Eric Lee started his carefully choreographed assembly of barbecued meats for the ninth annual Allen County Fair BBQ Cook-Off at 11:20 a.m. Saturday, accompanied by a specific series of tunes on a disc player that kept him, daughter Ashlyn and wife Melissa on schedule.
“We know where we are by what song is playing,” Eric said.The Lees were among 37 competitors who streamed into Iola late Thursday afternoon and Friday.
“This is the first time we’ve been to Kansas for a cook-off,” said Melissa, a third-grade teacher. “We’ll be back. This is really nice. Many places we’re on asphalt without any shade. Being on grass under trees is really nice.”
The Lees, known as Fire Dancer BBQ, are from Bryant, Ark., a town of about 17,000 not far from Little Rock.
Eric Lee, a technology consultant by day, judged barbecue cook-offs for about three years before trying it himself.
Last November he entered his first competition.
“We’re all competitive and when you start placing, and hear your name, you’re hooked,” he said.
“It’s a family thing,” Melissa added.
Eric preps meat and does the cooking, which required a wake-up call at 1:30 Saturday morning. The meat was in two smokers by 3 a.m.
Ashlyn, 12, keeps everyone on schedule and has the last say on which pieces of meat are sent to judges. Melissa fashions beds of greens and helps place the meat in the most presentable way.
“PRESENTATION is a big part of it,” Eric said, as well as how tender and well-textured the meat is.
For chicken, the first meat judged, he cooked thighs.
Being from Arkansas, Eric allowed he probably should use chicken raised and processed by Tyson, a major Arkansas company, but prefers free-range, without even a hint of chemicals used to boost growth.
“I prefer white meat for eating,” he said, but chooses thighs “because they’re more forgiving if you over-cook them a little bit. And, when you take a bite of the thighs I cook you’d never know it was dark meat.”
For being the new kids on the block, the Lees have done well.
