purple sauce” or the “big bad rub” that did it.
Jared Lewis and Gavin Silva, two Scotts Valley general contractors and amateur barbecue enthusiasts, took first place in the chicken category of the No Bull BBQ Cook-Off in Morgan Hill on Saturday, May 8.
The pair, using smokers and their Traeger pellet barbecues, topped the 52-team field in the chicken category and finished fourth overall in the competition to take home $500 in prize money.
The team’s success came as a huge surprise to Lewis and Silva, both 31, who became enamored with competitive barbecuing after watching the TLC reality television show “BBQ Pit Masters.”
“We barbecue in our backyard, but we’ve never even been to a competition,” Lewis said.
They came up with the name Big Bad Barbecue for their team and traveled to Morgan Hill with two 10-pound pork butts, a 14-pound brisket, six slabs of ribs and 12 pieces of chicken last weekend.
Starting Friday, they smoked, cooked and garnished for almost a day straight to perfect their meats for the judges — preparing only the best pieces of chicken, ribs, pork and brisket.
“We slept one hour in the course of two days,” Lewis said.
The atmosphere was friendly but competitive, Lewis said, with recipes and techniques closely guarded.
“All of our sauces went into unmarked containers,” said Lewis, who declined to divulge the ingredients of either his purple sauce or his big bad rub.
The Gilroy Dispatch reported that 10,000 people showed up for the cook-off — after only three hours, all the $10 tasting tickets had sold out.
The competition was sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society and drew teams from all over the state.
Besides winning the chicken category, Lewis was proud of beating out Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ, a team that has been featured on the reality TV show he watches.
“It’s exciting,” Lewis said. “It gives you the bug to want to do it again.”
Lewis, the owner of Jared Lewis Construction, said the pair is considering starting a party catering business and is looking forward to the next competition. He hopes to convince Scotts Valley to allow a cook-off in the city.
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