By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
The KDLK Border Pitt Battle was a cook-off by day and concert at night was a homerun on both ends.
Friday night and Saturday, nearly 50 teams battled it out in the cookoff and Saturday night more than 500 people turned out for the concert.
The cookoff competition was fierce but Tommy Cienega managed to barely edge Jorge Flores for top honors in the competition. Cienega finished 2nd in chicken, 1st in ribs and 7th place in brisket. Flores finished 1st place in chicken, 5th in ribs and 4th in brisket.
“I’ve been cooking for the past three, four years and been getting better,” Cienega said.
Cienega said he had a simple game plan going into the competition. “Just keeping my recipes consistent, changing nothing, keeping everything consistent and watching my temperatures,” he said.
Finishing third was Danny Salas.
The top three in the following judge categories that counted for points were:
Ribs
1 — Cienega
2 — Robert Behr
3 — Salas
Chicken
1 — Flores
2 — Cienega
3 — Kit Polk
Brisket
1 — Paul Wilburn
2 — Salas
3 — Hector Cienega
You can contact the writer at joelalangton@gmail.com .
