Each year at the Big Bend Livestock Show Association (BBLSA) stock show, the concession stand puts out what many locals consider gourmet burritos. Once the domain of Paul Loeffler and Bob Dillard, the cooking duties have been taken over by local small business owner and former Alpine FFA member Stephen Wood and small business owner and former Alpine FFA member Calan Ahrens.

This past weekend, Alpine hosted the BBLSA livestock show, and both Wood and Ahrens were hard at work Thursday morning preparing for a weekend of feeding the masses. With the full support of Alpine FFA advisor Doug Fox, Wood shared with the Avalanche his locally famous BBLSA pulled pork recipe. Along with his pulled pork burritos, Wood also smokes brisket and cabrito for the annual event and always whips up a spicy batch of salsa to go along with it.

While Ahrens fills the role of sous chef for Wood, Wood does a lot of the culinary “heavy lifting.”

Wood grew up cooking, graduated from the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, and puts his expertise to work each year for the kids and families who work hard to put on the annual livestock show.

For Wood, feeding the folks involved with the BBLSA is immensely satisfying. “All good things happen in the kitchen, and good food makes people smile,” Wood says.

“The best part of every BBLSA weekend is seeing the kids smile, catching up with friends we haven’t seen in a while, and knowing I can make them happy with my food. This all goes to a great cause also. What I cook and get sold at the concession stand goes to pay all the fees for selling the animals, so the kids get to keep 100% of what they sell their animals for. That is even more satisfying to me than just making everyone good food,” Wood added.

Wood says he plans to continue smoking brisket, and cabrito and whipping up his BBLSA pulled pork until the day Fox retires. At that point, he says he will turn it all over to Ahrens, who has the recipes, and he will go on to other ventures.

For those of you who have never had the opportunity to try BBLSA pulled pork, you are missing out. Wood cooks from the heart, and he measures his ingredients that way as well. And while it is too late to grab one of those delicious burritos while helping out our local and area kids this year, Wood will hit the pit next January to bring his delicious food to the BBLSA family and the Tri-County area.

Courtesy of Stephen Wood Ingredients: 1 pork butt Rub: measurements are not exact, Wood measures by the heart ¼ cup salt 2 tablespoons black pepper ¼ cup garlic powder 2 tablespoons onion powder 1/3 cup dark brown sugar ½ cup smoked paprika 2 tablespoons ground oregano Spray 1 cup Dr. Pepper 1 cup apple cider vinegar 3 tablespoons garlic juice Directions:

Rub the pork butt with the dry rub Place in the refrigerator, uncovered, overnight Bring the smoker to 225 degrees, and smoke for six hours Spray pork butt every hour with the spray mixture After six hours, remove from the smoker Wrap pork tightly in foil Smoke for two more hours Rest the pork for one hour and then shred and serve