Husband and Wife - Larry and Carla Sweet Get Their Pigs Ready to Smoke
One of the men at the North Carolina BBQ Championship Cook Off told me that I didn't look like a pig cooker. He probably did not think Carla Sweet looked like one either. So, the joke is on him. Bless his heart (our Southern snark comment).
The big barbecue boys were down in Mount Airy, NC last night for the NC Mayberry Days BBQ Championship contest. The state contest is sponsored by the NC Pork Council and moves around the state year to year. This time, Mt. Airy got the draw and during their annual event to celebrate the Andy Griffith TV show. Gotta love Andy and the gang and North Carolina barbecue too.
The Sweets were set up front of house or right on the main road there in Mount Airy. They didn't go all fancy with all the pig decorations and stuff. And, in fact, they were real down to earth and quiet. I had to ask one of the other contestants where the husband/wife contestants were set up.
Yep. There they were right in front of me all the time.
You may be thinking they were working together, but they weren't. They were side by side with each entered in the contest.
Husband, Larry, took second place last year at this same North Carolina barbecue competition (which came to a draw and was decided on the blind taste test), so he was definately one to watch. He uses charcoal rather than gas, so he is old school and had a labor intensive night. Props on that.
Anyone who overlooked Carla wasn't keeping up with barbecue news. She'd recently won a big contest with her husband (a master of the sport of barbecue smoking) in the dust.
Well, hey, it could have been a fluke. Carla confesses that's she only smoked seven pigs so far as far as she recalls. In the barbecue circuits, that's really green. So, she probably would not have been the money pick if it had been Las Vegas versus Mount Airy NC (where they don't much go for gambling).
The proof is in the pig, and Carla Sweet went home with the gold as the North Carolina state championship pig smoker.
Those North Carolina barbecue boys are great. They treated me great and fed me fine. But, I must say I'm kind of tickled that the girl trumped 2010 and proved that barbecue isn't all brawn and bluster.
Read all about the NC Barbecue Championship at Yes You Can Grill - my grilling and barbecue web site.
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3 comments:
Congratulations to Carla. And the guy who made that snarky comment is a bit of a pig himself, isn't he? Chauvinistic pig.
LOL. Yes. He was not very nice, but he was the exception. Most of the guys were cutting up and loads of fun. They were terrific about working with me on photos and giving me info and even food. Joe Peterson and his team were especially hospitable. So I had a great time and gambled that Mr. Snark would not be a front runner so took no photos or notes from his space. He didn't place. Guess he doesn't look like a pig smoker either.
Great write up and a good slant on the husband and wife team, This year Mayberry, next year maybe we can see them on BBQ Pitmasters?????
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