Update Time Lake Placid Contest

Over the July 4th Holiday Weekend, the team converged on Lake Placid for the annual I love BBQ Festival, held inside the speed skating oval used for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Games. This is one of my favorite contests of the year as it falls on a holiday, there are great watering holes, great fireworks and a BBQ contest! Our weekend started early on Thursday at the Marriott Courtyard Inn with a rib cooking demo by our friends Eric and Cindy Mitchell of "Yaba Daba Que" followed by an excellent Mexican Dinner at Casa De Sol in Saranac, Drinks flowed, talltales were told and the night quickly passed by.

Update Time Boston HIlls Contest

Sorry for the lag in posting, but its been a really busy couple of weeks. Lets see whats happened since my last post. Over the weekend of June 27 & 28 The team traveled to Boston Hill NY for the 1st annual Boston Hills BBQ Festival which was organized by our team member Mike Cartechine or know in BBQ circles as "The Giggler" As Mike was busy keeping everything running smooth as glass, Grace, Angela and I cooked the KCBS portion of the event, We followed the same schedule and recipes as our last contest in Rochester in which we placed 2nd overall, however our meats were not the same quality and we paid for it in our showing. We placed 22 overall with not any calls to the stage, this has not happened since last August !.. While disappointed in the finish, we still had a great time with our BBQ friends and extended family.

Heritage Pork 101

Heres a great article on how different diets will affect the taste of pork. As we use only heritage bred pork such as Duroc and Hampshire, this article reinforces our belief in the use of natural bred and fed meats. PLease click on the link to read more about it. Enjoy

Hazelnut-fed hogs yield succulent meat - Related Stories - ProChef SmartBrief

Weber / Ace Hardware Demo Day 2009

Rain, Rain, go away... while part of the team catered a private party all weekend on a grand motor yacht in Canada, the rest of us spent Saturday doing demos on Weber grills and smokers showing both employees and the public how to think outside of the box and use the "grill" for other things beside "grillling". Grace baked a boatload of cookies in the Weber Summit gas grill and also direct grilled some fresh pineapples that she finish glazed with a carmelized brandy reduction. We also smoked some Moink Balls in the WSM, cooked BBQ chicken & Red Onion pizza on a stone in the 22" charcoal performer and also found time to do a rib demo teaching how to select, trim for smoking, season and then cook them in either a smoker or a grill. While the weather kept the attendance down, we had a lot of fun and ate well to boot. Next Week its back to competition in a Boston NY, no its not a typo. Its in New York, Just west of Buffalo, Look for updates here and on twitter.

KCBS Jr. World BBQ Championship

Its less than a month a way, on the 4th of July holiday weekend, the first ever KCBS Jr. World BBQ Championship. The contest which is open to all BBQ Aficionados aged 16-21 is being held in conjunction with the forth annual KCBS State Championship I love BBQ Festival in Historic Lake Placid NY, home of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Games.
The contest which will be held on Saturday July 4th, will include the following categories : Pork Ribs, Chicken, NY Strip Steak and Dessert.The first turn in at 12:00 with the rest staggered until 4:00. Awards will be presented Saturday Night. Up for grabs are over $1000 in prize money and great BBQ items.For more information on the contest and links to lots other things going on in Lake Placid over July 4th go to http://www.ilbbqf.com/

Weber Open House

The team will be at Olsens ACE Hardware in Slingerlands NY, (its a small town southwest of Albany NY) on Saturday June 20 hosting the Weber Demo Days Celebration. We will be onsite from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm doing outdoor grilling and smoking on Weber equipment and accessories. Our tenative schedule is as follows:

11:00 AM Grilling vs.BBQ

12:00 PM Ribs 101

1:30 PM Pork Loin

2:30 PM Side Dishes on the grill

Please stop by and say hello, enter the drawing for great BBQ goodies and enjoy some tasty samples.

Food Porn

The end result of last weeks marathon prep session! Smoked Armilldillo Eggs.I didnt even get to have one as we didnt have enough to go around.
Heres the story:
So its 4 PM and the ACF dinner starts at 6, my phone rings as hustle back to the Capital District from the Big Apple, Mark asks me, " there were four trays of apps that had to go into the smoke right? I respond, NO five, he says OK and hangs up. I arrive at 5:45 to find Mark removing the still uncoooked ABT's from the smoker, don't worry he says, I'll finish them in the broiler. I go out to check on the table display and as I return to the kitchen I hear oh fuck, dont come in here now! the entire tray is on fire as the bacon decided to torch off under the 800 degree infra red flame. we managed to salvage about half with the help of some Blues Hog Sauce. They must have been good as they were gone in 30 seconds.