Page 26 - October 2021 Issue

T. Michael Garrison
The Flying BBQ Judge mgarrison8@sbcglobal.net
As we near the end of the competition year for the top teams in BBQ, I have had the golden opportunity to profile some of the top teams in the World of BBQ.
This month is no exception. As
you will see he is a top con- tender and has an absolutely perfect persona and outlook on the BBQ world. He also has backed that up with a pretty long string of winning per- formances this year.
If you haven’t heard of Smoke
Central BBQ then you are not
following the points chases
very closely as they have been
near the top for most of the
current year. This month I had
the distinct privilege to profile
Jason Singletary, the one-man
BBQ cook team that has had an
outstanding year while com-
peting this year. Jason was born and raised in South Carolina and continues to live there today, in Lake City. He is a contractor and his construction company is named Central Construction. He chose to carry this through to his team’s name as Smoke Central BBQ.
Jason grew up in BBQ smoke. His family would always BBQ whole hogs at Christmas and they enjoyed the hogs for Christmas dinner
as far back as he could remem- ber. His family’s church had big hog feeds when he was a kid, so open fire cooking has been a part of his life as far back as he can remember. As a result, he started cooking on his own when he was a kid. He feels he has always cooked outside, over open fire, and that has simply been part of his life. Like most competition cooks, he was always trying some- thing new and different, learn- ing to improve his product, trying to make it better, or try- ing to make a positive change in his final product. To some extent he is still doing that today.
He remembers watching PitMasters Show on TV, as well as other cooking shows, where he continued to see new and different ideas that other top cooks used. This simply fed his competitive spirit to keep trying new and different things that would improve the food that he prepared. Jason says he continues to learn and he
hopes that never changes. He feels he can always improve his product and can always keep making his entries better and better. If he doesn’t do that he will be left behind, because all the leaders in competition BBQ are always looking for new and better ways to prepare their meat. The only way to stay in the game is to con- tinue to improve everything.
His first event was the Smoke on the Beach at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. That was in 2012. His partner was Philip Miles. Philip was a long time SCBA competitor with no KCBS experi- ence. He acted more in an advisory role. Jason built a drum smoker, had a pop up tent, and not much equipment but it got him started. After all, he had a lifetime of experimenting, trying different things, and always looking for ways to improve. There were 35 teams in this event, and he finished 22nd in his first com- petition. He placed 14th in ribs and 13th in brisket. Not bad for the first time out of the gate. A year later he returned to Smoke on the Beach for his second competition event. This time he did a
BarbecueNews.com - 24
OCTOBER 2021
BBQ PROFILES:
Jason Singletary