YES, DEAR … WE WON!

Savannah pitmasters grab Boss Hog title




Pitmasters Chad Warner and Frank Neagle take a victory lap along with Frank’s daughter Rebecca. Boss Hog was the first KCBS win for Yes, Dear BBQ.

Pitmasters Chad Warner and Frank Neagle take a victory lap along with Frank’s daughter Rebecca. Boss Hog was the first KCBS win for Yes, Dear BBQ.

A team of Savannah architects built the perfect weekend in the wide world of competition barbeque.

Saturday afternoon, Yes, Dear BBQ was named Grand Champion of the Boss Hog State Championship Cook-off in Waynesboro.

“I was a huge Dukes of Hazzard fan when I was a kid,” teammate Frank Neagle said after taking his victory lap in the steerhorned Mercury Cougar with the horn bleating to the tune of Dixie. “So winning the Boss Hog … well, that was really cool for me.”

That victory lap was a full circle of sorts for the guys who spend their weekdays dreaming up designs for new schools and colleges. In 2013, they chose the Boss for their very first Kansas City Barbeque Society competition …. but never dreamed they would come back to beat 39 teams and ace the whole shebang.

Yes, Dear turned in a third place brisket that year – impressive for newbies – and continued to get good marks here and there as they cooked competitions all over the southeast.

 

 

“We were kind of hit and miss,” said Chad Warner, the other main man behind the spice and smoke. “We would come close, but we were not consistent in all four categories and nothing ever gelled.”

After two years and dozens of contests, that finally changed.

“They always tell you not to try new recipes at a cook-off,” Chad pondered. “But we never listen.”

So at 8:30 p.m. Friday night, they put their briskets and butts on a 250-degree Superior Smoker fed with charcoal, pecan and cherry and got ready to revolutionize the way they were doing things.

With the help of Frank’s 14-year-old daughter Rebecca, they got through chicken, ribs and pork turn-in with only a few minor hiccups. But after they turned in their new-method brisket, they had immediate barbequers’ regret.

“We had decided not to include any of the burnt ends with the slices,” Frank explained describing the outer pieces which are a favorite amongst the judges but can backfire if they’re not right-on. “All day long we kept second-guessing ourselves and our brisket.”

Saturday’s award ceremony started off pretty well for Yes, Dear BBQ with a 10th place in ribs and a 5th in chicken; but when they didn’t get called for the top- 10 in pork, typically their weakest category, they figured their “sweet with a little heat” recipe had bombed.

“The pork was a little overdone, and there is a fine line between perfectly tender and mushy,” Chad said, expecting a score that would put them in the 20s.

But unbeknownst to them, the pork was a decent 11th place – enough to take them straight to the top when professional KCBS judges gave them an across the board perfect 180-score for their first place brisket.

Chad remembers the tense pause before the Grand Champion was announced and the resonating words of competing pitmaster Waylon Walker, who would finish less than two points behind in second place.

“Waylon turned around and said, ‘you got it, you got it,’” Chad said, still in a state of semi-disbelief. “I just kept shaking my head. ‘No way. No way.’”

Next thing they knew, the team was herded into the back of the red Cougar and whisked around the loop of teams at the Mr. Golf Carts Distribution site.

“The first time we ever saw that car, we thought it was pretty funny,” Chad laughed, remembering his first Boss Hog when world famous pitmasters Jim and Jan Burg of the Killer B’s waved from the backseat. “We watched them ride around the circle and thought, ‘there is no way we are ever going to get to ride in that thing.’ Then there we were … just riding.”

WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?

Yes, Dear BBQ? … there’s a story behind the name. When the guys decided to compete in their first cook-off, they wanted to look like a team. Short on time, they turned to the one tee each of them owned: a shirt screen-printed with the words, “Yes, Dear,” that had been an enduring gag wedding gift over the years as each took a wife. When they got serious about barbequing, the SCAD grads came up with a cool logo and added “Blah, Blah, Blah” … just to be funny.

BEST OF THE BOSS

GRAND CHAMPION Yes Dear, BBQ – Savannah, GA

RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION Waylon’s Wickedly Good Que – Grovetown, GA

1ST PLACE CHICKEN Templar Temptations – Hephzibah, GA

1ST PLACE RIBS Rollin’ Smoke Competition Que – Watkinsville, GA

1ST PLACE PORK Fire in the Hole BBQ – Waynesboro, GA

1ST PLACE BRISKET Yes Dear, BBQ – Savannah, GA

KING OF THE WING Fire in the Hole BBQ – Waynesboro, GA

PEOPLE’S CHOICE Meat Slingers – Waynesboro, GA- local winner

Smokin’ in the Dawghouse – Hephzibah, GA – out of town winner

ANYTHING STRAWBERRY Big J and the Butts – Waynesboro, GA

HIGHEST SCORING LOCAL TEAM Slowly Butt Smoking – Waynesboro, GA – 17th overall


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