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RALEIGH – The weather may be cooling off, but the competition is heating up in Raleigh where the best Whole Hog Barbecue cook teams will compete this weekend for the right to be  called state champion. The cooks have qualified to compete by winning a local North Carolina Pork Council-sanctioned competition since the last championship in 2019. Last year’s event didn’t take place due to the pandemic.

Certified judges evaluate the finished pig following stringent rules based on overall  appearance, color, skin crispness, taste and completeness of presentation. The pigs cannot be  sauced or seasoned prior to judging. During the blind judging portion of the event, cooks will  have the opportunity to present a finished product to a second panel of judges who will rate  the meat on taste, tenderness and appearance. A small panel of non-certified judges have been  selected to select the People’s Choice winners. A sauce award and a crispy skin award will also  be presented to the top cooks in those categories.

Competing cooks and their teams include Dana Peterson: Yabotit Cue and Kevin  Peterson: Showtime’s Legit BBQ (Benson); John Moody: American Piggers (Bethel); Paul Gainey:  It’s ‘Que Time BBQ (Cape Carteret); Mark Copeland: Pocosin Boys (Colrain); Jason Baker: Baker  Boys BBQ, Jeffrey Parkhurst: J-3 Cooking Team, John Kantenwein: J-3 Cooking Team, John  Kearney: J-3 Cooking Team, (Goldsboro); DJ Stox: Bull Pen BBQ (Kenly); David Hoffman: Grilling  Palms BBQ (Kinston); Chris Fineran: Beach Boy’s BBQ (Little River, SC); Andy Harrison: Mr.  Curley’s Que Crew and Tim Gupton: Greys Mill Grilling (Louisburg); Billy Narron: Wicked Pig  (Middlesex); David Grandy: Lazy Dayz (Morehead City); Brooke South: South in Your Mouth  Cookin’ Team, Charlie Meeks: Captain Charlie’s Cooks and Mike Hemenway: My Sweet Hog (Newport); Patrick Dowdee: Fur and Spur BBQ and Kevin Wooten: Piggin’ and Grillin’ BBQ  (Raleigh); David Murray: Fired Up BBQ (Snow Hill); Dru McDaniel: Hog Havoc (Southport) and  Wesley Bowers: Getting Piggy With It (Washington).

The championship this year is not a public event. All the cooked barbecue will be  donated to Inter-Faith Food Shuttle to be used in local feeding programs.

The N.C. Pork Council has organized and sanctioned the Whole Hog Barbecue  Championship since 1985 as the culmination of the Whole Hog Barbecue Series local  competitions statewide. The barbecue series raises more than $114,000 each year for select  local charities. The Whole Hog Barbecue Series and championship is one of the ways the N.C.  Pork Council supports local communities and events throughout our region.