Page 28 - Barbecue News Magazine May 2022

T. Michael Garrison
The Flying BBQ Judge mgarrison8@sbcglobal.net
This month I will be presenting a true champion in the com- petition BBQ World. When he shows up, the other teams respond as he always gets a walk and usually ends up in the top rankings. It’s none other than Chiles Cridlin and his team Wolf’s Revenge. Years ago he formed a competition team and named it Big C’s Stew and Que — a real mouth- ful. He began getting criticism from mothers and they put pressure on Chiles to change the name. He got together with his 9-year-old God Son to come up with a better name — something to do with wolves. He felt the wolves needed some revenge. They came up with Wolf’s Revenge BBQ.
He trademarked the name and it has been his team name since that time. He has two loyal helpers who join him for many of the contests — Barry and Randy are important members of the team. Chiles never had backyard cooking or anything over fire in his background. There are rumors in his family of Q participation that led to bigger things. How- ever, he has never been able to confirm any of these ru- mors, so he asked me not to mention them in this profile, so I am not.
In 2007 and 2008 he was invited to cook for the Virginia Folklife Association Big Apple Fest. He really enjoyed cook- ing for a group and he came home with a very nice smoker. Since he had the smoker he decided to compete in a KCBS event. He got a 1st place in Chicken and he was hooked. He never looked back. Soon after he got his first Grand. Today, he has 28 Grand Championships and 29 Reserves. Chiles has competed in 220 contests, so unquestionably, he has an experienced team. He has taught classes shar- ing his procedures that led to much success. One of his fa- vorite events is the Smoking in the Foothills Barbecue Competition and Festival in Lenoir, North Carolina. After a contest, he keeps his leftovers and takes them home. He shares them with former students, classmates and friends because he doesn’t want it to go to waste. As these judges
BBQ PROFILE:
Chiles Cridlin
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BarbecueNews.com - 28
MAY 2022