BBQ & A: Round Six

Every competition cook is in constant pursuit of the big one. That one win that overshadows all the others. For some it's a signature grand championship, like the Royal or the Jack. Others have sentimental reason...and some may not even be a grand championship or even a first place call for that matter. Sometimes just getting that first call is biggest call you'll ever get!

This week we ask a few cooks to give us their biggest wins, with contributions from:
The always entertaining and insightful Steph Wilson of TheSlabs.com teams up weekly with Kyle Laval to cook championship BBQ and brew up award winning sauces and rubs.
Teacher, cook and BBQ pitchman Rod Gray of Pellet Envy - fresh off his amazing 3rd straight win in three years at Smoke on the Water in Hot Springs, AR.
Finally, a cook from a team that maybe becoming just as well known for their clairvoyant pork bone-pickin' pooch, as they are for their awesome brand of competition BBQ, Greg Anthony from Ribs 4 U.


Steph:
1st place chicken at Jack Daniels. We didn't have a vehicle to pull our own stuff down there. We rented a trailer that was bigger than the Jeep that pulled it. Our buddy pulled the pit. Good times!

Reserve Reserve Grand American Royal Invitational 2003. (3rd overall). Didn't get one call. We were flabbergasted! I remember my Dad saying 'Holy $#!&! They did it!' He passed away unexpectedly later that month, I'm glad we had that time.

Laurie, MO Grand Champion...It might have been 2000...it was our first win. My Dad promoted a dirt track in Warrensburg, MO and he and Mom came down to watch the awards and they were running late. Mom thought they should get to the track and Dad said out of five years it wouldn't kill them if he was 'late'...we won! I'm glad they were there.


Rod:
In no particular order, the 2003 Mandalay Bay Heatin' Up The Bay event in Las Vegas, Nevada because it was filmed by the Food Network and still airs.

2007 Smoke On The Water in Pine Bluff, Arkansas because it's far and away the largest grand champion prize we've ever won.

Lastly, the 2006 World Pork Expo/Great BBQlossal in Des Moines, Iowa because it was a collaborative effort with Steve Farrin of I Smell Smoke and Scottie Johnson of CancerSucksChicago.com and none of us had every cooked a hog before.


Greg:
Our biggest win was last year at Butler, MO. There were 41 teams and we won the chicken, ribs and brisket categories and finished 10th in pork. We were Grand Champion with a 30 point spread over the Reserve GC.

Of course our first ever GC was big to us, at Shawnee, KS in 2006.
I suppose our last big win would be our first ever category win at Laurie in 2005 (in chicken), and also finishing 2nd in brisket that year at the American Royal.