Rocky Mount, NC, Recovers From Tornado To Host Barbecue Competition

The Twisted Pair BBQ team earned a perfect score of 180 points for their beef brisket entry. Photo: Twisted Pair BBQ via Facebook. 

Imagine planning to hold a barbecue cookoff on a pleasant fall weekend when an EF3 tornado arrives just days before the competition is to be held. As final planning for the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown was underway, Rocky Mount, NC, received significant damage from a tornado that rolled through the city with winds of 140 mph.

Damaged by a tornado only days earlier, the city of Rocky Mount, NC, recovered to have another successful BBQ cookoff. Photo: Fox Weather.

Tornado In Rocky Mount

The tornado was on the ground in the city for the length of about five football fields. It was associated with the remnants of Hurricane Helene, which had made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend two days earlier as a Category 4. It was the strongest tornado from the hurricane.

High winds associated with the hurricane caused extensive damage in Rocky Mount. Image: Fox Weather.

Barbecue Competition After Tornado

Nevertheless, Rocky Mount overcame the shock from having the tornado, and several days later the city again hosted Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown, which has been a superior barbecue competition for many years. I was first a judge in this cookoff in 2017 and have returned several times. It continues to be one of the best events of the year. The huge cheesecake (that has 12 slices) that each judge receives for participating clearly has not prejudiced my view. 

Chicken by Smokin’ Skullies, which was the grand champion at the last event that I judged, scored a perfect 180. Photo: Smokin’ Skullies via Facebook. 

Previously the competition had been held in the Rocky Mount Senior Center. This year brought about a change in the venue. For the first time, judges met in the Rocky Mount Event Center on Main Street. The new location provided more space for the judges as well as the cooking teams, which set up in the parking lot next to the center.

 

Smoke Central BBQ uses Heath Riles Rub for its chicken entry. Is that their secret? Photo: Smoke Central BBQ via Facebook.

Smoke Central BBQ Takes Top Honors

With $18,900 in prize money this year, the cookoff attracted many top times that compete in events sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society. This year 26 teams competed. The top team was Smoke Central BBQ from Lake City, SC. It also won first place in the chicken and pork ribs categories. In fact, it got a perfect score (180 points) for both entries—a rare achievement.

Smoke Central BBQ took for more than the grand championship honors. Photo: Smoke Central BBQ via Facebook. 

Entertainment At Cookoff

Because the event includes live music, inflatables, food trucks, and other entertainment, it's as popular for the community as the cooking teams and judges. Hopefully Rocky Mount will be spared from any more tornado damage in the future. However, the city will always be ready to host a superior barbecue cookoff.

The Rocky Mount Fire Department was on hand just to make sure that no flameups got out of hand.

Whole Hog State Championship

The place to be if you’re interested in a whole hog barbecue cookoff is Raleigh, NC, where each fall the annual state championship is held as part of the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival. The championship is the culmination of a series of barbecue cookoffs, and only the top pitmasters are invited. Each one has won or placed with top honors in a regional contest earlier in the year.

The state championship was held as part of the Wide Open Bluegrass Festival.

Each regional contest is very competitive with the champion eking out a victory over the second-place finisher usually by only a few points. The state championship is even more intense as award-winning pitmasters seek to prove who is the best of the best.

Pitmasters set up along South Street in Raleigh.

For the 2018 event, the weather couldn’t have been more favorable. The morning of judging activities was balmy and sunny as should be expected in late September in central North Carolina. However, this year the event was sandwiched by two monster hurricanes — Florence and Michael — that brought high winds and excessive rain that devastated many areas. Fortunately, the contest itself was not affected by either one.

Lots of interest developed early in the people's choice contest.

I was very happy to be a judge that morning because I have long appreciated how the series culminates in the selection of the state champion. The competition included several categories — on-site, crispy skin, and blind taste by judges certified by the N.C. Pork Council. In addition, a sauce competition was held with “celebrity” judges (writers and chefs), and a people’s choice category let the public vote for their favorites. In all, 13 different cooks won a trophy or a cash prize.

Andy Curliss (left), CEO of the N.C. Pork Council, makes sure judges are ready.

As one of the judges in the blind taste category, I sampled entries from each competitor without knowing the pitmaster. In this competition, most entries were moist with a mild vinegar-pepper flavor. Only a few entries included a piece of crispy skin, either separately with the barbecue or finely chopped into it. Every entry was definitely prepared by a champion, and differences between the scores was very limited.

Judges had an official scoresheet to complete for each entry.

Top honors as the winner of the on-site category went to Chris Fineran of Beach Boys Barbecue who as declared state champion again. He had previously won in 2016. Fineran was also the winner in the crispy skin category.

Chris Fineran of Beach Boys BBQ reigned supreme again this year.

The top two winners in the blind taste category were Mark Copeland and Billy Perry of Pocosin Boys, first place, and Ashley Wheeler of Smokin’ Black Jack BBQ, second place. Third place was a tie between Bobby Prescott of BP Country Cookers and Kevin Peterson of Showtime’s Legit BBQ. 

Only Wheeler placed in the inaugural people’s choice competition. He won second place. First place went to David Hoffman of Grilling Palms BBQ, and Brooke South of Purdy in Pink Cookin’ Team won third place.

Brooke South of Purdy in Pink Cookin' Team placed third in the people's choice contest.

As the judging activities got underway in the blind taste category, I missed seeing the pitmasters and cookers where the barbecue had been prepared. In cookoffs sponsored by the N.C. Pork Council when I have judged, I’ve been on-site with the other judges as each pitmaster watched as we evaluated the entry.

Proceeds from the sale of tickets for the people's choice contest were donated to the Interfaith Food Shuttle and Bluegrass Trust Fund.

However, I appreciate the format of the blind taste category and the objectivity that it provides because judges can’t identify pitmasters with their barbecue. Being a judge in the state championship was a very rewarding experience, and I consider myself very fortunate to be part of this special weekend.

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.

Creating a Community Spirit in Vander

A first-time competitor goes all-out in decorating with a Halloween theme at his site.

In Cumberland County of North Carolina, the unincorporated community of Vander is small -- slightly over a 1,000 residents. However, it knows how to conduct a whole hog barbecue cookoff. It has been having a competition for 14 years.

Judges (with Phil Spears, left, and Chris Hight, right) discuss procedures before visiting the cooking sites.

Conducted by the Vander Civic Association, the contest is sometimes the second largest competition sanctioned by the N.C. Pork Council (second only to Newport). In 2012, 36 cooks competed. This year 26 tested their skills. Most of the contestants were from Cumberland County and nearby areas and had competed in the Vander event in previous years. At least two cooks -- Roy Parker and Charlie Meeks -- had been finalists already this year in sanctioned contests.

Teams set up on a field that had been under water with record rainfall from Hurricane Matthew.

Several days before the cookoff was held, Hurricane Matthew inundated the area with rain as it pounded the Carolina coast. A record 14-inch rainfall caused widespread flooding, and power outages were extensive. Nevertheless, the Vander team quickly restored the field, which had been under water, so the cooking teams could set up.

Meat thermometers (at least two are required, this cooker has four) help indicate how completely a pig has been cooked.

The teams, which were contending in competition and backyard categories, didn’t seem to have been discouraged in any way by the hurricane. Some first-time contenders earned high scores, and they were just as competitive as the experienced teams. Several cooks cooked with only wood or charcoal, although that way is somewhat more difficult than with gas.

Even a smaller cooker can produce excellent results.

The cookoff has the feeling of a small town fair. In addition to the cooking teams, vendors displaying and selling arts and crafts, food, and other local products lined the walkway that encircled the field where the cooking teams were set up. Some vendors were still setting up while judging was underway, but they were ready for the public when it arrived to buy plates of barbecue and other food sold by the civic association as its major fundraiser of the year.

The judges turn a pig to check crispness, moisture, appearance, and other criteria.

For this event, I was one of three judges. One had not judged before and had only recently been certified, but he was well prepared and performed like a pro. The other one had been judging for a few years. Before we went out to judge at the cooking sites, we had a congenial and productive discussion about procedures that helped keep us on schedule as we visited each site.

Some charring usually occurs when wood or charcoal, not gas, is used for cooking, but this charring is too much.

Although it is only five miles away from the center of Fayetteville (with a population of more than 200,000), Vander still retains its rural and independent character. The civic association has developed a cadre of community leaders who work to improve local cohesiveness and spirit. Their showpiece is the Vander Pig Cookoff, the most significant annual event for the community and one that reassures them that their civic identity is very much intact.