickTime movie)
And while the competition in Memphis may have been, well, heated, the tone was far from serious. Groups calling themselves the Hogaholics, the Not Ready for Swine Time Players and Barbecue Republic put up elaborate displays.
Various and sundry types of porcine drag were abundant, including an abundance of ears and noses. People chanted and sang in veneration of the lowly, yet delicious, swine.
What does it take to be a winner? Well, Bill Bryant of last year's grand champion team, the Pyropigmaniacs, says moderation is the key.
"We try to cook the same for everyone," he says. "We don't want a hot rib or necessarily a real sweet rib because you'll please a few of the folks. But a majority of them want, if you will, a middle-of-the-road rib."
The grand champions this year were the Wildfire Gourmet Cooking Team from Fredericktown, Missouri. They're going back home with sweetly smoky memories of Memphis -- not to mention five grand.
Correspondent Carolyn O'Neil contributed to this report.
R e l a t e d S i t e s
- BBQ Forum
- Hog Wild Barbecue Page
- Barbecue'n on the Internet
- The Internet Barbeque Review
- Urban BBQ
- Over the Coals (Vegetarian Recipes)
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