Courtesy Photo The competition barbecue team Just Smokin’ Around competed recently in the 21st annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue in Lynchburg, Tenn. Pictured is the Just Smokin’ Around team of Bill Rittelmeyer of Woodsboro and Bob Fowle of Frederick.

On the weekend of Oct. 24, Fowle and Rittelmeyer packed up their cooker and secret barbecue sauce and headed to Lynchburg, Tenn., for the 21st annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue. Their first invitation came in 2007, which was also their first year of competition.

"We've been fortunate to win some competitions that made us eligible for 'the draw,'" Rittelmeyer said. In September, the team won the West Virginia barbecue championship held during Pickin' in the Panhandle, a two-day barbecue and bluegrass festival.

West Virginia holds only one championship competition and winning that made them eligible for "The Jack," where only one team from each state is represented.

For states that have more than one championship competition, including Maryland, qualifying winning teams are put in a lottery or "draw" that determines who gets the invite.

In 2007, Just Smokin' Around represented Maryland.

"You can go to any state you want to for a competition," said Fowle, who lives in Frederick . "A lot of teams travel up and down the East Coast. We do five or six a year. Salisbury is the one that starts the year for us in April. The farthest we've been is Kansas City for the American Royal (Barbecue invitational). This year, we could have gone to that one also, but we have limited resources."

'The Jack'

The weather was rainy and foggy the day the teams arrived.

"If it rains on the cooker, it can cool off the metal" and affect cooking, Rittelmeyer said. "Fortunately ours was mostly covered" by a canopy. And competition day turned out to be heavy with clouds, but little rain.

For "The Jack," as the competition is known, teams compete in seven categories: pork ribs, pork shoulder/butts, beef brisket, chicken, dessert, chef's choice and Jack Daniel's sauce, which has to contain Jack Daniel's whiskey. The tiny town of Lynchburg, population 361, is home to the Jack Daniel's distillery which, ironically, is in a dry county.

The pork butt, which despite its name is cut from the front shoulder of the hog, and the beef brisket are cooked over low heat for a long period of time, said Fowle. The pork cooks until it can be pulled apart easily.

They usually cook chicken thighs in competition but for The Jack they also had to cook chicken breast. Fowle said the bird's dark meat stays moist and juicy.

He prefers baby-back ribs; Rittelmeyer prefers spare ribs and they usually alternate them in competition. For The Jack they cooked spare ribs. "(Spare ribs) have more meat but baby-backs are what most people like," Fowle said.

Teams have to bring their own meats and ingredients -- with nothing prepared ahead of time. Once inspectors check the meat, it's on. "We can start seasoning it, start preparing and around midnight start cooking it," Fowle said. Teams turn in one meat category to judges every half hour starting at noon.

The cooked meats are presented in a 9-by-9 inch Styrofoam container, which can be garnished with leafy greens like lettuce and parsley. Red-tip lettuces, kale, mustard greens and chard are not allowed, said Rittelmeyer, noting "The Jack" follows Kansas City Barbeque Society guidelines.

"Everything has to be cooked over a long period of time over low temperature, and no gas grills," Fowle said. He uses charcoal to get the fire started then adds a fruit wood, preferably apple, for flavor.

For the chef's choice category, prepared on site, Fowle and Rittelmeyer entered a surf-and-turf dish of New York strip steak, a Maryland-style crab cake and slices of tomato and mozzarella on the side. Fowle pre-made a chocolate cheesecake with a Jack Daniel's-based strawberry sauce for the dessert category. Both developed their tomato-based barbecue sauce, which Fowle says "is a little heavy on the Jack Daniel's." The whiskey is reduced over heat and the alcohol evaporates, leaving just the whiskey flavor.

After judging, grand champion and bragging rights went to the team from Massachusetts. Just Smokin' Around finished 49th overall out of 81 teams, up from 74th place in 2007.

"For us, that was a big improvement. We were going against all proven winners," Rittelmeyer said. Sixty-two of the teams were from the U.S. and 19 were grand champions from around the world.

"It's fun just hanging out with everybody else," Fowle said of the competition.

He and Rittelmeyer are computer programmers at the Marriott Center in Frederick .

Fowle recently earned a culinary arts certificate from Frederick Community College and volunteers at Volt restaurant in Frederick to keep his culinary skills sharp. Just Smokin' Around also does catering.

Rittelmeyer, who lives in Woodsboro , has been a backyard grilling fanatic for 30 years. He has several cookers, smokers and grills. "One of my older brothers taught me how to cook ribs and pork roasts," he said.

It was a misunderstanding that found the two in barbecue competitions. "I found a grilling class in Arlington (Va.)," Fowle said, but it was actually a class on how to compete in barbecue.

"We started doing competition for fun and enjoyment," Rittelmeyer said.

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Just Smokin' Around: www.justsmokinaround.info