Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown

 

Rocky Mount just hosted the Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS).  And on recommendation of our good friend Robert, our fam headed down there one afternoon for lunch to check it out.  DEFINITELY one of the coolest things I've done in my 4 months as a Tarheel!

The first thing you see is that this BBQ competition is being filmed for a TV show.

These BBQ professionals compete in the following categories: pork, chicken, brisket, and ribs.  We participated in what's called the People's Choice Award.  You buy these BBQ bucks and turn them in at each table to receive a 2-ounce sample of the competitor's pulled pork.  Although there are over 45 teams competing in the different categories, only 14 were running for the People's Choice.  So we tasted all 14.  Then you get to fill-out a ballot and vote for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd favorite.

Above: the beautiful, fired glass trophy that the People's Choice winner receives.

Most competitors simply hand you a cup of meat, and then have the sauces out on table so you can add them as you like.  They offered many vinegar-based sauces (because this IS Eastern North Carolina), but also had a few sweet sauces.  I prefer vinegar, Tim prefers sweet.  The tastes of the sauces were varied: sweet, spicy, or sour.  One thing that all the competitors had in common, though, was that all the meat was tender enough to melt in your mouth.  You literally did not have to chew some of those porks!

 So besides having great BBQ, how do the competitors coax folks into voting for them???

The most obvious thing was to be very, very sweet to you when you were picking-up your sample.  

 People also decorated their tables in memorable ways, such as carving this jack-o-lantern into a pig.  

 Others dressed in...interesting....costumes.

My personal favorite were the teams that overloaded their sample cups until it was running over!

 But one of the neatest things about the competition was the AMAZING smokers the teams had.  This one was from a team in Georgia.

 

 Many of the teams had trucks and trailers that matched their smokers, and they came-off looking like racing teams.  Some of these teams were very high-end and had big-time sponsorships.

 But big or small, some of the teams had great names!

This team from Chapel Hill (above) was comprised of college students who didn't even have a sign:  they hung one of their t-shirts up as their sign.  But even though they were poor college students, at least I know they aren't starving.

A great lunch was had by all.  I look forward to next year's event!
http://www.bbqthrowdown.net/