The sights! The swine! The sauce! The best things we saw & tasted at Memphis BBQ contests

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the Pig Diamonds' team name.

The dueling SmokeSlam and Memphis in May barbecue competitions have come and gone.

But it shouldn’t be a competition between the two events: Both contests were filled with plenty of interesting sights, smells and tastes for spectators to enjoy.

This year marked the first time Commercial Appeal reporters Jacob Wilt and Neil Strebig attended a Memphis barbecue contest. Here are some of their personal highlights from the two events.

Brazil comes to Memphis

The Pig Diamonds have been participating at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest since 1980, but this year they had a special guest of sorts, Brazilian restaurant owner and chef Adriano Pedro.

Brent Little, Pig Diamonds chef and team member, met Pedro while he and his wife were living in Brazil. The two conversed over barbecue and Pedro became enthusiastic over Memphis-style barbecue and opened Rac-Coon Smoke House in Sau Paulo, Brazil. Pedro now serves as the team's pitmaster.

His influence goes beyond the seasoning and flavor profiles of the team's wings and barbecue. The team's butcher paper has one of Pedro's trademark hashtags "vamos de fumar omundo," on it, which accordingly to Little translates to "Let's smoke around the world."

Pedro also brought up his own smoker that he designed, called the 849, for this event.

— Neil Strebig

Live cooking demos

I’m always looking for ways to improve my own cooking, and SmokeSlam turned out to be the perfect place for that. Each day was filled with multiple cooking demonstrations — I stopped by one hosted by Chef Ray Sheehan.

Sheehan handed out samples of his wings, which were seasoned with his signature Kansas City and Hot Honey sauce. The chef gave out specific advice on the minutia of making a perfect wing, such as the correct temperature to smoke the wings properly to make the skin crispy.

For Sheehan, events like SmokeSlam aren’t really about the competition. The real benefit of SmokeSlam is the opportunity for fellow chefs to work together and, as Sheehan said, "lift each other up,” improving their craft alongside one another.

— Jacob Wilt

Arguably the best name for BBQ sauce in the continental US

Memphis in May competitor Mike White decided to create the "Best Damn BBQ Sauce" brand simply because he was tired of having unopened bottles in his fridge.

White recalled waking up one morning, making eggs and looking for barbecue to complement his breakfast.

"I had about 15 bottles open and said, 'Hell, I can make my own and I'll call it the 'Best Damn BBQ,'" he said.

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White is part of Team Best Damn Barbecue, a collective of friends who grew up in the Pacific Northwest (with a few stragglers from Texas). The team uses converted oil drums for smoking, but the key for the team is White's barbecue sauce.

White and his wife, Nicole, also recently purchased the one of the oldest restaurants in the Oregon, White's Restaurant. The restaurant, which White said he took an interest in largely due to the last name and possible family history, has been serving Salem residents since 1936.

— Neil Strebig

Barbecue teams' tents are no joke

There’s no lack of creativity among the BBQ community when it comes to creating a great tent, and for the teams at SmokeSlam that’s no exception. A standout example was VooDooQ, which had planted (plastic) skulls on pikes around the perimeter of its tent. Undoubtedly a warning to their fellow competitors.

There were a few beach-themed tents as well. Parrothead Porkers of Hogaritaville had a clever setup featuring a colorful picket fence and cut-out palm trees. Love Meat Tender went with a wrestling theme and included a red staircase leading inside. Just like walking the red carpet in Hollywood.

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SmokeSlam tents were no joke: They’re less like a tent you’d use to go camping and more like a temporary home. Sweet Cheeks is the perfect example of that. The team members put up a two-story “tent,” giving them a perfect view of the competition below.

— Jacob Wilt

These Norwegians love Gibson's Donuts

The Norwegian National Barbecue Team has been competing at Memphis in May since 2007 after Oklahoma City native and team founder Crait Winston relocated to Oslo, Norway, in his mid 20s.

The team got third place in the exotic category in its inaugural competition year, however, they joke what they really come to Memphis for is Gibson's Donuts and Gus's World Famous Fried Chicken.

— Neil Strebig

It's all about the sauce

Inside the Live Fire Extravaganza at SmokeSlam was a plethora of samples to try. And it was the selection of sauces, not meats, that made each stand out from the rest.

The Al Frugoni tent handed out sliders made with smoked sausage, and despite a great smoky flavor, it was the seasoning that made them so fantastic. Frugoni uses chimichurri, a sauce commonly found in Argentinian cuisine with a deep vinegar taste.

Moore's Marinade gave away wings with their own house-produced sauce as well: either a spicy buffalo or a buttery garlic. Each complemented the wings perfectly.

T&T Barbeque was the standout. Its freshly cooked and cut ribs were topped with its custom "mop sauce" or honey gold, which has a delicious tangy flavor.

— Jacob Wilt

Culinary influencer Chuck Matto visits Memphis in May for the first time

Chuck Matto was doing an Instagram Live during Wednesday night's Memphis in May sauce wrestling event when a horde of teenagers surrounded him asking for photos and to talk San Francisco 49ers football.

Matto has become a bit of a social media sensation with his Chuck's Flavor Train brand and his association with the defending NFC Champions. Matto also has appeared as a finalist on season four of Food Network's "BBQ Brawl."

Matto hosted a cooking demo on Thursday at the Home Depot Outdoor Kitchen and said it was his first time in Memphis and at the World Championship. For him, the event has been about meeting good people and trying great food.

— Neil Strebig

Neil Strebig is a journalist with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at neil.strebig@commercialappeal.com, 901-426-0679 or via X/Twitter, @neilStrebig. 

Jacob Wilt is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal. You can reach him at jacob.wilt@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis in May and SmokeSlam barbecue contests: What we liked at each