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they had been turning in. Jiggy Piggy was will- ing to share some of their secrets and how they produced award winning brisket. This must have worked since Rooters-N-Toot- ers won the Grand this year for brisket with KCBS. This also in- cluded a brand new and modern drum smoker. They clearly had be- come a competitor.
Both Paul and Lynn felt it was very important to under- stand all the aspects of a competition event. So they took the training and became certified judges. They have only judged a handful of events but they do understand what is involved in BBQ judging. They both feel this was necessary for them to understand. The value of the yellow comment sheets became evident and Lynn couldn’t emphasize how important this is to a competing team. Paul decided to or- ganize a new contest in his hometown of Columbia, Ten- nessee. Virtually all of the teams were first timers and folks he convinced to enter this contest. A few of these teams have moved on and are competing today. He never realized all the work that goes into putting a contest together and also felt this was a very good experience to make them a more well-rounded team. He’s not sure he will be doing that again. They also grew from the equipment standpoint. In their early contests they slept on the ground. As their experience and successes began to grow they graduated to sleeping in lawn chairs. When they acquired an RV they thought they had gone to heaven. They moved up to a camper and today they have a very nicely equipped trailor. The same evolution came with their cooking equipment. They started with the very crude and homebuilt drum smokers mentioned earlier. They moved up to a pellet cooker and today they have a really nice water cooker. It cooks hotter and faster than their earlier equipment which has immensely improved the quality of their entries. They have also come to rely on Social Media as a great educa- tional tool and they refer to it often. Today they are seeing their BBQ friends and fellow competitors on the media and feel they have acquired many of their skills from these sources. Paul was adamant that their sponsors play a major role in their many successes. The Atlantic BBQ Store, Southern Q, and Royal Oak have played a key role in their success. Lynn likes to shop in the small towns where many of these contests are held. First she wants to give back something to these communities, but she also looks for anything that can improve the image of their teams. She began with hats and that quickly was too hot for most of their Summer events. So now she has headbands with pig ears, chicken ears, etc. When they get a call she tries to
wear the appropriate headband for whatever the contest is. At one contest she realized that she wore her pig ears to the chicken awards but they ended up winning the chicken category. She attributes that to her pig ears. My first notice of Rooters- N-Tooters was her many trips to the stage, in her pig ears, and how often I saw her making that trip. She
has found that there are a lot of superstitions in the world of Competition BBQ and the more they compete the more they realize that is part of the game.
The more that I get to know Paul and Lynn the more that I have gained respect for them. They entered our world of competition BBQ not to see what they could get from it but to what they could contribute to this world. They started with essentially no equipment and have grown a lot. They began with no experience and now find themselves coach- ing and advising new and younger teams. They have organ- ized an event, something I suspect not very many teams can say they have done. They have judged a few contests, but enough to understand what role judges play in the world of competition BBQ. They probably realize more than many judges the value and need for comment cards. They have competed in 15 states. On their planning board for 2021 will be a Kansas City area contest, hopefully the American Royal, and a contest in Texas. They have heard so much about Texas BBQ they want to experience that first hand. In 2020 they earned KCBS Fourth Place for Team of the Year, an outstanding finish. They were KCBS Grand Champion in Brisket, again an enviable position for a team that couldn’t cook a brisket 10 years ago. And I don’t be- lieve that I have judged a contest yet, where they com- peted, that they didn’t get multiple calls. A very impressive record.
FEBRUARY 2021
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