Sewart, Stazione win local BBQ Bash honors

The 2020 Bayou BBQ Bash was a slimmed-down affair because of COVID restrictions. It was still sanctioned by the Barbecue Competitors Alliance, but it was open only to the chefs, not to the public.
But the 2020 Morgan City event was enough to lure Neil Johannsen into the world of competitive barbecuing. And he was back for the 2021 BBQ over the weekend and under the bridge in Morgan City.
The Sewart Supply team captured the top St. Mary Parish honors in this year’s BBQ Bash. Aaron Guidry of Prairieville was the Grand Champion and won the barbecue chicken competition along the way.
The Stazione team won the Corporate trophy. The Reserve Grand Champion is James Cruz of Arabie.
Johannsen, an LSU professor in exercise physiology, finished out of the money in this year’s BBQ Bash. But the result isn’t likely to dampen his desire for competition.
“Honestly, we just like to sit around and cook,” Johannsen said.
The 2020 chefs-only BBQ Bash was Johannsen’s first competition. Since then, he has cooked at barbecue events in Marksville, Lafayette and elsewhere. Along the way, he has acquired some equipment.
“It was the realization of how much we had to carry around,” Johannsen said. And at that first Morgan City event, “we sat here hot, sweaty and buggy and said we can’t do that again.”
So Johannsen outfitted a trailer with air conditioning and a design on one wall created by his wife, Susannah.
Now all he needs is to place in a competition.
“Every time we do it, we get closer and closer to the final [judging] table,” Johannsen said. “We’re hoping.”
Nearby, Barry Smith of Hammond cooks on a rig that has a Saints fleur-de-lis painted on the front.
Smith has been involved in competitive barbecuing for more than a decade. A former landlord who was involved with the Kansas City Barbecue Society, another sanctioning organization, got him involved.
Now he has a garage full of trophies. He finished third in the chicken category at this year’s BBQ Bash.
For all his experience cooking, his family isn’t eager to share in the product of his talent.
“My family doesn’t eat barbecue,” he said. “I’d bring home a box of spices and some chicken and try it five different ways. I’d make them try it all.”
Now his concentration is on pleasing the Barbeque Competitors Alliance judges and on the actual cooking more than on the spices.
A favorite saying around the barbecue grills is “low and slow,” meaning good barbecue should be grilled over low heat and for a long time.
At home, that might mean 225 to 250 degrees. But Smith said that’s too low for competition because it might leave a three-hour window for when the meat might be done. To be done in time for judging, that window has to be reduced to about an hour. So Smith cooks at 275 degrees.
“If you can’t cook it right and make it tender,” Smith said, “it doesn’t matter what else you do.”
Nearby, Brandon Hunt, a Franklin native now living in Lafayette, was relaxing with friends near the Rak’s Slow Rolling Smoke trailer. He’s partners in the competition with Ronnie Romero of Youngsville, owner of Rak’s BBQ Supply.
“We’ve been placing here and there,” Hunt said. “Everybody’s just trying to do better.”