RibFest contestants were tight-lipped about their secret ingredients and family recipes. But one thing they all have in common is patience — most of them claim they prepare and marinade the meat for 24 hours before serving it.
Tony Kimbler earned his third RibFest trophey on Saturday. He also won in 2008 and 2010, and in the past he's earned first place for best sauce and most tender meat.
He had already sold 120 racks of ribs on the first day, and as he turned the meat on a metal grill, he explained his method.
It starts, of course, with a secret recipe.
"I rub the ribs down, and then I cook them," he said. "Then, I dip them in a sauce. But the rub is a top secret."
It's a medium rub, he said, not too sweet or too spicy.
"My background's like 40 years in the business," he said.
He used to work for a catering business called Our Daily Bread. The building burned down in 2007, and he's now a general manager at Steak ‘n Shake in New Castle.
There were 11 contestants at the annual event held Saturday and Sunday in Downtown Muncie.
Kimbler said the atmosphere at RibFest hasn't changed over the years, but winning the contest certainly helped business at his booth.
"When you win best overall you immediately fill the line out front of your tent," he said. "If you look right now, you see about 20 people lined up. It's been a good event, profitable for us."
Other meat masters like Joe "Smokes" Nabors were attending RibFest for the first time.
Nabors, 32, prepares meat at Sirloin Stockade and was asked by a friend to help out at RibFest this year.
He described the sauce he was using as beer-baked marinade.
"It's my recipe, but with a little bit of Grandma's too," he said. "The key to all this: time. Put more time in here, and it'll turn out good."
Le'Chelle Campbell, a nursing student at Ivy Tech, asked Nabors to help at her booth called A Taste of Home.
"I'm part Native American, part Haitian and part African," she said. "We think whatever home you're from, we can offer a taste of that home."
Chris Ellison, owner of the Silo, 223 S. Walnut St., was operating a booth right across the street from the bar.
His specialties: southern-style pulled pork and vodka watermelon lemonade.
"I'm a Georgia boy," he said. "We do a mix of what the favorites are in the south."
That means a fusion of sweet barbeque and a vinegar base, he said.
As far as the vodka special: "There's liquor in it. There's lemon in it. That's all I'm going to say about it."
The drink will still be available at the bar two weeks after RibFest, he said.
For some of the grillers, it was all about maintaining the family recipe.
Keith Nash, a chef at Cheers Tavern, 3823 N. Broadway Ave., helped the restaurant earn second place in the contest.
"I'm using a recipe that's been passed down for three generations," he said. "The recipe doesn't belong to me. It belongs to my family."
It's something he'll pass down to his children, too — all 10 of his sons. Several of them helped prepare and grill ribs on Saturday.
The contest attracted vendors from around the state, like Franklin Ivey of Indianapolis, a managing partner of Ivey Spice International Food and Catering.
"We use 13 different seasonings," he said. "It's a special unique taste that comes from Tennessee."
This is his first time at RibFest since the company started about three years ago, and he said he'll definitely be back.
"There's probably thousands of different people down here," he said. "It's a whole community — all different races, all different kinds. The whole community atmosphere is great for us."
Contest winners
1st place- Our Daily Bread
2nd place- Cheers Tavern
3rd place- Skin and Bones
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