Paula & Jim Dotterwick

These Breezy Point residents are now selling their sauce in area stores, and it's becoming known nation-wide. This Minnesota recipe is being made in Kansas City, but the labels are made at Viking Label in Nisswa and the team's T-shirts are embroidered in Crosslake.

Not bad for a Mom & Pop product that started as a hobby and turned into a full-time occupation.

Jim started messing with spices. Paula was the "what do you think" taster. But then she decided Jim was too messy a cook, so she started making Jim's recipe. The pair tried different peppers, spices, and ingredients, including green pepper flakes. They got the recipe down and were bottling it for friends.

By 1994, they decided they had the best mild BBQ sauce and were bottling under the Demon Pig label. They also were taking part in barbeque competitions.

"It's more than a cook-off," Paula said. "It's a sport. The contestants have their own teams with a team logo that is registered with the Barbecue Society."

Jim's brother, a talented woodcarver, carved the Demon Pig that's on the label of their regular sauce and the hotter variety, Orange Pig. The 8-inch carving is part of their display when they enter a competition.

Entering a barbecue competition, especially the Kansas City American Royal, is not easy. The first day, only winners from other competitions may enter; the second day is open to all.

Each team must prepare barbecue in four categories: chicken, ribs, pork butt, and beef brisket.

"Most of the teams have sponsors," Jim said. "It's a costly sport. There's the entry fee, the cost of driving to the event, the cooker, the charcoal and wood, and the meat. The meat is inspected when you arrive."

It's also an endurance contest. Depending on what they are cooking, it may take anywhere from two to four hours for chicken, to 20 or more hours for the ribs, pork butt or beef brisket.

"The secret of tender meat is slow cooking," Jim said. "We want the temperature to be around 250 F at the most."

And that's cooking with charcoal and wood only. Tending the fire is very important. Jim has favorite kinds of charcoal, including one made from bamboo. It really works best in a smaller cooker than the one the Dotterwicks use. At a competition they may have three cookers going. Jim said four is best, but that's a lot to haul around the country with $3 a gallon gas prices.

In 1999, they entered a contest with what they thought would be something really special - fresh walleye. It placed last.

"In Kansas City, they don't know good fish," Paula said. "They eat catfish. What do they know?"

Both Jim and Paula are certified barbecue judges. Paula has gone a step further and is a "table captain." She's working to become a master judge.

They've won their share of ribbons and in 2005 they placed second in a national contest. This past week they mailed bottles of their two sauces to a contest in Illinois.

"We're small fish," Jim said. "Most of the sauces you can buy are made by big companies. We went commercial in April 2007. The sauce is made by a company called 'Original Juan' - a Kansas City maker of specialty salsas and hot sauces."

Paula said they couldn't find a commercial manufacturer in Minnesota that was willing to make the small quantities they were starting with. Original Juan was willing to work with them until the recipe they made tasted exactly like what the Dotterwicks made.

They took a 3.5-gallon batch to Original Juan. The big batch recipe was improved and now Original Juan turns out 1,302 bottles at a time.

"Viking Labels has been very good to us," Paula said. "The first batch of labels they made, they hand-delivered to our house and we pasted them on the bottles. They are excellent to work with."

From that first mild sauce - the label says, "This could replace your catsup" - they experimented with hot peppers to make a hot sauce.

"We went through a lot of peppers trying to find one that wouldn't lose the flavor of our original sauce," Jim said. "Just 100 grams of Habanero extract goes into a 168 gallon batch."

For 30 years, the Dotterwicks have been coming to Stewart's Bay on Pelican Lake. In 2001, they built a new home on Dove Street in Breezy Point and moved in permanently in 2001.

Locally, the Dotterwicks participate in the Brainerd Jaycees Barbecue contest and Nisswa's Smokin' Hot BBQ Contest.

"These aren't sanctioned contests," Paula said. "The Nisswa one might be in a couple of years."

This summer, Jim and his team will compete in Mason City, Iowa, and Paula will judge.

"Judges aren't paid," Paula said. "But I really enjoy doing it."

Jim said there are contests all year and for some BBQ teams, that is all they do.

Now that their two sauces are taking off, Jim is working on adding a "rub" to their line.

"Marketing is new to us," Paula said. "I really enjoy demonstrating Demon Pig sauces."

Paula enjoys meeting people and telling them about the sauces. She reminds them that the sauces are best when warmed up, not right out of the refrigerator.

Jim's mom lives in Wisconsin and she creates new recipes using the sauces. One of her favorites is a shrimp cocktail sauce made with Demon Pig (mild) and horseradish. She also makes a dip using the hot sauce, cream cheese and the small shrimp.

"Dairy products cut the bite," Jim said. "Water doesn't do it."

He's thinking about putting out a recipe folder to go along with the sauces. That's providing he can get his mom to tell him how much horseradish to use.

Jim said that what they make is really a meat sauce. You don't have to just use it on the grill.

"Barbecue contests are an expensive sport," Paula said. "We always brought the family along and so it's also a family thing."

Part of the fun for Jim and Paula is mentoring new BBQ teams. Their team includes a son-in-law, and another son-in-law has his own team. They have three daughters, three sons-in-law, and six grandkids. One of their daughters is a certified judge.