Appalachian Competition Cooking Since 1998
Coal Hollow Brothers
Built on Friendship. Proven in Competition.
RoadKill Cook-Off Champions
2004 • 2005 • 2007 • 2014 • 2017 • 2025
For more than two decades, the Coal Hollow Brothers have brought together friendship,
Appalachian tradition, outdoor cooking, competition, and showmanship.
2026 RoadKill Cook-Off
Next Up
2026 RoadKill Cook-Off
The Coal Hollow Brothers return to Marlinton in 2026 with another original creation, another full-scale theme, and another chance to add to more than twenty-five years of CHB history.
What began in 1998 as four friends taking on the West Virginia RoadKill Cook-off grew into a team known for championships, memorable dishes, elaborate displays, costumes, historical themes, and friendships built around the fire.
The competition matters. So do the people, the stories, the traditions, and the good times shared along the way.
September 26, 2026 • Marlinton, West Virginia
Pirate Ship Pork
A sweet and savory pork stew built around pork, apples, and plenty of Coal Hollow Brothers personality.
Come find us at the West Virginia RoadKill Cook-off.
The food will be hot.
The pirates will be questionable.
The competition will be serious.
Built on Friendship. Proven in Competition.
Since 1998
Our Story
The Coal Hollow Brothers were founded in 1998 by four friends with backgrounds in Scouting, outdoor cooking, and a shared willingness to try something a little different.
Their first RoadKill Cook-off did not exactly end in glory.
They came back anyway.
That decision started a tradition that has now lasted more than twenty-five years. Over the decades, CHB grew from four original members into a larger group of friends and family. The team became known not only for its food, but also for elaborate competition themes, detailed displays, costumes, historical research, and a commitment to showmanship.
Along the way came championships, awards, rivalries, road trips, recipes, friendships, and enough stories to fill more than a few evenings around a fire.
A History Still Being Told
More than twenty-five years leaves behind a lot more than score sheets. We are gathering photographs, old articles, competition records, team stories, recipes, memories, and the tales that never made it into print.
More history coming soon
A Little Hardware Along the Way
Honors & Hardware
Six RoadKill Cook-Off championships across more than two decades of competition.
2004
2005
2007
2014
2017
2025
The Coal Hollow Brothers have also earned numerous Showmanship, Best of Show, People's Choice, second-place, and third-place honors through the years.
2009Second Place • Showmanship Award
2014First Place • Showmanship Award • Jaeger Wild mit Pilzen
2016Showmanship Award • Cass logging and railroad theme
2017First Place • Best in Show tie
2018Showmanship Award • Pirate theme featuring Solomon A Gundy
2025First Place • Showmanship Award • Mardi Gras theme
From the Pot
The Food
Around here, the food changes. The philosophy does not.
The Coal Hollow Brothers have spent decades creating dishes built around wild game, outdoor cooking, regional flavors, and whatever unusual idea somebody was brave enough to suggest.
Past competition dishes have included venison, wild boar, frog, alligator, sausage, mushrooms, homemade noodles, cobblers, and more.
Some dishes were designed to win. Some were designed to make people stop and ask, “What exactly are you cooking?”
The best ones managed to do both.
Featured Dish • 2026
Pirate Ship Pork
A sweet and savory pork stew built around pork, apples, and Appalachian cookoff spirit.
Yes, it sounds a little unusual.
Yes, that is part of the point.
From the CHB Recipe Book
Recipes
Competition dishes, camp favorites, desserts, sides, and recipes worth keeping around.
Some quantities may be reduced from competition scale so you do not accidentally feed half of Pocahontas County.
The CHB recipe book is being assembled. Recipes are coming soon.
More Than a Cookpot
The Show
Cooking is only part of what happens when the Coal Hollow Brothers show up.
CHB has a long tradition of building full competition themes around its food. Over the years, those themes have included frontier camps, logging history, railroad displays, pirates, Mardi Gras, and other ideas that somehow grew from reasonable conversations into entire cookoff productions.
Showmanship Means Telling a Story
Sometimes that means costumes. Sometimes it means research. Sometimes it means building something that probably should have stayed a sketch on a piece of paper.
Somehow, it usually works.
The People Behind CHB
The Team
Friends. Family. Cooks. Builders. Organizers. Storytellers.
What connects everybody is the same thing that has kept the team going since 1998: friendship, competition, good food, and the desire to build something worth remembering.
Full team profiles are coming soon.
From the Archives
Gallery
More than twenty-five years creates a lot of photographs.
Some are good. Some are blurry. Some probably require explanation.
Historic CHB photos coming soon
Competition photos coming soon
Awards & showmanship photos coming soon