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Hey, I'm Anthony Anderson,
actor, comedian, and food fanatic.
Mmm! Mmm!
That's right.
And when I want to get down and dirty with my food
and thousands of my closest friends,
you can find me at a good old American food festival.
Mmm! That is delicious.
Make you want to holler.
Ohh!
Today, I'm down South for a smoking barbecue fest
with plenty to go around.
75 serious cooks will be pitted against one another
in a barbecue battle with mouth-watering meat
like pulled pork, brisket, and chicken.
This is the real deal.
So let's get to the meeting, eating, and competing.
This is "Eating America."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
Try some chicken.
There's a sweetness to your rub. Are you guys competing?
Good luck to you.
There's nothing more American
than a good old-fashioned barbecue.
And for the hardcore 'cue lovers,
the art of barbecuing any type of meat is reason to celebrate.
That's why I'm here at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival
in Tryon, North Carolina!
[ Crowd cheers ]
Tryon's a very small town
in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Their love of barbecue is mighty, mighty strong.
Held in June each year,
25,000 barbecue lovers show up to eat
and watch the state championship.
75 teams from around the country have hauled their grills here
to win a share of the $20,000 in cash prizes.
So put on a bib and let's bring on the barbecue.
Texas Smoke Barbecue.
I'm gonna go with the pulled pork.
Here you go, sir.
That's some real tender muscle meat right there.
Nicely smoked.
What do you recommend right here?
Try habanero-based hot.
Habanero-based hot.
Whoo!
Hold it.
That's how we do up in Jersey.
That's how you do up in Jersey?
Yeah, we from Jersey.
That's right.
Trained in Texas, brought it up to Jersey.
And you fell in love with it already.
I'm gonna give you that one, brother.
There you go, you see? I got you.
SmokeShack BBQ.
I'm gonna put some soul in your bowl.
Put some soul in my bowl.
Potato salad, collard greens, brisket.
Tender, nice flavor.
This homemade sauce?
Sweet, it's tangy.
Good blend of seasoning.
Makes me want to slap myself.
That's all I got to say.
What do you get when a chicken lays an egg on top of a barn?
You don't know?
An egg roll.
[ Laughs ] I got you!
I myself am gonna roll on over
and check out one of the other competitors in today's cook-off.
Behind the shades is Shane Blackwell,
who was practically raised with tongs in his hand.
My grandmother owned a restaurant for 30 years.
I've been cooking barbecue since I was about 10 years old.
ANDERSON: Shane's counting on his juicy North Carolina pork butt
kicking butt in this year's cook-off.
You bite into my pork,
you're gonna taste all kinds of goodness.
It's melting in your mouth.
We're gonna do a little Boston butt today.
This is butt meat, but they call it a shoulder.
'Cause every time they referred to the shoulder of a pig,
they grabbed the buttock.
It's off the shoulder of the butt.
I don't know why they call it that.
But it's a butt.
I like it because of the fat content.
My grandmother always told me fat is flavor.
Renders through the meat.
What we first do is we start off with a little dry rub.
Onion powder, paprika, dehydrated onion,
garlic salt, garlic powder.
Yes, sir. I see you know your spices.
I got the nose of a bloodhound.
Light brown sugar.
This is a blend of seasonings.
Yep. Blacken seasoning.
That's something a whole lot of competitors don't put in there.
We like to take it to the next level
and spice things up a little.
All right. You drench it in it.
There you go.
Lay it right on the right, fat side up.
The juice just runs right down into the meat.
What type of wood are you using?
I use applewood.
Close this up,
let it cook for about 10 to 14 hours.
We have some there that we put on last night.
Get on this one.
Oh, my God, look at that.
Look how that's just coming apart.
How do you know, as a smoke master,
when your butt is ready?
Right there is how you know when it's done.
The bone comes out this easily, like this.
We'll cook about six or seven butts just for competition.
I want to give them some sliced,
I want to give them some burnt ends.
I have to select the best of the best.
I'm-a put a little bit of this in my box.
Mmm!
Your seasonings, your dry rub,
all the flavors marry well together.
You really taste the flavor of the pork.
That right there is the money muscle.
You can see how it...
It just shreds.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
If you can't win with this,
I don't know what them other people are doing
with their butts.
I want you to taste that
and tell me what you think about it.
Juicy.
Mmm.
That's better than anything I've eat in my life.
ANDERSON: Shane's won over the crowd,
but only time will tell if he wins the competition.
In the meantime,
the fun continues for kids and adults,
and adults who act like kids.
Wheee!
Tommy, I challenged you.
Blake challenged me.
All right. I'm just gonna let you know, I'm taking first.
[ Laughs ]
[ Laughter ]
Who won?
Put instant reply, see who came down.
[ Laughs ]
Y'all had him.
Yeah.
Ribs on me.
Like Mama says,
cheaters never win, even on a slide.
Now, if your favorite game is meat,
some non-competing vendors
are here to offer a little something different.
I've never had elk burger.
MAN: I got one right here waiting for you, though.
I'm trying to watch my weight, so we gonna go protein style.
Oh, that's good. That's good and tender.
This is North American elk.
It's very similar to deer.
That is great flavor.
I know elk is very lean,
but that's still juicy and a moist burger right there.
That's what you want.
ANDERSON: Coming up, I break cooking rule number one --
don't screw up the recipe.
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Aaaah!
ANDERSON: Did I just over season away the team's chance
at winning the big prize?
Let's get down to some presentations.
ANDERSON: Stay with me to find out.
I want you to look down the lens
and give your best chicken impression.
Oink, oink. Wait, that's a pig!
[ Laughter ]
"Oink, oink"?
[ Imitates chicken ]
She said "Oink, oink."
[ Imitates chicken ]
[ Laughter ]
If you love barbecue like I love barbecue,
then this is where you need to be --
at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival
here in Tryon, North Carolina.
Devoted barbecuers with a knack for cooking up all types of meat
will be competing for the Grand Champion award,
just like the best in show.
And, of course, no festival is ever complete
without some kind of deep-fried something or other.
What special do you have back there?
WOMAN: Deep-fried pickles dipped in chocolate.
Deep-fried pickles dipped in chocolate.
You got to try it. it's an explosion in your mouth.
That's good.
I like the tartness of the pickle,
and then this -- that's not funnel-cake batter?
No, it's our own special batter
that we make up with spices and everything.
Now, how you like that?
The chocolate dipped on it,
that is delicious.
If everybody knew how good that was,
I would be customer after customer.
You would have husband after husband.
I'm gonna leave on that note, before I ask you to marry me.
Okay, my wife may not approve, but what can I say?
I'm a sucker for delicious food.
[ Squeaks ]
Barbecue's what brought
cook-off competitors Wayne Blessing
and his wife Kim together.
They fell in love at her barbecue restaurant,
and now own one together.
KIM: Brisket platter right behind you!
This is their fourth time in the competition.
And last year,
their killer brisket recipe took home 6th place.
It's one of those meats
that you have to love it or it doesn't love you back,
and we love brisket.
This is a great wagyu brisket. It's about 15 pounds.
Relatively even fat all the way around this thing.
We're gonna smoke this fat side down.
And that's a big argument in the barbecue world.
Why fat side down?
We're gonna add a lot of nice dry rub on the top up here,
and we want a really beautiful bark.
Nice, crisp, sealed-in seasoned top.
Are we ready to put our dry rub on this?
We're gonna do a two-layer dry rub.
Our first layer's gonna be Texas-style.
Gonna be salt, pepper,
and a little bit of granulated garlic.
Again, we're competing
so we want to get that flavor up just another notch.
Our second layer's gonna be a little more Mexican flavor.
Yep.
Paprika. Hold on.
Some regular seasoning salt.
You got it.
Oregano, dry mustard, cumin.
Oh, very strong garlic.
Kosher salt.
Ancho chili powder.
Oh, wait, wait, wait.
Aaaah!
That wasn't supposed to go on that one.
It was supposed to go on last layer,
to give it that prettier color.
You'd be turning in a red brisket tomorrow.
Nothing wrong with the color. It's all about the flavor.
So we're gonna take this,
and we're just gonna sprinkle.
And we have our Mex-mix.
That's a kind of a lighter coat.
You want to see a little of that white through there.
There, let me put it on like pixie dust.
Have one in the smoker that we're gonna get out,
and we're gonna marinate it.
What are we smoking with?
Georgia pecan and North Carolina cherrywood.
Okay. There we go.
Wow.
It's moist but crispy.
We're gonna marinate it.
A beef-broth mixture.
Pour it all the way around it.
Don't pour it over, 'cause we don't want to upset
all those great flavors that are on top of the brisket.
There's one other ingredient.
And this is a great North Carolina pilsner.
Only use a little bit, though.
Third of a bottle, that's it.
Third of a bottle.
Seal this super tight.
You gonna put this back on the smoker for another five hours?
Yep.
Oh, that looks good.
That's real tender.
Take a bite.
Oh, that's good. Juicy but nice beef flavor.
Don't really taste the sugar, but there is a sweetness to it.
Never smoked with pecan wood before.
I taste the Tex-Mex rub.
With brisket this moist and this flavorful and this tasty,
may not be much competition out there.
ANDERSON: And that ain't no bull.
But this is.
[ Moos ]
Now, I've been challenged, foolishly, by young Toby.
What's your experience on the bull?
Well, I remember when I took a vacation
back to Mexico recently --
You know, Toby, I said "on the bull."
I don't want your life story.
Long enough to say that I could probably beat you.
You're first.
[ Applause ]
Overshot that.
Go!
Uh-huh! Uh-huh!
Yeah! All right!
12 seconds?
I think I can get him.
Whoa!
Whoa!
Whoa! Whoa!
I think I beat 12 seconds.
I think it's 11.
Ladies and gentlemen,
give it up for bull-riding champion,
Little Toby!
All right.
Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!
ANDERSON: Next, a wise man -- me --
once said butter is better,
and more butter is really better.
All the way around, right there.
Could this be the secret
to buttering up the judges and pulling off a win?
You'll find out when I do. Stay tuned.
On which side does the chicken have the most feathers?
Very easy.
The right wing?
I didn't ask you about your political affiliations, okay?
On the outside. The outside!
Here at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival,
over 25,000 meat lovers
come to sink their teeth into the best brisket, chicken,
and pork around.
And the very best of the best
is putting their money where their mouth is --
or maybe it's just their food --
in this year's barbecue battle.
And with a designated turn-in time for each meat,
you can already feel the pressure in the air.
Armed with killer chicken legs,
Donny and Tracy Bray are vying for that Grand Champion trophy.
In smaller contests,
their special blend snagged them six first-place wins
this year alone.
And now they think they're ready to compete with the big dogs.
We decided, let's just go for broke,
see how our flavor profiles stand out.
Entered the biggest contest that's going on.
We're so excited.
What do we have here?
We got chicken legs.
They hold the chicken flavor better,
and that's what the judges like.
We've already trimmed these up and pulled the skin back.
These have been in a brine that we've made up --
salt, pepper, paprika, a garlic.
And just water?
A few secret spices
that I really don't choose to share.
All right. No problem.
But the judges cannot turn down
sweet, heat, salt, and smoke.
This rub is for the heat portion of it.
Two different kinds of pepper, paprika, and garlic.
This second rub's for the sweet.
It's got just a little bit of brown sugar,
regular sugar,
a very little amount of salt, nutmeg,
and some other spices to make the chicken pop.
Why do we pull the skin back over the meat?
We don't want the skin to close off the taste of the rub.
And, you know, these judges, they're trained to do this.
It wouldn't be nothing for them to pull the skin back,
take a bite, and see if I tried to skip out on a step.
Now, what's this third rub?
Third rub is just for color.
No salt, lots of sugar.
Soon as the smoke hits that, it melts real easy,
and it'll caramelize
and make a real beautiful piece of chicken.
The inner and the outer.
Smoker's a harsh environment
for something as tender as a piece of chicken.
This butter's gonna help keep it moist
so we're gonna get some color on it.
You used more than half of this 12-ounce serving.
We usually use all of it.
Oh, okay. Well, hold on, then.
Somebody's gonna have some chicken-flavored butter.
Now, what we've created
is the butter-bubble bath for the chicken.
Butter-bubble bath?
I like that.
Now, this is a secret.
Not anymore.
[ Laughs ]
We're gonna cook it for 45 minutes.
We're gonna put a lid on that, and we're gonna steam it.
And you know what that's for? Bite-through skin.
Judges hate skin that's not bite-through.
There is a scientific method to this madness.
All right.
Well, I think it's time to put this in the smoker.
That's the finished product.
And is this your own sauce as well?
It's mixed, we'll say that.
Mmm. That is a lot of flavor.
First thing that hits me,
you would think it would be the sauce,
but the heat from the pepper.
This chicken is moist, it's tender,
bite-through skin.
There you go.
[ Laughter ]
Competition barbecue at its best.
That it is. That it is.
I think I have some
award-winning chicken right here.
It just came out the smoker.
It's good. Juicy.
I don't think he needs your opinion.
[ Laughs ]
ANDERSON: That says it all right there.
The competition's fierce
and the clock is ticking
as all 75 teams try to perfect their chicken,
beef, and pork dishes.
Judges, how are you?
80 elite judges,
all certified by the Kansas City Barbeque Society,
will be forced to taste all that delicious --
Twist their arms, why don't you?
Today I'm gonna be looking for the appearance,
am I getting the real, true taste of the meat?
I really look for the tenderness.
Brisket.
You'll get some of the best cuts of meat.
I like the burnt ends.
Pork.
You'll find three different ways it's done --
pulled pork, the money muscle,
the real tender, and then you'll have burnt ends.
I love the chicken.
A lot of heart and soul's been put into it,
between the marinating and the smoke flavor.
It's awesome.
See you guys at the judging table.
All right.
ANDERSON: Can Shane's pork kick butt?
Will the brisket make mouths water?
Do the chicken legs have a leg up?
If not them, then who?
You can only find out if you stay right here.
The overall, number-one Grand Champion is...
[ Applause ]
ANDERSON: It's a meat lover's paradise
here in North Carolina
at the Blue Ridge Barbecue Festival,
where 80 judges are deciding the fate
of 75 grand-champion entries.
Shane. How you feeling, brother?
That's the winning box right there.
The hard time is waiting,
'cause we felt good about our meat.
It was spot-on with the smoke ring, flavor-wise.
We'll see what they think about it.
Brisket's awesome.
She changed the recipe, though.
Just a tweak.
It was really awesome brisket.
We hope today for the best.
ANDERSON: Now, don't forget,
in my exclusive with the judges,
they said the combo of appearance,
tenderness, and taste will determine the winner.
Again, thank all y'all for coming here
to the Blue Ridge Barbecue contest.
Okay, let's get down to some presentations.
Overall, number eight...
The Midnight Burn, Kim Hicks, Hendersonville.
[ Applause ]
Man: We weren't shut out. Good job.
WOMAN: Good job.
ANDERSON: They've got lots of winners in each meat category.
EMCEE: Number six...
Third place overall...
Second place...
ANDERSON: But everyone's really keeping their eyes
on the Grand Champion prize.
Number one, Grand Champion, $1,000 in that bowl...
...Warren County Pork Choppers,
Donny Bray, Bowling Green, Kentucky.
[ Cheers and applause ]
MAN: Way to go, Donny.
Yes.
How does that feel?
Man, it feels awesome.
We're feeling really good today.
Cooking's a passion for me.
It's a passion for my family.
Congratulations on all your success.
Thank you very much.
All right. And that chicken is tasty.
Thank you.
ANDERSON: Meaty competition at an all-day barbecue --
heck, mechanical bull ride --
proving once again that life is indeed good.
More proof coming your way next time.
Oh, that's hot.
See if I can... stop there.
Yeah, I think you should use the knife.
[ Laughs ]
Best cow impression right there.
Moo!
[ Laughter ]
Moo-ve out the way.
The heating competition is cooking up.
God bless it!
The heating competition is cooking up.