Barbecue master Wade Cook grew up in Maryland, where his early efforts were less than masterful.

In Maryland, Mr. Cook explains, barbecue is “a little ground beef browned on the grill with a little barbecue sauce mixed in.”

After countless judging experiences and years spent perfecting his barbecue skills, Mr. Cook recently saw his efforts pay off. His team, Scenic City Smokers, won first place in the pork category at the recent High on the Hog competition in Winchester, Tenn.

His teammates are his wife, Lecretia, his son, Wesley, and his nephew, Ryan Hastings. They were up against 54 teams, many with seasons of experience behind them. It was the team’s first victory.

“To win first place in pork with such notables as Bad Byron of Buttrub.com and Mike Davis of Lotta Bull was quite an honor,” Mr. Cook said.

Now, he and his team are back at the smoker, getting ready for more heated competition, including the Tennessee State Barbecue Festival in October in Lenoir City.

Mr. Cook said he wishes there were barbecue events closer to home.

“Chattanooga is such a nice town with such spacious areas, we need a barbecue competition here,” he said.

It wasn’t until he moved to Chattanooga and tasted true Southern barbecue at the former Penny’s Pit BBQ on Brainerd Road that he came to a startling conclusion: Cooking meat low and slow makes all the difference.

“At that time, I thought there must be some kind of magic involved in creating such a wonderful plate of pork barbecue,” he said.

He spent years trying to learn the art of smoking ribs on a small Brinkmann smoker, but he eventually moved up to a gas smoker and began to take things more seriously.

By 2005, Mr. Cook said he was starting to produce what many of his friends and family considered to be good pulled pork and ribs. He gathered tips from Internet forums as well as TV cooking shows, he said.

To learn more, he become judge certified by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, the largest barbecue sanctioning organization in the United States. He also became an organizer of events such as the annual Jack Daniel’s Championship Cook-Off.

While Mr. Cook declines to share specific recipes for his barbecue, he says side dishes can be as much a part of a good barbecue meal as the meat itself. Here are a few of his favorites.

Smoked Stuffed Jalapenos

15 nice-sized fresh jalapeno peppers

1/2 package of cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup pulled/chopped pork or cooked sausage

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Dash of salt and pepper

8 pieces of bacon, cut in half

Cut top off and scrape seeds out of jalapenos using a paring knife or peeler. The more you scrape, the less the heat. Mix remaining ingredients (except bacon) together thoroughly. Stuff each jalapeno with mixture. Wrap bacon pieces over ends of each jalapeno to hold mixture in; secure with toothpicks. Smoke at 250 F for 1-11/2 hours or until bacon is crisp.

Baked Beans

1 large can Bush’s Homestyle baked beans

1 small onion chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

11/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

3 tablespoons honey

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons favorite barbecue rub

Dash of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients in an oven-safe glass container. Put in smoker directly below the pork while cooking for approximately 3-4 hours at 225 F. The drippings from the pork, along with the smoke, add a wonderful flavor to the beans. You may use any favorite baked bean recipe and cook this way. It adds a truly unique flavor to them.

Wade Cook gives tips on preparing award-winning barbecue

Smokers

You must have a smoker which can maintain level temperatures of about 225 F- 240 F for long periods of time (12-15 hours), says Wade Cook. “Many teams use a Weber Smoky Mountain bullet-type smoker which is available online from different retailers, but not locally. Others use Big Green Eggs and Primo ceramic cookers set up to smoke over indirect heat. Others use custom rigs and smokers which are available from a multitude of builders. An old saying on the barbecue circuit is “it’s not the cooker, it’s the cook.” Some folks use clean, 55 gallon drums. It’s really just learning your cooker and achieving good temperature and smoke control.”

If using charcoal

Use briquettes or lump. Royal Oak lump is one of Wade Cook’s favorites. Whatever the choice - Do not use charcoal with lighter fluid already on it, or use lighter fluid to start your coals. A small propane torch similar to what a plumber uses is a fast and easy way to get some coals going. Charcoal chimneys are also a great way to get coals going. Several models are available online and in stores with barbecue and cooking supplies.

Thermometer

For pork and beef brisket, a reliable and accurate meat thermometer (some are remote units) is a must. I usually check all my thermometers in boiling water and ice water to make sure they’re calibrated and reading correctly. Also, many thermometers on grills and smokers on the less expensive units available at big box retailers are not accurate. Therefore, checking their calibration is necessary.

Wood

Knowing the flavor that wood imparts on any particular cut of meat is important, according to Wade Cook.

“I typically use pecan wood for our pork which is in the same “family” as hickory, but not as strong. On ribs and chicken, I tend to like the fruity woods of apple, peach and cherry. Different woods also give your meats different color intensities. Cherry wood on ribs will give a nice deep burgundy/reddish color. It’s usually a matter of taste as to what wood to use. However, I will say, meat that is over-smoked, which tends to happen with hickory, is not very appetizing and doesn’t score well at all.

Smoke

“You want a nice pale blue smoke coming from your cooker. You do not want it to look like Tennessee Valley Railroad’s No. 610 steam train coming down the tracks,” Wade Cook said. “I think this is a common misconception. A heavy white smoke is not clean and can easily affect the quality of the finished product.

Pork

Wade Cook has an economical angle on barbecue by buying in bulk. “I typically buy a two-pack of bone-in pork butts from Sam’s Club,” he said. “I try to get them in the 8-pound range. The “butt” is actually the end part of the entire pork shoulder, hence the name.

“I typically like to trim the fat cap — a larger layer of fat covering one side of the butt — which allows the rub to penetrate the entire butt and create even more “bark” which is in my opinion the tastiest part of any good barbecue.

Rub

Two of Wade Cook’s favorite rubs are Byron Chism’s Bad Byron’s Butt Rub available at Southern Hearth and Patio, and Dr. BBQ’s Championship rub (recipe follows). After trimming, it’s usually time to apply the rub very generously, and rubbing it into the meat. Score the pork butt in a crisscross cross pattern all over about 1/4-inch deep, which allows the rub to further it’s journey into the meat. Wrap the butt in several layers of plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator over night.

Dr. BBQ’s Big Time BBQ Rub

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup Turbinado sugar (raw sugar)

1/4 cup granulated brown sugar

1 tablespoon granulated garlic

1 tablespoon granulated onion

2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoon chili powder

2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons cayenne

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients, mix well and store in an airtight container. Makes 11/2 cups.

Injection

This is probably the one area which you won’t find restaurants performing on their pork. Most competition teams inject their pork with various concoctions. Here’s a simple recipe from a well known champion, Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ located in Decatur, Ga. Inject the pork shortly before putting on the cooker.

BBQ Injection

3/4 cup apple juice

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup salt

2 tablespoons Worcestershire

Combine all ingredients, fill an injector and inject mixture throughout meat.

Cooking

Cook pork at 225 F. “I typically put the pork on at about 9 o’clock in the evening,” Wade Cook said. “I add wood chunks at an hourly interval for a few hours. When the meat reaches 165 degrees or so, I like to wrap tightly in heavy-duty aluminum foil and place it back on the smoker. Total cook time with wrapping for an 8-pound butt is 12 to 14 hours. When the meat temperature reaches about 195 degrees or so and feels “Jell-o-like” I like to remove it from the cooker, wrap in another layer of foil then, wrap it in a few sections of newspaper and place it in a dry cooler for about 3-4 hours to let the meat rest. After this time, it can easily be pulled or chopped and enjoyed!”