BBQ contest winner

[jjirons69]

Some background - my dad and I have been competing 2-4 times a year for about 18 years now. We have only cooked at local competitions within an hour of his home in SC (Hemingway, Dillion, Kingstree, Mullins). It all started with a tradition of cooking pigs for Thanksgiving and Christmas for both sides of my family, which we still do. We use hickory and oak wood and cook with the coals. No gas cooking. We feel the old way tastes best. We make our own sauce, which is vinegar/tomato/pepper-based, with some brown sugar and assorted spices. We've won every place, some multiple times, and have gone home empty handed more times than not, but have never won until this weekend. Out of 68 cooking teams, we took home the giant trophy and $2000. It's always a good time, with drinks and cigars, plus a gracious helping of fellowship with family and friends. It took us a while, but we got it!

To quote a passage from the Almanac Ripper sent me - "A chicken doesn't stop scratching just because worms are scarce."


Friend's son, me (enjoying a Sancho Panza DM), dad


Dad prepping pig


Brother-in-law, family friend, me, friend's son, dad

It's a lot of work, with 12-14 hours of cooking and firing the coals every 20-30 minutes. A lot of cigars were blazed, with some special thanks going to papajohn67, tedrodgerscpa, walleyedad1, and BD Strummer. Little sleep was had. All was enjoyed!!!

Here's to many more, pops!!