Barbecue fans to savor recipes in Sharonville

Jim Emig: owner of Jim Dandy's Family BBQSHARONVILLE - It starts as a really big cooking party, said Roger Cagle.

Folks from across the region gather in Jim Dandy's Family BBQ parking lot, gabbing and making friends.

Barbecue fanatics rumble into the parking lot, some with their own huge, homemade smokers in tow.

By the next morning, the once-jovial cooks have bloodshot eyes, said Cagle, a Green Township resident who remembers staying up all night cooking with his team last September in Jim Dandy's parking lot.

"Everyone's having a good time. Some work too hard, some of them don't work hard enough. The next day - you're there 24 hours - you're pretty tired."

Suddenly, just before 11:30 a.m., the drowsy contestants start scurrying. They've got 20 minutes to turn in their first samples.

Thus will be the scene in the parking lot and grass by Jim Dandy's Family BBQ on Sharon Road, Saturday, Sept. 15, and Sunday, Sept. 16, during the second annual Jim Dandy's Barbeque Cookoff, when 18 teams compete for a place at the American Royal national barbecue championships in Kansas City.

It's Jim Dandy's second year in the barbecue contest circuit and it's already become one of two official state barbecue championships in Ohio.

"We stick to the traditional method of cooking with wood," said Jim Emig, owner of Jim Dandy's.

"We want to promote that."

The sanctioning body of the competition, Kansas City Barbeque Society, only allows wood or charcoal, too.

Spectators are welcome - and they can even eat leftovers - but they have to chew quietly while the judges savor and study every morsel.

Morsels like those from the smoker of Covington, Ky., resident Scott Jackson and his team "Fumo Comedo," who competed in their first barbecue contest last year at Jim Dandy's - and won the grand champion title.

Jackson went through about 25 rub and sauce recipes to get there, taking pounds of meat to work and setting up shop in the breakroom to get the opinions of his co-workers.

Jackson and his team "caught the fever," he said, and entered in four more competitions last year, and have competed in five so far this year.

"I was always around barbecue coming from western Kentucky and there was always church picnic barbecues and always weekend barbecues with the family.

"Plus I just like to eat," said Jackson.

Cagle, who won first place in the pork shoulder category last year, said he's got secrets, too.

"I got some looks from some people, like what the heck's this guy doing," he said, chuckling.