The Blues Hog BBQ competition barbecue team, led by Tim Scheer, is understandably high on the proverbial hog this week.
Last weekend, 212 teams competed in the annual Memphis in May International Festival, the headliner being the World Championship Barbecue Contest, known in barbecue circles simply as “Memphis in May.”
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The short story: Scheer’s team won the whole hog competition, as well as the Grand Champion award, given to the first-place team with the highest number of points in their competition. The backstory is just as interesting, though.
Last year, when other teams were cooking on commercial smokers, Scheer’s team cooked whole pork shoulder on a series of 10 55-gallon drum smokers, manufactured by Gateway Drum Smokers, another business that Scheer owns. In another departure from the norm, they were cooked “hot and fast,” as opposed to “low and slow,” long considered the gold standard method for cooking pork shoulder. “We’d been cooking that way on those smokers for the last eight to 10 years,” Scheer says. “It’s become our claim to fame. We ended up trademarking ‘hot and fast.’
“Memphis is the low and slow capital of the world,” he adds, “so people took notice last year when we took first place in whole shoulder the first time out.” The logical next step was to compete in whole hog, Scheer says, which required a significantly larger smoker. He built two 550-gallon drum smokers, 5.5 feet in diameter, large enough to accommodate a 250-pound hog, and trailered them to Memphis.
The team arrived on Wednesday, two days before the competition started, and displayed the giant smokers for all to see, “so there was a lot of hype and interest before we ever lit a fire,” Scheer says. “But that’s been our M.O. the last couple of years, to take the rules and throw them out the window. People think you’re nuts until you show them the trophies.”
Once again adopting the ‘hot and fast’ method, “the cook time was less than nine hours, about half the time that the other teams took,” he says. “The plan was to inject the hogs with Blues Hog pork marinade, use our Sweet and Savory dry rub, and cook over Missouri-made Blues Hog branded lump charcoal along with pecan wood. Two of our sauces pair perfectly, so we included those in the presentation as well.”
The team took the gold medal for whole hog, as well as the Grand Champion award, the equivalent of Best in Show. (Blues Hog also took an overall third in poultry, which was overshadowed by the Grand Champion win.) “A lot of people have heard of Blues Hog products, but we told a story like no one else could and had the coolest setup,” Scheer says. “We had the complete deal, start to finish, which factors into the judging.”
Local barbecue legend Terry Black, founder of Super Smokers, was the first local team to win the award, back in 2000. Black was enthusiastic upon hearing the news. “Myron Mixon, the rockstar of barbecue, who was the Grand Champion in whole hog last year, finished ninth. What these guys did, and how they did it, totally rewrites the history books.”
In addition, Scheer owns Marble Ridge Farms, where he raises hogs with high-fat and marbling, which produce the best flavor. For this competition, a crossbreed of Mangalitsa and Berkshire hog was used. “We had a selection ceremony at the farm a few weeks ago, where we asked the hogs who wanted to be a world champion,” Scheer says. “Two came running.”
Scheer says his team is planning to return to Memphis next year. “We went down there hoping to shock the world, and we did. So we’re hoping in some way to do it again.”
Blues Hog branded sauces, marinades, and rubs are available at most local grocery stores. The entire line of Blues Hog products is available at Ace Hardware and specialty barbecue stores. The entire Blues Hog line can be ordered from the company’s website.
