Candy Barbecue and the Universal Problem of...

Johnny Trigger has won the World BBQ Championship twice. His competition ribs are legendary — glossy, candy-glazed, layered with sugar, brown sugar, honey, and a sweet sauce so thick it catches the light like lacquer. Judges love them. And Trigger himself? "I would never eat these myself," he once admitted on a pitmaster forum. Let that sit for a moment. The best competition barbecue in the world is food that its own creator won’t eat. This isn’t a story about barbecue. It’s a story about what h