LAS VEGAS | TippyCanoe BBQ Crew, in the waning days of its barbecue year, took third place at the World Food Barbecue Championship in Las Vegas in November.
The win came with some nice pickin's, too -- a prize purse of $6,000, said pitmaster Joe Beland of St. Ansgar who represented the team with wife Kim.
But it was the thrill of an unusual type of competition that got the juices flowing.
“This was different from anything we’ve done before” in barbecue competition, Joe Beland said.
Beland said there was not the traditional Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned competition. On the first day, 80 cooks worked on three different preparations, including pork, ribs and brisket.
The top 10 cooks -- the Belands placed third -- advanced to the second day to cooking “something other than barbecue,” Beland said. “You had to use your imagination.”
His choice: Pork bellies, thanks in part to Shad Kirton of A Boy and His Barbecue of Des Moines. Kirton, a regular competitor at the North Iowa Up In Smoke BBQ Bash in Mason City each year, had brought some with him in case he advanced.
He looked up his buddy Joe when he knew Beland had a shot.
“He met me with a laugh, and said, ‘I have a gift for you.’ ”
It was a good gift, since Beland had wanted to try his hand at pork bellies, too. He paid Kirton for the pork bellies and got to work.
The cumulative scoring landed the Belands in third place for the event. While it might have been nice to advance to another level – called the Final Table – Beland was more than happy with their work.
An added interest was the filming for a show that will air in the spring on one of the A&E channels that covered the event.
“Cameras were with us most of the second day; it was fun to be a part of that,” he said.
The team has one more appearance this year before storing the smokers and rigs for the year, in La Quinta, Calif., for the King of the Smoker contest.
It’s been a great year for the St. Ansgar team. TippyCanoe BBQ Crew has competed in KCBS contests across the country since 2008 and has won more than 20 grand championships.
In 2011 TippyCanoe was crowned national champion at the inaugural Sam's Club National BBQ Tour and grand champion of the World Series of Barbecue American Royal Invitational. Other team members are Brian Bork of St. Ansgar, Matt Hanna of Stacyville and Jeff Beland of Northwood
The Up In Smoke BBQ Bash served as a qualifying event for the WFC. The Belands and team took the grand championship at the Bash this year.