From the Philipsburg Mail, July 2013
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by Reecy Pontiff
“The nice thing about barbecue is
that there are no fingerprints, so you can't trace anything to
anywhere,” laughed rotund and jolly BBQ impresario John Bagorio as
he performed emergency chicken skin surgery on his entry with a
toothpick.
Bagorio traveled with his three man
team, “Da Fat Boyz BBQ”, all the way from Portland, Oregon in a
converted 1989 ambulance to compete in the first annual Boots and BBQ
Cookoff at the Drummond Rodeo last weekend.
It was a last-minute decision for the
team to head up; Bagorio's regular teammate was unavailable to come,
but “it showed up on the schedule and I'd never been to Montana, so
I said, if I can get help, I'll come.”
Though Montana is a first for them,
Bagorio's team participates in cookoffs near and far.
It's tricky to guess what judges will
like in any given region as tastes vary from place to place,
according to Bagorio. The day before the rodeo Da Fat Boyz sold
samples to try and get a feel for the Montana palate.
“We travel all over the country and
each region has a different flavor,” he said, “What I'm hoping is
they like a little bit of heat and a little bit of sweet. If they
don't, we're in trouble.”
It's not cheap participating in these
events and Da Fat Boyz regularly look at $1000 in expenses between
entry fees, travel and supplies. Some of their costs are recouped
from food sales, but the big money is in the cash prizes – $6500 in
all this time – handed out by the Pacific Northwest Barbecue
Association (PNWBA), the group who with the help of Drummond mayor
Gail Leeper sanctioned the Drummond cookoff.
The PNWBA's judging is done
double-blind – each entry is put in a box with a barcode on it and
assigned a random number. This is done “so your friends can't help
you and your enemies can't screw you,” said BBQ master Dale
Groetsema, who came out from Vancouver, Washington to participate.
Participants are also given a deadline
to turn in their entries.
“If you're early you just stand
around and wait,” Groetsema said, “if you're late you're
disqualified.”
The competition included four kinds of
meat – ribs, beef brisket, pork and chicken – judged for
appearance, texture and taste. The judges are all certified by the
PNWBA and overseen by a “table captain”, a sort of referee for
the judges, according to head judge Angie Quaale.
“This is a first year event and kind
of out of the way, so it's a good place to get your feet wet,” said
Quaale, and with only eight teams “it's a great place to start with
a small competition.”
This year the “Mayor's Choice”
award, along with overall second place, went to Philipsburg's
Upnsmokin' BBQ.
Competitions are how Upnsmokin'
originally got their start, but to cover costs they had to start
catering. Now with the restaurant, they've had to make time to get
back to their roots according to owner Brett Schreyer.
“You have to back it up,” Schreyer
said, “Some barbecue joints, as soon as they open up a restaurant
they stop [competing] and they lose credibility with their
customers.”
“So far it's been great. There's some
top-notch cooks from the Pacific Northwest here,” he continued,
“the contest is small but the competition is high.”
#end#
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