PORKERS TAKE HOME FOURTH GRILL TROPHY

Now there are enough grand championship trophies for every Penny Street Porker to have one.

The four Porkers -- chief cook Mike Klipfel, his wife Therese, W.R. "Reeder" Withers and Jim Ham -- won the Charles E. Knote Grand Champion trophy at Saturday's Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce BBQ Fest at Arena Park.

That makes it the third consecutive year and fourth time overall in the contest's nine-year existence.

Fred Higdon, the chairman of the festival, couldn't explain it.

"I guess they're just that good," he said.

Withers had another explanation: "Practice, practice, practice. Find something that works and then don't deviate from it. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The Penny Street Porkers, along with 26 other teams, spent most of the day Saturday meticulously preparing pork steaks, hamburgers, beef boneless strip steaks and other barbecue delights.

They did so despite one sudden downpour that sent cooks and spectators scrambling under pavilions and others searching for umbrellas. Most said they couldn't remember it ever raining during the festival.

Klipfel pored over a large, black rotisserie grill that can handle 60 sides of babyback ribs, 20 sides of spareribs or 20 turkeys.

"We are just good," he said. "But it probably has more to do with the fact that we use our own rubs and we make our own mixes. But we do practice."

Klipfel and the rest of the team spoke before they even knew they had won again. The three trophies from previous years stood outside the cooking area, along with other lesser trophies.

As grand champion, they will get another trophy and a $250 cash prize. The team scored the highest average overall in six meat categories. Individual champions also were named in competitions for hamburgers, beef boneless strip steak, beef kebabs, pork butts, pork ribs and pork steaks.

Category winners received cash prizes of $100, $75 and $50 for first-, second- and third-place finishes. First-place winners also received a trophy.

Double-blind judging

Judging coordinator David Knight, who owns Ole Hickory Pits, said no one can say the contest was rigged. They use a double-blind judging system, which means teams turned in numbered entries at a booth in the park, and those entries were then sent inside the A.C. Brase Arena Building, where they were renumbered before being taken to the judging area.

Judges sat in groups and each was given several entries to rate based on appearance, taste, tenderness and texture. Scores of five to 10 points were then recorded and collected, and scores were tallied.

"You'd think that it would all look alike," Knight said. "But you can tell a difference when you look at it. And of course it all has different tastes."

David Bess, owner of Bluff City Beer and a member of Bluff City Sweetloins, said the event represents a mixture of fun with friendly competition.

"We're trying to win," he said. "Everybody tries to get an edge."

Contestants are out to have fun, but Bess said that guarding sauce ingredients is important.

"Every group out here cooking has their own secrets to get meat the way they want it," he said. "People are pretty secretive about what they use."

Higdon, in his third year as chairman, said the event started out as a way to help farmers by promoting beef and pork.

"But it's grown into a good, old backyard barbecue," he said.

Charles E. Knote Grand Champion: Penny Street Porkers

First-place winners, by category:

Hamburgers: Penny Street Porkers

Boneless Beef Strip Steak: East Cape Cookers

Beef Kebabs: Thorngate

Pork Steaks: Black Dog Barbecue

Pork Ribs: Penny Street Porkers

Pork Butts: Riverdale Swine Smokers No. 2