A New Cookoff to Start a Tradition

Duplin County in North Carolina is well known for its wines, history, museums, and festivals. After having its first whole hog cookoff that promises to be an annual tradition, the county -- big in square miles (ninth largest in the state) but small in population (58,000) -- will also be known for its competition-quality barbecue.

Showtime's Legit, the first team to be judged, awaits arrival of the judges.

The Duplin County Events Center, which hosts a variety of tourism and agricultural events, is the home to concerts, competitions, shows, tournaments, exhibitions, and other activities. The N.C. Muscadine Festival, which has been held annually each fall since 2005, was the first major event held at the center. To balance the schedule by holding a major event in the spring, a whole hog cookoff has been added. Although excellent barbecue is enticement enough to attract a sizable crowd, the organizers have also included bluegrass music and craft beer sampling. The event’s name says it all: Blue, Brew, and Cue Festival.

A pig looks perfectly prepared before the judges begin their inspection.

Because the organizers achieved sanctioning by the N.C. Pork Council for the festival, they were assured that the event would attract competitive cooks. Although the cooks want to earn bragging rights as finalists and win a festival trophy, they also want to qualify for the annual statewide championship held later in the year. When at least 10 cooks participate in a local contest sanctioned by the Pork Council, the finalists are eligible to advance and compete in the championship.

I check a temperature gauge as part of the evaluation.

For the inaugural cookoff, 20 competitors registered. Many cooks earned high scores – an indication of how competitive an inaugural contest can be. Although a few novices to the Whole Hog Barbecue Series were competing in a sanctioned event for the first time, several had been competitors in past years and achieved success in those contests. At least one competitor -- Roy Parker -- had won the annual Whole Hog Barbecue Championship (2006), and he clearly was confident. When I visited his site with the other judges for this festival, I thought the skin crispness -- one of the scoring criteria of a cookoff -- of his pig was excellent.

After judges walk away from a cooker, the pig is in shambles from the inspection.

The pigs were provided by Smithfield, a festival sponsor, to the cooks the evening before judging was conducted. Although they varied in weight from about 94 to 116 pounds, they were uniformly moist after having been cooked overnight, a phenomenal accomplishment for the cooks because contest rules prevent them from injecting the pigs or adding any sauce.

I enter the scores for one team before leaving its site.

For the contest, I teamed up with two long-term judges, Charlie Martin and Timmy Evans. Martin had been a judge at the Newport Pig Cookin’ Contest in 2016 and was one of the judges whom I shadowed as part of my certification by the Pork Council.

After the pigs are judged, meat from the cookers is brought in bins to festival volunteers who prepare for selling barbecue plates to the public.

For a first-time event, the Blue, Brew, and Cue Festival was well planned and organized. The combination of music, beer, and barbecue is a winner and should serve as a strong foundation for future cookoffs. Duplin County should soon be able to add excellent barbecue to its other tourism credentials – how appropriate for the county that has more hogs than any other in the United States. 

Photographer Katherine Clark takes pictures as I and the other judges evaluate a pig.

Note: During the judging process, I was followed by photographer Katherine Clark, who took pictures to accompany an article that I had written for OutreachNC magazine.

It's Still a Favorite

The Shindig began in 2006.

Fiddle-N-Pig Shindig in Fort Mill, SC, is becoming an annual destination, and I returned for the third consecutive year. From a judge’s perspective, this year’s event seemed like the ones in the past – efficiently run with great barbecue. However, the space for the cooking teams and the music performers was significantly improved at Anne Springs Close Greenway where the event is held. 

Bluegrass musicians performed on
the stage of thee new amphitheater.

Rather than being tightly compacted in a lawn next to the historic Dairy Barn, the cooking teams had more roomy space that seemed almost twice as large as before and took advantage of an additional area made available by relocating the amphitheater and the stage for musicians. The amphitheater was redesigned to take advantage of a nearby natural slope shaded by huge trees. A newly constructed wooden stage was much more attractive than the flatbed trailer that had been used.

People's choice contest was held indoors.

Although stormy weather was threatening for most of the day, it didn’t dissuade a crowd of bluegrass music and barbecue lovers from attending. The people’s choice competition among the cooking teams was again a main event, although this year it was moved inside the Daily Barn to avoid any potential rain (which never came).

Hands of guests are stamped with a pig design as proof of paid admission.

Walking a Swine Line won the
people's choice award.

The judges again assembled on the top floor of the historic Dairy Barn, which provides a scenic setting and ample spacing. With a total purse of $10,200 in prize money, Fiddle-N-Pig attracted 29 cooking teams. A group of 36 judges plus a complement of 6 table captains were needed to score the entries. At the table where I was a judge, the beef brisket and chicken were uniformly excellent; the pork and ribs had much more variability that was also reflected in their scores.

The Backwoods BBQ team won
the grand champion prize.

Smoke billows out of the Backwoods BBQ cooker.

MacDonald welcomes judges as
the Reids watch.

The event was efficiently run because the organizer again was Mina McLean MacDonald. She has planned the Fiddle-N-Pig competitions sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. KCBS reps again this year were Doug and Susan Reid, who are not only experienced but superior in their skills for managing competitions.

Returning to Fiddle-N-Pig gave me the opportunity to explore more small towns nearby, this time over the border in North Carolina –- Kings Mountain, Pineville, and Waxhaw. In addition, because Shelby is also close, I stopped at the famous Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge for lunch and thoroughly enjoyed the food prepared by such a historic barbecue restaurant. Being there calibrated my taste buds to be ready to judge at the Shindig.

The Hog Wild team prepares its entries.

Fiddle-N-Pig is a great event in a scenic park-like setting. If I’m lucky, I’ll return again.

The historic Dairy Barn, built in 1947, is where the judges meet.

Finding the First Opportunity to Judge

How long does it take to be selected as a judge for an event? After I had completed training and was certified as a judge by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, I was ready to judge. However, I was naïve to think that all I had to do was to select an event to attend, submit my application to judge, and wait for an acceptance notification.

A trailer brought in for the first event that I judged, is all that is needed as a music stage. 

Within days of being certified, I sent requests to judge at five events in the Carolinas that I thought would quickly develop my experience level so that I would not be a “novice” judge for too long. However, the excitement of being certified soon turned to disappointment with the notices that I received. I was being waitlisted because all judges needed had been selected or applications for judges were no longer being considered.

Cooking teams, such as this one from Waxhaw, NC, at the first event where I was a judge,
can plan far in advance for which events they compete in.

Then I realized that judges submit applications well in advance of an event and many judges who enjoy being at the same contest year after year and submit their applications soon after the event ends for the next year. In addition, because the number of judges is limited by the number of cooking teams that are competing, some contest organizers wait until about two months before an event to notify judges of their selection.

Music and food drew a large crowd at my first event.

Finally, one of my five requests bought positive news. I was selected to be a judge at a contest in Fort Mill, SC. An event that had been known as Anne Springs Close Greenway BBQ & Bluegrass Festival was being renamed as Fiddle-N-Pig Shindig and expanded to include competition sanctioned by KCBS. Only later did I learn that I was able to judge because this event was still seeking judges because this year was its inaugural sanctioning by KCBS, although the festival had been held in previous years.

Teams such as this one began setting up early for the cookoff.

The excitement of being a judge at my first event built over the weeks before the date of the festival arrived. Being at an event in Fort Mill would give me time to explore Charlotte, NC, which is nearby, and a few small towns and historic areas in upper South Carolina. The festival was held at the Annie Springs Close Greenway, a 2,100-acre nature preserve and recreation complex that offers equestrian, hiking, boating, swimming, camping, fishing, and walking activities.

Meat for the cooking team is ready the day before for the cooking teams. 

The location was perfect for a barbecue and bluegrass festival. An entry fee permitted everyone to sample barbecue and vote in a people’s choice category. Musical ensembles played on a portable stage in front of a crowd that sat on a slope that was mostly shaded when they were not walking among the cooking teams. As the music played, teams turned in their entries at the historic Dairy Barn, built in 1947, and the judges scored the entries on the second floor of the barn.

Judges beginning setting up before the first entries are turned in

Fiddle-N-Pig Shindig was a great opportunity. I got to practice the training that I had received and taste excellent barbecue. This first event motivated me to seek other contests and continue my journey as a certified KCBS judge.

Trophies at the Shindig await the winners.