RURAL MISSOURI

by Katherine Heine

When Spencer Fricke asked his wifewhether he could split the cost of a$12,000 grill with a friend, she knewit was the beginning of her hus-

band’s love affair with barbecue. Fricke, a retiredschool administrator from Marshall, now heads afour-member barbecue team that goes to contestsand caters for friends.

Between the four of them they have 13 barbecuegrills, including “Big Red,” which can cook up to25 turkeys at a time. Their equipment also includes20 coolers, an awning and a propane flame throwerappropriately named “the redneck fire starter.”

Most men don’t go to such extremes. Only 2 per-cent of grills bought cost more than $1,000, accord-ing to Kelly McAllister, Hearth, Patio and BarbecueAssociation spokeswoman. All that means, is that98 percent of buyers don’t have the space, cannotafford one or cannot convince their wives that agrill, the same price as a Caribbean cruise, is a goodinvestment.

“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to justify to your wifethat you want to spend $6,000 on a grill, but minewas supportive,” Fricke says. “Some people go tothe bars. Some people fish. I barbecue.”

Not to advance a stereotype, but whether it’s aprimitive fascination with fire, the air of neighborlycompetition or a drive to tinker with giant mechan-ical objects, a growing number of American menhave become bewitched by barbecue.

“Men tend to talk about it for three days, standby the grill and watch it burn, drink and pester themeat,” says Martha Hannsz, Missouri State Fair bar-becue contest organizer.

For enthusiasts like Fricke, barbecuing is a way oflife. Grilling lifers join barbecue associations, watchTV barbecue specials like soap operas and havecatch phrases like, “we flavorize, tenderize andmoisturize” on the tips of their tongues.

Listening to grown men talk about grilling is likeoverhearing women talk about their favorite appli-ances and recipes at a Pampered Chef party. Grillmasters excitedly discuss how barometric pressureaffects the meat and the importance of placing asteak at a 45-degree angle to create perfect grillmarks.

A cook on the cable TV Food Network explains heonly cooks with left ribs because it has been statisti-cally proven more cows rest on their right sides,which, he says, makes themeat tougher.

Obsessive, maybe, but it’seasy for men to slip into a go-big-or-go-home mentalitywith the myriad of barbecuegrills and accessories targetingthe competitive male spiritand bigger-is-better attitude.

“You wouldn’t believe someof the fancy grills we see outat the state fair,” Hannsz says.“It’s one of those my horse isfaster than your horse. Theyall think their grill cooks bet-ter or is more advanced thanthe other.”

Barbecue grills of the 21stcentury are what high-dollarsports cars were to men inthe 1980s. The CorvetteAnniversary Grill, modeledafter the taillights of the sheiksports car, costs about $4,300.Selling points like, “two25,000-BTU stainless bow-tie burners” whet theappetites of competitive macho men.

Greg Bushman of Concordia, who made a grillout of a 300-gallon milk tank, says his barbecueteam understands the drive to upgrade and expand.

“We were just laughing about that the otherday,” Bushman says. “The first year we went to thestate fair we took one trailer with one big grill andlast year we took three big trucks and three biggrills.”

Les McKinney checks the temperature of the 110 pounds meat he and three of his friends are preparing for awedding. When they are not catering, the four of them compete in barbecue contests across the state.

Grills have evolved from lightweight Weber ket-tles to high-end, remote controlled rigs that cookwith three different heating sources at once and costand weigh in the thousands. McAllister says thatwith 58 percent of Americans grilling year-round, anincreasing number of households are spending up to$50,000 to install outdoor rooms for entertainingcomplete with sinks, refrigerators, mood lights, plas-ma televisions and, of course, monster grills.

True pit masters don’t wait for neighborhood par-ties to unleash their grilling talents. They take theirprize grills and prize recipes to state and nationalcompetitions. The American Royal Barbecue, thelargest barbecue competition in the world, is calledthe World Series of outdoor cooking. About 400hopeful cooks, equipped with temperature-readingforks and self-confidence, face off in Kansas City for

bragging rights. “The great thing about the American Royal is

that there is an open division where anyone canenter and have a shot at winning,” says Ed Meyer,one of Fricke’s teammates. “It allows younger teamswith less of a reputation to get their chance.”

Novice griller Rich Davis, a Kansas City psychia-trist, got his start at the first American RoyalBarbecue in 1980 by entering a homemade barbe-cue sauce now known as KC Masterpiece.

Jack Daniels World Championship BarbecueContest in Lynchburg, Tenn., is not so open tonewcomers. Fifty teams from all over the worldcompete by invitation only. Bill Englert ofHamilton, who operates a 4,000-pound homemadegrill, was invited in 2001 and took home two of the25 coveted ribbons.

“Jack Daniels is the grand-pooh-pa of barbecuecontests,” Englert says. “When you make it, youhave made it. It’s kind of a he-man type of thing.”

Certified judges make their rounds to team tents,tasting barbecue on fine china and themed décor,Carla Fricke says. She once saw a team dress up incircus costumes to stand out in the judges’ minds.The Fricke’s have also seen grills made into theshape of a hog’s head and a teakettle as well asgrills made out of refrigerators and small airplanes.

Fricke, Meyer and fellow teammate LesMcKinney, sit in a circle near Big Red, getting upintermittently to check on the 110 pounds of meatthey are smoking for a wedding. It’s apparent theylove the comradery that evolves from 12 hours ofcooking equally as much as cooking itself. The con-versation drifts from nostalgic barbecue contest sto-ries to what they call their high-dollar, high-techtoys.

“These here are what I call my high-tech knives.They’ve got tear drops that create air gaps so themeat releases off the knife and doesn’t tear,”McKinney explains with prideful authority.

Their accessories might seem frivolous to ama-teur grillers, but the four of them will defend theirmeat grinder, commercial-grade meat slicer, two-pound meat cleaver and traveling RV to the end.

Clearly, the team has done something right.They have been crowned grand champions of theMissouri State Fair Backyard Chef Barbecue Contesttwice, and most importantly to the cooks, theiraward-winning meat has won over the stomachs offriends and family.

It is obvious the four chefs have made a namefor themselves in Marshall. During the weddingreception, many of the guests sneak behind thebuilding to pre-taste the main course. Spencer, aman as generous in heart as he is with his grill,hand-feeds some of the guests so they won’t gettheir hands or cloths dirty.

“This is what it’s all about, watching peopleenjoy good barbecue,” Fricke says as the three ofthem smile in agreement. He turns, “Eddy’s gettingready to build a pellet cooker that automaticallyadds the wood pellets to the fire.”

Meet “Big Red,” the $12,000 grill that has carried the barbecue team to twoState Fair Backyard Barbecue Contest Grand Champion titles.

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