Before he was married, Jonesborough’s Walt Moulton was known for his backyard pool parties. Among the highlights that kept friends coming back was Walt’s penchant for good barbecue and his unique take on the popular cuisine.

“Several of my friends thought so highly of it, they encouraged me to enter a local barbecue contest held at the Gray Fairgrounds in 2010,” recalls Walt. “I really didn’t know what I was doing, and it was a disaster.” 

Walt entered a few more contests that year, in what he, and his wife, Rebekah, now refer to as his “pre-Rebekah” period. 

After the couple married in 2011, they began to approach the barbecue hobby as a team. Walt says that his new wife brought a different perspective to the pastime. 

“I just needed some guidance,” he admits, albeit a bit defensively. “I knew what I could do, but I just kind of strayed.”

“I simply got him focused,” explains Rebekah with a laugh. “Together, we take things a little more seriously.” 

Walt and Rebekah agree that their pairing did indeed bring about a more perfect barbecue. The couple began to work together to make Walt's expensive hobby pay for itself, if not at least offset the costs with prize winnings.  

Together they have developed an approach that has brought world champion status to the Walt and Rocky Top Barbecue Team, which now consists of himself, Rebekah, and their daughter, 8-year-old Mia. 

“She is our ‘lucky charm,’” Walt explains. “We figured that out after we won our first ‘big’ contest in North Carolina while Rebekah was pregnant with Mia.” 

But the highlight so far for the barbecue connoisseurs has been taking first place at the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue in October 2017. Although they have won numerous other titles and trophies, the Jack Daniels event has been the most prestigious. 

These days, Walt, a customer of Greene Farmers Cooperative, doesn’t enter quite as many contests as he once did due to the demands of his beef operation. 

“I buy what I consider to be mismanaged stockyard cattle, bulls, and steers, and work to get them turned around,” Walt says. “I get them performing well on grass and some feed until they weigh 850 to 900 pounds. Then, I put together load lots of similar cattle to sell. I usually have around 500 or so head at any given time.”

As with the barbecue, the family tackles the farming tasks together. While Walt farms full-time, Rebekah is a kindergarten teacher, and Mia helps, too. 

But they still look forward to the occasional barbecue competition.   

A typical contest requires the presentation of four different meats— chicken, ribs, pork, and brisket. There are turn-in times during the event with short windows between each, so the smoking and finishing must be carefully planned and executed to meet the rules. 

“We usually start with premium cuts of meat like Wagyu briskets, Compart Duroc pork, and Springer Mountain chicken,” Walt explains. “We sometimes source pork butts for pulled barbecue from local grocers and get them into the freezer for future use.” 

A week prior to the event, the couple begins thawing the meat, making sauces and injections, and trimming and shaping the cuts before weighing and cooking the dishes.  

Competition usually begins at noon on Friday, when Walt will begin seasoning and injecting the meat, and getting the smokers set up. Then the sequence of contest events begins.

“Everything is on a timeline, and I stick to that timing to ensure the best results,” says Walt. “If I usually season chicken at 6 p.m. and it’s only 5:58, I wait another two minutes. That’s just what we do; it’s the only way to be consistent.”

The hardest part of the process to learn, he says, is determining exactly when the barbecue is done to ensure maximum tenderness. 

“You have to go by feel,” says Walt. “If it’s underdone, it’ll be tough, and the judges won’t like it. If it’s overdone, it’ll be mushy, and the judges won’t like it. And then some judges won’t like it period.”

Sauces and seasoning are a personal choice and can cause judges to either love or hate a particular approach. Each meat requires a different sauce, and the determination to apply hot or cold can influence the winning equation. 

“This food is not something you would want to sit down and eat a platter of,” says Walt. “It’s a one-bite contest. The judges will only take one bite, so you have to pack all the flavor and appeal into that one bite.”

Contrary to what the public might think, the goal is not only to win over the judge with that one bite, but also not to offend him or her. 

“You actually want your entry to be middle of the road, something that won’t offend anyone,” says Walt. “It’s not going to be something that stands out as unusual or is real bland. You just want something they can’t find anything wrong with. Not too spicy. Not too sweet. Just a balance of flavor that appeals to everybody.”