Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s barbecue located in Charlotte, North Carolina, was the pitmaster for the mighty north crew that defeated the pitmasters from South Carolina in the inaugural Smithfield Cup held at the Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery in Elizabethtown on Sunday.
BBQ BATTLE OF THE CAROLINAS
Smithfield representative Andrea Tucker, North Carolina pitmaster Lewis Donald and Elizabethtown Mayor Sylvia Campbell all relish in the North Carolina victory over opponent South Carolina in the inaugural Smithfield Cup.
Jacob Strimpel who attends Paul R. Brown academy took his turn shooting hoops at the bouncy houses at the Cape Fear Vineyard & Winery - set up for kids entertainment at the highly competitive BBQ contest between the North Carolina and the South Carolina pit-masters.
Once the word got out about the competition, people came from all over the nation to see the inaugural Smithfield Cup BBQ contest. Teenager Aliyah Jackson came all the way from Florida with her mother Verna Jackson to visit friends and attend the Smithfield Cup.
ELIZABETHTOWN – The results are in and the people have voted North Carolina’s BBQ as superior to the barbecue prepared by South Carolina.
The rosters had been finalized for the inaugural Smithfield Cup since mid-October, pitting barbecue teams from North Carolina and South Carolina against each other in a battle of state barbecue supremacy.
The inaugural event took place Sunday on the grounds of Cape Fear Distillery as a select group of pitmasters from the Carolinas prepared pork samplings from title sponsor Smithfield Foods, which operates the world’s largest pork processing plant in the world in nearby Tar Heel, North Carolina.
The venue opened at noon and pitmasters and crews who had been cooking since Saturday night began to see a great influx of their barbecued meat going fast from their tables.
Lewis Donald of Sweet Lew’s barbecue in Charlotte, North Carolina, captained the North Carolina team and was joined by Matthew Register of Southern Smoke barbecue in Garland, North Carolina, and Walt Munroe of Cruzers restaurant in Whiteville, North Carolina.
Robbie Robinson of City Limits Barbecue in Columbia, South Carolina, captained the South Carolina team and was joined by Dylan Cooke of Fork Grove Barbecue in Anderson, South Carolina, and Marvin Ross of Peculiar Pig Eats in Charleston, South Carolina.
It was the north against the south all over again and the boys from above the 35-degree line prevailed.
Each team prepared chopped pork barbecue, ribs and burnt pork belly ends in their own barbecue style and sauce, along with a Southern side for patrons to sample.
A People’s Choice vote determined that the North would take home the coveted crystal Smithfield Cup trophy and state barbecue bragging rights for a year.
Andrea Tucker, general manager for the Smithfield plant in Tarheel, North Carolina was the one who had the pleasure of announcing the first winner of the Smithfield Cup in the inaugural competition, even completing a drum roll with her fingers on the microphone. She thanked everyone for coming and said that on behalf of Smithfield Foods, they truly appreciated celebrating the first Smithfield Cup in Elizabethtown, North Carolina.
“As the world’s largest pork company, we know that nothing brings people together like good food,” she said. “Especially good barbecue. Clap for the good barbecue. We are also proud to be a presenting sponsor for the Smithfield Cup, hopefully to make this an annual event. And the winner goes to, North Carolina.”
At that point Donald came up and received the trophy.
“It was fantastic to be representing North Carolina,” she said. “I had no doubts that North Carolina would be the team from South Carolina. The best part was to see everybody gather and have a great time. Everyone was smiling, happy, eating good barbecue and it was just wonderful.”
In the midst of receiving his award, congratulating his crew and beginning the massive operation of cleanup, Donald sported a huge smile and then reflected on their method that led them to victory.
“Our method, we spend about six hours,” he said. “And we started cooking yesterday. That is all part of our process to start the day before, season all the meats, cook the butts overnight to hold all the moisture and retain all the juices. The ribs and the bellies we started to cook fresh on-site this morning. For Matthew Register who came out from Garland, I would like to say that he was just an unbelievable co-captain and in fact, he IS the captain of the ship. He had a plan and he’s done this a million times and we just worked together and got it done. We also have Walt over here from Cruzers in Whiteville. Him and his guys came in and they also helped big time. Cleanup is easy and we will be donating all the leftovers to the local fire department.”
According to Donald the North Carolina crew cooked 700 pounds of ribs, 180 pounds of belly and 400 pounds of pork. He also said that there was never a doubt that his team would come out on top.
“The volume of cooking everything was the biggest thing for us,” Register said. “We had to get everything prepared to be right on time, but it was a lot of fun. We had tons of help and great volunteers. It was a true team effort.”
Register cooks announced that in Garland, Southern Smoke is now open on Friday nights and they are giving away free beer on Friday nights. The restaurant in Garland has been open for 11 years and Register has been cooking for 14 years. As for the competition on Sunday, Register spoke with a bit of caution in his voice.
“There were times when I was really worried,” he said. “Because you know, Dylan and Robbie both are really good friends of mine and they are both uber-talented. But… being from North Carolina, we know… like… we know we were going to win. They are little brother a little bit when it comes to barbecue, but they are super talented and we were lucky to beat them.”
Register is a Sampson County boy who grew up in Harrells and then moved to Garland. He said that he left the area only once for about nine months and… never again to that.
“To win the first one,” Register said. “It’s really cool for us and we are very blessed that we get to travel all over the south, cooking and I was joking with these guys about always being the one to have the four-hour ride home, but today they have the ride and I get the 15-minute ride home. And this was a humbling turnout, and you never know how that turns out, but we served over 1,000 plates today so it’s pretty incredible.”
“We’re thrilled to open our doors to Elizabethtown and share our rich heritage through one of our top attractions,” said Elizabethtown Town Manager Dane Rideout. “What better way to celebrate than with a showdown between barbecue masters from North Carolina and South Carolina?”
The Smithfield Cup was operated by Tarheel Festivals, who also recently staged the fourth annual Pinehurst Barbecue Festival over Labor Day weekend in the Village of Pinehurst.
About Tarheel Festivals:
Tarheel Festivals, LLC is a full-service event management and production company headquartered in Pinehurst. With over 40 years of producing signature events its team of professionals build festival experiences from inspiration to integration. The official event partner for the Pinehurst- Southern Pines-Aberdeen Area Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), Tarheel Festivals LLC also staged the fourth annual Pinehurst Barbecue Festival over Labor Day weekend and the sixth annual Festival D’Avion at the Moore Country Airport Oct. 26, 2024.
Contact Information:
Dave Droschak, Droschak Communications,
919-630-6656, ddroschak@earthlink.net
Peter Stilwell, Tarheel Communications Solutions,
910-528-7101, peterstilwell@tarheelcommunications.com