Cookoff selects the elite among redneck gourmets

HEMINGWAY -  It’s a long road to become the most elite of the cookers of that famous southern delicacy – barbeque. It takes years of practice and a history of secret sauce recipes from forefathers gone by.

Genuine barbeque is whole hogs, slow cooked for many hours on a very low fire. The sauce is based on vinegar, pepper and tomatoes, and it’s slow cooked right into the meat. Those who cook pork and then add sauce afterwards are not serving true southern barbeque. And modern ingredients, such as mustard or ketchup, means it’s not authentic.

The South Carolina Bar-B-Que Shag cookoff actually begins at Hemingway Locker plant where the finest hogs are selected under the watchful eye of Roy Cockfield and the USDA inspector. They are standardized within weight limits and checked in every detail to become prime barbeque.

Friday morning, Chairman Dennis Miles, along with Brooke Cockfield, Dexter Stuckey, and a bunch of other volunteers are setting up cookoff tents, because the event has outgrown the cookoff shed.

The cookers roll in on Friday afternoon with their cookers on trailers. The steel cookers have replaced the old (non-portable) pits, but the technique is much the same. After checking in and receiving their hog from the refrigerated truck, the cooking begins and will run throughout the night.

Meanwhile, it is party time. Hogs are not the only thing that is cooked, because each chef will also have many drop-by guests who will visit his station, as well as family members who may or may not sit out the night with him or her. Big pots of pileau, sausages, ribs, rice, beans, slaw, and many other foods are often prepared and ready for friends and family who stop by to chat during the long night.

Rachel Hunter shows off a cake with a replica of the festival logo, that she baked herself, all with normal cake ingredients. Matt Haselden goofs off with cousins of the next generation. And Jamie Altman checks the progress of his porker.

After a long night the hogs are ready for the judges, who are the local experts in this gourmet dish - Buddy Rogers, Ralph Harrell, Marvin Cribb, Sr., Jimmy Prosser, Kenny Davis, Mitchell Powell, Eric Prosser and Rodney Scott.

The ladies turn out in force among the winners, with sisters Amber and Kacie Williams of McClellanville taking fifth place. Will and son Taylor Simmons of Johnsonville come in fourth.

Sissy Powell, with Kelly Hucks and Karen Ard pick up the $1250 purse that honors the third place winners.

Second place with a hug from Junior Miss S.C. BBQ Shag Madison Phillips, and a purse of $1500 goes to Frankie Hunter.

And the most elite of the elite of all the chefs is John “Bubba” Coker, who took home a $3,000 purse and a plaque from Petite Miss S.C. BBQ Shag Kylee Jordan.

A second contest called “Anything that is beef” was judged earlier and Michael Jordan was announced the winner.

The top three hogs are carried to the serving tent, where the public can get a taste (for a modest fee).

Both there and back at the rest of the cookers, some serious pig-pickin’ gets underway. Lynn Roberts, Sonny Curtis, Donnis and Tasha Lewis, and Dexter Stuckey and Jeff Bazan, and BoBo Huggins all dig in.