Rotary BBQ features world-class chef Neil Gallagher

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

Kick back and relax. A world-class barbecue pitmaster is cooking your dinner for Saturday, Aug. 17. That is, if you order tickets.

Islander Neil Gallagher and his team are preparing the feast, and their expertise is legendary. You can have a great meal and let them do the work.

You just have to put in your order by 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 14. Select your preferred time, then pick up your order on Saturday for takeout – or outdoor dining at the VFW’s shelter – from 3-7 p.m. at the VFW, 2121 Grand Island Blvd.

Presale tickets, at $18 each, are required. The meal includes both pecan-smoked pulled chicken and apple-smoked pulled pork, along with peach barbecue baked beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw and a roll and butter.

To order, call 1-800-316-8559 or go online to https://a.purplepass.com/rotaryclubgrandislandbbq.

The Rotary Club of Grand Island is holding the barbecue as fundraiser for its many charitable projects, both in the community and around the world.

Gallagher and his crew placed third in 2023 in the barbecue ribs category at the Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. The four-day event is recognized by USA Today as the “Most Prestigious Barbecue Contest.”

Gallagher said a friend from the Rotary Club asked if he would help with the fundraiser.

“So, of course, anything I could do for a nonprofit on Grand Island, I’ll do,” he said.

Gallagher mastered his barbecue skills after many years of experience.

“I grew up in competitive barbecue,” he explained. “My dad got us on our first team when I was 11 down in Memphis.”

Gallagher said he has cooked in the world championship and other contests around the country ever since.

“Like everybody has hockey teams up here – church hockey teams or recreational hockey teams – we have recreational barbecue teams down South,” he said.

Gallagher noted there are 16 categories over four days at the Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. These include seafood, beef, poultry, pork, whole hog, shoulder ribs and hot wings. The sauces can feature tomato, mustard, vinegar and more.

Gallagher has many wins to his credit at that Memphis competition.

“We’ve pulled a good 40 top 20s and top 10s, a bunch of first place in other categories. That was the first main pork category that we hit the top three in. That was special,” he said.

Gallagher has a large crew for competitions.

“It’s family, friends. We have people from all over the world that come and cook with us at the world championship,” he said. “I have people from Australia, Great Britain, Spain, Canada – all on my team that fly over. It’s like a big barbecue family. Roughly there’s 35 to 40 of us.”

Asked to characterize his signature ribs flavor, Gallagher said: “Pork – I would say it’s sweet with a little bit of heat. It’s a very Memphis dry rub for the pork.” Spices include paprika, chili powder and cumin.

There’s a glaze, too, “made up of some different, sweeter barbecue sauces with a little bit of heat thrown in there.”

Gallagher will oversee the preparation of the whole meal for the Rotary dinner – two meats, three sides and a roll. His baked beans recipe has won several awards, as well.

His day job is a technical one. Perhaps surprisingly, he said it requires some of the same skills as being a world-class pitmaster. He does statistical analysis for the government.

“Barbecue, it’s basically all math,” Gallagher said. “You’re calculating time, temperatures, humidity, portions of everything. … You have the art side of it, as well. The cooking processes and everything, you’re looking at straight science.”

Gallagher has cooked for other nonprofit groups, as well, including a long history of preparing the survivors’ dinner for the Grand Island’s Relay For Life. He also has taught classes in barbecue recipes and methods.

The Rotary fundraiser helps support the organization’s mission to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.

The Rotary Club of Grand Island supports a relationship with schools in the local community, cleans up the environment on its adopted highways and trails, provides scholarships and invests in local missions.

Barbecue pitmaster Neil Gallagher poses with the trophy he received for his team's third place win in the ribs category of the 2023 Memphis World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. (Submitted photo)