Page 12 - OCT 2020 Barbecue News Magazine

cover story
In the World of
BBQ, It’s the
People you Meet
and the Friends
You Make
Photos Courtesy of Mark Noordsy, Jeff Jacobsen and BBQ Champs Academy
Terry was instrumental in connecting Mike, and his grow- ing group of BBQ and steak champions, with the 2019 SCA points champion, Matt Ouverson. Matt won the 2019 SCA Points race with the highest total points in SCA’s history. We were excited for the official launch of Matt’s video on September 14th. The excitement felt like the launch of a new Harry Potter book, a new installment of Games of Thones or the latest version of Call of Duty. We were ready to learn!
I want to step back to review the road we have traveled on our quest for an SCA call. It began 2 years ago after cook- ing an SCA event with Dick and Larry Dahlen in Albert Lea, MN. They are true statesmen of the sport who willingly share their knowledge hoping you will win. Well, they fre- quently win and we do not. We practiced, we developed our own rub, Smidge, we watched YouTube videos, we shigged, we listened carefully to when the winners say what they used and we got to know our fellow SCA cooks. After cooking 9 events, we achieved a career best of 12th place. We seem to anchor the other end of the scale more frequently. Eventually we started realizing just how hard it is to consistently produce call-worthy steaks. It wasn’t that our steaks weren’t good – they were. That’s when we figured out we were boxing up highly seasoned “eating” steaks, not subtly flavored, correctly cooked competition worthy steaks. Yes, there is a difference!
We learned the difference when a trio of accomplished steak cooks – Mark Johnson, Jeff Jacobsen and Keven Far- rell -- invited us out for a driveway practice cookoff. We learned so much that night under their watchful eyes and their incredibly helpful tips offered as we were preparing and cooking our steaks. We each submitted 2 steaks to the 10 friends Mark assembled to serve as judges. As you may expect our first steak ended up in 8th place. Our 2nd steak, however, incorporating many of their helpful tips in real- time, ended up taking 3rd place. We were learning the dif- ference between an “eating” steak and a real competition
By: Mark & Gretchen Noordsy Certified Judge
KCBS, SCA, EAT
mnbbq@outlook.com
Darn COVID! 2020 was going to be our year – we were going to get a call at a Steak Cookoff Association (SCA) competition! First, competitions fell by the wayside faster than beer gets consumed on a hot day. Then, when we did get to a competition, we didn’t fare as well as we hoped – even with our new “secret” ingredient, beef butter. And, we practiced too. I say “we” because my wife Gretchen is right by my side sharing our minor successes and experiencing the brutally honest scoring of the judges. The final straw was when we learned that the in-person classes we planned on taking were cancelled. We had looked forward to learn- ing from the best. So began the summer of discontent.
SCA World Champion Terry Roan
Then, a glimmer of hope. I heard about Mike Steele and his BBQ Champs Academy (bbqchamps.com) was in the process of re- cruiting and producing videos of the best steak cookers and BBQ cham- pions. Competition runs deep in Mike’s blood - whether as a competition BBQ vet- eran or setting world speed records for street legal cars. He also is the patent holder for the ni- trous oxide nozzles used in race cars today. His current vision is to offer affordable access to the proven methods
and techniques of the “best of the best” via “tell all” videos growing the sport of BBQ/grilling. I was even more excited to find out that one of the first videos was of many time SCA champion Terry Roan – a true icon in the SCA world.
BarbecueNews.com - 12
OCTOBER 2020