MARIETTA - It takes excise timing, extensive preparation and some team secrets to smoke the perfect barbecue.

And that is what the Lost Mountain Barbecue Co. plans to do Oct. 4 through 6 as they compete to be named Grand Champion at the Big Pig Jig 2007 in Vienna.

The Lost Mountain Barbecue Co. is the professional barbecue competition cooking team from the local Sam & Dave's BBQ restaurant.

Sam Huff, chief cook on the team, said he and his team will pack up the trailers and large smoker this weekend to set up their spot among over 135 competitors.

"It's like a giant cookout, but we eat better," he said.

Everything the team will need including meat, spices, rubs and wood are brought down to the competition in middle Georgia.

The team also brings in trailers for the three day competition because smoking the perfect barbecue requires round the clock, over night craftsmanship.

Teammates Ed and Vicky Norrid are just a part of the extensive team heading down to South Georgia to demonstrate how Cobb County does barbecue.

Mrs. Norrid said the team will follow Huff's lead in preparing and smoking the perfect barbecue for competition.

Huff said they will prep their meat on Friday with special rubs and sauces, and they'll stay up all night cooking the meet for the Saturday afternoon judging.

The Lost Mountain Barbecue Co. will cook a 280 pound hog, about eight whole hog shoulders and pork ribs for the three main competitions at the Big Pig Jig. They can also compete in secondary contest including chicken, Brunswick stew, sauce and people's choice. Huff said they'll probably cook about 500 pounds of barbecue during the competition.

Huff said the judges will judge on taste, texture, tenderness, appearance and presentation. They also inspect the meat prior to cooking to make sure it has a USDA stamp of approval.

And the presentation gets teams to go above and beyond sticking an apple in the hog's mouth. Mrs. Norrid said teams will decorate the smoked hog with whole pineapples and exotic flowers, and some teams even used lights as effects when they open the smoker to reveal their hog.

For the three main competitions, three judges come and sit at a formal table at each contestant's spot. Huff said it takes a lot of preparation to ensure the hog is ready exactly when the judges arrive.

"The hard part of competition is the back timing," he said. "You want to make it finish at the right time, when the judges come walking up."

He said they'll probably put the hog on the cooker around 9 to 10 p.m. Oct. 5 and let it cook for 22 hours, smoking on hickory and pecan wood.

Once the judges are seated at the table decorated with flowers and fine china, the team pulls the best meat for the judges to try and they show them how the cooked it.

"It's like you walked into a restaurant," Mrs. Norrid said.

In addition to the face to face taste-test, every team submits meat in a blind box that the judges will taste without knowing which team it is. Huff said the blind box is half the score.

Huff said the true competition is juggling all the competitions and judges. He said anyone can cook one pig or one shoulder. He said the tough part is having judges for the first event while the team is still cooking for two more events, all the while Huff is trying to impress the judges and sell the quality of their barbecue to them.

"There's a constant vigil," Mrs. Norrid said. "It is hard work, but we love the competition."

For the past three years, the Lost Mountain Barbecue Co. has made the finals in whole shoulder and whole hog. Once a team makes the finals, there is a second round a judging in the afternoon where four judges determine the top three and Grand Champion.

"The meat for the finals is cooked four hours later," he said. "It's like a Chinese fire drill."

While there is some prize money and a trophy that comes with earning the top prize, Huff said the bragging rights is really the thrill of the competition.

"We'll see if we can do it at that level," Huff said.

Huff and his team have been competing for about eight years. Some of their state, regional and national awards include Grand Champion at the 2004 Georgia National Beef Championship, Grand Champion at the Richland Pig Feast 2006 and 7th place in ribs at the Kansas City American Royal Invitational.

Huff said competition cooking is a whole different level than restaurant cooking. He said he cooks with the same techniques at the two Sam & Dave's locations as the team does in competition. BBQ I is located on Lower Roswell Road and BBQ II is on Whitlock Avenue.

"I've cooked barbecue all my life, but it wasn't until eight years ago that we started fine tuning it," he said.

Huff and the Norrids are all excited about returning to the Big Pig Jig this year to see many of the same friends and competitors.

Mrs. Norrid said it's a huge party that has grown to a major national event.

And the team invites all of Sam and Dave's customers down to support the team, vote for them in people's choice and help them eat the leftover barbecue after the judging.

ahungerford@mdjonline.com

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