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NBBQN's 2012 Sauces of Honor Awards

GOAL: Be able to share findings with readers and other barbecue enthusiasts looking for the BEST barbecue sauce to compliment a particular meat: CHICKEN – PORK – BEEF.

"This is one of the most asked questions I get as the publisher of the National Barbecue News," says Kell Phelps, "and I realize I don't have an answer, but this could change that!"

RULES
1) ALL Barbecue Sauces, including those marketed in the U.S.A. or for the World market, competition teams and backyarders are welcome.

2) This competition will include all types of bases in the same category as we are looking for the best sauce that flavors a particular meat - and not the best sauce with a particular base such as tomato, mustard, vinegar, fruit, etc., and will include both mild and spicy varieties.

3) Sauces must be labeled and homemade varieties must be sealed in a sterilized canning jar with a sealed lid. It does not have to be commercially produced. Any sauces not properly sealed will be disqualified. It is a simple process to boil your canning jar and lids, allow to dry, add your heated sauce, replace the lid with rubber gasket or seal, and allow to seal on its own.

4) Bottles or jars must be clearly marked for the category for which it is intended — CHICKEN, PORK OR BEEF.

5) Each entry must include 12 oz. or more of barbecue sauce for each category entered.

6) Please submit a separate entry form for each sauce submitted. Example: Put the correct name of the sauce and then mark the categories you wish to enter — from one to three categories. However, one bottle of at least 12 oz. much be sent for each separate category.

7) An entry fee of $30 ea. (check or credit card) must be accompanied by your shipment of sauce to: 373 Phelps Rd., Douglas, GA. 31533 (shipping address only) by any shipping company or delivered in person.

8) Deadline for entry is5 p.m. on Friday, April 14, 2012. Due to the number of entries received in the past, sauces will be judged in multiple rounds (with unseasoned meat) with top scoring sauces being moved into another round until a winner is chosen. Judges will consist of a large group of culinary and barbecue loving enthusiasts from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Judges will score from 1 to 100 depending on how well the particular sauce tastes with the meat category being judged — chicken, pork or beef. Results reported in the June issue of NBBQN.

9) Winners will receive accolades on the pages of the National Barbecue News and website. Top 10 winners in each division will receive certificates and the Grand Champion will receive a beautiful clay model of their sauce bottle, along with certificate, done by renowned area sculpture artist Regina Coffee.

To download an application, click here.

The Best of the Best National BBQ Festival

TRAVELING DOWN ROCKY’S BARBECUE ROAD
By Rocky Danner
World Barbecue Organizer
rocbbq@vallnet.com

WAYCROSS, GA - This is truly the “Greatest BBQ Show On Earth.” The Phelps Family and the Waycross Exchange Club came together once again to make this one super festival. Teams came from all around the country, a gathering of “the best of the best” championship teams to win the coveted Bell, gold medallion, cash purse and bragging rights.

Photo by Rocky Danner
Pig cooked and decorated by Chef Jeremy Fowler of the UK.

Joe, Carlene, Kell and Mitch Phelps and the officers of the Waycross Exchange Club plus a host of volunteers worked together to make this one of the best-run contests that I have had the opportunity to attend. Electricity, water, ice delivery and garbage pickup was spot on.

Kell and Carlene held the cooks meetings and Judges instruction, keeping all on the same page, in my humble opinion this is what makes this contest grow larger each year as the contestants know what to expect with no surprises except good ones. (...Read More)

Service members barbecue at sea

Photo courtesy of Amanda Pacheco/Marines Media Relations Specialist
Sgt. Humburto Barraza, left, and Cpl. Daniel J. Kearns eat barbecued ribs aboard USS Makin Island here Dec. 11. The Marines serve as combat engineers with the 11th Marine Expeditionary unit’s Battalion Landing Team 3/1. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego, Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Pacheco/Marines Media Relations Specialist
Marines and sailors with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit gather in USS Makin Island’s hangar during a barbecue here Dec. 11. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego, Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.

Photo courtesy of Amanda Pacheco/Marines Media Relations Specialist
Cpl. Michael G. Figueroa pours barbecue sauce on his plate during aboard USS Makin Island here Dec. 11. Figueroa serves as an intelligence analyst with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit’s Battalion Landing Team 3/1. The unit embarked USS Makin Island, USS New Orleans and USS Pearl Harbor in San Diego, Nov. 14 to begin a seven-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Middle East regions.

Duroc cuts of pork prove to be better!

By National Barbecue News Cooking Crew

We all know that great barbecue has to start with a really great cut of meat. I believe this statement to be truer than ever as barbecue is growing by leaps and bounds in every avenue, and the quality of those finished products has started to separate themselves as well. If you look at the really successful barbecue joints in America, then you will find that they spare no cost on quality meat. They will make their profits from cutting corners on other things, but never on quality of with what they start. (...Read More)

What team is cooking the offspring of a multi-million dollar hog?

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com
Hereford Swine

Every good barbecue cook knows for a fact that good barbecue begins with a piece of good meat. And, there is almost no price too high when it comes to obtaining the right brisket, rack of ribs, shoulder or Boston butt, chicken parts or a whole hog. And, there is at least one very famous pig’s offspring that continued to be cooked with great success in 2011 by Pat Burke and his famous Tower Rock Bar-B-Que Team from Murphysboro, IL. It’s from the existing offspring of King Neptune (the pig), born way back in 1942. However, let me share the rest of this story with all of you barbecue enthusiasts.(...Read More)

Barbecue Photo Challenge Winner

Photo by J.D. Parker

Little five-year-old Parker Boyles enjoys some of Paw Paw's BBQ ribs while on vacation in Orange Beach, AL. Parker is the son of Kristy and Bret Boyles from Washington, D.C., and the grandson of Marie and J.D. Parker from Lucedale, MS. He is also a member of the cooking team, Paw Paw's Backyard BBQ.

Have a fantastic photo from your summer barbecue? Submit it to our Summer Barbecue Photo Challenge. Each month's winner will receive a BBQ starter kit, which includes a one year subscription to the National Barbecue News, a 19.6 oz. bottle of The Old Smokehouse Brand BBQ Juice, 5.7 oz. bottle of The Old Smokehouse Brand BBQ Rub, your choice of two How-To-Barbecue DVDs (choose from chicken, ribs, whole hog, or shoulder), and a professional spot check thermometer with clip. This starter kit is valued at $50.

Email your photo submission to editor@barbecuenews.com or mail it to P.O. Box 981, Douglas, GA 31534.