Grillmasters get ready to fire away
Meet the meatheads from this year's Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ competition.
Published Sept. 30, 2008
They are coming with charcoal, lighter fluid, sixth-generation secret family spice rub recipes and a competitive spirit. They are the 58 teams participating in this year's Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ Competition, who will present their dishes to the Kansas City Barbeque Society, and you can bet they know their 'cue. Meet some of Columbia's home teams.
Tiger Dawg BBQ
Combine Midwestern sensibilities with Southern hospitality, and you get the Tiger Dawg BBQ approach in a nutshell.
Dan Fowler and longtime friend Greg Jarvis have been barbecuing together for the past 15 years. But it wasn't until this year that they were finally persuaded to pursue their hobby competitively. After years of cooking at various get-togethers, family and friends insisted that their barbecue was worthy of competitions. Fowler and Jarvis have no expectations for their first competition, but do think they will do well at the Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ Festival.
The name Tiger Dawg BBQ comes from a combination of the Missouri Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs, which accurately reflects their combination of a Missouri barbecue taste and a southern Georgia style, the latter influence coming from Jarvis, a Georgia native. It took years of tweaking recipes and trading family secrets for Fowler and Jarvis to refine their own style, a unique flavor with diverse homemade rubs. The rubs are an important aspect of Tiger Dawg BBQ's approach.
"We make ours different and use different elements to make it unique," Fowler says. "We're counting on the judges to like something distinct."
The right equipment is just as vital, Jarvis says, and maintaining the moisture in the meat is a crucial part of the smoking process. Though he expects to see many varieties of smokers at the competition, Jarvis says he thinks investing in the right equipment can make all the difference.
In the four categories of the competition - ribs, chicken, pork and brisket - Fowler and Jarvis don't pick favorites. But if they do well in any of the categories, the Tiger Dawg BBQ team would happily return to the next festival. Though they are very serious about what they cook, they still view barbecuing as a hobby first.
Alchemy BBQ
Sometimes, entry into the barbecuing game can be the result of happenstance.
Mark Johnston and Mike Watson found themselves in possession of a meat smoker after a friend sold it to them three years ago. And since then, smoking meat has been a hobby for the two and their wives, Karen and Melissa. Weekend summer barbecues have become a part of their family lives. But this year, the four of them took a summer recreational activity to the next level and started the Alchemy BBQ team to enter their first competition.
Johnston, who has never been to a competition, says he and the team are in it for the fun and the enjoyment of barbecuing. The families enjoy barbecuing a couple times a month, especially in the summer. And about two or three times a year they will barbecue for church gatherings at Woodcraft Chapel. It wasn't just the positive response by church members and family alike that got them into the competition, but Watson and his family enjoyed being at the Roots 'N Blues fest last year so much so that they signed up to be a part of the good time.
As far as specialties and favorites go, Johnston says he would be happy doing well in any category of the competition and would be even happier to return next year.
Mizzou BBQ Team
The barbecue competition isn't just for townies anymore. A group of students have joined in on the fun.
The Mizzou BBQ Team competes in two to three competitions per semester, including Roots 'N Blues 'N BBQ, and they sometimes have a hard time deciding on which competitions to take on. The team also cooks at events on campus such as the homecoming competition and various charity events, including a tailgating barbecue they host to raise money for leukemia research. The team is motivated to do well at the festival because a good placing in this competition can earn a team a spot in one of the state championship events.
"It is my goal to go to one before I graduate," says team coordinator Geoff Brooke, now in his second year on the team.
Brooke says the team knows their priorities in the competition.
"We're aiming for the ribs," he says. "We really want top five in the ribs."
Over the past three years, the Mizzou BBQ Team has placed in the top five in various events, including a first-place finish in the brisket competition at the 2006 Bass Pro Competition and a fourth-place finish in chicken at the Hermann BBQ and Brats Festival. Their top finishes in previous competitions make a state championship appearance an achievable goal for the future. But as a student organization, these competitors don't have time on their side. Team members will often have to leave class early on Friday and stay up all night cooking at any given weekend competition.
"Sometimes we could have to stay up for 36 hours straight," Brooke says. Their acquired barbecue style is the result of everyone on the team's liking, from the cooking time to the homemade rubs. And when it comes to rubs, the team will either buy meat rubs and modify them to their liking, or make their own homemade style, a combination of the entire team's taste and technique. Brooke says everyone on the team brings something different to the table. "We all collectively work together, and it's all collaborative," Brooke says.
Muddy River Boys
After a successful run at the inaugural Roots 'N Blues festival, the Muddy River Boys are hungry for more. Last year, the team placed third in the chicken competition and sixth in pork. Member Clint Eastin says the group doesn't specialize in a specific type of meat, but their pork has been the most consistent. But the team will need to up their game in more than pork; this year, they're looking to place in the top five overall.
David Snodgrass, Clint Eastin and Eastin's father, L.T., have been barbecuing for seven years. Clint Eastin says he was first inspired to try a barbecue competition after seeing a show on television about it. He thought he'd like to try it out and jumped right into the world of barbecuing along with his father and two friends. The group put up a good effort in their first competition and finished in the middle of the pack, which is above average for a first time barbecue competitor.
With more experience under his belt and the assistance of Snodgrass and his father, the Muddy River Boys are aiming for the top five, which would require the team to place well in all four categories. And Eastin knows his way around food: he has worked as a cook for the past 20 years, including five years as a sous chef at MU at the Dobbs Pavilion dining hall.
Although the team is a formidable outfit together, they do compete individually on occasion. The team will be split in the upcoming Bass Pro BBQ competition, when Eastin and Snodgrass will compete against each other, all in good fun. "My only goal is to beat him," Eastin says.