Rutherford College, NC, Creates Barbecue Cookoff Tradition

Pork ribs prepared by the reserve champion, One-Eyed Pig BBQ Team. Photo: One-Eyed Pig BBQ Team via Facebook.

A small town in the foothills of western North Carolina is developing a positive reputation for hosting an important barbecue cookoff. It is Rutherford College, NC, which carries the name of the college that had been located in the community and was closed in 1933. Its population is fewer than 1,500 residents.

Trophies are ready to be awarded to the winning teams.

BBQ Contest In Rutherford College

Although Rutherford College is small, its annual contest sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society is huge for judges and cooking teams. Known as the Pigmasters BBQ Challenge, it attracted 33 cooking teams this year that wanted to showcase their talents for cooking chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, and beef brisket. 

 Caption: Smokin’ Skullies BBQ took top honors. Photo: Pigmasters BBQ Challenge via Facebook.

Smokin' Skullies BBQ Wins

The winning team was Smokin’ Skullies BBQ, which took home a check for $2,000 as the grand champion. The runner-up was One-Eyed Pig BBQ Team, which missed first place by just 1.1316 points. A total of $9,580 was available in prize money plus trophies. 

Chicken by One-Eyed Pig BBQ Team usually scores very high. Photo: One-Eyed Pig PPQ Team via Facebook.

Pigmasters BBQ Challenge Attracts Top Teams

Begun in 2020, Pigmasters BBQ Challenge has survived the social isolation challenges of the coronavirus pandemic and continues as a major event in the fall for teams looking to boost their resumes. The cookoff will continue to attract top cooking teams to a small town in the foothills of western North Carolina.

Commemorating Juneteenth with a Cookoff

Pork tenderloin, the pork entry by one team, was absolutely superior.

What event should be held to commemorate Juneteenth? Why not something that brings everyone together like a barbecue cookoff? That is exactly what Sandhills Community College in Pinehurst, NC did. 

The college’s commemoration also included music, spoken word, and other activities. The main attraction was a campus cookoff, which follows a long tradition of including food events as the commemoration of Juneteenth spread even before today when it officially became a federal holiday. 

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 — two months after the Confederacy had surrendered — when U.S. soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Blacks in Galveston, Texas. On that date, Gen. Gordon Granger issued a general order that proclaimed freedom for the enslaved in Texas. The Emancipation Proclamation had freed anyone enslaved in most areas of the Confederacy almost 2½ years earlier, but the proclamation’s decree was not being upheld in the Galveston and other areas of Texas. 

This pulled pork was one of the top entries.

For the cookoff, four teams signed up to compete in three categories: chicken, beef, and pork. Each entry was judged in the areas of appearance, taste/flavor, tenderness, and texture by a group of four judges.

This chicken entry came complete with Texas toast and grilled zucchini.

I was fortunate to be invited to the cookoff as a judge. The three other judges were the college president, a member of the faculty, and a member of the staff. We were each impressed with the top-quality entries that the teams prepared and submitted. 

A team leader slices tenderloin just off the cooker to prepare the pork entry.

The leader of each team was a member of the college’s faculty or staff and was assisted by coworkers. Although the competition was limited to college personnel, their barbecue was as superior as that prepared by competitive cooking teams, and the college’s teams were equally serious about winning. 

Another team leader completes the cooking while it looks like he has enough supervisors.

The cooking teams and organizers had not been involved in a cookoff before. However, the rules prepared for the competition were very complete, and the procedures (e.g., scoring, judging, meat turn-in) were typical of competitive events. 

College employees gather under a picnic shelter to enjoy samples of some of the entries.

Less than five hours after the cookoff had ended, Juneteenth officially became a federal holiday on June 19 every year and will be known as Juneteenth National Independence Day to commemorate the end of slavery in 1865. What a great day today was for barbecue fans, the college, and the country.

The first entry required a lot of concentration. Photo by Laura Hill.

Heading to Florida for Barbecue

Trophies await the successful cooking teams.

Where in a new year should the first barbecue contest be? Why not Florida? When I was considering the early contests of the year, the idea of being in Florida seemed like a winner. Regardless of the temperatures elsewhere, the climate in January in Florida usually is better. Although great-tasting barbecue is the best reason to be a judge in a contest, I confess that temperatures in January are a major consideration.

The best vehicle belongs to Swinos Competition BBQ Team, which also shows off its trophies.

For Christmas, I wrapped my wife a map of Florida. “What does this mean?” she asked as she opened it. “Barbecue, of course,” was my answer. The location was Lakeland, home of a barbecue competition since 1997. The Lakeland Pigfest is unusual in many respects – long-standing tradition of the event, the high number of cooking teams that compete (which also requires a lot of judges), and the organizers’ ability to raise money for charity.

Tigertown in Lakeland is the home of the Pigfest.

What began as a small festival has grown into a major regional event attended by more than 30,000. The crowd keeps growing each year in part because the pigfest has no admission charge (only a parking fee) and cooking teams are encouraged to sell their barbecue at the event. However, cash sales are not permitted. Instead Pig Bucks are the tender for the day. When the festival ends, the organizers keep 20 percent for charities and return the other 80 percent to the cooking teams.

Pig Bucks are the currency to buy anything at the festival,

So many cooking teams apply, the festival now has two divisions: “pro” for very competitive teams and early registrants, and “backyard” for all others. Because the number of teams in the pro division is limited, the backyard contest includes many excellent teams as well as local teams who are improving their competitive skills. Because both divisions follow the rules of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, each one is a sanctioned event.

More than 30,000 attend the Lakeland Pigfest.

At the 19th annual pigfest that I attended, more than 170 cooking teams turned in their best barbecue in the four KCBS-sanctioned categories: chicken, pork ribs, pork, and beef brisket. I was one of the judges for the backyard contest. At the table where I was assigned, other judges have been organizers of events in other states, long-term master judges who have been at more than 100 events, and novices who were judging for the first time.

Judges relax in Hanger #2 of Tigertown before cooking teams turn in their first entries.

Being at the Lakeland Pigfest showed me how a community can successfully use a barbecue contest to benefit its area. The festival has given more than $1 million to local charities, and its “pro” winner is the Florida state champion. In addition to the contests for adult cooking teams, a special competition for only children has been held since 2004 to nurture their interests in preparing barbecue.

The kids competition, a popular part of the Pigfest, guarantees young winners.

Being in Lakeland was a great way to enjoy barbecue festivities, participate as a judge, and appreciate the warm temperatures of Florida in January. It’s a plan that needs to be repeated.

The Swine Dynasty cooking team displays trophies won at past events.