26
Sep

2024 Praise the Lard Cook-Off Winners

Praise the Lard 2024 Cook-Off logo and photos

A Legendary Place for Barbecue

For the last 37 years, the Murphysboro Praise the Lard Cook-Off has been a cornerstone on the national barbecue circuit, having earned the reputation as one of the best three-days to experience and celebrate the competitive barbecue culture. This year, 17th Street Barbecue was thrilled to welcome a record 119 teams from 20 states, all seeking to be one of the 2024 Praise the Lard Cook-Off winners. They competed for Grand Champion bragging rights, entry into the Kansas City Royal, the Jack Daniel’s draw and over $36,000 in prize money.

This year also saw the ninth year of our successful partnership with the Steak Cook Off Association, as we expanded the widely popular Friday night competition into a Doubleheader taking place through Saturday afternoon. We also added Taco and Appetizer Cook-Off ancillaries. A strong field of teams competed in the Steak Doubleheader.

This year marked the 16th year of a dual-sanctioned barbecue event with teams cooking for both the Memphis Barbecue Network (MBN) and Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) sanctioned contests.

Breakdown of teams and entries:
58 KCBS
24 MBN
37 Steak #1
26 Steak #2
27 Fish ancillary
35 Wings ancillary
16 Appetizer ancillary
6 Taco ancillary

Barbecue = Food + Family  + Love

The three-day event continues to pay tribute to the memory of my dad, Mike Mills, affectionately known as “The Legend,” who passed away at the end of 2020. Originating as a one-day effort hosted by him and a committee of volunteers to benefit the community, Praise the Lard Cook-Off has become as much a jewel in the crown on the barbecue circuit as one of the most anticipated fall weekends in the world of barbecue. We’re so proud to showcase the city of Murphysboro, IL and show the teams and judges the gracious hospitality that is a trademark of Southern Illinois. We’re continuing his legacy of promoting barbecue as a conduit for community.

The trophies at our competition are coveted works of art. Winning teams received one-of-a-kind hand-blown glass apples, exclusively commissioned for The Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-Off by the Douglass School Art Place in Murphysboro. The two Grand Champions each received a chainsaw-carved pig from Southern Illinois Chainsaw Carving in Marion, Illinois.

We are thankful for the generous support of the city, sponsors, community at large and hardworking volunteers to make the 37th year of this treasured weekend possible.  


2024 Praise the Lard Winners

2024 PRAISE THE LARD COOK-OFF WINNERS

MBN GRAND CHAMPION:
Aint It The Life (in pork)

RIBS
1) Ain’t It The Life
2) Smoke Til Ya Broke
3) Goin’ Hog’n
4) Smoke Masters
5) Get Your Grill On

PULLED PORK
1) Ain’t It The Life
2) Que N D 662
3) Smoke Masters BBQ
4) Poker Porkers
5) BBQ Bus

WHOLE HOG
1) Swine Life BBQ
2) Will Be Que BBQ
3) Church of Swinetology
4) Old Booger Bears BBQ
5) Poker Porkers

KCBS GRAND CHAMPION:
The BBQ Bus

KCBS RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION:
We Will Rock ’Que

CHICKEN
1) Good Googly Goo BBQ
2) Iowa’s Smokey D’s BBQ
3) DB-BBQ
4) Continental Barbeque Co
5) Machete Boys BBQ

RIBS
1) Janky Leg BBQ
2) Bleacher Bums BBQ
3) Man Meat BBQ
4) Glamping Grillers
5) Continental Barbeque Co.

PORK
1) SmokinGhost BBQ
2) Blinkeys Offset BBQ
3) The BBQ Bus
4) Hefty Lefty BBQ
5) Rusty Pig BBQ

BRISKET
1) Man Meat BBQ
2) Mulkeys BBQ
3) Smoke Masters BBQ
4) QueU
5) The BBQ Bus

ILLINOIS SOY FIELD OF BEANS
1) Triple H BBQ
2) SmokinGhost BBQ
3) Janky Leg BBQ
4) Mulkey’s BBQ
5) Can Country Outlaw BBQ

ILLINOIS SOY FIELD OF BEANS MURPHYSBORO WINNER
1) The BBQ Bus

SCA COOK-OFF 1
1) TIE: Rusty Hadacek and Heath Bletzacker
3) Dale Benson
4) Tim Brown
5) Pat McDevitt

SCA COOK-OFF 2
1) Melissa McDevitt
2) Jeff Jacobsen
3) Rodney Jones
4) Marty Plute
5) Tom Sieck
6) Rusty Hadacek
7) Scott MacDonald
8) Cooper Wallace
9) Kevin Jaenke

APPETIZER
1) Pat McDevitt
2) Aaron Christ
3) Brandon Scott
4) TIE: Kaleb Green and Lindsay McDonald

TACO
1) Melissa McDevitt/WI
2) Laura Lea Green/MO
3) Kaleb Green/AR
4) Sandy Brown/IL
5) Pat McDevitt/WI
6) Virgil Smith/MO

Winners photos: ©Kyle Quigley
Drone and event photos: ©Black Chapel Productions

2024 Praise the Lard Winners

Praise The Lard Murphysboro Barbecue Flagship Cook-Off Sponsors include 17th Street Barbecue, Faye, Ole Hickory Pits, Certified Angus Beef, Townsend Spice, Pepsi, Silkworm, Samron, City of Murphysboro, Graue Inc, Big Muddy Brewing, Kingsford, Oliver & Associates, Brews Brothers, Henson’s Septic Service, Mileur Orchard, Republic Services, SIH, Schwebel Printing, Arthur, Voss Heating & A/C, US Foods, PFG Performance Food Group, Wichita Packing Company, Southern Illinois Tourism, UA 160, and Donnewald Distributing Co.

5
Jul

The Factory at 17th Street Sauce Co-Packing Facility

Amy Mills standing in front of Factory at 17th Street bottling machinery

Co-Packing at The Factory at 17th Street

The Factory at 17th Street is now accepting select co-packing clients. Our co-packing capabilities include:

• Hot and cold fill
• Wet-type products (i.e., barbecue sauces, marinades, mustards, pasta sauces, salad dressings, etc.)
• Retail-size glass & institutional-size plastic containers ( 1-gallon jugs)
• 120 gallon minimum run — this will equal about 1 pallet of 850 18 oz bottles
• Hot-filled sauces are filled in glass containers. Clients use our classic 18-oz bottle or we can source other bottles
• We often do split runs of bottles and gallon jugs for restaurants who want  retail bottles for sale and gallons for back of house use
• We can also bottle in five-gallon pails
• Dry seasonings are packaged in clear plastic bottles of various sizes – other options are available

Bottles of 17th Street Barbecue Sauce on bottling conveyor belt.

Who co-packs at The Factory at 17th Street?

At The Factory at 17th Street, we work with a variety of barbecue restaurateurs and caterers to produce top-quality sauces per their recipes and specifications. Here are a sampling of the products we produce:

• Pitmaster sauces and dry rubs
• Chef & restaurant signature products
• Grower’s value-added products
• Entrepreneur’s secret recipes

Row of bottles of 17th Street Barbecue Sauce on bottling conveyor belt.

The Factory at 17th Street is devoted to food safety

All of the products we produce are safe and of the highest quality, meeting the needs of today’s consumer. Our certifications require that we keep abreast of  the continually evolving food safety standards.

• Facility approved & inspected by the US FDA #14238083964
• Facility approved and inspected by the Illinois Department of Public Health
• HAACP, GMP, Food Safety & Food Security Programs
• HAACP-certified managers
• SQF certified

Most large retail outlets require that products they sell are bottled in SQF-certified facilities. We’ll provide you with our SQF certificate, making it simple and easy to meet this requirement. 

Phillip Heern and Amy Mills at the Factory at 17th Street.

Our onboarding fee includes:

• Up to three test batches of your product
• Obtaining your process authority letter
• Nutrition label and ingredient statement
• Referrals to our graphic design team and label manufacturer
• Obtaining certificate of origin letters for any new ingredients your sauce might contain
• pH testing

The Factory is managed by Phillip Heern, a 19-year 17th Street veteran and the official 17th Street Pitmaster. Phillip’s years of barbecue experience are invaluable in the sauce production arena.

You can view the products we produce for ourselves on our retail web site. Learn more about 17th Street Barbecue here.

For more information about the process, please contact Ben Heller by email or at 618-684-8902.