After pulling an all-nighter preparing feasts, five barbecue groups took home trophies in the Chamber’s Smokin’ BBQ Cook-off on Saturday.
The sixth annual event, sponsored by the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce, took place on the first day of the Maine Potato Blossom Festival in Fort Fairfield, drawing cooks from The County and beyond.
J&R Barbecue of Presque Isle and Double D BBQ of Fort Fairfield each took five first-place wins, with DNA BBQ of Caribou and Ashland taking four. Smokey Bears BBQ of Easton Center won two trophies, and one went to Cousin’s Que of Orrington.
Saturday was sunny and hot, and the town was busy with an area-wide yard sale, benefit car wash and sports events. Barbecuers offered ribs, pulled pork, chicken and brisket, along with other dishes like beans and macaroni and cheese.
Amid tantalizing aromas, people filled the food court that afternoon for a public tasting and to vote for their favorite in the people’s choice category.
Double D BBQ, led by owner Dereck Dufour, won first place in People’s Choice. J&R Barbecue, with pitmaster Rob Thibeault, came in second.
For the Chef’s Choice Award, each pitmaster prepared a signature dish. First-place winner J&R prepared a burger slider on a pretzel bun with honey bacon jam. Coming in second was DNA, which includes Dan Veazie of Ashland and Aaron Libby of Caribou, who created an apple-glazed pork belly. Double D took third place with boneless turkey breast covered in a cranberry glaze.
The pitmasters were enthused but tired at the end of the competition. And yes, Thibeault said, they really do stay up all night.
“Nobody really sleeps,” he said. “We do it for the camaraderie. It’s a lot of fun.”
For Double D, it’s a team effort. Dereck and wife Meagan are joined by his parents, Donald and Barb Dufour, along with friends Shawn Rogers and Aaron Tysinger. They opened a food truck this year, which they’ve set up on Fort Fairfield’s Main Street. This is their third year for the cook-off.
His first attempt at barbecuing wasn’t great, Dereck Dufour said.
“I came home with a pellet smoker one day and started practicing,” he said. “I worked at recipes and finally got a good one and stuck with it.”
He and his father built their smoker in 2021, finishing it about two weeks before the cook-off that year. They won trophies that year, and are having a great time sharing their food, he said.
Tom Peers is pitmaster for Smokey Bears, which opened up a storefront in Easton Center last month. He credits Chris Perkins of Fort Fairfield, who competed in the first cookoff in 2018, with getting him started.
“He mentioned he was doing it, and that’s what got most of us into it,” Peers said. “Smokey Bears has won 10 trophies in the cook-off and we’re hoping to add to that today.”
Truck drivers Veazie and Libby have competed all six years. They arrived Friday afternoon for the all-night cooking frenzy. The long cooking time is what makes barbecue so good, Libby said.
“It breaks down all the little fibers in the meat when you cook it low and slow,” he said.
Matt Soucy of Orrington is part of Cousin’s Que of Maine and Millbury, Massachusetts.
“We’re hobbyists, I guess you’d say,” he said. “We just do competitive barbecue. We start in Florida in the winter and do as many in New England in the summer as we can.”
Other trophy winners were, for chicken: 1st, Smokey Bears; 2nd, Double D; and 3rd, J&R. Ribs: 1st, J&R; 2nd, Smokey Bears; and 3rd, DNA. Pork: 1st, Double D; 2nd, J&R; and 3rd, DNA. And for brisket: 1st, DNA; 2nd, Cousin’s Que; and 3rd, Double D.
