Bayou BBQ Bash offers more than just grilling

The Bayou BBQ Bash is getting bigger than just barbecue.
If you wandered beneath the U.S. 90 bridge Friday or Saturday, you could smell the charcoal smoke blowing from any direction, carrying with it the mouth-watering scents of ribs, chicken and brisket.
But the St. Mary Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event is also a major craft show for which about 90 vendors appeared.
It’s a musical event, too, with bands playing throughout the event.
And this year it was a beer pong tournament, with a regulation-size beer pong table as the top prize.
Still, the meat of the matter was the barbecuing and the state-sanctioned Barbecue Competitors Alliance championship barbecue competition.
One of the 50 or so entrants represented The Smokehouse barbecue restaurant in Morgan City. The team has been in the competition for four years. Owner Bill Goessl said his team’s ketchup and cider vinegar-based Memphis-style barbecue has a third-place finish in ribs and an 11th place in chicken to its credit.
The Smokehouse was shooting for a top-third finish this weekend.
The barbecue competition gives Goessl something to do.
“It’s a hobby,” he said. “You’ve got to have something to do. I don’t golf. I don’t fish. This is a hobby.”
It can be an expensive hobby. Barbecuing on a competition scale can require a trailer equipped with sprawling gas or charcoal grills. But, Goessl said, it’s like having a boat.
“A little upkeep, but it’s all good,” he said.
Is there a secret to good barbecue?
“Low and slow,” Goessl said. “Don’t be in a rush. Kind of like for everything, life in general.”
Not all the food sizzled for the sake of competition. The Xtreme Athletics team was there with its mobile gas-powered grill, ready to turn beef patties and onions into grilled burgers for those who couldn’t wait for the competition food to be available.
“The Chamber of Commerce approached us,” said Dan Bergeron of Xtreme Athletics. “They wanted a couple of people out there to sell food. They offered us a chance.
“We had a lot of the equipment. This isn’t our first engagement. We had quite a good experience doing this kind of events. We were well-prepared for it.”
So Jules Arceneaux slaved away over a hot grill Friday afternoon, dishing off patties and grilled onions to Joe Autin. It was work, but it was for a good cause. The money Xtreme Athletics makes supports local sports enterprises.
As for the secrets of barbecue, Bergeron held back a little.
“Barbecuing, I don’t know,” he said. “But I can tell you how to cook a burger. Secret? I can’t tell you our secret. You wouldn’t come back and buy them then.
“You’ve got to have good patties. Good onions. Good bread. And a good cook.”

This story was written by Bill Decker of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at bdecker@daily-review.com.