The Shed BBQ wins World Championships … a lot

The Shed BBQ and Blues Joint team from Ocean Springs, Mississippi has been crowned grand champion of the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest three times, taking the whole enchilada in 2024 with its delectable whole hog preparation.

The team also took home the top prize in the whole hog division, where the entire pig is cooked at once.

The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is considered one of the premiere events for culinary competition as it has risen in prominence since its founding in the 1970s. However, with the spread of barbecue smoking technology at home and recipes abounding online, the competitive nature of the event has turned slightly to the cutthroat in recent years.

Typically, 129 teams, including The Shed BBQ, from 22 states and four countries compete for a sum total of $150,000 in prize money doled out in the main categories of ribs, shoulder and whole hog. Pork is the main event, as it is in Memphis barbecue tradition, but there were strong side contests for wings, other assorted poultry, beef and seafood.

Whole Hog: The Shed BBQ

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.

“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.

“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.”

So it begins

In 2014, two teams vied for the coveted Grand Champion at The Memphis in May World Championships … The Shed BBQ and Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. This year, it came down to those two, again.

The Mississippi BBQ joint pulled off a spunky win, the team’s first, at one of America’s most prestigious barbecue cooking contests.

“We knew when we opened that cooker and the pig was smiling at us,” said Orrison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.