Business Partners Compete Against Each Other For Charities

Turn-in boxes contained four ribs and enough pork BBQ for four judges to take a sample.

Brew-B-Q

Now in its seventh year, Brew-B-Q continues to set high marks for raising funds for local charities and providing an outstanding format for local pitmasters to compete against each other in two meat categories: pork BBQ and pork ribs. The local charities benefiting from the contest this year were The Salvation Army of Wake County and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Business partners competed against each other for bragging rights.

Pork BBQ and Pork Ribs

Boston butts and ribs were provided to each cooking team for the judging. Three teams of judges followed the blind judging rules of the N.C. Pork Council for its Whole Hog Barbecue Series, although the event wasn’t a sanctioned contest.

Pitmasters await the results of the judging.

 

Subcontractors And Business Partners Compete

Sponsored by the general contracting company Brasfield & Gorrie, the competition pits teams organized by its subcontractors and business partners against each other. In addition to bragging rights, the prizes for winners are huge trophies and gas BBQ grills for the winners in each division: Boss Hog, Hog, and Piglet. Registration fees for these divisions, respectively, were $5,000, $4,000, and $2,000. The big prize for the Boss Hog winner was a 60-by-36-inch grill.

Huge trophies are ready for the winners.

I was a judge in the Piglet division, which had the most cooking teams registered. This event was the third time that I was able to participate; the contests in 2022 and 2024 were also great events.

The top team in each division also took home a highly coveted grill.

Funds For Charities

Brasfield & Gorrie has created an amazing community event that strengthens its business relationships as it raises funds for charities. The judges appreciate the superb organization of the event and the hospitality of the organizers. The atmosphere was lively, and the cooking teams were having as much fun as the judges.

Three tables of judges, with the Boss Hog judges in the forefront. Photo: John Gibbons.

N.C. Companies Cook Barbecue To Raise Money For Charities

A table of trophies is ready for the awards ceremony.

The general contracting company Brasfield & Gorrie does amazing work as they envision, build, and manage construction projects. It also does amazing work with rallying interest by corporate teams in cooking barbecue to benefit local charities.

Cooking teams stay busy for hours preparing their entries.

Pork Ribs and Pork Barbecue

For the sixth consecutive year, Brasfield & Gorrie held its annual charity cookoff known as Brew-B-Q that included two meat categories: pork ribs and pork barbecue. Boston butts and ribs were provided to each cooking team for the judging, and extra butts were cooked as well for a people’s choice contest. In addition to the BBQ cookoff, the charity event included a chicken wing competition. Additional events added for this year included a ribeye cooking competition and poker tournament.

A full schedule of activities.

Cooking Teams

Brew-B-Q has increased in popularity as a successful charity fundraiser, and about 40 teams participated. Subcontractors, business contacts, and other companies and friends in Brasfield & Gorrie’s professional network sponsored the cooking teams. The cookoff was held in three divisions: Boss Hog, Hog, and Piglet. Cooking teams contribute $5,000, $4,000, and $2,000, respectively, to register in a division.

The High Caliber Cue team, which won second place in the pork category of the 10 teams in the Boss Hog Division, unwraps and cuts ribs for their entry. Photo: Chad Farmer via Facebook.

Although the entry fees are high, impressive trophies awaited winners of each division plus a winner in each meat category for each division, and proceeds of the event—expected to be about $100,000—are contributed to The Salvation Army and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Blind Judging

Although the event wasn’t sanctioned by the N.C. Pork Council, the judges used its blind judging rules and scoresheets of its Whole Hog Barbecue Series. The judges didn’t know which teams had cooked the samples that they were evaluating. Each judge received a single sample box from each team in the division. Each box contained a Boston butt pork sample and a pork rib sample, and a separate scoresheet was used for each sample.

Scoresheets are ready for the judges.

Brasfield & Gorrie has created a great tradition of raising money while having a great time as cooking teams showcase their best talents for preparing pork ribs and pork barbecue. The cooking teams obviously enjoyed each other’s company as they seriously competed for top honors. For the judges, it was an honor to participate in this event.

Charity BBQ Cookoff in Raleigh, NC

Impressive trophies are ready for the winning Brew-B-Q teams to receive.

What is the best way to raise money for charities? Brasfield & Gorrie, a general contracting company, may have the best idea: Recruit companies that do business with them to compete in a barbecue cookoff and have them donate an entry fee for the right to participate.

Cooking teams were set up in the parking lot next to the Woman's Club of Raleigh.

Brasfield & Gorrie Recruits Brew-B-Q Teams

For four consecutive years, Brasfield & Gorrie has raised a lot of money for charities in the Raleigh, NC, area. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, its Brew-B-Q was not suspended. It continues to be very successful and now recruits 40 teams to participate. The charity BBQ cooking contest is its largest outreach program.

Several cooking teams brought large smokers to the contest.

Charity Event for Brasfield & Gorrie

In the Raleigh area for 30 years and with offices in 13 cities in eight states, Brasfield & Gorrie has a revenue of $4 billion annually and 3,000 employees. The cooking teams it recruited were sponsored by subcontractors, business contacts, and other companies and friends in the professional network of Brasfield & Gorrie. The event last year raised $74,000 for charities, which include The Salvation Army of Wake County and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

L.L. Vann Electric, a subcontractor to Brasfield & Gorrie, proudly displays its trophy for winning the Piglet division last year.

Cookoff Divisions

This year a new division — Boss Hog — was added to the contest. The other two divisions were Hog and Piglet. The Boss Hog section was reserved for teams that had placed among the top five teams in the other two divisions last year. It was limited to 10 teams, and each team donated at least $5,000 to enter. The Hog division had 15 teams; each donated at least $4,000. The Piglet division also had 15 teams; each donated at least $2,000.

Winners of each division also received a grand prize.

Judging Activities

Judging activities, coordinated by lead judge Lubin Prevatt who recruited the other 10 judges, were held in the Raleigh office of Brasfield & Gorrie. I judged in the Piglet division with Tim Croom and Owen Jackson, whom I know from previous whole hog barbecue contests. Each judge received a single sample box from each team in the division. Each box contained a Boston butt pork sample and a pork rib sample, and a separate scoresheet was used for each sample. 

Judging activities were held in the conference rooms of Brasfield & Gorrie.

The entries were quite competitive. An unusual surprise in a box was a pickle slice to “cleanse” the palate between sampling pork barbecue first and a rib next. Some boxes came with a green garnish; the most unusual one was a large collard leaf that covered the meat samples. It was intended to be on the bottom of the box. Because the box had been labeled upside down, it was on the top instead when I opened it.

Where's the meat? (Under the leaf.)

Blind Judging

Unlike whole hog contests sanctioned by N.C. Pork Council in its Whole Hog Barbecue Series where judges visit each site to evaluate a cooking team’s results, the judging for this event was “blind.”

Makela, the event coordinator, keeps a watchful eye over everything from team setup to judging activities.

The judges complied with the council’s requirements for blind judging (although the event wasn’t sanctioned by the Pork Council), and they used its blind judging rules and scoresheets. As a result, the judges didn’t know which teams had cooked the samples that they were evaluating. Boxes were randomly numbered to mask the identities of the teams.

Official scoresheets of N.C. Pork Council were used.

The cooking teams were obviously having a great time during the competition. They arrived early and stayed late, and the sounds of laughter and joking continued to echo throughout the cooking sites. The afternoon was a great one for the charities, Brasfield & Gorrie and its business partners, and the judges.

Cooking teams mingle as they wait to learn their scores.

Whole Hog Cookoff in an Urban Park

Music played throughout the day on the stage of Midtown Park at North Hills.

Imagine green space encircled by cooking teams competing in a whole hog cookoff. Now place that scene in a dense urban area with high-rise commercial and residential buildings towering over the teams. You are now in Raleigh, NC, for the Fourth Annual Kickin’ It Country Whole Hog Cookoff in Midtown Park at North Hills.

Cooking teams set up between Midtown Park and the commercial and residential buildings of North Hills.

If I was much younger, North Hills would be the place where I would spend time (and money), and many younger people do just that. It’s an innovative hub of activities that offers many ways to shop, eat, play, work, and live.

High-rise residential buildings surrounding Midtown Park overlook the cooking teams.

A mixed-used development, North Hills includes stores, restaurants, entertainment, commercial offices, residential units, and even a continuing care retirement community. For one day each year, the play area of Midtown Park is the home to a popular whole hog cookoff.

Lee Meeks (left), John Gibbons (obscured), and I evaluate skin crispness at a cooker.

For the fourth annual rendition of the cookoff, 15 teams registered. They included past annual state champions, winners at other regional events, and even a newcomer or two. All showed the superior skills needed to compete in a whole hog contest, and judging their pigs accurately required concentration and diligence.

John Gibbons (left), Lee Meeks (right), and I finish our evaluation at a site.

For the judging, I worked with John Gibbons of Holly Springs and Lee Meeks of Newport. They both brought to the cookoff a deep appreciation for the skills that a successful cooking team must possess as well as an thorough understanding of the scoring criteria established by the North Carolina Pork Council, which sanctions this and all other whole hog cookoffs that culminate in the Whole Hog Barbecue Championship each year.

Lee Meeks (right) and I evaluate moisture as pitmaster Chris Fineran (left) looks on.

The top three winners in the Fourth Annual Kickin’ It Country Cookoff were Kevin and Dana Peterson of Showtime’s Legit BBQ (first place); Chris Fineran and Steve Sumner of Beach Boys BBQ (second); and Ernest Twisdale, Stephen Twisdale, and George Collins of Grill Father Cooking Team. Each is now qualified to advance to the championship cookoff next fall and compete for the honor of being proclaimed the state champion and admitted into the Whole Hog Hall of Fame.

John Gibbons (right) and I complete our scoring sheets at a site.

However, the Hall of Fame already includes the lead pitmasters of these three teams. Kevin Peterson was the 2017 state champion; Chris Fineran, 2016; and Ernest Twisdale, 2015. In addition, Roy Parker, pitmaster of Old Hickory, the fourth place team, was admitted in 2006 when he won the state championship that year. These credentials and the high scores they earned this year show how very competitive the cookoff was.

John Gibbons (left), Lee Meeks (center), and I relax after all the scoring sheets have been completed.

In fact, the scores for the top three winners were exceptionally high. The highest score that a team can earn from one judge is 360 points. The top team scored 1,010 out of a possible 1,080 points. Only 10 points separated the top three teams, and the fourth and fifth place teams themselves were only a few points behind the leaders.

Kevin Peterson of Showtime's Legit BBQ accepts the first-place trophy from Ashley Stallings, cookoff organizer.

Midtown Park at North Hills is the place to be on the first Saturday each June. The barbecue cookoff competition is superior, and after the judging is over, the barbecue is served as a fundraiser for a major local charity. For the other 364 days of the year, North Hills is still the place to be for shopping, eating, playing, working, and living.

Proceeds from BBQ plates sold after judging activities ended benefit the Raleigh Police Memorial Foundation.

Shadowing Judges at a Whole Hog Cookoff

For some time, I’ve wanted to judge barbecue cooked in the “whole hog” style and add those skills to my credentials as a judge. The opportunity developed quickly when a training judge invited me to shadow him at a contest sanctioned by the North Carolina Pork Council.

Cooking whole hog has been part of the barbecue history and heritage in North Carolina for more than 300 years. To determine the best whole hog cooks, the N.C. Pork Council conducts a series of events from March through September in its Whole Hog Barbecue Series, which celebrates the history and artistry of whole hog cooking. Top finishers in each event are invited to compete in the fall in a Whole Hog Championship, which the Pork Council has conducted since 1985.

Chief cooks listen as Jim Bristle, contest president, explains procedures at organizational meeing.

At each event, judges certified by the Pork Council evaluate all the cooked pigs. The evaluation criteria are very specific, and a standard scoring sheet provides consistency and uniformity. More than taste is important. One significant criterion of judging a cooked pig is color, which should be golden brown. In addition to appearance and brownness, the pig is scored for skin crispness, meat and sauce taste, moisture, and completeness.

When a pig is not perfectly golden brown, points are deducted for charred areas.

For an event to be sanctioned by the Pork Council, at least 10 cooks need to participate. At the Newport Pig Cookin’ Contest in 2016 where I shadowed a training judge, 77 cooks participated (and more than 100 have participated there in previous years). Judging began promptly at 8 a.m. and lasted well past noon because the judges had so many pigs to evaluate. As a result, Newport, the longest-running and largest whole hog cookoff in North Carolina, is an excellent preparation for judging future events.

Judges conduct a thorough evaluation of each cooked pig.

Each team cooks a “whole hog,” which is split down the middle without head and feet. It weighs about 100 pounds, although I did see a couple that were much larger (114 pounds). At Newport, most teams cook with propane gas, although some traditional cooks use wood or charcoal.

The crowd enjoys barbecue by center stage in the Newport Community Park.

Watching the four judges poke, prod, flip, taste, and evaluate 77 cooked pigs gives me more experience than I expected and is a great starting point for future events. In addition, seeing the dedication and enthusiasm of the cooks gives me a greater appreciation for their importance in a barbecue competition. Now that I’m certified, I’m now looking forward to my first judging opportunity at a “whole hog” cookoff.

A young cook, hopeful of winning the $100 prize for best cook under the age of 18, watches as the judges evaluate his cooked pig.

Note: A related article that I wrote about the Newport Pig Cookin' was later published on line by the North Carolina Folklife Institute.

Bum's in Ayden

The huge pile of cut wood captured my attention as I drove north on West Avenue in Ayden, NC, towards the center of the business district. In a mostly nondescript paved parking lot, the pile guarantees that a barbecue pitmaster is onsite.

Although smoke usually is seen first, the wood pile outside Bum's tells you that good barbecue is inside.

Bum’s Restaurant lies in the heart of the Ayden Historic District, which was listed in 1994 on the National Register of Historic Places. Bum’s obviously contributes to the historic credentials of Ayden, but it contributes even more to the legacy of whole hog cooking in eastern North Carolina.

Bum's Restaurant is in the heart of the historic district of Ayden, NC.

Bum’s opened in 1966 in a town as famous for collards as it is for wood-cooked barbecue. When Latham “Bum” Dennis began his restaurant, he drew upon family cooking styles that date to the 1930s. Now operated by his second and third generation family members, the restaurant still serves fresh vegetable sides that are family grown: cabbage, black-eyed peas, rutabagas and collards. Although the sides are remarkable, customers arrive wanting barbecue, which is chopped bigger than that prepared at the equally famous Skylight Inn, operated by a cousin, also in Ayden.

Garden fresh vegetables, as promoted in the sign, distinguish Bum's from other BBQ establishments.

The Dennis family claim to be descendants of the first U.S. barbecue operators. Skilten Dennis, an early ancestor (born in 1842), started selling smoked hog meat and cornbread out of a wagon in the mid-1800s. The legacy continues today in Bum’s that N.C. writer Daniel Wallace describes as “unpretentious as a middle school cafeteria.”

The unpretentious counter of Bum's is where many customers enjoy their favorite barbecue and vegetables.

After the smokehouse in the back of the restaurant was engulfed in flames in early January, Larry Dennis (the second-generation operator) returned Bum’s to full working order in the first renovations to the complex. Given the honor of lighting the new wood stove in May was Billy Parker of Parker’s Barbecue in Greenville, NC, another family-run whole hog restaurant in eastern North Carolina. With the renovations complete, Bum’s continues to build to its legacy and history.

Bum's brags about its new "coalmaker" on its Facebook page.

At Bum’s, history comes alive one plate at a time. Usually it’s surrounded by smoke too.

The Capital of ‘Cue

The drive to Ayden, NC, had been a journey I wanted to take for some time. I initially became aware of the small town in rural Pitt County because it’s the home of the official N.C. Collard Festival, a four-day extravaganza in August. The town of fewer than 5,000 expands with several more thousands who line the streets to watch the annual parade and participate in other festival events.

The silver dome marks "the Capital of Barbecue."

Throughout the rest of the year, the historic Skylight Inn attracts almost the same large crowds. It boasts that it’s “The Capital of Barbecue” and even proudly tops its building with a dome replica of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Some of Skylight’s bragging rights date to the 1980s when founder Pete Jones went to the Washington, DC, and defeated a team from South Carolina in a barbecue cooking contest. In addition, National Geographic has proclaimed that Skylight Inn is the “capital of ‘cue,” and the N.C. BBQ Society starts its barbecue trail at Skylight.

Chop, chop, chop are the sounds you hear when you enter the Skylight Inn.

The signature chopped whole hog (with the crisp skin mixed in) is seasoned with a little salt, pepper, vinegar and hot sauce and nothing else. When you walk in, you hear the constant rhythmic sounds of chop, chop, chop. As you stand in front of the counter, you watch as a huge pile of pork barbecue is chopped by a member of the kitchen staff. The chopping board is part of the spectacle of Skylight Inn, but it also conveys a message, just like the “Hot Now” light at Krispy Kreme. Whole hogs cooked had been cooked all night (for about 16 hours) in open brick pits heated by scoops of hot coals.

A historic family recipe is used to make the skillet cornbread.

The skillet cornbread tastes just like the mid-1800s because Skylight Inn uses a family recipe that dates to 1830 and the initial creation of Skilten Dennis, an early ancestor who began cooking whole hogs in the area. Made with drippings from barbecued hogs, the dense bread is somewhat greasy, soft on the inside but has a crust on the outside.

A tray of barbecue includes cornbread and cole slaw -- everything made according to family traditions.

Often referred to as “Jones’ Barbecue” in deference to Pete Jones, who began the restaurant (as well as the other Joneses who have followed him), Skylight Inn is unpretentious -- except for the big dome on top. The menu still reflects his character and offers a choice of a BBQ sandwich or tray. Money is also handled in an old-fashioned way – piled on the back counter rather than being placed in a cash register. Having not changed since 1947, Skylight Inn, named by Pete Jones after his experience of flying small airplanes from the airstrip behind the restaurant, remains authentic to its traditions.

Bruce Jones (left) introduced himself to me as the "father of Samuel ... and son of Pete."

When Pete (born Walter B. Jones but always known by his nickname) died in 2006, his son Bruce embraced the challenge of continuing the family’s barbecue traditions. Now the notoriety has been passed to his son Samuel, who in an interview with A Chef's Life said, "If the sign says BBQ and you don't see any smoke, you probably ought to keep on driving. In fact, when I met Bruce Jones, he introduced himself as the “father of Samuel, the young one featured on the cooking shows, and son of Pete.”

Skylight Inn is one of the few American restaurants that displays a James Beard award.

Even with the expanded recognition, the display wall of mementos near the counter doesn’t seem to have been updated since the early 1980s. On a far wall is displayed with little fanfare a medal from the James Beard Foundation, which celebrates and honors the nation’s diverse culinary heritage. The foundation selects the most beloved regional restaurant each year by bestowing the America’s Classic designation, which Skylight received in 2003. The award recognizes timeless appeal and quality food served at a locally owned and modestly priced restaurant that reflects the character of its community.

The letter from N.C. Gov. Hunt proclaims Skylight Inn as the "king" after winning the contest in Washington, D.C.

The visit to Skylight Inn is like a journey back in time. It is an American classic that earns its high praise for good reason.

The woodpile in the back is
proof of traditional cooking.

Coals are made in the fireplaces.

The line of customers frequently
extends out the door.

The pit is where good cooking happens.