Shriner’s barbecue on Sept. 9

Shriners sauce master John Danbrook stirs the 45-gallon vat containing the secret barbecue sauce used by the group for its annual barbecue since the event's inception. (File Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

The secret barbecue sauce is at the heart of the town’s largest annual event with food as the main draw.

The 66th annual Shriner’s Barbecue is on Wednesday, Sept. 9 in the Tillsonburg Memorial Arena. With an approximate crowd of 500 last year, the fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals for Children is an annual tradition to kick off fall. The hospital is dedicated to assist children who have received severe burn trauma.

It features corn from Bre’s Sweet Corn and wood-smoked pork with the Shiner’s signature barbecue sauce.

What’s in the sauce is a closely guarded secret. Originally a recipe from Andy Balazs’ mother, it has been used since the first barbecue in the late 1950s.

“It is a secret recipe,” said sauce master John Danbrook, adding only three Shriners know the ingredients.

The process to make the barbecue sauce takes two to three days.

“You’ve got to make it, you’ve got to tweak it, you’ve got to cook it,” he said.

The sauce is made in a 45-gallon drum.

“You’d never be able to dial it down to just a small amount,” said barbecue chairman Cedric Tomico, one of the others trusted with the ingredient list.

Traditionally, the 65 pork shoulders for the event have been pellet smoked. This year, the pork will be wood smoked with a new Bogline Barbecue for Texas-style smoking. The process takes 12 hours.

“Low and slow and juicy,” Danbook said of the end result.

This event is one of the club’s largest of the year, with about half of the club’s members taking part in pulling it off. Several members are assigned to husk corn and then cook the cobs in a giant kettle over a wood fire. Others help serve and cook the pork.

Tickets are $30 for the all-you-can-eat event and are available online at tillsonburgshrineclub.com, or at the door.