By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Barbecue is hot – and not just spicy.
Scottie Johnson says grilling has "NASCAR appeal."
"People can relate to driving a car. All they're really seeing is people driving cars fast. Same with barbecuing. Everyone thinks they're an expert."
Johnson, 43, of Westmont, Ill., who appeared Dec. 9 at Heartland Chrysler Jeep Dodge on M-51 South, won $2,500 Oct. 28 at the 18th annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational in Lynchburg, Tenn. – the "World Series of barbecue."
Cooking up a cure for cancer, which claimed both his wife and father, inspires the champion.
His wife, Corliss, died Feb. 2, 2003, of colon cancer at 41.
She attended high school with Heartland's Dan Leversen.
Scottie's dad died just the day before Johnson competed in Tennessee.
While the pressure will be on him next October as defending champion, Johnson says he won't do anything different.
"I wrote my notes down in detail. In the summer time I cook every weekend, probably 70 pounds of meat a weekend. The last thing I want to do is eat barbecue, I'm so pickled on smoke and barbecue during the summer. I eat salads a lot in the summertime."
"I had only a couple of sponsors last year," he said of his promotional schedule. "I try not to. It's hard trying to be a single dad with two little girls (Zoe and Lexi) who like to play sports – gymnastics, soccer and softball. I already have 14 contests booked next year. That's enough."
He endures the promotional aspects in the name of cancer research.
"I absolutely hate the spotlight," he said. "But I'm literally going to be going from Houston to Lake Placid, N.Y. I got into this not for my own self-promotion, but for cancer awareness and to ultimately find a cure.
"If I can help one person that will make me happy. I saw what my wife went through, so anything to help cancer survivors. It's a death sentence handed to you to deal with with dignity, honor and grace."
"One of my first jobs was working at a restaurant," he said. "It was a steak and lobster joint and I just loved to cook. I love anything grilled – chicken, pork chops, steaks. I've got every kind of grill and cooker that you can imagine, but my gas grill's my baby because you can cook anything on it, from boneless, skinless thighs to hamburgers, hotdogs and sausage."
He described his colleagues at the law firm where he works as "jealous."
"They're proud of me," he said. "It's a big firm now, with 200 attorneys and probably 450 employees. My 20th anniversary there is next Friday."
Johnson is not an attorney himself. He manages the litigation department.
"I'm a bachelor degree guy who gets to tell them what to do," he smiles. "It's fun, commanding respect. You crack the whip and they have to listen. I started there thinking I wanted to go to law school."
"You don't compete unless you think you've got a shot," he said of winning the tall barrel staves trophy.
"Only 50 U.S. teams get in, and they're all state champions. Michigan last year had two championships – in Grand Rapids and outside of Detroit. I was fortunate enough to win that part of the draw. There were four teams cooking that had automatics, meaning they've won seven contests. It's called the No. 7 rule because of Jack Daniel's old No. 7 logo. Obviously, it's skill, but a lot of it's also luck hitting the table and those judges happen to like what you turn in. I'm not kidding myself."
Competitors flock to the competition from as far away as Switzerland, Australia, Poland and the United Kingdom.
Sixty judges award points in seven categories – pork ribs, pork shoulder, beef brisket, chicken, cook's choice, sauce and dessert.
Johnson said the dessert competition excludes barbecue.
Competitors often make ice cream or enter cheesecake, but it's not "candy on a stick," his nickname for his award-winning ribs that started this journey.
Judges are certified by one of the largest such U.S. organizations, the Kansas City Barbecue Society.
"You don't want to go too spicy," he said. "You don't want to go too sweet. The whole key is balancing everything out. Barbecue's always the cheap cuts of meat, so you need to render the fat out. When you render the fat out of it you're flavoring the meat and softening the meat. Brisket, if you cook it 15 hours at a nice low, slow temperature, can taste as good as prime rib. You turn a dollar cut of meat into meat that tastes like $25 a pound."
"Ours is obviously a meat contest, but you use sauce to enhance everything," Johnson said. "If you take a bite of our brisket it will take you on this rollercoaster ride from immediately sweet, then it will take you to hot, then to salty and finish it off with a peppery aftertaste.
"It should all meld together at the end so that you sit back and go, 'That was pretty good.' That's ultimately what we're looking for, where you can taste the pork or chicken. If you completely hide it, then smart judges wonder what you're trying to hide."
Johnson considered competing at the Cass County Fair's inaugural Backyard Chef contest in Cassopolis last summer.
"Dan (Leversen) wanted me to cook in it, but it was right before we have a yearly golf outing for the foundation."
His winnings go to the foundation he started in his wife's name to help fund cancer research.
CancerSucksChicago.com