Grand champion crowned the best in pork at barbecue world championship in Memphis

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Competition is fierce at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, where pitmasters are sweating and smoking to see who will be crowned “best in pork”. Considered one of the premiere cooking contests in the U.S., teams from around the country and internationally spend days working on huge whole hogs, massive slabs of shoulder and cuts of ribs in the heat and sometimes rain of Memphis, Tennesse. (AP video shot by Kristin Hall)

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Brad Orrison, of The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team, laughs as a whole hog is pulled from his cooker at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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A judge’s plate of ribs is seen at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Barbecue judge Wayne Chang eats a rib at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Barbecue judge Patricia White tastes a piece of shoulder from a contestant at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Barbecue judge Rod Ahlrichs licks his fingers as he tastes ribs at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Tommy Moore, of the Usual Saucepects barbecue team, delivers a sample of his team’s ribs to judges at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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A decorative pig is seen at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Shaun Stecklein, left, Jeff Fritz, Nick Ray and Buddy Aucoin, right, of The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team load a whole hog into a cooker as they compete at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Arturo Gutierrez, of the Sociedad Mexicana de Parrilleros team, cooks at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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George Logue, pit master for The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team, shows his pig tattoo at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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George Logue, pit master for The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team, injects a whole hog with seasonings at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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A member of The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team lights the coals for the cooker as they compete at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team members Hobson Cherry, left, and James Newell season a whole hog as they compete at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Members of The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team season whole hogs as they compete at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Rasheed Philips, left, teaches Eric Farley of the Boys and Girls Club how to sear a piece of grilled pork at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Rasheed Philips slices pieces of pork tenderloin at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Sebastian De Alba, of the Sociedad Mexicana de Parrilleros team, gives a thumbs-up to fellow competitors as he delivers an entry to judges at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Boys and Girls Club members Meech Snow, second from left, and Joseph Woody, second from right, cook with Sam Temple, far left, and Justin Bilbao, far right, of Traeger Grills at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Miles O’Guin, 9, checks the temperature of pork chops on the grill at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Randy Pirtle, of the Swinefeld barbecue team, carries a bag of charcoal at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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A person wears a pig necklace at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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A sample of barbecue brisket burnt ends are seen at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Brad Orrison, right, of the The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team, prepares to cook a whole hog at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Eric Farley, of the Boys and Girls Club, sears a piece of grilled pork at the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Memphis, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

By KRISTIN M. HALL

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AP) — The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest crowned a grand prize winner Saturday after hundreds of dedicated pitmasters sweated through smoke to be named the best in pork.

The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, won the whole hog division and was named the grand champion in Memphis, Tennessee.

Considered one of the premiere cooking competitions in the U.S., the contest dates back to the 1970s. But as the so-called culinary sports expanded beyond local home cooks, the competition has become fiercer than ever.

More than $150,000 in prize money was awarded in numerous categories for the 129 cooking teams from 22 states and four foreign countries that competed in one of three main categories of ribs, shoulder and whole hog. There also were ancillary competitions like hot wings, poultry, beef and seafood.

But in Memphis, pork is always the main event.

Winners Brad Orrison and Brooke Lewis, siblings from Ocean Springs, have been competing for 17 years with The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team, named for their restaurant. They now have won the grand championship three times.

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“It’s the Super Bowl of swine. This is the trophy that everybody wants,” Orrison said.

Orrison, Lewis and their team on Friday prepared two Duroc hogs, each one carefully injected with marinades and laid over a bed of butter and bacon.

They return every year to the cooking contest, which is part of the annual Memphis in May festival. It’s like a family reunion where they see friends from all over the country with a shared passion for barbecue.

“It’s like fierce friends and more fierce on the competitive side. Right? So we all support each other, but it stops on Saturday,” Lewis said. “Saturday you can hear a pin prick in the park.”

“What makes Memphis in May so difficult to judge is that everybody cooks the best food in the world, and they’re all here,” Orrison said. “So a judge could run into three teams that have made the most ultimate dreamy bite of barbecue.”

KRISTIN M. HALL

Hall is an Associated Press video journalist based in Nashville, Tennessee. She helps lead the video report in the Mid-South region.