Local BBQ champ turned hobby into Ribfest success

What began as a hobby for Rob Reinhardt turned into an award winning passion when he competed in his first Ribfest in 2011.

Reinhardt owns Prairie Smoke and Spice, which took home both best ribs and peoples choice awards last year in Saskatoon.

“They appreciate our flavors, we use a generous amount of spice rub and the sauce we use is tried and used over and over again in competitions,” Reinhardt said. “So we know it does well with a wide variety of people including BBQ judges.”

Since joining the rib circuit, Reinhardt says they have won around 70% of the time.

“What’s different about us is the time and care and attention we put into our meat,” he said. “The brisket, the pork butt’s, everything’s hand trimmed, hand rubbed, sliced through the day, we try to keep the quality really high.”

Prairie Smoke and Spice is the lone Saskatchewan representative on the Ribfest circuit.

“Our beef menu item is our beef brisket and we sell boat loads of that, people love the brisket.”

Reinhardt’s ribs are smoked for 3 to 4 hours and finished off on a wood fire that’s located at the front of their booth. They use maple wood to smoke with and Alder for their BBQ.

“Our brisket and pulled pork run on the smokers for anywhere from 12 to 14 hours overnight.”

Based on early indications Reinhardt said he predicts a busy weekend selling around a thousand pounds of meat from his station.

Ribfest is on for the weekend starting at 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.