Our rigs are loaded and we’re heading to Memphis tomorrow.
Mike and Pat Burke are getting the Apple City Barbecue band back together and competing at Memphis in May for the first time in 18 years. The team extinguished its fire in May 1994 after going out in a blaze of glory as four-time World Champion and the first three-time World Grand Champion of Memphis in May. While there are several teams that have racked up impressive cook-off statistics, there is no team that can match Apple City Barbecue’s storied record achieved in just 69 competitions.
Flavor profiles, styles, and cooking methods have evolved in the competition barbecue world. I can tell you that there will be NO foil, Parkay, honey, or brown sugar in the Apple City Barbecue tent. We’re going old school all the way and cooking on the pit that Mike and Pat made out of an old propane tank – the same pit on which they won many contests. We’re attempting to bring back the old-fashioned way of cooking that results in a distinctive style and flavor profile. That will either work for us or against us; I guess we’ll find out. Thoughts? Are we brave or crazy?