I saw an Instagram post that Paul Kirk CWC, Ph.B., BSAS, also known as the Kansas City Baron of Barbecue, passed away today. He was there in the early days of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, was a prolific competitor winning over 475 cooking and barbecuing awards, and was inducted into the KCBS Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2015.
As I wrote in The History of TVWB, my first in-depth experience with cooking the four KCBS competition meats--chicken, ribs, pork butt, and brisket--using my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker was in 1997 at a Paul Kirk class at Armadillo Willy's BBQ in Los Altos, CA organized by Frank Boyer and sponsored by the California BBQ Association. I met him again in 2002 when he repeated the class in Los Altos, and while I can't say that I knew him well, I appreciated being around him and learning as much as he was willing to share with his students. His 1997 book Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue Sauces: 175 Make-Your-Own Sauces, Marinades, Dry Rubs, Wet Rubs, Mops and Salsas was one of my favorites when I first started barbecuing.
Here's a link to a San Jose Mercury News article that discusses that 2002 class, it gives you sense of what I experienced back then.
RIP Paul Kirk!
