Second Boucherie Friday, Saturday at Events Center

From left, committee members Cindy Mord, Ben Atwood, Melissa Stringer, Erica Abram, Audrey Stogner, Lori Hawn, Cathy VanDan, Stephen Pigott, Winston Fortenberry, Taylor Stringer, Virginia James and Jessica Carney have been working all year to plan the event.

Memphis Barbeque Network (MBN) kicks off its season of sanctioned competitions this weekend at Southwest Events Center at Tylertown’s 2nd annual South Mississippi Boucherie. Members of the Boucherie planning committee were on hand last week to erect a banner at the downtown Market Max, corner of Old Hwy. 98 and Hwy. 48 East not far from the events center entrance. The event kicks off Friday with team check-ins from 8 am.-3 p.m. There is one local contest Friday, the “Anything But” cookoff which includes contests for chicken wings, barbeque sauce, deviled eggs and dessert (cakes and pies) a cake/pie bakeoff, a chicken wing cookoff, a contest to select the best barbeque sauce and a best deviled egg contest. Entry fee for wings is $50; for barbeque sauce and deviled eggs, $25. There is no entry fee for cakes and pies, but contestants agree to donate their entry to the Boucherie. Chicken wings must be cooked on the Boucherie grounds. Barbeque sauce, deviled eggs and cakes and pies can be prepared at home and delivered to the Boucherie Friday for judging. Prizes for wings are: first place, $150 and trophy; second place, $100 and trophy; third place, $50 and trophy; fourth and fifth place, trophies. Prizes for barbeque sauce, deviled eggs and dessert entries: first place, $100 and trophy; second through fifth place, trophy. Patio (amateur) cooking teams can enter three categories: pulled pork, pork ribs and pork loin. Entry fee is $75 per category or $225 for all three. Entrants must participate in all three categories to be eligible for Patio Grand Champion. Patio division prizes for each category are: first place, $150 and trophy second place, $125 and trophy; third place, $100 and trophy; fourth place, $200 and trophy; fifth place, $100 and trophy. MBN grand champion winner gets $500, trophy and fee entry in the 2023 Boucherie competition. Championship (professional) cooking teams also cook in three categories: whole hog, pulled pork and pork ribs. Entry fee is $125 for each category or $375 for all three. Championship division prizes in each of the three categories include: first place, $500 plus trophy; second place, $400 and trophy; third place, $300 and trophy; fourth place, $200 and trophy; and fifth place, $100 and trophy. The MBN Grand Championship in the professional division receives $1000 plus trophy and free full entry in the 2023 Boucherie. Awards ceremony takes place at 4 p.m. Saturday. A late entry fee of $50 applies after the March 19 entry deadline. Live stage entertainment Friday night with jambalaya plates available. Barbeque teams entered will be setting up Friday as contestants ready for Saturday’s competition. Smoking is a slow process and teams will begin to prepare entries–many cooking through the night–to be judged Saturday While last year’s event occurred in September and was scaled down due to COVID restrictions; this year’s competition is set to get underway at its normal time and all events are set to take place on schedule. Saturday. live entertainment continues on stage and a barbeque plate menu is available at the arena concession stand prepared by the Boucherie committee. A full outline of events scheduled can be seen by accessing SouthMSBoucherie on Facebook.