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 Saturday morning's events began with a blessing by John Means.
The Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) participants prepared
chicken, pork ribs, pork, and beef brisket. According to rules on
the KCBS website, contest must submit six portions of meat in an
approved container, and the chicken, pork and brisket may be
chopped, pulled, sliced, or diced; while ribs must be turned in
bone-in.
Teams this year were from various parts of Illinois, Missouri,
Arkansas, Iowa and Indiana.
Many teams travel around Illinois and throughout the Midwest to
participate in competitions with the competition circuit lasting
from April to September each year.
The Sleepy Hollow team from Mountain Home Arkansas with members Mark
and Matt, joined the Lincoln competition for the first time. They
have been competing on the BBQ circuit for six years, travelling to
Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee and
Alabama.
The team said, "We play with different sauces and spices. Some like
it spicy and some like it tangy." They use trash can drums for
cooking.
The Sauced -N- Smoked team from Peoria has members Dave Swanson,
Rafael Escobedo, Bill Edwards, and Chad Doty. The team was competing
for the second year and were the reigning Anything Goes champions.
The team has also competed in Morton and Peoria.
 Swanson said "Our meats are prepped with love. We make our own
sauces and mix it up each time for the rubs."
Another team competing for the second year is Moor King BBQ from
Peoria with members Corey Eadie, David Macak, Justin Day and Will
Galloway. For the past three years, the team has been in BBQ
competitions in places such as Brimfield.
Moor King BBQ uses a cooker made by Corey Eadie's grandfather in
Texas. Eadie said, "We make our own rub and use a mixture of
sauces." Macak said, "The secret ingredient is love."
The DanDy BBQ team made up of Doug Ritterbush and Duane Petty of
Lincoln is competing for the third year. Ritterbush and Petty use a
special blend of spices and rubs on their meats. They won the
Backyard BBQ the first year it was part of the contest and soon
decided to enter KCBS competitions.
The DanDy BBQ team has also competed in Arthur, Morton, Dwight,
Brimfield and Oakford. Though they have not won KCBS competitions,
Ritterbush said, "We're in it to win it."
Another Lincoln team is Bear Down Smoking BBQ with members Rick
Freed, Chad Emberton and Doug Butler They have also competed in
Dwight and Leroy.
Freed said, "Trade secrets make the BBQ special, but what makes it
(competing) special is the fun we have."
Rural Route BBQ's Jeremiah Burris is from McLeansboro,
Illinois. He won grand champion at a competition in Missouri last
week. It is his fifth season to compete.
Burris said, "I use my own rubs and sauces. There are lots of
different ways to cook it."
Three Smoking Stooges Royal Oak Charcoal team with Jason, Jesse and
Grant, has been competing all six years of "Up in
Smoke" The team has also competed at Westmont, Elk Grove and Arthur.
They won fifth in pork last year.
Three Smoking Stooges uses a different combination of sauces and
rubs.
Backyard Barbeque
The Fourth Annual Backyard BBQ competition sponsored by Royal Oak,
offers the opportunity for amateurs to showcase their BBQ talents.
This year, there was about 18 teams. These teams cook pork, ribs and
chicken. Some of the teams also vied for a people's choice award for
ribs.
No Limit's Matthew Evans entered the backyard competition for the
first time. Evans has cooked for the Middletown Methodist Church
fundraiser. He hopes to open a food truck some day. Evans said, I
make my own sauces, both spicy and non-spicy, and everyone who has
tried it loves it."
Pack –N- a Charge BBQ with Shawn and Shannon Kelly, were in the
backyard competition for the second year. They placed fourth in ribs
last year. Shannon Kelly said, "We have been in a few other
competitions and are looking to improve. We make our own rubs.
Homemade rub is the key to good barbeque."
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Another team competing for the second year was Backdraft BBQ Crew
with Ryan and Katie Lemme. Katie Lemme said, "Ryan does a lot of
cooking and smoking meat at home, so we decided to compete. We use a
blend of spices."
Double D's Rock Shack BBQ with members Dante, Dakin, and Dayne
Dalpaos has been in the competition every year. They won first place
for chicken in 2014 and second place for chicken in 2015. The team
uses their own rub for ribs and a special blend of secret sauces.
Kid's Que
This year was the second one for the Kid's Que competition. The
competition has two age groups with one for children 7-11 and
another group for 12-15 year olds.
All the children are provided with ground beef patties, but the
cooking and staging of the patties for presentation is left entirely
up to the child.
Many of the teams competed last year and most of the children said
they compete mainly for fun.
Last year's winners
Tanner Strampp and Trent Butterfield of Team Red, White, and Blue
BBQ. The boys said, "We are back to defend our title."
Jackson Mathon and
Prescott Davis of Country Boys BBQ "enjoy cooking and grilling."
Jake Griffin and Jaden Klopp of Killing It and Grillin It enjoy both
"cooking and competing."
Malina and Marin Luckhart of Little Nuthatch learned to cook from
their parents, who own Nuthatch Hill BBQ. Their father, Brad,
competes in the "Up in Smoke on the Square" and other KCBS contests.
Adrienna Reynolds and Mia Boughton of Grills Gone Wild, "just have a
lot of fun." They won a prize in the 7-11 age group last year.
Isaiah Wahab of That One Brown Kid is in it "just for fun and loves
cooking."
Burke Wilkin and Cadge Kingsley of Guardians of the Grill came back
"because it is fun and we are good at cooking."
Jack Graue and Elijah Burton of Let's Kick Some Ash each have a
different role. Graue chose the recipe and Burton is good with
sauces and spices.
Dylan Duvall of Kill It and Grill entered for the first time. Duvall
"enjoys grilling."
All the competitors worked hard at grilling and enjoyed this past
weekend filled with new and renewed old friendships, good-natured
ribbing and great food.
[Angela Reiners]
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