To two RCC students go the spoils of the Battle of the Butts

LUMBERTON — It was the Battle of the Butts — Boston butts that is — and two Robeson Community College students came out of the culinary competition victorious.

The competition staged Thursday by the Culinary Arts Department gave students in the program the opportunity to test their skills in creating the best Southern-style pulled pork rub and a barbecue sauce. Twenty-four students accepted the challenge, and their peers and instructors narrowed it down to the top two contenders, Adam Rugg and Nathanial Jordan, both of whom were judged in the student center on Thursday.

The final two were “overwhelmingly” agreed upon, said Lester Locklear, the college’s Culinary Arts director.

College trustees, vice presidents and deans, United Way representatives and Robeson County employees had the difficult task of choosing the best rub and sauce during a blind taste test. Rugg’s flavorful rub and Jordan’s traditional barbecue sauce were judged to be the best. Adding spice to their victories was the fact that each of them also will be given a scholarship, the details of which were not revealed Thursday.

Winning the competition means both recipes will be used in creating pulled pork plates for a fundraiser that will benefit RCC programs and Community In Schools of Robeson County. The fundraiser is scheduled for March 4.

“The opportunity to develop and promote their own product is exciting,” RCC President Melissa Singler said. “This is a product that potentially they can market one day.”

The college’s Culinary Arts Department has provided food for several community fundraisers in the past but it was a recent fundraiser for the United Way that caught the attention of RCC trustee and CIS Executive Director Danny Stedman.

“We sold easily over 300 plates, and he came to me with the Community In Schools and the same idea,” Locklear said.

Singler came up with the idea — and memorable name — to hold a cook-off.

“The president had the idea that sometimes we do these events and never get the notoriety for the program,” Locklear said. “Yes, we want to help you out but how do we highlight the program?’”

Students were guided through the process of creating their sauce and rub and were pushed toward creating a Southern-style rub and tomato-, vinegar- or even mustard-based sauce.

“We had to put them on a path because they are students and they are creative but at the end of the day we’ve got to sell these to people that are expecting a certain type of barbecue,” Locklear said.

With RCC being an educational institution, incorporating the learning aspect was a must.

More than a week ago, Locklear broke down an entire hog to give students the opportunity to see how different cuts of meat came about. The students had the opportunity to get hands-on experience in butchering meat.

“We took the pork loin from the hog and cut them in individual pork chops and the students got a pork chop apiece and used their spice rub on their pork chop,” Locklear said. “The pork chop has a lot more surface area so you can taste the spices a lot better.”

Rugg, 40, is a second-year student from Red Springs poised to graduate in May. When Rugg was thinking of his recipe he had the goal of developing traditional techniques and ensuring a balance between the sweet and heat.

“That was my main objective when I started the sauce and the rub that compliments the sauce,” Rugg said.

After graduation Rugg hopes to be a private chef and cater while maintaining his career in finance.

“There’s a lot of good, talented students in the program so it’s an honor to have this, but at the same time it’s about getting recognition for the program,” Rugg said.

Also from Red Springs, 23-year-old Jordan was thinking of his late grandfather when he developed his sauce recipe.

“He was known for cooking on the grill for the family,” Jordan said. “I immediately went back to the basics with what my grandfather did and doctored it and made it my own, kind of keeping his legacy going.”

Food is Jordan’s passion and he hopes to one day open a medieval-style tavern in Fayetteville.

The fact that his recipe could be sold to more than 1,000 people during the March 4 fundraiser is “mind boggling,” Jordan said.

“I try to stay as humble as I can. I didn’t think I would get far,” he said. “It’s honestly hard to believe.”

Both Jordan and Rugg were surprised by news of the scholarships at the end of the competition. Rugg, being in his last semester, offered to donate his scholarship to another student.

Judges were given apple butter and pepper jelly prepared by students in the Farm to Table class.