Greenfield residents Jim Abner and Eric Layton address the judges after placing in the top eight within all five categories at the Backyard BBQ Cook Off held Aug. 12 at the Indiana State Fair.
INDIANAPOLIS — A couple of Greenfield men scored some big wins in the annual Backyard BBQ Cook Off held Aug. 12 at the Indiana State Fair.
Jim Abner and Eric Layton had their hopes set high going into their first-ever barbecue contest.
They landed in fourth place overall among 15 competitors and were in the top eight or better in all five categories.
They placed third for loin, fifth for ribs and “Hogburgers”, sixth for chicken and eighth in the open competition.
The team missed out on winning first place for the showmanship competition by just one point, based on their festive display around the barbecue pit based on the 1980s comedy, “The Three Amigos.”
The men and their wives — who named their team The Four Amigos — were thrilled with their success.
“Not bad for our first competition,” said Abner, who is already making plans for how to do even better next year.
It was a tough-fought competition from teams around the state, with The Four Amigos missing an overall perfect score of 1,000 by just 34 points.
The teams arrived to set up before dawn and were required to turn in a different entry at the top of every hour, starting around 11 a.m.
“It was a lot of work but a lot of fun,” said Abner, who has been anxious to put his backyard barbecue skills to the test ever since helping a friend out at the same contest in 2018.
“We were doing his recipes and everything was the way he wanted with his equipment, so I wanted to try things my way,” he said.
“Right after that I started researching grills and smokers and my wife told me to go out and pick the one I wanted for my 50th birthday, so I got a nice one and have been doing it ever since,” said Abner, who has been known to smoke ribs outdoors in a foot of snow.
The local Realtor is drawn to the science of cooking and the pursuit of perfecting each meat. “I love trying to figure out the right temperature to get the meats tender, and then I have so many different rubs and sauces, every time I see a new method I want to try it,” he said.
“I don’t know if I’ve watched every YouTube video out there, but I’ve watched a lot of them,” he said with a grin.
He and his wife Angel and Layton and his wife Suzy have been close friends for about six years, ever since meeting at an open house hosted by Abner, a local Realtor.
The couples often get together to barbecue or smoke meats in their backyards.
“We go back and forth as to who’s going to cook when we come over to each other’s houses,” said Abner. “He makes a better steak than I do, and his hamburgers always turn out really good, but my smoked meat and barbecue are really good, so we go back and forth.”
The two friends were standing in front of the grill one night, discussing marinades and spices, when Abner asked Layton if he’d like to join him at this year’s state fair contest.
They quickly set to work planning their recipes while their wives set about buying some sombreros and ponchos to complete their Four Amigos theme.
They even had a custom team logo created with caricatures of themselves.
Abner had been itching to enter the state fair contest ever since his first visit in 2018, but the event was put on the back burner since 2020 due to COVID.
The annual cook-off is hosted by Shoup’s, a barbecue shop and distributor in Frankfort known for its pork burgers.
While required to use Shoup’s seasonings for one category, Abner and Layton used meats from the Maxwell Meats shop just north of Greenfield for all their state fair entries.
“I sent them a list of what I need and said, ‘Here, pick me out the good ones,’” Abner recalled.
“We can’t wait to go back and do it again next year.”
