A total of 618 teams traveled from 39 states and three foreign countries to compete in the American Royal’s World Series of Barbecue last weekend at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Among the thousands of competitors and tens of thousands of spectators were a dozen teams from the St. Louis area, including the Code 3 Spices team based in Maryville, Illinois.
Code 3’s weekend began on Thursday night as the team traveled across the state for the long weekend. A win at the Wildwood BBQ Bash just one week earlier buoyed spirits, but the team knew it would be tough to replicate this success in Kansas City. The American Royal brings a whole new class of competition.
Chris Bohnemeier and Mike Radosevich’s Grunt Rub (Garlic Blend), Backdraft Rub (Hot and Smokey), Sea Dog Rub (Cajun Mix), Rescue Rub (All-Purpose Seasoning) and 5-O Rub (Sweet and Zesty) make up Code 3 Spices, a rub business catering to both the home cook and competition barbecue circuit. Bobby Sutton, Geoff Schreiber and Alan Bowman, winner of the Travel Channel’s American Grilled episode in St. Louis, round out the team.
At the American Royal, Friday is a prep day and party night. The Code 3 team made their way around Arrowhead Stadium’s parking lots to visit other St. Louis teams as well as competition friends from all across the country. Wildwood residents Bill and Anne Grenko of the Lock, Stock and Two Smokin’ Barrels BBQ Team were busy prepping their meats for Saturday’s competition. Bill gladly showed off his brisket – an aged, $200 cut of meat he picked up from a friend for $70. The Code 3 team admired the piece of beef and raved about how easily it “flopped over the arm.”
Barbecue competitions combine the nerdiness of a Comic-Con event with longhorn-sized amounts of testosterone. Alcohol, yard games, country music, and red meat are enjoyed at all hours of the day. Competitors are meticulous in their preparation as the slightest tweak in technique could be the difference between an empty-handed trip home and basking in barbecue glory.
When the sun fell for the evening, the music turned up and crowds poured in. Over 50,000 visitors were expected on Friday night as the parking lots surrounding Arrowhead Stadium turned into a collection of hundreds, possibly thousands, of parties. The following night, the crowd would swell again for country music duo Big and Rich (Big Kenny Alphin at right).
We were told that 187 teams competed on Saturday in the Invitational portion of the weekend. To compete in the Invitational, a team must qualify by winning a Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) sanctioned event. Although the Code 3 team has had some success this year, those wins came in other competition circuits – such as St. Louis Barbecue Society (SLBS) competitions. Code 3 would compete in Sunday’s Open featuring 618 teams, including all 187 from the Invitational on Saturday.
For Code 3, Saturday would be another prep day as they injected meats with special concoctions of juices and spices, trimmed racks of ribs, and enjoyed a few beers throughout the day. Alan prepped the team’s sausage for the weekend, a recipe the team invented and was trying for the first time. At the core of the sausage was a cream cheese-stuffed and smoked jalapeño Alan prepared at home. To give the creation a St. Louis flair, the pepper was covered in Provel cheese. On Friday night, the team found a great chorizo sausage in Kansas City and decided to mix it with the jalapeño cheddar sausage from home, which was then wrapped around the smoked jalapeño and Provel. The whole concoction, now about the size of a large fist (right), was dusted with Code 3’s Rescue Rub before being wrapped in bacon and given another coating of the rub. At the end of the smoking process the following day, Alan would finish the sausage creation with a layer of barbecue sauce to form a glaze around the bacon (below).
Photo by Chris Bohnemeier of Code 3 Spices
At 5 p.m. on Saturday, the crowd poured into Arrowhead where the winners of the Invitational were announced. The main event includes four categories – pork, brisket, chicken, and ribs. Each team presents four Styrofoam boxes full of food for a panel of six judges. Although most of the dozen St. Louis teams competed in the Invitational on Saturday, no St. Louis team received a call – or Top 15 finish – in any category. Competition barbecue has heavyweight teams that regularly walk away with trophies and prize money, but in every competition there are a few Cinderella teams that end up with a surprising finish. No St. Louis team pulled off a surprise on Saturday, but Sunday offered another opportunity to knock off the world’s best barbecue teams.
Code 3 is a “hot and fast” team, meaning they cook at high temperatures for shorter amounts of time. Other teams prefer the traditional “low and slow” method. While some teams begin the smoking process 12-15 hours before turn-in, Code 3 fires the smokers at 6 a.m. to have their meats ready to go by early afternoon.
Photo by Chris Bohnemeier of Code 3 Spices
The "money muscle" (a particular part of the pork butt/shoulder) flanked by pulled pork. For the judges, the same cut was presented two different ways.
Competition barbecue is a balance of sticking to what you know and trying something new to stand out from the crowd. For the big four categories – ribs, pork, brisket, and chicken – the team mostly stuck to their routine. For a side category like sausage, however, the team felt comfortable trying something new. In addition to the new sausage recipe, the team experimented with a new smoker.
After many hours babysitting each cut of meat, stressful minutes rushing boxes to judges at the last minute to keep the meat warm as long as possible and a couple anxious hours before the awards ceremony, the Code 3 team was running on adrenaline. The teams gathered once again in the lower bowl of Arrowhead Stadium for the awards ceremony. The Code 3 team felt good about what they turned in, but in a competition of this size, no team can hold more than a cautious optimism about how the scores might shake out.
The day’s overall winner, Grills Gone Wild Iowa, would take home the bulk of the day’s $56,125 purse. Code 3 did not hear their name called, but finished in the top half of the field, right behind the Silence of the Hams.
Although no St. Louis team received an overall call (top 15 finish), two teams received individual category ribbons. St. Louis Black Iron BBQ ended up at number two overall in the sausage category while Shake ‘N Bake BBQ finished sixth in brisket. Both are tremendous accomplishments at a competition like the Royal.
The Code 3 Spices team brought home a sense of pride for what they presented to the judges, memories of a fun weekend with friends, and a little bit more experience that will make them better competitors for upcoming competitions.
