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Barbecue NewsBarbecue NewsJANUARY 2020

BarbecueNews.com

Smokin’

YearsJAN

202

0

$4

.99

o30th Anniversary Issue

1990 - 2020Georgia:

The OriginalState of Barbecue

WinningSuperBowl

Recipes

2019 BookOf TheYear

NBN Celebrates

30thAnniversary

Magazine

BarbecueNews.com - 3JANUARY 2020

|| CONTENTS ||

Volume 31 – Number 1DEPARTMENTS

BACKYARD

Ray Sheehan shares his recipe

for reverse seared smoked rack

of pork.

PUBLISHER’S PAGES: Publisher Kell Phelps shares his

take on the 30th Anniversary of

Barbecue News magazine.

Happy Birthday Ben Que’n

Ben Que’n celebrates 30th anniversary with the January 2020 issue.

BUSINESS COMPETITION

FRONT PHOTO:

28 FLYING JUDGE:BBQ judge Michael Garrison

profiles Swamp Boys BBQ

team from Florida

12IN MEMORIAM:Barbecue News magazine pays

tribute to those whose fire will

never end.

Ed Reilly shares facts on why

Georgia is the original state of

barbecue.

5

BBQ IS NOW: 24 CALIFORNIA BARBECUE

ASSOCIATION:CBBQA announces their 2020

board of directors and TOY

points update,

4

15

NORTHEAST BARBECUE SOCIETY:NEBS shares information about

their upcoming events and

annual meeting.

SCA updates their current point

standings and highlights their

2020 happenings.

30 STEAK COOKOFFS:

BBQ HISTORY:33

BBQ TREAT:10

44 BBQ PROFILE:

Vic Clevenger gives his take

on the BBQ New Year and the

new adventures it will bring.

20 BBQ NEW YEAR:

Vernee Green Myers

spotlights the team Wolf’s

Revenge BBQ.

16Clark Crew BBQ opens first

location in Oklahoma City,

OK.

NEW BBQ VENTURE:

Paul Kirk shares superbowl

ready recipes of Tex-Mex

Wings and other treats.

23 BBQ GUIDANCE:Dana “Big Papa” Hillis shares

information from Florida and the

next generation of BBQ.

NBBQA:NBBQA shares details for

their upcoming Awards of

Excellence competition and

upcoming events.

11 BBQ PARTNERS:AmazingRibs.com Pitmaster

Club and Barbecue News

magazine partner up.

21

MINNESOTA BARBEQUE SOCIETY: MNBS continues a three-part

series that features women in

BBQ.

Meathead from

AmazingRibs.com shares how

smoke acts as a seasoning.

PITMASTER CLUB:42 18

BBQ CELEBRATION:BBQ Hall of Famer Ardie

Davis reflects on NBN’s 30th

anniversary and looks forward

to the future.

31

Doug Mosley shares with us

the Barbecue News 2019 book

of the year.

BOOK OF THE YEAR:36

38Ray Sheehan shares details

from the event paying tribute

to Carl Ruiz.

#RUIZING:

40Mark and Gretchen Noordsy

share about being grateful for

the BBQ family.

GRATEFUL BBQ:

BarbecueNews.com - 40 JANUARY 2020

In The World Of BBQ, It’s The People You MeetBy: Mark &

Gretchen Noordsy

Certified Judge KCBS, SCA, EAT mnbbq@outlook.com

grateful bbq

Happy New Year! As 2020 opens, our thoughts turn to res-olutions, goals and grand plans for the year ahead. Some of us are thinking about getting our first call at a contest or maybe being a little nicer to the judges that volunteer their time to our sport. In any case, we all have much to be grateful for.

I want to share a story about “a cup of grateful” that origi-nated with Pastor Wayne Peterson

at St Barnabas Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Minnesota. He was shopping at a local kitchen store and came across the coffee cup with the word “Grateful” on it and it inspired him to share his thoughts on being grateful and joyful giv-ing. It resonated with me on several levels and something that I have frequently witnessed in the BBQ world. Since becoming involved in BBQ in 2015, I can think of many examples of a “cup of grateful” and it is what keeps me involved in our sport. Whether it was as a rookie judge at my first contest or a rookie SCA cook at my first contest, there was always someone who was welcoming and willing to share their knowledge or experience with me. For that I am grateful. I often think about all the people I have met that I wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for BBQ. The friendships with my fellow judges, cooks, organizers and reps are truly amazing. How about you? Have you ever opened Facebook to see a post

about someone getting a call, someone posting about something exciting happening in their lives or simply a “have a great day” type post? Or how about an announce-ment of a new sauce or rub offering or the opening of a restaurant – showcasing the entrepreneurial and creative spirit that thrives in the BBQ community. I’ll bet a smile comes across your face and your day is just a little bit brighter. What if they weren’t part of your world? I also think about how genuine people are and how they readily share their experiences with you. It could be a fel-low judge encouraging you to broaden your experience in the sport by going to contests in Oklahoma, Canada or Texas. It isn’t just the contest … it’s the road trip, the time you spend enjoying the comradery and all the additional experiences you would have missed had you just stayed home. And of course, it includes all the laughter along the way too!

I don’t think I would have ever tried judging at World Food or even had known about Culinary Fight Club if it wasn’t for my BBQ friends. Not to mention experiencing all that

Photos Courtesy of Mark Noordsy and National BBQ News

BarbecueNews.com - 41 JANUARY 2020

the Steak Cookoff Association (SCA) offers both as a judge and a cook. There simply aren’t any real barriers to becom-ing involved in the sport and the benefits are endless. I find myself cheering for all the competitors who get calls and go home feeling good for them and thinking how it could be me next time. Well, to be honest, I do often won-der what the judges were thinking as they scored my steak … only to realize, I sit on that side of the table too and try not to take it personally. I frequently trade phone calls, emails or texts with my fellow cooks to see what I might try next and never once has anyone refused to offer their ideas. The same goes for when I talk with KCBS cook teams about what I could do to improve my home cooks. I have seen cook teams helping each other, being mentors and even sharing supplies. It is pretty darn special that every-one wants you to succeed when you think about it. Gretchen and I have also been fortunate to be part of the National BBQ News family. This has given us the opportu-nity to share with you every month the stories of BBQ peo-ple we have met. We are in awe of the energy, creative spirit and openness of the people we encounter. It makes writing about them easy and we hope you enjoy the stories we share. If you have any story ideas, we would love to hear from you. Our email is at the top of the page. We look forward to hearing from you. In 2020, National BBQ News will be going on the Ben Que’n tour to celebrate their 30th anniversary. When listening to Kell talk about the tour, it is all about how grateful and thankful they are for all the people they have met and experiences they have had over the past 30 years. They are looking forward to rolling into BBQ events across the country to con-nect on a per-sonal level with all the friends they have known for years and meeting and making new friends. I know Kell is busy finalizing the itinerary, so if you have a great contest you want him to visit, please reach out to him and let him know about it. You just never know where the Ben Que’n caravan will be pulling in for a visit. You can follow Kell and crew on their adventure by watching their video updates posted to their Facebook page, articles in National BBQ News and visiting with them in person at one of the contests they visit.

I mentioned being grateful, but joyful giving was also part of Pastor Wayne’s message. I have shared ex-amples of how welcoming and open the BBQ family is, so the spirit of joyful giving is certainly present. I marvel at what the BBQ

family does with its skills and resources. Whether it is the great work of volunteer-driven Operation BBQ Relief (oper-ationbbqrelief.org) serving hearty, home cooked meals the during times of disaster, people rallying behind members of the BBQ family struggling with illness or death, generous food donations or just the giving nature that I have wit-nessed. There are countless examples of organizers and pitmasters who participate in silent auctions, donate their time or the proceeds of their events to make our country an even better place to live. I do want to highlight a couple of the many examples. One of the daughters of a BBQ family had been saving all her summer allowance to donate to a local cause to help others. Being too young for Facebook, her mom posted about what she wanted to do and was looking for suggestions on where to donate the money. Talk about joyful giving and instilling solid family values early in life! But it didn’t end there. Soon, other BBQ folks were posting that they would make matching gifts (kudos to who started that idea). In the end, the good deed of one person was magnified by the generous nature of people we all know. It was unassuming and it wasn’t for recognition (which is why I’m not naming the family involved) … it was because there was a need and the personal joy they found in giving. Another example happened this summer when my nephew, a firefighter in Columbia, Missouri, was going to compete in a rib challenge to raise fund for his fellow firefighters who had been injured saving the lives and pro-tecting the property of people they didn’t know. I asked some of my BBQ friends if they would help his team out. It wasn’t long before Compart baby back ribs, Croix Valley “Private Stock” BBQ sauce, rubs from Rich Davis and the Q Crew and lots of BBQ “secrets” from seasoned pitmasters were on there way to Missouri. It makes you proud when you take a minute to think about the generosity of all the friends we have met due to BBQ. So, as we begin 2020, let us think about our personal “cup of grateful” and all the blessings it is filled with and how we can continue to be joyful givers of our talents, knowl-edge and resources. In the world of BBQ … it’s the people you meet … and the friends you make.