Article content continued

A first prize in either could earn a “grand champion” in excess of $12,000 U.S. But Lundy and Thomson, who qualified by virtue of their successes cooking chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder and beef brisket at previous contests in the U.S. and Canada, say they aren’t really in it for the money.

Both sink considerable funds into their barbecue exploits for travel, supplies and more. Outside of competing, the two friends plan to organize what they will call the Capital BBQ Festival in Ottawa in early August 2017. It’s to feature not only a competition for seasoned cooks like themselves, but also much more outreach to backyard barbecuers and meat-eaters in general.

But long before that happens, Lundy and Thomson have to throw down at the Jack and the Royal, as the events are nicknamed. Below, they take part in a pre-game discussion.

Q: How did you get into competitive barbecue cooking?

Lundy: After taking a trip to Memphis in May about five years ago, I knew I wanted to give this a try.

Thomson: When I bought my first pellet smoker, I immediately started learning how to cook ribs. I once tried to grill ribs, about 10 years earlier. I did what thousands of others do — I boiled my ribs. As the meat was simmering, I saw the grey and brown foam forming on the top of the pot. I then sauced and grilled them, but I couldn’t eat them.

So when I got my smoker, I learned the heck out of ribs. I cooked them over and over, trying all kinds of recipes, techniques, cuts. Eventually, I had a pretty solid recipe, and my ribs were good. Dang good. Then I saw an ad for a local barbecue contest in Ottawa that had an amateur component. A couple of buddies and I went and cooked our ribs. During this time, we had the opportunity to meet and chat with “the pros” at the professional barbecue contest and we were almost hooked at that point already. That day, we won. As we accepted our prize, the contest organizer said, “Next year, you have to come back as pros.” So we did. That was in 2010 and I haven’t stopped competing since.