August 25, 2014 Lincoln Daily News.com 2014 Art & Balloon Festival 49
Lincoln’s
“Up in Smoke on the Square”
and“Backyard Barbeque”
Sweet smoke and laughter fill the air
In its fourth year, the “Up in Smoke on the Square”
Kansas City Barbeque Society competition is
continuing to grow. There were over 50 entrants in the
professional competition this year.
Meanwhile, the newer, “Backyard Barbeque”
competition for amateurs sponsored by Royal Oak
charcoal brought forward 20 entrants.
The participants in the professional competition range
from newbies to veterans and hail from various places
around the country with many of them participating
in numerous competitions between April and October.
According to the KCBS website, it “sanctions
and judges BBQ competitions across the U.S. and
promotes barbeque as America’s cuisine.” KCBS
endorses “nearly 300 events across the country” in
“44 states.” Contestants are judged in four categories:
Chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. Entries are evaluated
for taste, appearance and texture.
Sideburn BBQ
One of the newer teams here for this year’s Up in
Smoke was ‘Sideburn BBQ’ from Indianapolis,
Indiana. Team members Joe Johnson and Kile
Lewison said that this was their third competition this
summer. They participated in events in Morton and
the Indianapolis State Fair. The pair said that it is a
lot of fun and they meet a lot of great people when
competing. For their barbequing, Sideburn uses their
own special blend of spices.
Double Nickel 7
The ‘Double Nickel 7’ team, with members George
Jacaway and Don Gray and George IV and Noah
Gray are from nearby Springfield, and just started
competing at the professional level. It is their first
KCBS competition and second major competition.
They did well at a competition in Jacksonville,
Florida, receiving 4th out of 60 teams in the ribs
competition. Jacaway and Gray said they are “learning
and honing skills” and are “here to learn from the big
dogs.” The Double Nickel 7 recipe has a little bit of
heat to it with a blend of various spices and sauces.
Pork Paradise
‘Pork Paradise’ team members Nick, Jamie and Mark
Merritt consider themselves rookies as it is only their
second year in the competition. Nick says he likes
to prepare his meats “hot and fast rather than low
and slow” using his drum smokers, and said
that
“everyone has a little different method.” The Pork
Paradise team uses a special blend of spices and every
meat gets something different.
