Southern smoke met big Alberta sky at Porkapalooza, Edmonton’s first southern barbecue championship, sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) and held at Edmonton’s bucolic Hawrelak Park.
On Father’s Day weekend 29 teams from three provinces on the hunt for $10,000 in prize money.
The competition zone looked like a regular picnic area, families, trailers, kids on bikes, with one key difference: the abundance of cooking gear — deck-sized barbecues, Weber grills, Big Green Eggs, pellet stoves and elaborate, specially-designed smokers.
Teams are accustomed to the hurry up and wait of competition, but to the casual observer, there is not a lot of visible activity. That is, until turn-in time — then it’s controlled chaos as every team attempts to get their perfectly cooked meat to the judges on time.
All for the love of barbecue.
The love of barbecue was thwarted by the lack of barbecue to eat. The teams are here to compete, the racks and briskets, chicken and ribs all prepared to find the perfect specimen to turn in to the judges, not feed the hungry hordes drawn by the irresistible smell of smoking meats.
After turn-in, local health rules forbid a come-one come-all sampling. Enter local food trucks and vendors.
Smokehouse BBQ smoked and sold over 700 pounds of ribs during Porkapalooza. Alberta Pork sampled tasty pulled pork and there were tacos, bacon-wrapped chicken, sandwiches, burgers, poutine, popcorn and panini on offer.
“We prepped 375 sandwiches for Saturday,” said Chris Delaney from Big City Sandwich. “By 7pm we didn’t have a single French fry left.
“It was our first big event,” said Jay Favell about his truck called Moose on the Run. “We made pork burger sliders and a panini loaded with pork roast and Italian meats with marinara sauce.”
There was something irresistible about the weekend too, the camaraderie between teams, the absolutely perfect weather, the atmosphere in bucolic Hawrelak Park.
It was Smokehouse BBQ’s first time competing (as well as having a smoker and two trucks onsite in the food vendor section.) “The BBQ on the Bow guys were phenomenal, everybody wanted to help. It was all pretty impressive,” said owner Terry Sept.
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Top 8 Overall
| 1 | Prairie Smoke & Spice (Pilot Butte, Saskatchewan) |
| 2 | House of Q (Vancouver) |
| 3 | Bordertown BBQ (Lloydminster) |
| 4 | Gettin’ Sauced BBQ (Lethbridge) |
| 5 | SmellaQue (Calgary) |
| 6 | 3 Tons of Fun (Beaumont) |
| 7 | Rocky Mountain Smokers (Calgary) |
| 8 | Smokehouse BBQ Inc. (Edmonton) |
Pork Ribs
| 1 | Trent’s Smokin BBQ |
| 2 | Prairie Smoke & Spice |
| 3 | House of Q |
| 4 | The Grill Geek (Edmonton) |
| 5 | Bear B Que(Outlook, Saskatchewan) |
| 6 | Bordertown BBQ |
| 7 | Rocky Mountain Smokers |
| 8 | Gettin’ Sauced BBQ |
Pork
| 1 | Prairie Smoke & Spice |
| 2 | Smokin Aces (Edmonton) |
| 3 | SmellaQue |
| 4 | House of Q |
| 5 | Alberta Bones BBQ (Ft Saskatchewan) |
| 6 | Smokehouse BBQ Inc. |
| 7 | Rocky Mountain Smokers |
| 8 | Bordertown BBQ |
Pork Burger
| 1 | Prairie Smoke & Spice |
| 2 | Bordertown BBQ |
| 3 | The Grill Geek |
| 4 | Smokapalooza (Calgary) |
| 5 | House of Q |
| 6 | Gettin’ Sauced BBQ |
| 7 | Old Baja Boys (Calgary) |
| 8 | Smokin’ Poles (Calgary) |
Pork Tenderloin
| 1 | Prairie Smoke & Spice |
| 2 | Alberta bones BBQ |
| 3 | Rocky Mountain Smokers |
| 4 | Eggmonton Stogie Smokers |
| 5 | Smokehouse BBQ Inc. |
| 6 | Smokapalooza |
| 7 | Gettin’ Sauced BBQ |
| 8 | R8 ur Rack BBQ (Sherwood Park) |