THE PIGS ON THE RUN BBQ BLOG

Smoke Standing rib roast for Christmas!

2011-12-05T20:12:00.000-05:00

What Is Prime Rib?

A succulent, tender and flavorful Prime Rib Roast will make your dinner guests feel extra special. There's nothing better than a slow-roasted Prime Rib that is beautifully marbled, hand-trimmed and perfectly aged. Particularly if the Prime Rib Roast is certified USDA Prime.

Choosing The Right Prime Rib.

Most people think that the word "Prime" in Prime Rib means it is USDA Prime Grade. But unless the USDA preceeds the designation, it is not certified USDA Prime. The word "Prime" by itself only describes the most desirable part of the "rib section" of the beef regardless of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) Grade.

The top grades of beef are USDA Prime, USDA Choice and USDA Select with Prime being the most superior. Click here to see how the USDA grades beef.

There is only a limited supply of USDA Prime Beef on the market and it is generally reserved for the finest upscale restaurants or sold directly to consumers via express shipping. Generally you will not find USDA Prime cuts of beef in typical supermarkets.

If you really want to impress your quests with mouth-watering Prime Rib, visit the Stock Yards of Chicago and consider purchasing the best USDA Prime, Prime Rib Roast available. Just as you'll find in the finest restaurants in America, Stock Yards USDA Prime Rib is beautifully marbled, hand-trimmed and perfectly aged.

Stock Yards USDA Prime Rib is extremely tender and is presented with the very best center-cut five rib bones that has the richest, beefy flavor. Once you taste the Stock Yards delicious and juicy rib roast, you will fully understand there is a difference between just Prime Rib and USDA Prime, Prime Rib.

The whole prime rib includes ribs 6 through 12, and can be divided into smaller sections depending on the needs of the customer. A prime rib has a "small" end and a "large" end. The large end, nearest the shoulder, is less fatty and a bit less tender than the small end but has good flavor.

Preparing a Prime Rib Roast For the Smoker

A prime rib can be seasoned with a complex mix of spices, or with only salt and pepper as this one was. I used kosher salt, and opted to use white pepper instead of black, only for the reason that it wouldn't be visible on the finished roast. Be generous with seasonings on a prime rib. When served, it's only the seasoned outer edge of the slice that flavors the entire piece.

To get more flavor into the meat, the ribs can be partially cut away from the roast, which allows the meat to be seasoned under the rib bones. After seasoning, the bones need to be tied back snugly against the meat with butcher's twine. The bones add great flavor to the prime rib, and prevent it from drying as it cooks.

After the prime rib roast is seasoned, cover it loosely with foil or plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature to warm up for about an hour. By doing this, the meat will cook much more evenly that it would if it went into the smoker cold. Now is a good time to start up the smoker.

Smoking Prime Rib- Set Up the Smoker

Choose An Appropriate Smoke Wood

Given the cost of this meat, the last thing you want to do is ruin it by using a smoke wood that's too strong or by applying too much smoke. I recommend that you use a mild fruit wood, and that you use it sparingly.

Chose modest-sized chunks of apple and cherry, two each, which I did not soak in water before use. The dry wood provided a quick but effective burst of smoke during the relatively short cooking time of this roast.

Fire The Cooker

Fire-up the cooker using the Standard Method--one full chimney of hot Kingsford charcoal briquettes in the charcoal bowl, followed by another full chimney of unlit Kingsford, allowing all coals to become fully lit before cooking.

If you have two chimneys, you can fill and fire both simultaneously.

Foil The Water Pan

Cover the inside and outside of the water pan with wide, heavy duty aluminum foil. Place the pan inside the cooker, but leave it empty.

Smoke The Prime Rib

When all the coals are covered with gray ash, assemble the cooker and place the roast bone-side down on the top grate. Insert a probe thermometer in the center of the roast to monitor the internal meat temperature during cooking.

Set the three bottom vents to 100% open. Open the top vent fully and leave it that way throughout the entire cook. Add the smoke wood to the hot coals.

The cooker temperature will start out at 400-450°F, but should ramp down to 350-360°F after the addition of the meat. If it's a cool, breezy day, you may need to keep the bottom vents wide open to achieve 350°F measured at the lid. If it's a calm, warm day, you may need to partially close the bottom vents to bring the cooker down to about 350°F.

Cook at 350°F to 5-10° below the final internal temperature you want to achieve. Residual heat in the meat will cause the internal temp to rise 5-10°F during a 30 minute rest after cooking.

I like my prime rib somewhere between medium-rare and medium--pink, but not bloody--so I picked 125°F as the internal temperature at which I would remove the roast from the cooker. After a 30 minute rest, I would expect it to reach a final internal temperature of 130-135°F. Going much beyond 135°F risks overcooking the roast, so be careful if you do.

If you want rare prime rib with some medium-rare and medium meat on the ends, remove the roast from the cooker at 115°F so it will reach a final temperature of 120-125°F after that 30 minute rest.

Estimated cooking time is 20-28 minutes per pound, depending on factors such as the size of the roast, how hot the cooker is running, what type of fuel is used, and weather conditions, but my experience has been 19-23 minutes per pound with roasts like this one.

There's no need to turn or baste the roast during the cooking process.

Rest The Meat

Place the roast on a rimmed baking pan, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and let rest 30 minutes before slicing. This allows the meat to finish cooking and for the juices to redistribute and stabilized within the roast.

Alternatively, you can hold the roast at serving temperature for up to an hour by wrapping it tightly with two layers of foil and placing it in an empty ice chest.

Carve And Serve

Smoking Prime Rib- When Is It Done?

Prime rib is done when the internal temperature tells you it's done. Use a remote thermometer so you don't have to open up the smoker to check the temp. Each time the smoker is opened, the cooking time is extended by 10 to 20 minutes.

Remove the rib bones* and cut the roast into half-inch thick slices. Serve with a salad, baked potatoes, and a variety of grilled veggies. Make sure there's crusty bread for soaking up the meat juices left in the bottom of the plate.

*Some would say that munching on the rib bones is the best part of smoking prime rib!

One last thing, as the smoking prime rib nears completion in the smoker, put together some horseradish sauce for dipping. It's easy to make. Simply combine 1/4 mayonnaise with 2 to 3 teaspoons of spicy horseradish and squeeze of lemon juice. Make the sauce at least 30 minutes beforehand so the flavors have time to meld together.

BBQ Connection LLC Dressing

2011-11-23T18:07:00.001-05:00

BBQ Connection LLC Dressing

2 pounds breakfast sausage
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
3 cups finely diced celery
1-1/2 cups margarine, melted 16 cups stale hamburger bun cubes
2 tablespoons poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon your favorite bbq rub
2 medium eggs
1/4 cup water

Directions
This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 8 cups.

Cook sausage. Drain.
Melt margarine. Add enough to sausage drippings to make 1 cup.
Saute; onions and celery in margarine/dripping mixture until onion is tender. DO NOT BROWN. Stir in about 1/3 bread cubes. Put in big bowl and add remaining bread cubes, poultry seasoning, eggs and pepper. Watch your hands, it's hot. Mix well.
Pour broth and butter over the top and toss to combine. Spoon mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish; cover. Cook at 250 degrees F for 90 minutes.
Enjoy!

BROCCOLI SALAD

2011-11-23T17:59:00.000-05:00

BROCCOLI SALAD

1 c. celery
3 c. raw broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1/2 c. raisins

1/2 teaspoon of your favorite bbq rub!

Dressing:

1 c. Vinegerette
1/4 c. sugar
2 t. vinegar

Combine all the salad ingredients in a mixing bowl. Then make the dressing pour over the salad mixture and stir.*Best if you let set 1 hour after putting on the salad.

BBQ Pecan Pie

2011-11-23T17:48:00.000-05:00

BBQ Pecan Pie

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 tablespoon Corn Starch
2 cups pecans
1 (9-inch) baked or frozen deep-dish pie crust

1. Preheat cooker to 350F.
2. Cream together butter and brown sugar in medium bowl. Add eggs, vanilla, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch . Blend well.
3. Place 1 cup pecans in bottom of pie crust. Pour pie mixture over the pecans, and then top with remaining 1 cup pecans.
4. Place on cooker,
5. Bake in the grill at 350F for 55 to 60 minutes or until center appears barely set. Cool to room temperature on wire rack.
_________________http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2232

BBQ Turkey

2011-11-23T17:22:00.000-05:00

To brine a whole turkey, you need to:

Brining is the process of soaking meat in a mixture of water, salt, sugar and seasonings for several hours to several days, depending on the type and size of meat. Brining adds flavor and moisture to turkey and works well with other types of meat, too.

Find a non-reactive container large enough to hold the turkey make sure the container will fit in your refrigerator determine how much brine you need to prepare to completely submerge the turkey in the container
Keep in mind that the bigger the container you use, the more brine you'll have to make, so try to match the size of the container to the turkey.
To determine how much brine you'll need to prepare, place the turkey into the container and cover with cold water. Remove the turkey from the container and measure the water—that's the amount of brine you'll need.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/turkey3.html

Shake's Honey Brine

1 gallon water
1 cup pickling salt
2 Tablespoons Morton Tender Quick
1 cup honey 4 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon pickling spice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Combine all ingredients except the honey in a large pot and heat to 160°F, stirring to dissolve the salt and extract flavor from the bay leaves and pickling spice. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the honey until combined. It is said that temperatures above 160°F harm the flavor of honey, so that's why the mixture is not heated above that temperature. Finally, force-cool the mixture to room temperature using an ice bath before adding to the meat.

You will need 2 gallons of brine.The concentrated version of the brine by dissolving two recipes worth of ingredients in just 3 quarts of water , force-cooling the mixture to room temperature in an ice bath in the kitchen sink , then placing the turkey into a 2 1/2 gallon baggy inside a medium-sized cooler and pouring in the 3 quarts of concentrated brine solution plus 5 more quarts of cold water to achieve 2 gallons of brine solution .

Allow the turkey to soak in the brine mixture in the refrigerator for 48 hours . Since brining does not preserve meat, the turkey must be kept below 40°F throughout the entire brining process. That's why you've got to make sure you've got room in your fridge for the container before you start this process.
Air Dry The Turkey

Remove the turkey from the brine solution and pat dry inside and out with paper towels. There is no need to rinse the turkey after brining.

Let turkey to air-dry . Place on a platter or rimmed baking sheet and allow to air-dry for 24 hours in the refrigerator . This helps create crispy skin during cooking.

Let the turkey sit at room temperature for about 1 hour before cooking. Brush the skin with a few Tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle with just a bit of kosher salt and ground black pepper for looks .

Spatchcocking:
Now it's time to spatchcock the turkey. Most sources recommend spatchcocking a 12- to 14-pound turkey

After brining the turkey, rinse it off so the residual brine doesn't stay on the turkey and set it on your counter.  Find the backbone of the turkey and with very sharp kitchen scissors or poultry shears, start cutting along one side. Then cut along the other.
At this point, the backbone's almost removed. If you need help and the scissors aren't cutting it (ha!) try a chef's knife.
Save the backbone for flavoring stews, broths, or other soups. Freeze it to use later. After the backbone has been removed, spread out the turkey.
After spreading out the turkey, flip it so the breasts are facing the ceiling and break the breastbones. (
Before placing the turkey in the cooker rub with garlic salt and olive oil

Barbecue The Turkey

Fire-up the Weber Bullet using the Minion Method—fill the charcoal chamber about 1/2 full with unlit Kingsford charcoal briquettes and then spread about 30 hot coals over the unlit ones.

Place a few small chunks of your favorite smoke wood on the hot coals. I used 2 chunks of apple and 2 chunks of hickory .

Assemble the cooker with the water pan in place and fill it with cool water.

Place the turkey breast-side up on the top cooking grate . Set the top vent to 100% open and leave it that way throughout the entire cooking process. Start with all 3 bottom vents 100% open. As the cooker approaches 250°F, begin to partially close all 3 bottom vents to maintain 225-275°F. Adjust the bottom vents as needed to maintain this temperature range throughout the cooking process.

Cook the turkey until it measures 160-165°F in the breast, 170-175°F in the thigh, approximately 3-1/2 to 4 hours. My turkey took 3-1/2 hours to reach 167°F in the breast.

There's no need to baste or rotate the turkey during the cooking process.
Here's how the cooker temperatures and vent settings went during my cook:

Time Lid Temp Vent 1 % Vent 2 % Vent 3 %

5:15pm -       100              100          100
5:45pm 217 100              100          100
6:00pm 235 100              100          100
6:15pm 245 100              100          100
6:30pm 250 100              100          100
6:45pm 250 100              100          100
7:15pm 255 100               100          50
7:45pm 262 100               100          0
8:45pm 275 100 100        0

Rest Then Carve The Turkey

Remove the turkey from the cooker and let rest for 20-30 minutes before carving . Do not cover with foil, as this will cause the skin to go soft.
Alternatively, wrap the turkey tightly in several layers of wide, heavy duty aluminum foil, place breast-side down in a dry cooler, and hold for 90 minutes before carving

Assuming you don't over smoke the turkey, the drippings will be perfect for making gravy—in fact, they're already seasoned by the salt applied to the turkey.

As you remove the turkey from the cooker, pour any accumulated juices inside the body cavity into the pan. You can also use the juices left in the bottom of a rimmed baking pan after letting the turkey rest before carving.

It's not uncommon to end up with about 1-1/2 cups of drippings .

White Smoke Bad!: Fire control !

2011-08-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

Creosote BBQ : Have you ever tasted BBQ that tasted like an ash trash? Well here is the reason why! Have you ever seen Thin Blue Smoke - The highly desired color and amount of smoke coming out of the exhaust of a smoker. The thin blue smoke denotes a clean burn. A clean burn denotes great BBQ! No impurities! Here is my explanation of what i am trying to convey: Wood does not burn directly. Rather, when heat is applied it first undergoes a process of thermal degradation called pyrolysis in which the wood breaks down into a mixture of volatiles and solid carbonaceous char. The cellulose and hemicellulose form mainly volatiles while the lignin mainly forms the char. Exactly what products are formed by each depends upon the temperature, heating rate, particle size, and any catalysts that might be present. The solid char remains in place. What goes up with the volatiles are a gas fraction (carbon monoxide and dioxide, some hydrocarbons, and elemental hydrogen), a condensed fraction (water, aldehydes, acids, ketones, and alcohols), and -- here we go! -- a tar fraction (sugar residues from the breakdown of cellulose, furan derivatives, phenolic compounds, and -- pay attention here -- airborne particles of tar and charred material which form the smoke. If oxygen is present and the temperature is sufficiently high, burning of the volatiles occurs. When temperatures are too low or when there is insufficient oxygen for complete combustion of the volatiles, smoldering occurs. This is characterized by smoking, the emission of unoxidized pyrolysis products. (This is the awful tasting stuff, creosote, that will give barbecue a bitter taste. (IE BBQ Exchange! ) If the temperature is high enough and sufficient oxygen is present, then flaming combustion occurs with less smoking and more complete oxidation of the pyrolysis products. Further pyrolysis of volatiles during flaming combustion may cause char particles (soot) to form. The remaining lignin char burns in the presence of oxygen in glowing combustion. These are my beloved coals that yield the thin blue smoke that makes great barbecue! And, that's why it is so important to preburn the wood to coals." Conclusion:Thin Blue Smoke good , White smoke Bad! Sincerely the BBQ Snob! Carcinogenic BBQ by BBQ Snob (3 reviews) January 13, 2011 - Doesn't like it I truly enjoyed the atmosphere and all the side were great. The thing that scares me is all that meat has an ashtray aftertaste ! I notice that they are cooking on a homemade Southern Yankee copy cat cooker. This is what is called an offset cooker. An offset is where the fire is away from the cooking chamber. When a car has white smoke coming out of it , something is truly wrong . The same with an offset cooker it needs oxygen to burn a clean fire. In National competition circles it is called "Blue" smoke!I do respect all the skills that the chef has , BUT it takes more that cooking at a fancy place to make great Championship BBQ! 1 / 2 people recommend this review Recommend \| Not helpful

BBQ Snob review of King's BBQ in Petersburg Va

2011-08-18T10:31:00.000-04:00

King's BBQ Has been around since 1946. The only good memories I have about Petersburg Va is King's. It has been over 30 years since I visit King's. I now know why , I start cooking BBQ the traditional way. As I enter the place at 2 pm it was somewhat busy. I found a booth and sat down!. I could smell the sweet wisp of smoke traveling from the kitchen.
Shortly after I sat down , a waitress right out of "Mels Dinner" called me hun! You gotta love that!
I order the large plate of "Q" chopped with fries , slaw and micro bisquits!
I also ordered Sweet Tea! I drove the waitress crazy because I went through about 10 glasses! I only waited about 10 minutes. In the background you can hear some one chopping pork. I saw my waitress come out of the kitchen and went to the chopping place. The guy scooped up a large portion of pork and placed it on my plate! "from the cooker to chopping board to my plate!" Yum!
The meal was a great trip down memory row. My Grandfather was a great influence in my life , especially in food.I remember him taking me here!
The food was awesome, sauce was good! I love the rolls and slaw. the apple pie was the bomb!It was great to come back! I will make sure it not 30 years before my next visit.
Take out menu below!
http://www.kingsfamousbarbecue.com/menu.htm!

Que and Cruz BBQ Festival

2011-06-02T18:25:00.000-04:00

Que and Cruz BBQ Festival
Contest of the past. Que and Cruz is coming soon! Great contest!

Silk purse

2011-05-22T18:37:00.001-04:00

BBQ Wedding

2011-04-29T01:02:00.000-04:00

We cooked a 100 lb pig in 9 hours!

Chuckie for lunch

2011-04-14T15:54:00.000-04:00

I am blessed to have Rick Hollian as a friend ! He will cook just about anything on a smoker. Here is latest adventure with Chuckie the chuck roast. Here is our conversation.

3 1/2 # chuck roast.

Rick
i just don't see the fascination with chuck roasts. to me they are greasier and stickier than a pork butt.
OK

John
How did it taste?

Rick
I'd rather save up for a strip or fillet like you make and enjoy it

John
Give me a quick write up the chuck . good or bad.

Rick
The seasoning was all Dr bbq big time bbq rub. I didnt inject (no beef broth in the house, but it did jaccard the crap out of it
was still a fun day with the wsm.

John
great.

Rick
The chuckie may have been better with an injection but it was only 2.89 lbs. most of it would have run out. I did smear some worchester sauce on it after the rub and let it sit for 30 mins
it tastes good, just sticky. I guess im hooked on pork

He cooked for 6 1/2 hours .at 275 degrees. He wrapped in foil for 45 minutes. internal temp at 175 to 196 and unwrapped.
He cooked it on the WSM.

Comfort Zone Camp Richmond

2011-03-24T00:02:00.000-04:00

Hey friends and family. As you guys know, I suffer from a BBQ problem. Mostly, I can't get enough, be it fixing it, eating it, or sharing the experience with others. Yesterday, my partner Mark Agee and I were blessed to help out at Comfort Zone Camp in Goochland Va doing a full dinner for the over 200 campers and guidance personnel. Our friend and mentor, John Atkins, along with Eric Blum have been involved with cooking for this wonderful organization for 3 years now. This was the first year Mark and I have helped, and what a great feeling and humbling experience it was. This is a camp of kids that have lost a parent, a sibling or a caretaker. Please check out there web link at the end of this email. What a great organization, first class, and the kids are fantastic! We prepared a whole pig (named Pete the Pig), potato salad, homemade slaw, homemade meatless lasagna, pulled pork, brisket and hot-dogs. We were treated like heroes, but in the end its the counselors, and support staff along with the kids that are the heroes. I can't wait for the next opportunity to help out with this organization.

By Rick Holian

2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series & National Championship

2011-02-13T22:10:00.001-05:00

SAM'S CLUB BBQ SERIES

2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series & National Championship

KCBS and Sam's Club are excited to announce the Sam's Club BBQ Series! With over $400,000 in prize money and major bragging rights, this is one series you won't want to miss!
The 2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series will feature 20 local events, five Regional events and one National Championship in Bentonville, Ark.
The first registration period for the Sam's Club BBQ Series has officially closed.
From all of us at KCBS and Sam's Club, good luck to all teams!!

We signed up for the Sam's club contest in Chesapeake. 9/16/11 - 9/17/11 Sam's Club 4710 2444 Chesapeake SQ Ring Rd. Chesapeake VA
2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series & National Championship

2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series & National Championship
Region 5 Local Event: Chesapeake, VA
Date: September 16 - September 17, 2011 Location: 2444 Chesapeake SQ Ring Rd., Chesapeake, VA

Confirmed Teams:
Lazy Ass BBQ Crew
R2-BQ
Porkers in Paradise
Degüello BBQ
Old Dominion Smokehouse
Hambones by the Fire
Black Cat BBQ
JD's Smokin' Misfits
Pigheaded BBQ
Smok'n Fire BBQ
Grog N Hogs
Jacked Up BBQ
Mr.Bobo's Traveling BBQ Allstars
who are those guys?
WOOD CHICKS BBQ
Checkered Pig
Nomad BBQ
Lyin Pigs
Two State BBQ
pigs on the run
widespread barbecue
Whiskey Hill BBQ
Big and Twig BBQ
Diamond State Smokers
Swing Dings BBQ
Awaiting Confirmation:
Donnies Smokehouse

George Robert Pulley farewell our good friend!

2011-02-12T21:27:00.001-05:00

I met George Robert Pulley of 3 P's BBQ team in our first BBQ contest in Richmond Va. Sept. 2002
It was our first contest and we were very overwhelmed. I was surprised to see a team from near to my home town of Zuni Va. I found out he went to school with my father and uncles. I thought we were almost family. It was very encouraging to meet him and his wife. They came in second over all in that contest. Since then our past have crossed many times. He and his wife have always been the example of a great and humble competitor!
We had the great pleasure to compete in our home town and guess who was there: our good friends 3 P's cooking team. We were short one shoulder because of a mix up and guess who can to the rescue? George gave us one of his shoulder and loaned us a chair so we could get into the rib finals!
Thanks!

George Pulley Sr.

George R. Pulley Sr. WINDSOR - George Robert Pulley Sr., 67, beloved son, husband, father, grandfather and friend, passed away Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. He was the son of the late Marvin M. Sr. and Emma Lee Hall Pulley and was a lifelong resident of Isle of Wight County. George Robert lived a full life. He lived on the family farm and maintained the farm most of his life. He was employed with Gwaltney Foods for some 13 years before enjoying his happy retirement. Later in life he was passionate about cooking and catering parties, and social gatherings with 3 P's Cooking Team. He traveled nationally and won 45 cook-off trophies. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, trapping game and gardening. He was a member of the Isle of Wight Hunt Club and Isle of Wight Ruritan Club. He served on the Isle of Wight Fair Committee and the 4-H Committee and was a Little League coach. He was an avid Washington Redskins fan and was a member of Central Hill Baptist Church and the church choir and was a deacon. In addition to his parents, George Robert is preceded in death by his son, George Robert Pulley Jr. He leaves to cherish his memories, his wife of 44 years, Linda Sexton Pulley; his son, Henry L. Pulley and his wife Jinny of Windsor; three grandchildren, Madison, Kendall and H. Leighton Pulley II; and a host of friends and extended family. A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, in Colonial Funeral Home with the Rev. Roger Johnson officiating. Burial will follow in Central Hill Baptist Church Cemetery. The family and friends will gather 5:30 to 8 p.m. today in the funeral home for visitation and at other times in the home of his son, Henry (Jinny) Pulley, 17418 Pope Swamp Trail, Windsor. The family suggests memorial contributions to Central Hill Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, 10270 Central Hill Road, Windsor, VA 23487.

Georges last BBQ contest.

WINDSOR—Four-year-old Henry Pulley II stayed up until 1:30 a.m. Saturday. His father, Henry, pulled an all-nighter.

: George Pulley of Windsor pulls apart barbecued baby back ribs for judging during the Hamtown Pork and Fork Fest at Isle of Wight Fairgrounds on Saturday. Pulley has won 45 national awards for his barbecue. -- Gwen Albers | Tidewater News

The elder Pulley was competing in the Hamtown Pork and Fork Fest at Isle of Wight Fairgrounds, where other professional competitors stayed up all night cooking for the next day’s judging. His son got to spend the night.
“We pitched a tent,” Henry Pulley said.
Henry Pulley and his parents, George and Linda Sue Pulley, as a part of the 3Ps Cooking Team of Windsor, competed against 15 of the nation’s top barbecue cooks sanctioned by the Memphis BBQ Network.
Competitors start with a whole pig, which is cooked throughout the night. The Pulleys use a combination of oak and hickory to cook their pig.
“You have to make sure the temperature stays at 200 to 220 and that (the fire) is vented,” Henry Pulley said.
George Pulley began competing in 1993 and has won 45 national titles while traveling throughout the country. His wife appreciated having a competition in their own backyard.
“I think it’s wonderful that we don’t have to travel to Memphis or Florida,” Linda Sue Pulley said.
The Pulleys did not make the finals.
Connie Caruso and her husband, Rich Militano, traveled from Yardville, N.J. For the money they spent to compete, Caruso joked they could’ve spent a week in Bermuda.
Preparing for a competition involves preparing the sauces and rubs, equipping the trailer for hauling the cooker and preparing the meat. It’s all worth it, Caruso said.
“We both like to cook and it’s something we can do together,” she said.
To make it even better, they took third place in the pork shoulder division
Terry Rhinier, special events coordinator for Smithfield and Isle of Wight Tourism Bureau, was pleased with the two-day event sponsored by her agency and Smithfield Foods.
“The contestants were happy, and we had some great bands there,” Rhinier said.
For a donation to the ASPCA, visitors could try the barbecue and choose their favorite.
“For the People’s Choice contest, people had mounds of food on their plates,” Rhinier said.
Country Boys from Suffolk won the award. The team plans to open a restaurant in Smithfield.

Hamtown Pork & Fork-2010 Smithfield, Va.

2011-02-12T21:02:00.000-05:00

Congrats To Whiskey Hill BBQ - 1st Place in "Anything Butt Contest Drink" - Hamtown Pork & Fork-2010 Smithfield, Va.

2010 Winners

Anything Butt Contest - Drink
1st place - Whiskey Hill BBQ
2nd place - Checkered Pig
3rd place - 3 P's

Anything Butt Contest - Entree1st place - Checkered Pig
2nd place - Steffy BBQ
3rd place - Hog Wild Hokies

People's Choice winner was Country Boys BBQ
Pro Team winner as follows:
Whole Hog1st place - Yazoo's Delta Q
2nd place - Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
3rd place - JD's Smokin Misfits
4th place - Three Eyz BBQ

Shoulder1st place - Yazoo's Delta Q
2nd place - Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
3rd place - Pig Pen BBQ
4th place - Checkered Pig

Rib1st place - Checkered Pig
2nd place - Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
3rd place - Three Eyz BBQ
4th place - Yazoo's Delta Q

Grand Champion - Checkered Pig

November 5 and 6, 2010

BBQ Snobs review of Two J's Smokehouse

2011-02-12T13:16:00.001-05:00

Great BBQ place! The basic idea of true BBQ is smoke. One must know how to manage a fire to accomplish this feat. Too much smoke and the food becomes acrid and bitter , not enough smoke and you might as will cook in a "crock pot"! I advise when one is visiting a BBQ place: Look , Listen and Smell. Look for wood and something called blue smoke ( very clear in appearance with a blue tinge ) coming out of the smoker. Listen for quietness( customers are too busy to talk) . Last , smell: it should be a very pleasant and memorable aroma, bringing back very pleasant memories of ones past!
Two J's has all three. They do cheat : they use a pellet cooker. Oh well nobody is perfect!

Tri Tip BBQ Beef

2011-02-08T00:25:00.000-05:00

Rick Holian is a good cook and a good friend. He loves to cook BBQ. He tried his hand at some Tri tip!

Here is what he came up with.Cooked my first Tri-tip Sunday on the Weber Kettle. It was almost 2 lbs, and I set it up for reverse sear. It was seasoned with Salt, cracked pepper, garlic powder and some crushed parsley flakes. My bride doesn't like anything smoky flavored, so I didn't use anything like Bovine bold but I wish I had! She didn't like it anyway, and I know it would have been better! Here is a couple pics. It was good, just not as good as I had anticipated. I just sliced off a cold piece from the leftover, and it seems to gotten a better taste on the second day. Kind of like smoked chicken does, as it hides in the dark fridge overnite!

"Slices of beef tri tip are marinated and grilled. This is a great easy summer barbeque idea!"

Ingredients:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons water

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

ground black pepper to taste

4 pounds beef tri tip, cut into 1/2 inch

slices

Directions:

1.	In a large, non-reactive bowl, blend the soy sauce, olive oil, water, garlic, and pepper. Place the beef tri tip in the marinade. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours.
2.	Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil grate.
3.	Grill the beef slices 3 to 5 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Discard remaining marinade.

Prince George family BBQ

2010-05-18T20:13:00.000-04:00

Prince George family BBQ
4605 county Drive Dispuntana Virginia ( Hwy 460)
I am always looking for a" good" BBQ Joint in Virginia. which surprisingly is a hard find. I just happen to luck out when we stopped at Prince George family BBQ at hwy 460 and interstate 295 outside of Petersburg Va. We enter the place around 6ish and the joint was empty except for a truck driver in the corner. The place was very clean and pleasant atmosphere.
The menu was very traditional and easy to read. i noticed that they had a BBQ sample plate for $14.95 ( BBQ ribs , 1/2 chicken, chopped pork and brisket. i was very surprised because most joints did not offer such a wide selection. My son got a pork chop plat (three large pork chops smothered with gravy and onions yum)
Ok to the barbecue! My wife had the brisket and she was a little disappointed due to it was chopped not sliced. She claimed. Nice hickory smoked taste. Nowhere near competition quality, It was dry but was revived with a little sauce.
My ribs had a commercial rub and i claimed a hint of cinnamon, The owner and cook denied it, It was a very generic rub, probably southern prides standard rub. I thought the rib were moist even after being reheated Almost fall off the bone.
My brisket was chopped and dry to but edible. I would have preferred sliced but understood why it was better to serve chopped. i thought the rub and smoke was prevalent
The pork was very very disappointing. It was over sauced. It was an eastern NC. bbq sauce. I felt like all the rubbing and smoking was wasted. I could not discern anything other than vinegar.

The star of the show was the chicken. I was very impressed with a half of chicken. It had flavor all the way through. The breast was a little dry but with a little sauce it well worth the slight distraction.

Sides; BBQ beans needed a kick, slaw great, onion rings good and hot, greens wife's favorite. Mashed potato was a smashed!
Over all I thought the experience was a nice pleasant surprise for Virginia BBQ The portions were great and the food was good with a true smokey flavor

The Judges score Appearance 7 , Tenderness 7 , Taste 7
I thought this was good BBQ for Va.
Good job guys!

Town raises money for boy

2010-05-18T20:12:00.000-04:00

By Alice Mannette/staff
amannette@newsleader.com

WAYNESBORO — One 11-year-old boy has brought more than 400 people together — some are kin, some are friends and some are strangers.

Justin Harris was diagnosed with cancer last year. He divides his time among St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, his home in Crimora and Hugh K. Cassell Elementary School.

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Justin loves to talk, play video games and barbecue — he's even a junior barbecue champ.

John Atkins, a family friend who considers himself family, organized Saturday's barbecue fundraiser to help the family. He managed to get all the food donated, so all the proceeds go to the family, who will use the money to offset their increased expenses. Atkins owns the Barbecue Connection in Palmyra and has national trophies in barbecuing.

"This little town has a focus of such great magnitude it's unbelievable," said Atkins, his voice cracking from sadness. "We want to tell everybody thank you."

Like Atkins, many of the barbecuers came from away, some traveled from Pennsylvania, others from North Carolina and Richmond. Most woke up at 3 or 4 a.m. to get here in time, Atkins said.

Although the research hospital pays for Justin's treatment, his family must travel every few weeks to Memphis.

"He can't go by plane, because of the large doses of chemotherapy," said his father, Mark Harris.

Since treatment started, the family had to buy a car, a "more reliable" one," Harris said.

Mark Harris continues to work as an emergency medical technician, but takes more days off than he used to. Even with the hospital's help, the family's expenses have overwhelmed their budget.

Justin's mother, Chris, had to stop baby-sitting, and her other children, Stacey, 8, and Anna, who turns 6 today, have to stay with their grandparents more often.

This is the third fundraiser for the family. Both the school and the Crimora Players had fundraisers last year.

"It's just overwhelming," said Joe Harris, Justin's grandfather. "Most everything has been donated."

An hour into the event more than 250 meals were sold, not including the ones that were called in — like the 26 meals for Invista employees. Atkins planned for 500 meals, but after an hour of serving, he realized that he might run out of food.

"It's overwhelming," Mark Harris said. "Lots of people are coming. I don't know many of them."

"We really don't know the little boy," said Angel Payne who brought her kindergartner. "We just came out to support the cause and enjoy the music."

Elaine Wine, a librarian at A.R. Ware Elementary, brought her family for the same reason, as did Staunton Councilwoman Rita Wilson.

"I thought this was a good cause," Wilson said.

The cafeteria was filled with strangers sitting with strangers enjoying the bluegrass music of "Across the Miles," five of the musicians came in from West Virginia.

"Mark's a friend of mine and he asked me to play," said guitarist Robert Richardson."We can all pray for him, but we can do a little more."

Like Richardson, the Glenns came out to support their friends.

"We came to support the family," said Mary Glenn, who attends church with the Harris family. "He's a strong young man. We look forward to the updates his grandparents give."

The newest update came on Friday.

"He got a report that his tumors right now are stabilized," his father said. "Last time they shrank, this time they're the same."

Justin planned to be at the barbeque event. An honor-roll student, he loves school and friends. But some unexpected tests came up, so he and his mother had to stay behind in Tennessee.

"He (Justin) is unbelievable to face adversity the way he's done," said Atkins, who became friends with Mark Harris at a competition. "I'm not just a barbecue buddy. I hope I'm a member of the family."

Atkins, who also works as a surgical technician at the University of Virginia, said Justin asked him to be there in his scrubs when he had his first surgery.

"He thanked me for being there. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do," said Atkins, whose 10-year-old son, Bryant, is one of Justin's best friends. "I've been there crying with them."

A brief history of North Carolina pulled-pork barbecue.

2010-05-18T20:07:00.001-04:00

A brief history of North Carolina pulled-pork barbecue.

The United States Department of Agriculture says barbecue is any meat "cooked by the direct action of heat resulting from the burning of hardwood or the hot coals therefrom for a sufficient period to assume the usual characteristics" including the formation of a brown crust and a weight loss of at least thirty percent. Hmmm, that means Mother Nature made the first barbecue as the accidental by-product of some ancient forest fire. And, man has been eating the delicious stuff in one form or another to satisfy his carnivorous appetite ever since.
The Early Days

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they found the Taino Indians of the West Indies cooking meat and fish over a pit of coals on a framework of green wooden sticks. The Spanish spelling of the Indian name for that framework was "barbacoa". Both the name and method of cooking found their way to North America, where George Washington noted in his diary of 1769 that he "went up to Alexandria to a "barbicue."

Noah Webster's dictionary insists that the one and only correct spelling is barbecue. But, as another US president, Andrew Jackson, noted, "It's a damned poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word ." He would be mighty pleased to know that over the years folks have been enjoying barbicue, barbique, barbeque, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Cue, Bar-B-Q, BBQ, Cue, and just plain Q. (Doesn't it just make you wonder how Dan Quail would spell it?)

The Hogs

The Spanish explorer DeSoto introduced hogs to Florida and Alabama about 1540. The settlers at Jamestown brought swine with them in 1607 and soon thereafter Virginia enacted a law making it illegal to discharge a firearm at a barbecue! The creatures thrived in the wilds of the warm Southern woodlands where cattle perished. By the time of the War Between the States, hogs had been domesticated, and pork had become the principal meat of the South. Not surprisingly, pork has been synonymous with Southern barbecue ever since.
Barbecue

The dictionary will also tell you that the noun "barbecue" has at least four meanings:

a framework to hold meat over a fire for cooking

any meat broiled or roasted on such a framework

an entertainment, usually outdoor, at which such meat is prepared and eaten.

a restaurant that makes a specialty of such meat.

Indeed, barbecues have long been a popular social occasion in the South. But, done in the traditional way, the making of barbecue was hard work. A pit was dug in the ground the day before the gathering and filled with hardwood. The wood was burned down to coals before whole hogs, skewered on poles, were hung over the pit. The pitmasters sat up through the night, turning the hogs on their spits. The following afternoon when the guests arrived, the crisp skin - Mr. Brown - was removed and the cooked meat - the divine Miss White - was pulled in lumps from the carcass before being slathered with a favorite finishing sauce. That's why, to this very day, a social affair centered around pork barbecue is affectionately called a Pig Pickin.
The Joints

Some folks might consider barbecuing a whole hog to be a tad bit of overkill for a fellow with a sudden hankering for a sandwich. But, without benefit of electricity and refrigeration in bygone years, portioned cuts of fresh pork were nonexistent. A solution to this culinary dilemma was provided by a pair of entrepreneurs in Lexington, North Carolina when they hit upon the idea of barbecuing a couple of pigs over open pits in the town square on Saturdays and selling it. Tents soon popped up and the first commercial barbecue joint was born. The boys there in Lexington are still making some mighty fine barbecue in those barbecue joints. At last count, the city had one for every thousand citizens - men, women, and children included!

A good barbecue joint has a modest dining hall. In addition to plain tables, disposable paper place mats, and chairs with wooden seats, it will likely also have a counter with stool seats that swivel. A portrait of an elderly founder on the wall somewhere near the entrance is always a good sign. So are pictures, statues, and other sundry likenesses of pigs. A parking lot packed with a mixture of Harleys, pickup trucks, and Eldoradoes is an even better sign. The pits themselves are generally housed out back in a separate building to avoid burning down the joint in the event of a flameup. The building will have a screen door with a spring on it that twangs when the door slams shut. The hardwood in the yard nearby will be of various ages. You may not see smoke coming from the pit chimneys except when the wood is being burned to coals. But, you should always be able to smell it! Should you find copper lines leading to the pits from a silver tank the size of a small elephant out where the woodyard ought to be, drive on. You ain't there yet! The founder's son has sold his soul to the Devil for the ease of that modern-day bane of barbecue, propane. Come back in a couple of years and you will find a brand new McDonalds there with a drive-up window right where the pits once stood. Good barbecue is a hard way to make a buck.
The Great Debate

There is no debate in North Carolina that barbecue should be pit-cooked and pork. There is, however, is great disagreement about which parts of the pigs should be barbecued and whether tomatoes should be any part of the finishing sauce. Down east, the whole hog, split down the middle, is barbecued . The finishing sauce is a sharp, tomato-free vinegar-and-pepper ketchup. West of U.S. Highway 1, only the shoulders are barbecued, and the milder finishing sauce contains a touch of tomato. Which is better? That most likely depends on which joint you happen to be in at the moment!

North Carolina Barbecue: a Primer

By Terry Mancour

Perhaps North Carolina's finest contribution to international cuisine, the peculiar institution known as Barbecue is one of those Tarheel hotspots that is often misunderstood by folks outside our borders. Barbecue enjoys a long and distinguished history in North Carolina, and has come to be synonymous with political campaigns, church fund-raisers, and any celebration of merit. It has been celebrated itself in song, story, poetry, literature and electronic media. It enjoys as much a prominent place and regional distinctiveness as a 'state dish' as Steamed Crabs do in Maryland, Baked Beans do in Boston, and Salmon does in Seattle. With the culinary contributions of several different cultures in its background, North Carolina Barbecue has become a subject that can cut across lines of race, class, and the generations. WUNC, the Public Television station in Chapel Hill, even ran a multi-part television series about it, hosted by Bob Garner, author of an exhaustive book on the subject. It is, as you will find, every North Carolinian's God-given right to be reckoned an authority on the subject of barbecue.

In an effort to clarify the subject, it is necessary to draw a distinction between the roast meat served in North Carolina and elsewhere. They are two different animals. Despite the use of the term in other parts of the country, in North Carolina the word 'barbecue' means roast pork, often the entire pig. While in Kansas City, Texas, Louisiana, and other havens of the art the emphasis is usually on the sauce, in the Tarheel state the phenomena of barbecue revolves as much around the process of cooking the meat as it does the ingredients of the sauce – although considerable powder is burned, as we shall see, about just what constitutes authentic North Carolina barbecue sauce.

It is impossible to know just how far back the barbecue tradition goes – whether it can be traced to the feasting of animist African slaves, the traditional Scottish/Irish Boar Roast, Native American cooking techniques passed along to the first settlers (The earliest colonists in Jamestown and Tidewater Virginia, similar in geography and culture to Northeastern North Carolina, certainly used the technique, and Jamaican natives were observed using a similar technique as far back as 1661) , or to the pirates and sailors who frequented our shores (Interestingly enough, the term buccaneer, a 17th century adventurer or sea robber, comes from the technique, called "boucan" [meaning barbecue], of curing meat by smoking it slowly over a fire, its French practitioners being called "boucaniers." It is not unlikely that the technique was transferred from the Caribbean to eastern North Carolina.) will never be known. It is perhaps a combination of all of them, or a naturally occurring phenomenon, in consideration of the ease with which hogs have been raised in this state. Today North Carolina produces the second highest number of hogs in the country, providing a wide selection of roasting carcasses. What is certain is that the practice has almost always included a slow-roasting process, over a low fire of oak or hickory, which lasts most of the day.

The hog roast, or "pig pickin'", is perhaps the heart of North Carolina culinary culture. The process begins in the wee hours of the morning, when one or two stalwart souls (usually men – for no particularly good reason pig roasting is an art dominated by men) dress the hog carcass and light the fires. For the last hundred years pigs have been roasted over wood and charcoal fires, but for the last two decades more and more barbecuers have switched to cleaner burning propane flames, which some argue deprive the pork of its traditional smoky flavor. For either method the roasting is almost always done in a "pig cooker", a fuel oil drum which has been sawed in half, welded to an axel and a trailer hitch, and otherwise altered for the purpose. These cookers can get quite elaborate, and almost as much breath is wasted on the merits of particular designs as on the proper way to roast and season the hog. The hog is laid upon the grill over the flame, doused with sauce, the lid is closed, and at that point invariably someone breaks out a bottle.

For the remainder of the day the roasting team stands around the big black steel tank and "watches the pig" – though little actual watching goes on. Every hour on the hour the lid is raised and the carcass is again liberally doused with sauce, inspected for progress, and then closed up again. The men spend the time between inspections chatting about the news of the day, the weather, sports, politics, and all other subjects that arise from the confluence of roast pork and hard liquor.

In a traditional pig pickin' the woman are far from idle while the men accomplish the arduous chore of watching the pig and drinking. The side dishes at a pig pickin' are legendary. It is an opportunity for everyone to pull out old favorite recipes, some handed down from grandmothers on deathbeds, to delight the palate and impress friends and neighbors. Various salads, casseroles, pickles, preserves, and a whole host of desserts are prepared for the event. Some items are mandatory. Cole slaw, for instance, must be served, although the exact recipe varies from region to region and family to family. Boiled potatoes, with a cup full of barbecue sauce added to the water is also obligatory. Of course the bread accompaniment is the ubiquitous hushpuppy, the fried cornmeal staple of Southern life since Colonial times. And gallons and gallons of fresh brewed sweet iced tea, sometimes flavored with lemon, complement the usual celebratory beverages.

A word here about the sauce. There are two different styles of North Carolina Barbecue, Eastern and Western. In both cases the sauce is a vinegar-based concoction, heavily seasoned; the largest difference is that the Western, or Lexington style of barbecue adds a small amount of tomato-base to the sauce, and also roasts pork shoulders in preference to the whole hog. That's it. That's the difference. Yet these tiny differences have caused near blood feuds between proponents of the two different styles. In both cases the vinegar base is augmented by a variety of secret herbs and spices – some favorites are salt, pepper, red pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, molasses, whiskey, and brown sugar. The specific potion is often a closely held secret, or varies depending on the ingredients at hand, but the sauce is thin, unlike most commercial tomato-based barbecue sauces. No roaster in their right mind would put that sweet, ketchupy stuff on a perfectly good pig.

The essence of the pig pickin' experience is the pure flavor of slow-roasted, well-seasoned pork. Often chopped by hand into a fine pulp and seasoned to taste with more sauce, the resulting product is the source of rapturous delight for thousands every day. The pig pickin' has been used by hundreds of churches as a fund-raising technique, and there was even a Barbecue Presbyterian Church in Harnett County, near Sanford, established in 1757.

While the home-grown pig pickin' has persisted as a venerable institution in North Carolina, the commercial potential of barbecue has been fully realized. In small towns and big cities across the state there are hundreds of small barbecue establishments who serve either the chopped variety or "pulled" pork sandwiches – a technique by which the tender roasted pork is literally pulled off of the carcass. Barbecue has become a good-sized business in North Carolina, and many of these establishments augment over-the-counter sales with impressive catering operations.

It has also become traditional for the barbecue catering industry get a huge financial boost every election year. No one knows whom the first politician was to provide barbecue for supporters at political rallies, but for scores of years now virtually no candidate for office has been able to get away with a successful election without cooking at least one pig for the constituency. The practice has become so prevalent that even politicians outside of the state will send to North Carolina for expert barbecuers to come and impress their own supporters with the perfectly roasted pink pork.

There are certain towns in North Carolina who have developed a reputation for having the best barbecue joints, making up for a lack of other major attractions. Goldsboro, Kinston, and Wilson in the East, and Lexington, Greensboro, and a twenty five mile stretch of US 52 between Salisbury and Albemarle (dubbed the Barbecue Trail by barbecue authority Bob Garner in his definitive book) in the West. The establishments in these towns have become local tourist attractions, and those with the barbecue bug think nothing of driving an extra twenty-five miles out of their way to make a pilgrimage to them.

Barbecue is one of the few subjects that has always cut through the usual racial lines North Carolina has been afflicted with. Even in the depths of the Jim Crow era and in the turbulent Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s barbecue joints were one of the few places where black folks and white folks rubbed elbows on a regular basis. While black students staged sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, a few miles away at Stamey's, one of the more famous shops in North Carolina, white folk and black folk sat at the same table, eating the same rich smoky pork sandwiches, with nary a fuss. Black families and white families have always vied on an equal footing for the bragging rights that come from recipes and roasting techniques. A roasted pig, it seems, is completely color-blind.

In deference to health concerns and religious customs it is standard for a dozen or so chickens to be roasted with the pig. Sometimes a separate sauce is used, sometimes the same, but if you follow Mosaic law or fear for your life you will almost always find a pile of succulent barbecued chicken available at either a pig pickin' or barbecue joint. Vegetarians still despair, though some of the more liberal-minded have tried using the same sauce that is used on pork on a large portabella mushroom. Needless to say, this scandalizes the barbecue traditionalist. While the tender fungus does nicely on the grill, it is not recommended that it be subjected to the same six-to-eight hour long roasting that a pig endures. Put the 'shrooms on the grill about fifteen minutes before serving.

Barbecuing is so competitive in North Carolina that the state boasts no fewer than twenty five annual cook-offs. Most of these are in the Eastern part of the state, and therefore the whole hog/vinegar sauce method is emphasized, including the North Carolina Championship Pork Cook-Off, sponsored by the North Carolina Pork Producers Association, the Newport Pig Cookin' Contest; adherents to the Western style gather yearly at the Lexington Barbecue Festival to celebrate the pork shoulder/tomato sauce style in Lexington, North Carolina – a town that boasts twenty barbecue restaurants to service 17,000 people (only Lexington, Tennessee, with ten restaurants for 6,000 people has more barbecue restaurants per capita). The teams which compete at these events range from the weekend roaster to the stainless-steel equipped professional pig cooker. At stake are cash prizes and bragging rights, and the competition is fierce. Judges use a very wide variety of criteria to judge a pig, and ensure a lack of corruption by using blind taste tests in addition to on-site tasting inspections. Barbecue is serious business in North Carolina.

Considerations of length and completeness prohibit a listing of the best places to get barbecue here. The book North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored by Time, by Bob Garner, is highly recommended for the barbecue novice. Whether you are a passing traveler or a newcomer to the Tarheel State a trip to a barbecue joint (or, better yet, a church or school pig pickin') is suggested in order to complete the North Carolina culinary experience. Advice on where to go is easy to come by – just ask any three strangers with North Carolina license plates, and you will have three suggestions – and more likely than not the place will be 'just down the road a'piece'.
The Early Days
When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they found the Taino Indians of the West Indies cooking meat and fish over a pit of coals on a framework of green wooden sticks. The Spanish spelling of the Indian name for that framework was "barbacoa". Both the name and method of cooking found their way to North America, where George Washington noted in his diary of 1769 that he "went up to Alexandria to a "barbicue."
Noah Webster's dictionary insists that the one and only correct spelling is barbecue. But, as another US president, Andrew Jackson, noted, "It's a damned poor mind that can think of only one way to spell a word ." He would be mighty pleased to know that over the years folks have been enjoying barbicue, barbique, barbeque, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Cue, Bar-B-Q, BBQ, Cue, and just plain Q. (Doesn't it just make you wonder how Dan Quail would spell it?)

The Hogs
The Spanish explorer DeSoto introduced hogs to Florida and Alabama about 1540. The settlers at Jamestown brought swine with them in 1607 and soon thereafter Virginia enacted a law making it illegal to discharge a firearm at a barbecue! The creatures thrived in the wilds of the warm Southern woodlands where cattle perished. By the time of the War Between the States, hogs had been domesticated, and pork had become the principal meat of the South. Not surprisingly, pork has been synonymous with Southern barbecue ever since.

Barbecue
The dictionary will also tell you that the noun "barbecue" has at least four meanings:

1. a framework to hold meat over a fire for cooking
2. any meat broiled or roasted on such a framework
3. an entertainment, usually outdoor, at which such meat is prepared and eaten.
4. a restaurant that makes a specialty of such meat.

Indeed, barbecues have long been a popular social occasion in the South. But, done in the traditional way, the making of barbecue was hard work. A pit was dug in the ground the day before the gathering and filled with hardwood. The wood was burned down to coals before whole hogs, skewered on poles, were hung over the pit. The pitmasters sat up through the night, turning the hogs on their spits. The following afternoon when the guests arrived, the crisp skin - Mr. Brown - was removed and the cooked meat - the divine Miss White - was pulled in lumps from the carcass before being slathered with a favorite finishing sauce. That's why, to this very day, a social affair centered around pork barbecue is affectionately called a Pig Pickin.

The Joints
Some folks might consider barbecuing a whole hog to be a tad bit of overkill for a fellow with a sudden hankering for a sandwich. But, without benefit of electricity and refrigeration in bygone years, portioned cuts of fresh pork were nonexistent. A solution to this culinary dilemma was provided by a pair of entrepreneurs in Lexington, North Carolina when they hit upon the idea of barbecuing a couple of pigs over open pits in the town square on Saturdays and selling it. Tents soon popped up and the first commercial barbecue joint was born. The boys there in Lexington are still making some mighty fine barbecue in those barbecue joints. At last count, the city had one for every thousand citizens - men, women, and children included!

A good barbecue joint has a modest dining hall. In addition to plain tables, disposable paper place mats, and chairs with wooden seats, it will likely also have a counter with stool seats that swivel. A portrait of an elderly founder on the wall somewhere near the entrance is always a good sign. So are pictures, statues, and other sundry likenesses of pigs. A parking lot packed with a mixture of Harleys, pickup trucks, and Eldoradoes is an even better sign. The pits themselves are generally housed out back in a separate building to avoid burning down the joint in the event of a flameup. The building will have a screen door with a spring on it that twangs when the door slams shut. The hardwood in the yard nearby will be of various ages. You may not see smoke coming from the pit chimneys except when the wood is being burned to coals. But, you should always be able to smell it! Should you find copper lines leading to the pits from a silver tank the size of a small elephant out where the woodyard ought to be, drive on. You ain't there yet! The founder's son has sold his soul to the Devil for the ease of that modern-day bane of barbecue, propane. Come back in a couple of years and you will find a brand new McDonalds there with a drive-up window right where the pits once stood. Good barbecue is a hard way to make a buck.

The Great Debate
There is no debate in North Carolina that barbecue should be pit-cooked and pork. There is, however, is great disagreement about which parts of the pigs should be barbecued and whether tomatoes should be any part of the finishing sauce. Down east, the whole hog, split down the middle, is barbecued . The finishing sauce is a sharp, tomato-free vinegar-and-pepper ketchup. West of U.S. Highway 1, only the shoulders are barbecued, and the milder finishing sauce contains a touch of tomato. Which is better? That most likely depends on which joint you happen to be in at the moment!

BBQ Connection Championship Catering Company

2010-05-10T00:02:00.001-04:00

BBQ Connection LLC has a new website. Please visit and let us know how we can improve> I am not a web mast but A Pit Master!
http://bbqconnectionllc.com/

BBQ Connection LLC website pigsontherun.com

2010-04-27T14:53:00.001-04:00

Our website site is underconstruction. Please call 434 286 3575 if you have any questions.
Thanks

championship BBQ Cooking Class

2010-02-25T11:37:00.000-05:00

We are starting another BBQ Cooking Class. It will be the basics of BBQ. Class is filling up. Go to our website for more info.

American Royal 2007

Top Five in the World in Pork 2006 at the American Royal

Christmas BBQ 2009

2010-01-02T23:10:00.002-05:00

Christmas would not be Christmas with out great BBQ! I place 4 pic nic shoulders in the wsm for 14 hours. I started the fire at 7 am with my trusty flame thrower! The water was frozen in the water pan. There was about 2 feet of snow. we spent the whole day at home.

BBQ Smoked Turkey : a Thanksgiving treat

2009-11-26T18:27:00.001-05:00

Tired of the same old oven roasted turkey? Unfortunately, it is not the best way of preparing it. Back in the old days , turkeys were roasted over a real fire ,giving it a smoky flavor that really kicked it up notched. With a little work , you can give your turkey this same flavor by preparing it on the smoker. A smoked turkey is juicer and has a better flavor than an oven roasted turkey. The secret is cooking it low and slow with smoke. It will be more tender and juicy than you thought . To start you off , you will need is a turkey, a good thermometer, a smoker , hickory or apple wood chips and time.
Even a small turkey, say 12-14 pounds can take 6 to 8 hours. But don't let this scare you away, because it well worth the time!
I use a water smoker for my BBQ Turkey Breast recipe:

I have been smoking turkeys for years. I have always gotten great feed back.In fact you can purchase my Award winning apple smoked turkey at 591 1200 for details

Turkey Brine:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 quarts apple juice (or cider)
1 or 2 quarts water ( enough to cover the breast
Mix the brine well. Soak the turkey for 16 hours in a non metal container covered in the fridge. I use a 5 gallon bucket . I put the bird in the brine frozen and allow it to thaw in the brine.
Smoked Turkey
I smoke on a Weber Smokey Mountain. So I start the smoker with about 12 lbs of charcoal. I normally put about 15 in a charcoal chimney and lite it . Once they are white, I will put them on top of the unlit charcoal.For a grill follow the indirect method on the kingsford charcoal bag. Also throw on a pie pan with water in it and set in middle of the charcoal rack between the coals

Take the bird out of the brine and rinse off with water. Pat dry with paper towel and place on the top cooking rack. I like to the rub it with olive oil and then rub it with garlic salt.Toss on a handful of apple wood chunks on the coals . Then put the top on the grill. When I use the WSM ( Weber Smokey Mountain) I have no need to add charcoal , but for a grill add charcoal as needed. You may need to adjust the bottom air intake vents from time to time to raise or lower the temps. But I always leave the exhaust vent all the way open to avoid to much smoke building up in the grill. I'll add more wood as needed to try and keep a nice light flow of smoke coming out. Turn the bird 180 degrees about an hour and a half into the cook to assure even cooking.

An 8 pound breast usually gets done between 2.5 to 3 hours with temps between 230F & 280F. On average it takes me just about 21 minutes a pound. This has been pretty well with every turkey breast I've ever smoked. A whole turkey could vary a bit. Pull off of grill when done, which is around 180F. Wait at least 10 minutes before carving.

You will never want to oven roast a turkey again!

Turkey can also be wrapped tightly and refrigerated; return to room temperature before serving.

If you don't have a smoker you can use a charcoal grill.Putting a turkey on a grill can be tricky . There are a couple of things you need to be prepared for. Prepare the grill for indirect cooking. You will be grilling indirectly, but because of the heat differences from one side of the turkey to another you will also need to circulate around the bird while cooking to keep things even. You will also need to maintain a steady temperature in the 230 degrees F. to 280 degrees F. range. If you follow some easy steps you should have a perfect turkey in 2 to 3 hours.

A turkey is a very versatile food, so break the traditions and try something a little different the next time you plan on preparing this bird. Here is a great recipe.

This comes out a gorgeous mahogany color in a smoker, so it looks great on a buffet table. Brining makes the meat turn out moist and firm-textured.

Corn Bread Dressing
The BBQ Connection
Call them at 434-286 3575.

Ingredients:

6 cups crumbled day-old corn bread (from 8-inch pan)
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, plus additional for garnish
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon of poultry seasoning
3 eggs, beaten

Directions:
Heat oven to 250° F. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet. Bake for 45
minutes; let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the corn bread, and enough broth (at least 2 cups) to
make a fairly mushy mixture.
Season with the salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the parsley, celery, and onion.
Cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the onion mixture to the bread mixture; let cool.
Add the eggs and gently combine.

Spread the dressing in an unbuttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until golden brown and warmed through, about 1 hour. If you want a crispy topping, leave uncovered; otherwise cover with foil halfway through cooking.

Sprinkle with additional parsley before serving, if desired.

Yield: Makes 8 servings, plus leftovers

Cranberry Relish Recipe
The BBQ Connection
Call them at 434-589-5375.

This is a great simple cranberry relish for all turkey dishes and turkey
sandwiches, and a tasty alternative to a more traditional cranberry sauce.

Preparation time: 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

2 cups washed raw cranberries
2 skinned and cored apples
1 l10 oz cn of mandrin oranges drained
1 cups sugar
1 tablespoon of your favorite whiskey

Directions:

Run fruit through a food processor.
Add sugar.
Let sit at room temperature until sugar dissolves.

Apple Crisp
The BBQ Connection
Call them at 434-589-5375.

Ingredients:
APPLE CRISP

1 can sliced apples, do not drain
1/3 c. Turbinado sugar

Spread apples,and sugar in bottom of 8 x 8 inch pan.

TOPPING:

3/4 c. Bisquick
1/2 c. sugar
1 stick butter (or butter)

Using pastry blender mix Bisquick, sugar, and butter until resembles cornmeal. Cook at 425 degrees until it starts to brown, then reduce heat to 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes until nicely browned.

Grand Ma's Atkins Cornbread Dressing Recipe
The BBQ Connection

Ingredients

6 cups crumbled day-old corn bread (from 8-inch pan)
2 1/4 cups chicken broth
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped, plus additional for garnish
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon of poultry seasoning
3 eggs, beaten

Directions
Heat oven to 250° F. Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet. Bake for 45 minutes; let cool.
In a large bowl, combine the corn bread, and enough broth (at least 2 cups) to make a fairly mushy mixture.
Season with the salt and pepper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the parsley, celery, and onion.
Cook until softened, about 10 minutes.
Add the onion mixture to the bread mixture; let cool.
Add the eggs and oysters with juice and gently combine.
Spread the dressing in an unbuttered 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Bake until golden brown and warmed through, about 1 hour. If you want a crispy topping, leave uncovered; otherwise cover with foil halfway through cooking.
Sprinkle with additional parsley before serving, if desired.

Yield: Makes 8 servings, plus leftovers

Rosell’s (GRAN) Sweet Potato Casserole

INGREDIENTS:
1 (29 ounce) can sweet
potatoes, drained
1/2 cup of walnuts (crushed)
1/2 cup of Coconut
1/2 stick of margerine
2 eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Topping :
1 (8 ounce) can crushed
pineapple, drained
1/4 cup of bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 stick of margerine

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mash the sweet potatoes until smooth. Add the pineapple, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves; mix well.
3. Pour into one 9x13 inch baking dish and top with the mixed topping ingredients. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown .

Peach Bread Pudding

2009-11-25T20:35:00.003-05:00

Very easy and quick. I will be making this one for the GMC Crew Thanksgiving day!

Peach Bread Pudding
4 c. stale white bread
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp.Apple pie spice
2 egg whites
6 c. peach halves (save juice)
2 eggs
2 tbsp. butter

Topping:
1 c bisquick
1 c turbinado sugar
1/2 cup of salted butter (soften)

Cut bread into bite-size cubes. Combine peach juice and bread. Add beaten egg with the sugar, salt,apple pie spice. Pour into a greased deep baking dish. Mix topping ingredients and place over bread mixture.Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until center is set.

Chesapeake Jubilee 2009

2009-05-26T18:25:00.006-04:00

We went to Chesapeake with high expectations after two grand championships aqnd one top ten . We finished 17 out of 39 teams. I was very proud of my team. They cover for me . I had to leave in the last 3 hours . Congrats to David Hanso for walking. on his anything butt.
I felt like a winner. It was great to see Guts and family.

Sometime you win and sometimes you lose!

I think we were all winners !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Qing for the Cure part 2

2009-03-27T12:58:00.007-04:00

A.J.Peregoy Fund raiser.
Once again friends from all over the state came to help raise money for A.J. Preregoy family. A.J. has Bone cancer. It was Great to see the Angels from the Boomer class of Antioch Baptist church. Gloria Newton and gang was awesome! Mark Harris and the BBQ Gang did a great job too! We cooked over 50 boston butts and 600 pieces of chicken.Also the Fluvanna Youth Baseball hit a home run with bringing over 500 people to the plate. It was great working with Susan and Buck Deforge. We were able to raise over $11,000 for A.J. s family.
Thanks to all.

The BBQ Snob's Charlottesville Area BBQ Review

2009-03-10T15:57:00.007-04:00

I am a true confessed BBQ snob! I competed in the BBQ circuit for over 7 years. I have won nationally and state wide. I am a certified BBQ Judge. I am a member of MABA and the KCBS. I written BBQ articles locally and nationally. I have been featured on Good Morning Charlottesville and interviewed by the Discovering Channel . I have been invited by the Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ contest. I cooked for over 32 tears and run my own catering business for over 7 years.
I have given BBQ lectures and cooking classes with over 100 people in attendance.I have been seek for advice by many local BBQ contest organizers. My opinions are my own. I do not wish any ill harm to any of our local BBQ joints. My criteria is simple, if you want to make real barbecue please have the respect to take the time to at least use wood!Also keep it fresh!

Belmont BBQ - Charlottesville, VA 22902 One of the best BBQ joints in C'ville. Sometime the BBQ can be dry! Just tell them to stir the pot. Some people like the slop bucket . Yuck ! Wes uses a gas assisted smoker with real hickory!

Spry's Barbeque - Charlottesville, VA 22903 -
Great Vinegar base BBQ. The vinegar sauce will come out of your nose!
George uses a gas assisted smoker withe real hickory!

Big Jim's Barbecue 2104 Angus Rd., Charlottesville, VA, 22901
A C'ville legend. Too bad. If the new owner followed the same recipe of the old owner it is not made on site. I think they ship it in from NYC. If you want a cheap deal this place is it. If you are looking for real BBQ go somewhere else. Hey Mcdonalds has made trillions why not Big Jims!

Jinx's Pit' Stop Barbeque, Charlottesville, VA
What a character! Known better for his "high Jinxs" than his BBQ. Ask for slaw on his BBQ . He uses a home made cooker and does use real wood. He cooks pork to about 180 degree's and your will notice little globs of fat in your sandwich (they call that profit) Also I would too be very proud to have a bunch of Yankees to declare my Q the best lol. Reference to a bunch of NYC Magazines. Very quirky place. Full of character.

Hog Heaven BBQ & Catering Ruckersville, VA
They have a home made cooker. Looks very well built. They use wood. The last time I tasted their BBQ it was dry. I think given the right time it could be rather tasty. I was not impressed with the sauces.

Pee Wee's Pit on Valley Street, Scottsville,VA.
Well what can I say! Pork cooked in a crock pot yum yum yum!!! (a propriety secrete my foot lol)

Smoken Eddie's BBQ & More 14971 Spotswood Trl, Ruckersville VA
I think they have a wood cooker. The last time we stopped there my 11 y/o son chewed my out because it was way too dry and bad . I met the owner and she seem nice. I am sure you could hit this place on a good day.

Buck Island Country Store ( Bayou) 2243 Thomas Jefferson Pkwy, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Sauce sauce sauce and $15 a pound for BBQ . I feel sorry for the pig .I never see smoke out of that cooker in front of the store.Where is the smoke taste?

ZydeCo. 12 Elliewood Ave., Charlottesville, VA
How Charlottesville yuppie do BBQ ,they don't get dirty. Use electricity! Not BBQ . Also very expensive!

Blue Ridge Pig 2198 Rockfish Valley Hwy. Nellysford, VA 22958.
The essence of what BBQ is. Strawberry looks and acts the part. he uses a real smoke house with wood.
Enough said. Go and try these place for your self.If you don't agree let me know . Also if you think your favorite BBQ joint is good enough to win a BBQ contest . We would love to you in Louisa VA in July.http://pigsontherun.com/queandcruz2008.aspx

Steam Table Pans

2009-02-26T10:07:00.001-05:00

Equipment Education: Steam Table Pans

Standard Weight Stainless Steel Pan

Steam table pans are workhorses of foodservice kitchens. And operators' options for the pans are almost as abundant as the foods the pans can hold.

Traditional stainless steel pans have long dominated the market. Their ability to go from freezer to oven to steam or refrigerated tables makes them ideal for operations as varied as fine dining restaurants or central kitchens employing cook-chill systems. Made with varied levels of steel, chrome and nickel, the pans are produced in multiple grades, with 18-8 (a blend of 18% chrome, 8% nickel, and 74% steel) the standard. Other blends are available, but too much variance from the norm can cause problems. Too much nickel in a pan, for instance, can cause oxidation and rust.

Gauges indicate pans' heft, and while 22-gauge is a standard weight for the foodservice industry, lighter and heavier weights are available. The lower the gauge, the thicker the steel, so lower-gauge pans are often a good choice for busier kitchens, while operators with less volume may prefer more economical high-gauge pans.

Manufacturers further add years to their products' use life by re-enforcing rims and corners with impact-resistant designs that prevent denting and bending.

Changing the angles on pans' edges and corners allows manufacturers to increase the strength without having to thicken the metal itself. These result in more expensive pans, but provide enough of a quality difference to make the additional cost worthwhile for many chefs.
Heavy Weight Stainless Steel Pan

"I'm big on everything being neat and want straight edges on my pans," says Chef Jim Cohen of the Terrazza Lounge at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. "The reinforced edges and rims are important; I appreciate things that endure and fit together."

"They last much longer and don't warp or change shape," agrees Chef Leonard Schwartz of Zeke's Smokehouse in Los Angeles. "It's worth it to spend more on a better quality product."

Manufacturers also offer anti-jamming elements'tapered edges or lugs that prevent pans from sticking together when stacked-allowing easier storage and ending the pan tug-of-war that no one has time for when preparing for service.

As with any cookware, non-stick surfaces are popular. Another option for ease in cleanup is disposable pan liners, which come in several sizes and can be especially useful for kitchens that need to reuse pans quickly.
Steam Table Pan Liner

These and other options can add a lot to the price and manufacturers take that all-important factor into consideration when marketing stainless steel pans. Although proponents of imported pans appreciate the lower prices offered on products made overseas, they must also check for product quality, making sure their vendors do not use "re-roll," a recycled steel material that is less durable than the new steel American manufacturers use. The gastronorm standards adopted in Europe and relationships with long-time vendors help in this area.

While stainless steel pans are made all over the world, America is a hub for manufacturing plastic pans, which are available in clear or black polycarbonate or amber or black polysulfone. Polycarbonate pans can withstand dishwasher temperatures, but not the higher heat of a steam table or oven, so are best used for storage or at cold stations. Polysulfone pans, or PSU, can handle up to 375°F, but should be used in convection rather than traditional ovens, as hot spots can damage them.

As with any product, operators must balance their own needs and costs when making purchasing decisions. Smaller lightweight pans, such as 9-pans or 6-pans, take less abuse than full or half-sized pans and allow operators to save money through buying less expensive versions. Many operators also find that a combined stock of stainless steel and plastic pans allows them to separate equipment inventories for each station, and lets employees organize production according to hot or cold temperature needs.
Food Pans

In the end, quality remains paramount. "It's not so much the heating up and cooking down, it's when you take things back to the dish room that you have to worry about damage," says Chef Marc Marelich, general manager for Bon Appetit Foodservice at eBay, San Jose, Calif. "That's where the quality comes into play."

"What lasts is what's important," agrees Jim Cohen. "When you buy quality, you only cry

Q'ing For The Cure 2009

2009-02-02T08:12:00.008-05:00

Q'ing for the cure was a great! We were very blessed with many great volunteers. The weather was fantastic! We had over 20 volunteers !

Turkey cooking times

2008-11-26T08:25:00.003-05:00

Roasting

To prepare the turkey for roasting, first remove the giblets! My first turkey I cooked , I forgot to remove the paper-wrapped gibblets. It ruined the taste of the bird. You may also wish to use the giblets in your gravy or stuffing. Next, rinse the bird inside and out. Pat dry with paper towels. If you are stuffing the bird, stuff it loosely, allowing about 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 cup stuffing per pound of turkey. Brush the skin with melted butter or oil. Tie drumbsticks together with string. Lastly, insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh. The thermometer should point towards the body, and should not touch the bone.

* Place the bird on a rack in a roasting pan, and into a preheated 350 degree F (175 degrees C) oven. Use the following chart to estimate the time required for baking.
* Bake until the skin is a light golden color, and then cover loosely with a foil tent. During the last 45 minutes of baking, remove the foil tent to brown the skin. Basting is not necessary, but helps promote even browning.

Weight of Bird Roasting Time (Unstuffed) Roasting Time (Stuffed)

10-18 lbs 3-3.5 hours 3.75-4.5 hours

15-22 lbs 3.5-4 hours 4.5-5 hours

22-24 lbs 4-4.5 hours 5-5.5 hours

24-29 lbs 4.5-5 hours 5.5-6.25 hours

Let's Talk Turkey

2008-11-23T22:53:00.003-05:00

—A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey
Fresh or Frozen?

Fresh Turkeys

* Allow 1 pound of turkey per person.
* Buy your turkey only 1 to 2 days before you plan to cook it.
* Keep it stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook it. Place it on a tray or in a pan to catch any juices that may leak.
* Do not buy fresh pre-stuffed turkeys. If not handled properly, any harmful bacteria that may be in the stuffing can multiply very quickly.

Frozen Turkeys

* Allow 1 pound of turkey per person.
* Keep frozen until you're ready to thaw it.
* Turkeys can be kept frozen in the freezer indefinitely; however, cook within 1 year for best quality.
* See "Thawing Your Turkey" for thawing instructions.

Frozen Pre-Stuffed Turkeys

USDA recommends only buying frozen pre-stuffed turkeys that display the USDA or State mark of inspection on the packaging. These turkeys are safe because they have been processed under controlled conditions.

Image of seal of inspection for poultry DO NOT THAW before cooking. Cook from the frozen state. Follow package directions for proper handling and cooking.

Allow 1¼ pounds of turkey per person.

Thawing Your Turkey

There are three ways to thaw your turkey safely — in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave oven.

In the Refrigerator (40 °F or below)
Allow approximately 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds
4 to 12 pounds 1 to 3 days
12 to 16 pounds 3 to 4 days
16 to 20 pounds 4 to 5 days
20 to 24 pounds 5 to 6 days

Keep the turkey in its original wrapper. Place it on a tray or in a pan to catch any juices that may leak. A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. If necessary, a turkey that has been properly thawed in the refrigerator may be refrozen.

In Cold Water
Allow approximately 30 minutes per pound
4 to 12 pounds 2 to 6 hours
12 to 16 pounds 6 to 8 hours
16 to 20 pounds 8 to 10 hours
20 to 24 pounds 10 to 12 hours

Wrap your turkey securely, making sure the water is not able to leak through the wrapping. Submerge your wrapped turkey in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook the turkey immediately after it is thawed. Do not refreeze.

In the Microwave Oven

* Check your owner's manual for the size turkey that will fit in your microwave oven, the minutes per pound, and power level to use for thawing.
* Remove all outside wrapping.
* Place on a microwave-safe dish to catch any juices that may leak.
* Cook your turkey immediately. Do not refreeze or refrigerate your turkey after thawing in the microwave oven.

REMINDER: Remove the giblets from the turkey cavities after thawing. Cook separately.

Roasting Your Turkey

* Set your oven temperature no lower than 325 °F.

* Place your turkey or turkey breast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.

* For optimum safety, stuffing a turkey is not recommended. For more even cooking, it is recommended you cook your stuffing outside the bird in a casserole. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of the stuffing. The stuffing must reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

* If you choose to stuff your turkey, the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time; however, keep wet and dry ingredients separate. Chill all of the wet ingredients (butter/margarine, cooked celery and onions, broth, etc.). Mix wet and dry ingredients just before filling the turkey cavities. Fill the cavities loosely. Cook the turkey immediately. Use a food thermometer to make sure the center of the stuffing reaches a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

* A whole turkey is safe when cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook turkey to higher temperatures.

* If your turkey has a "pop-up" temperature indicator, it is recommended that you also check the internal temperature of the turkey in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer. The minimum internal temperature should reach 165 °F for safety.

* For quality, let the turkey stand for 20 minutes before carving to allow juices to set. The turkey will carve more easily.

* Remove all stuffing from the turkey cavities.

Timetables for Turkey Roasting
(325 °F oven temperature)

Use the timetables below to determine how long to cook your turkey. These times are approximate. Always use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of your turkey and stuffing.

Unstuffed
4 to 8 pounds (breast) 1½ to 3¼ hours
8 to 12 pounds 2¾ to 3 hours
12 to 14 pounds 3 to 3¾ hours
14 to 18 pounds 3¾ to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 pounds 4¼ to 4½ hours
20 to 24 pounds 4½ to 5 hours

Stuffed
4 to 6 pounds (breast) Not usually applicable
6 to 8 pounds (breast) 2½ to 3½ hours
8 to 12 pounds 3 to 3½ hours
12 to 14 pounds 3½ to 4 hours
14 to 18 pounds 4 to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 pounds 4¼ to 4¾ hours
20 to 24 pounds 4¾ to 5¼ hours

It is safe to cook a turkey from the frozen state. The cooking time will take at least 50 percent longer than recommended for a fully thawed turkey. Remember to remove the giblet packages during the cooking time. Remove carefully with tongs or a fork.

Optional Cooking Hints

* Tuck wing tips under the shoulders of the bird for more even cooking. This is referred to as "akimbo."

* Add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the pan.

* If your roasting pan does not have a lid, you may place a tent of heavy-duty aluminum foil over the turkey for the first 1 to 1 ½ hours. This allows for maximum heat circulation, keeps the turkey moist, and reduces oven splatter. To prevent overbrowning, foil may also be placed over the turkey after it reaches the desired color.

* If using an oven-proof food thermometer, place it in the turkey at the start of the cooking cycle. It will allow you to check the internal temperature of the turkey while it is cooking. For turkey breasts, place thermometer in the thickest part. For whole turkeys, place in the thickest part of the inner thigh. Once the thigh has reached 165 °F, check the wing and the thickest part of the breast to ensure the turkey has reached a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F throughout the product.

* If using an oven cooking bag, follow the manufacturer's guidelines on the package.

REMEMBER! Always wash hands, utensils, the sink, and anything else that comes in contact with raw turkey and its juices with soap and water.

For information on other methods for cooking a turkey, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854)
TTY: 1-800-256-7072
www.fsis.usda.gov

Storing Your Leftovers

* Discard any turkey, stuffing, and gravy left out at room temperature longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.
* Divide leftovers into smaller portions. Refrigerate or freeze in covered shallow containers for quicker cooling.
* Use refrigerated turkey and stuffing within 3 to 4 days. Use gravy within 1 to 2 days.
* If freezing leftovers, use within 2 to 6 months for best quality.

Reheating Your Turkey

Cooked turkey may be eaten cold or reheated.

In the Oven

* Set the oven temperature no lower than 325 °F.
* Reheat turkey to an internal temperature of 165 °F. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature.
* To keep the turkey moist, add a little broth or water and cover.

In the Microwave Oven

* Cover your food and rotate it for even heating. Allow standing time.
* Check the internal temperature of your food with a food thermometer to make sure it reaches 165 °F.
* Consult your microwave oven owner's manual for recommended times and power levels.

For more information about food safety (in English and Spanish), call:
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-888-MPHotline
(1-888-674-6854)
TTY: 1-800-256-7072
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday
E-mail: mphotline.fsis@usda.gov
Or "Ask Karen," FSIS' Web-based automated response system - available 24/7 at www.fsis.usda.gov.

Is Pink Turkey Meat Safe?

2008-11-23T22:43:00.001-05:00

The color pink in cooked turkey meat raises a "red flag" to many diners and cooks. Conditioned to be wary of cooked fresh pork that looks pink, they question the safety of cooked poultry and other meats that have a rosy blush.

Numerous callers to the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline report being alarmed when seeing "pink." To them, it means "unsafe" or "under-done."

"I cooked my turkey until done according to the directions, but when I sliced the breast meat, it was still pink near the bone," said an Oklahoma caller. "Is it safe?"

"We had a big family argument at Thanksgiving dinner. Aunt Mildred wouldn't eat the turkey because it looked pink," reported the beleaguered cook from a Wisconsin family.

The color of cooked poultry is not always a sure sign of its safety. Only by using a food thermometer can one accurately determine that poultry has reached a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F throughout the product. Turkey can remain pink even after cooking to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F. The meat of smoked turkey is always pink.

To understand some of the causes of "pinking" or "pinkening" in fresh turkey, it’s important to know first what gives meat its natural color.

Why is Poultry Lighter in Color Than Beef?
The protein myoglobin is the major pigment found in all vertebrates and can exist in various forms which determine the resulting meat color. The major reason that poultry meat is much lighter in color than beef is that it is dramatically lower in myoglobin. Also, as an animal becomes older, its myoglobin content usually increases. Turkeys today are young — 4 to 5 months old at the time of slaughter.

Why Are White & Dark Meat of Poultry Different Colors?
The pink, red or white coloration of meat is due primarily to oxygen-storing myoglobin which is located in the muscle cells and retains the oxygen brought by the blood until the cells need it. To some extent, oxygen use can be related to the bird’s general level of activity: muscles that are exercised frequently and strenuously — such as the legs — need more oxygen, and they have a greater storage capacity than muscles needing little oxygen. Turkeys do a lot of standing around, but little if any flying, so their wing and breast muscles are white; their legs, dark.

What Causes Well-Done Meat to Be Pink?

1. Chemical Changes During Cooking.
Scientists have found that pinkness occurs when gases in the atmosphere of a heated gas or electric oven react chemically with hemoglobin in the meat tissues to give poultry a pink tinge. They are the same substances that give red color to smoked hams and other cured meats.

The presence of high levels of myoglobin, or some of its redder forms due to incomplete denaturation during heat processing, can account for poultry having a pink to red color similar to that of an undercooked product.

2. Natural Presence of Nitrites.
Nitrites are commonly used to produce a desired pink color in traditionally cured meats such as ham or bologna. So it follows that the natural presence of nitrates and nitrites, either in the feed or water supply, used in the production of poultry are a factor in nitrite levels in the birds.

One study found that during 40 hours of storage at 40 °F, naturally occurring microorganisms converted nitrate to nitrite. It also found that the local water supply had nitrate and, thus, it could serve as a nitrate source during processing.

3. Young Age of Meat.
Often meat of younger birds shows the most pink because their thinner skins permit oven gases to reach the flesh. The amount of fat in the skin also affects the amount of pink color. Young birds or animals also lack the shield of a fat covering.

4. Grilling.
Meat and poultry grilled or smoked outdoors can also look pink, even when well done. There may be a pink-colored rim about one-half inch wide around the outside of the cooked meat. The meat of commercially smoked turkeys is usually pink because it is prepared with natural smoke and liquid smoke flavor.

American Royal 2007

2008-11-22T23:12:00.012-05:00

Finally posted our last American Royal (Thanks Debbie Christian)
Enjoy! It was great spending time with Richard and hi family!

"Q" Barbe"Q"ue Review : Midlothian Va

2008-11-14T22:01:00.019-05:00

"Got Wood!", Should be the catch phrase of "Q" Barbecue in Midlothian , Va. I have known the owner (Tuffy Stone) for several years and have had my butt handed to me in many BBQ competitions. I would say I am familiar about how passionate he is about BBQ. I hope that passion would carry over to his new restaurant. It did. I would say it is a nine out of nine!( Nine is the best score you can get in a BBQ competition.)
Before I begin my review , the main criteria is Taste ,Tenderness, Appearance and was the meat cooked low and slow with smoke.

My review will start with the combo plate(about $16 and change with Tea): I had ribs and pulled pork ( both very generous helpings). The pork was lightly sauced and very flavorful. I noticed some chunks and bark. It looked liked it was hand pulled. The ribs had a smoked ring all the way through and very tender. They reminded me of competition ribs. I thought just a tad too spicy but truly the taste balanced out with a small amount of BBQ sauce . I thought they were very moist. I also had the slaw which was more savory than sweet, BUT when paired with the BBQ it was excellent. I started noticing a pattern of balancing different flavors , which was something I didn't expect from a BBQ place. I also had the greens unbelievable!!!I added a little of the vinegar BBQ sauce and some Texas Pete.I realize it was already well seasoned and tender , not mushy. Just listening to Tuffy explain the detail of thought process and passion planning his sides was mind boggling.

After I finished the platter, Tuffy asked me to try some of his corn pudding and I said yes. Well My eyes got bigger than my belly (that is pretty big for those who know me .lol) when he brought me a large sample of brisket , pulled chicken and of course a generous helping of corn pudding. The brisket was lightly sauced and served in big chunks. I thought it was very moist and tender but did not fall apart. The chicken was very very flavorful without sauced. I notice flavor all the way through the meat and a light sprinkling of rub on top. Tuffy told me it was boneless skinless chicken thighs. I thought it was the high dollar chicken breast. I thought it was Very very good!You don't see real smoked chicken at a BBQ place . At last the corn pudding : excellent , not like my grandmammy fixed but very light and fluffy with a hint of sweetness.
The service was good and everyone was polite. It is more like a upscale fast food place. I did enjoy all the trophies and "Q"usic (BBQ Music). My only criticism is that there was nothing about winning the 2007 Nation Championship KCBS Team of the Year. When I asked Tuffy why, he kinda put his head down and said I don't want to brag. I know that was the truth , he is a very very humble man which is hard to be in the BBq world.
Now back to the catch phrase, "Got wood" the one thing that makes this place stand out of all bbq places besides the great food, ambiance nice people is his dedication to the process. We spent at least 10 minutes talking about a load of hickory wood he got last week. His eyes lit us liked a Christmas tree.He is a true Pit Master!
I spent over two hours listening to the many details and processes that they go through to produce the highest quality of BBQ and everything else.
I have been told that I am pretty ruthless in my BBQ reviews , so I must sound like I am blowing smoke on this one. Well, if you have any doubts go try it for yourself! Please by all means prove me wrong.One last thing, Tuffy is very approachable and listens every comment. His goal is to make the BBq possible! I think he is there.

"Q" Barbeque
(804) 897-9007
Midlothian
2077 Walmart Way
Midlothian, VA 23113
www.qbarbeque.com

Who ain't got Jack!
Cool Smoked finished third over at the World Championship Jack Daniels BBQ Contest.

The front counter.
Two Southern Prides sit out front along with table with a window where one can see all the action.

"Q" side service! Brilliant.

BBQ Wedding Check list

2008-10-25T21:24:00.001-04:00

BBQ Catering Questions:

1. Are you available on my wedding date?

2. Can you supply examples of suggested menus along with prices?

3. Do you insist on doing all the catering at our event?

4. If we are able to supply the wine, what do you charge for corkage?

5. Are you familiar with my wedding site?

6. What do you charge? Are you willing to work within my budget? What suggestions do you have, given my needs and budget? Are taxes and gratuities extra? Does the cost cover setup and cleanup? Is there a minimum charge? If so, how much?

7. What are the deposit and cancellation policies?

8. What are your guarantees?

9. What time do you insist the reception finishes by?

10. Do you include a cake stand and knife if required? Will you cut the cake and supply plates and forks? Will you serve the punch and coffee?

11. When is the deadline for notification regarding menu selection?

12. How do you determine the head count?

13. Can you provide colored linens?

14. Will you serve the buffet or is it self-serve?

15. What are the sizes of the portions?

16. Do you use disposable china and flatware?

17. Will you set up the room?

18. When is the final guest estimate needed?

19. Will there be a representative available on-site during the meal-time?

20. Will you provide references or a portfolio?

Wedding Planning Checklist
Congratualtions you’re engaged! Now what? Don’t panic! BBQ weddings can be very fun and less expensive Relax and plan the wedding of your dreams without breaking the bank. Just keep this checklist handy and you’ll be covered for everything from “Will you…to I do!”

10 – 12 Months
☐ Decide on your budget
☐ Select your date
☐ Choose your attendants
☐ Book your ceremony and reception sites

6 – 9 Months
☐ Send “Save the Date” cards
☐ Select your wedding dress and veil
☐ Select a caterer and discuss menu ideas normally this will be an outdoor event
☐ Decide on flowers and décor Select bridesmaids’ dresses and your gown accessories
☐ Reserve hotel rooms for out-of-town guests
☐ Start your wedding gift registry

4 – 5 Months
☐ Order your wedding invitations
☐ Choose your baker and finalize your wedding cake. Don’t forget about clever cake toppers
☐ Reserve rehearsal dinner location
☐ Give your shower hostess a guest list
☐ Shop for wedding rings
☐ Plan your honeymoon

2 – 3 Months
☐ Finalize the wedding guest list and reception menu
☐ Book hair and makeup appointments
☐ Select wedding favors and accessories…ring pillow, candles, centerpieces Order rehearsal dinner invitations
☐ Mail invitations eight weeks before your wedding day
☐ Confirm tuxes have been ordered for groom and groomsmen
☐ Select music for the ceremony and reception

1 – 2 Months
☐ Have your first wedding gown fitting.
☐ Buy attendant gifts and schedule the bridesmaids’ luncheon.
☐ Meet with your officiant to finalize the ceremony

3 – 4 Weeks
☐ Finalize your wedding accessories
☐ Design and order your wedding program
☐ Mail rehearsal dinner invitations
☐ Get your marriage license

1 –2 Weeks
☐ Have your final wedding dress fitting
☐ Confirm all of your beauty appointments
☐ Confirm date, times, locations and guest count with all vendors
☐ Prepare guest favors and place cards

The day before
☐ Hand out assignment lists
☐ Have a manicure, pedicure and massage
☐ Rehearse the ceremony with the officiant and wedding party

Your Wedding Day!
☐ Make sure to wear a button-down shirt to your hair and makeup appointments so you can easily change into your gown without disturbing your wedding hairstyle
☐ Relax and enjoy the rest of your day!

After the Wedding
☐ Write and mail your thank-you notes.
☐ Finalize your photo album and scrapbook
☐ Get your wedding gown cleaned and preserved

Wcav 19 Knows how to Tailgate

2008-08-29T18:02:00.001-04:00

We had a great time doing this segement with Jennifer Black. It was raing for the whole segment. I wanted to something that the average tailgaiter can do. We grilled Pineapple wedges , Real beer brats and chicken breast.Despite the rain and some technical problems we had a great time.

August 29, 2008

Many people will be getting their grills out this weekend for Labor Day barbeques and UVa football tailgating parties. Award-winning barbeque expert, John Atkins says it’s important to practice responsible grilling.

“Don’t put your grill under a tent or in an enclosed space and don’t spray lighter fluid if your using lit coals, use common sense a lot of this stuff is very simple and very easy to do,” Atkins said.

BBQ Tips

2008-08-24T22:17:00.002-04:00

Top Tips for Successful Grilling
For direct cooking on a charcoal grill, use a charcoal chimney. Lighter fluid can impart a very unpleasant flavor to your food.
Never barbecue indoors – carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are given off during combustion and these odorless, toxic fumes may accumulate and cause death.
Always use a clean grill. A dirty grill can take away the flavors of your food.
Use a cooking spray before you get started.
Use tongs to turn the meat. A fork should never be used as it will punch holes in the meat and allow the natural juices to escape, causing the meat to lose flavor and become chewy.
Tomato and/or sugar based BBQ sauces should be added only at the end of the grilling process, since this sugar will burn easily and are seldom considered an internal meat flavoring.
Always wash your hand before and after handling raw meat.
Keep hot foods hot, at 140 degrees or above; and cold foods cold at 40 degrees or below.
Go to www.pigsontherun.com where you’ll find even more tips that will get you grilling right in no time.

The BBq Man

2008-08-24T21:53:00.005-04:00

By Holly Ford UVA Hospital The Link 18 Aug 2008

Surgical Tech Leads Pigs on the Run to BBQ Victory
When it comes to cooking up finger-licking, sop-up-the-sauce, pass-me-another-helping champion barbecue, John Atkins has it covered. The UVA Surgical Technologist is a grill master who, along with his team Pigs on the Run, has won 70 awards in barbecue competitions across the nation. So what’s his secret? “There really is no secret,” he claims. “Once you figure out the basics, anyone can win.”

Atkins may be a humble guy, but he has very strong opinions on the best way to barbecue. “Gas is cheating,” he says. That’s right … you won’t find a fancy auto-ignite grill amongst the Pigs on the Run crew. They use a basic wood and charcoal fire and a 17-foot smoker to cook their meats to perfection. Getting it just right requires some of the same skills required of him in the operating room, according to Atkins. “Paying attention to the details is key,” he says. “You have to know what you need before you need it.”

The Pigs on the Run team consists of five primary members, but that group can grow to include as many as 25 depending on the event, each of them participating not for payment but because they love it, according to Atkins. One of those members is Atkins’ 11-year-old son whom he says can talk a big game. “He loves to smack talk when we’re at a competition,” says Atkins. Spending time with family and friends is one of the reasons Atkins got hooked on barbecuing early on. “I used to barbecue with my grandfather when I was a boy. [It] brings back memories of good times,” he says. “Sitting around outdoors with family and friends is a wonderful feeling.”

Hours and hours of grill-tending can pay off in the end. Pigs on the Run has won many cash awards and trophies (including an 86-pound wooden pig, shown above) over the past six years. They’ve also used their culinary skills to draw in crowds at charitable events, including Qing for a Cure that benefits St. Judes and the UVA Children’s Hospital. Team founder John Atkins has turned his love of good food into a thriving venture. He now runs a catering company with his wife and has become an expert on barbecue how-to, appearing frequently on local news stations and in regional publications. Take a look at a few of Atkins’ top tips for barbecue safety at right.

Que and Cruz 2008

2008-08-01T10:37:00.004-04:00

GREAT Contest!!!!!!!!

Bill and his crew did a great job!

POTR were in two places. I had a festival in Fishersville. I gave the reins to Mark Harris and I am glad I did. He brought back a Govenors cup and 3rd over all. It was great to see all the Va BBq teams that were there , especailly the Spry BBq team wich had a very respectable showing for a first time team. I am so proud of our team , winng without the BIG dog there, Good job guys! Also it was great to see cats sass and the rest of the normal suspects on the circuit.
Grand Champion
Chix, Swine & Bovine BBQ

Reserve Grand Champion
Tarheel Smokers

VA Governors Award
Pigs on the Run

Over All
3rd Pigs on the Run
4th Hoss’s BBQ
5th Dizzy Pig
6th Virginia BBQ Pirates
7th JD’s Smokin Misfits
8th The Princess and the Pig
9th Tar River BBQ
10th Scrmin Nite Hog

Chicken
1st Tarheel Smokers
2nd The Princess and the Pig
3rd Tar River BBQ
4th Chix, Swine & Bovine
5th The Crazy Rednecks
6th Hoss’s BBQ
7th Big C’s Stew and Que
8th Gooney Creek BBQ
9th Smokin Jay’s Byrd Mill BBQ
10th Pot Belly BBQ

Ribs
1st JD’s Smokin Misfits
2nd Virginia BBQ Pirates
3rd Chix, Swine & Bovine
4th Pigs on the Run
5th The Princess and the Pig
6th Tar River BBQ
7th Lucky Dog
8th Hog Town Boys
9th Hoss’s BBQ
10th Dizzy Pig

Pork

1st Pigs on the Run
2nd Dizzy Pig
3rd Hoss’s BBQ
4th Scremin Nite Hog
5th Pot Belly BBQ
6th Gooney Creek
7th Chix, Swine & Bovine
8th Mr. Woo’s BBQ
9th M&H BBQ
10th Tarheel Smokers

Brisket
1st Virginia BBQ Pirates
2nd Pigs on the Run
3rd Chix, Swine & Bovine
4th Tarheel Smokers
5th Ashburn Barbeque
6th Texas Rib’s BBQ
7th JD’s Smokn Misfits
8th Dizzy Pig
9th Gooney Creek BBQ
10th The Princess and the Pig

Non-Dessert
1st Dizzy Pig
2nd Hoss’s BBQ
3rd Serial Grillers

Dessert
1st Hoss’s BBQ
2nd Pigs on the Run
3rd Butt’s on Fire

Go Three Eyz BBQ

2008-08-01T10:03:00.003-04:00

This is for you Dan!

I believe to be a better cook you need to cook with another team. Dan from three eyz BBQ ask me to cook at the DC Battle. It was one of the hardest contest we have ever cooked. It was a MIM and a KCBS contest in the same weekend. It was a great honor to cook with Dan and his team. He really took care of us. We were very suprise with advancement to the Championship round in pork in the MIM part. All in all we did well. 5th over all in kcbs and 3rd in pork in MIM.

Bridgeton King PIG BBQ

2008-06-24T00:30:00.002-04:00

King Pig II barbecues Sept. 19-20
Friday, June 06, 2008
By SEAN C. McCULLEN
smccullen@sjnewsco.com
BRIDGETON -- The Kansas City Barbeque Society-sanctioned King Pig BBQ competition will return to the city for a second go-round the final weekend of the summer season.

King Pig BBQ organizer Bob Crowe promises bigger will mean better this time around, when the KCBS competition comes to Sunset Lake Friday, Sept. 19, and Saturday, Sept. 20.

"I'm shooting for 50 teams," Crowe said on Thursday.

Crowe is hopeful 8,000 people will attend the BBQ bash over its two days -- last year's event drew only 1,200.

"But we also only had 20 teams, and it wasn't well-advertised, or so people tell me," Crowe said. "Am I disappointed with last year? No. You learn from your previous event."

Still, Crowe admits he's "shooting for the moon."

He's spent the past eight months thinking about what worked and what didn't with the inaugural event last year.

He's been particularly busy preparing for King Pig II in recent weeks, hitting KCBS competitions throughout the mid-Atlantic region, including an 82-team event in Salisbury, Md., a few weeks ago.

And he's not just going to eat.

In fact, he says he hasn't eaten at the two he's been to so far this year, and he doesn't plan on eating at upcoming KCBS competitions in Wildwood, Yardley, Pa., or New Holland, Pa.

"I go to get teams and to get ideas," he said. "I see ideas going to the different places."

Thus far, more than three months from King Pig II, Crowe has already received seven commitments from teams interested in entering the competition.

He's distributed 52 applications to interested competitors, a majority of whom have contacted him after learning of King Pig II via the KCBS Web site.

That's not to say Crowe isn't looking for locals interested in joining the competition. He actually hopes some local barbecue fanatics will join Upper Deerfield Township's Rich and Joe Nicosia among the 50-team lineup.

"Until I actually have 50 applications in hand, anyone is welcome to come sign up," he said.

There is a $200 competition entry fee, which buys a 20-foot-by-20-foot site.

Extra space can be purchased at $1 per foot, and an electrical hookup for the two days will carry a $35 fee.

Just like last year, there will be five prizes awarded in each of four BBQ categories -- beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken and pork.

The category prizes range from $50 to $500.

There will be a grand champion's prize of $1,500 and a reserve grand champion's prize of $750.

The two top winners also will get to take home trophies carved by chain saw artist Brian "The Ackmonster" Ackley.

At the Salisbury, Md., competition, Crowe ran into the grand champion from King Pig I -- Pigs on the Run, of Palmyra, Va. -- and they had their Ackley-carved trophy by their side.

"Everybody wants to have their picture taken with it," Crowe said. "They say it's the best trophy they've ever seen."

In addition to up to 50 competitors, King Pig II will feature live music acts, including local favorite The Jack Neff Band, food and crafts vendors, including Bridgeton Policemen's Benevolent Association Local No. 94A's famous cheesesteak stand, and a car show.

Crowe stressed that the King Pig II competitors will not be giving away samples.

"No free food samples!" he said emphatically. "That was a big complaint. People thought they could come in and just get free samples. At an event with more than 1,000 people, that would be a lot of food. How can you do that?"

Rest assured, Crowe said, there will be a variety of food available from vendors -- a group that will include several competitors.

Vending spaces are still available, and cost $250 for the two days.

Crowe hopes to make enough off this year's event that he won't have to "scrounge" for sponsors. He credited City Councilman Nick Salvatore and Jack Neff for helping him in that respect.

For more information on the KCBS Bridgeton King Pig BBQ, contact Crowe via e-mail at tranbob@aol.com.

Chesapeake va

2008-06-24T00:14:00.002-04:00

BARBARA J. WOERNER -- The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, VA.), May 23, 2008 Friday CLIPPER FR Edition

By Barbara J. Woerner

Correspondent

Pork, chicken and brisket sizzled on grills and smokers last weekend at the Chesapeake Jubilee as 30 teams competed for the Virginia state barbecue title.

Pigs on the Run team members, who took the past two year's grand championships at the competition, scurried Saturday to prepare the next round of tasting for the judges. The succulent pork ribs tasted like warm sweet delight on a bone.

"We're trying to take the grand championship for the third year in a row," said Ricky Atkins, whose brother John, heads up the team. "We compete 10 weekends out of the year."

They spend at least $1,000 on the meat and enlist the whole family to help.

"I'd say what makes our barbecue different is our passion," Atkins said.

Dave Welch, from Laurel, Md., with Free State Smokers, the 2006 reserve champion at the Jubilee BBQ Cook-off, prepared brisket to send over to the judges.

"We're like a gypsy caravan because we cook all over the country," said Welch, as he continued preparations. "And we're all friends."

Welch went to culinary school and worked in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., where he served President Ronald Reagan and Henry Kissinger.

Welch went into the hot dog business and then catering. That's when he started doing barbecue.

"It's such an American thing," he said. "No one else cooks a tough piece of meat like a brisket on top of a stove for 16 to 18 hours until it falls off the bone like we do here in the states."

Harry Bonner, from Ms. Marian's Restaurant in Greenbrier, worked his pulled pork barbecue.

"This is the first year we've come out here to compete," he said. "I came to represent Chesapeake and bring the award back home."

Bonner, known for Harry's Famous Barbecue, teams up with his wife, Marian, in running the restaurant.

"I've been in barbecue for 50 years," he said. "I'm really enjoying this."

In the end, it was Lee Ann Whippen and her Wood Chicks crew that brought the Reserve Champion Honors home to Chesapeake. Wood Chicks also took first in pork and fourth in ribs. Whippen, fresh off her Food Network "Throwdown" win over Chef Bobby Flay, was thrilled.

"It's always great to win anywhere, but here in your hometown it's even better, " she said. "I'm excited to win here."

It still fell short, though, of the state title, which she had earned in 2003 and '04 while competing in cookoffs elsewhere across the Commonwealth. She was outdone this year by a band of pirates.

Tom and Christy Adams and their Virginia Barbecue Pirates from Springfield captured the Grand Championship and an automatic invitation to the American Royal national competition in October in Kansas City.

Barbara J. Woerner,

Bjwz2cool@cox.net

best in BBQ
Virginia Barbecue Pirates, from Springfield, Va., was chosen Grand Champion and Wood Chicks Barbecue of Chesapeake was named Reserve Grand Champion at the third annual Chesapeake Jubilee BBQ Cook-off last weekend. Here are the top finishers in individual categories:

Ribs

1. Dirty Smoke, Malden, Mass.

2. Serial Grillers, Yorktown

3. Texas Ribs & BBQ, Centreville, Md.

Chicken

1. Tar River BBQ, Newport News

2. Smokey Bottom Boys, Bel Air, Md.

3. Chef Herb Productions, Fort Mill, S.C.

Pork

1. Wood Chicks, Chesapeake

2. Chad's Dad BBQ, Shacklefords, Va.

3. Guts' Smokehouse BBQ, Pa.

Brisket

1. Pigs on the Run, Palmyra, Va.

2. Uncle Jed's BBQ, Wrentham, Mass.

3. The BBQ Guru, Warminster, Pa.

Good morning Charlottesville Crew

2008-05-28T16:02:00.000-04:00

Good Morning Charlottesville!
This TV spot was to kick off BBQ month.
The guys always seem to have fun after filming

Salisbury 2008

2008-04-23T19:47:00.004-04:00

What can I say. It was a great contest ! Everything was averaged. The weather was great and we had a great time. Maybe NC next year!Congratulations to Stoddard and Brown , Va Pirates BBQ and Acme BBQ for a great showing!

Virginia Living Magazine

2008-04-23T19:44:00.002-04:00

Salisbury Md was a great time.
It was great to all the Virginia teams getting a little press. I believed Cool smoke deserved it. I was disappointed that teams outside of the state were featured in the article. I was under the impression this was more about Virginia teams . Never the less it was a good article.

Darden Pig Fest 2008

2008-04-22T21:04:00.004-04:00

Wow!
What a day : A 80 lb pig ,100 Darden friends. This was our second pig pick'n for the Darden guys. The menu consisted of pretzels , chips and a whole hog . I was responsible for the hog.It was a pleasure to meet Henry's bride to be : Jenna Bush. Oh by the way it was devoured in 27 minutes a new record. Thanks Joe.
Good Luck in your future endeavors.

The Pit Master

Pig Chart

2008-02-25T19:21:00.002-05:00

What a great animal! Some people hate it, some people are scared of it and some people think it is just bad, but I love it! The average pig is very smart and they also have a long ancestory. In the past 15 years it has become as lean as chicken.But this means that you need to be careful when you're cooking these cuts as they can easily dry out with overcooking The pig has many uses from hams to sausages. My main focus is pulled pork. It has enough fat and callogen to flavor the meat.
Pork Nutrition Facts

Pork provides protein, which is important for children to grow well and build strong muscles.
Pork is a source of protein, iron, zinc and B-vitamins.
Several years ago, serum cholesterol was pinpointed as a factor in heart disease risk, today nutrition professionals agree that dietary cholesterol is not the only culprit in raising serum cholesterol; rather, total dietary fat and other lifestyle factors are also at work.
Numerous pork cuts today are equivalent in fat content and calories to lean poultry cuts.
Most public health organizations rely on the USDA Food Guide Pyramid, which shows Americans how to build a balanced diet. Lean pork fits well into this pyramid.
The USDA, American Dietetic Association, and American Heart Association, in their respective dietary advice to the public, consistently recommend meat as an important source of complete protein and essential vitamins and minerals.

The pig dates back 40 million years to fossils which indicate that wild pig-like animals roamed forests and swamps in Europe and Asia. By 4900 B.C. pigs were domesticated in China, and were being raised in Europe by 1500 B.C. On the insistence of Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493. But it is Hernando de Soto who could be dubbed "the father of the American pork industry." He landed with America's first 13 pigs at Tampa Bay, Florida in 1539. Native Americans reportedly became very fond of the taste of pork, resulting in some of the worst attacks on the de Soto expedition. By the time of de Soto's death three years later, his pig herd had grown to 700 head, not including the ones his troops had consumed, those that ran away and became wild pigs (and the ancestors of today’s feral pigs or razorbacks), and those given to the Native Americans to keep the peace. The pork industry in America had begun. Pig production spread throughout the new colonies. Hernando Cortez introduced hogs to New Mexico in 1600, and Sir Walter Raleigh brought sows to Jamestown Colony in 1607. Semi-wild pigs conducted such rampages in New York colonists' grain fields that every owned pig 14 inches high had to have a ring in its nose. On Manhattan Island, a long solid wall was constructed on the northern edge of the colony to control roaming herds of pigs. This area is now known as Wall Street. The pig population of Pennsylvania colony numbered in the thousands by 1660. As the seventeenth century closed, the typical farmer owned four or five pigs, supplying salt pork and bacon for his table with surpluses sold as barreled pork. Finishing pigs on Native Americans corn became popular after becoming a common practice in Pennsylvania. After the Revolutionary war, pioneers began heading west and they took their indispensable pigs with them. A wooden crate filled with young pigs was often hung from the axles of prairie schooners. As western herds grew, the need for pork processing facilities became apparent. Packing plants began to spring up in major cities. Pigs were first commercially slaughtered in Cincinnati, which became known as Porkopolis. More pork was packed there than any other place in the mid-west.

Moving pigs to market in the 1850s was no small undertaking. "Drovers" herded their pigs along trails which later developed into railroad routes. Between 40,000 and 70,000 pigs were driven from Ohio to eastern markets in any one year. Drivers, the drover's hired hands, each managed up to 100 hogs. The herds moved five to eight miles a day and covered distances up to 700 miles. The refrigerated railroad car transformed the meat industry when it was introduced shortly after the Civil War. It enabled slaughtering operations to be centralized nearer points of production instead of near points of consumption. Large “terminal” markets with railroad access developed in major cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, St. Joseph, and Sioux City. Large packing plants were located adjacent to these stockyards. Live pigs were shipped via railroad to the markets and pork was shipped, again mainly by rail, to consumers nationwide. As a result of these transportation developments, the pork industry relocated to the upper Midwest where ample amounts of feedgrains were produced. The “Corn Belt” became known as the “Hog Belt” as well. In fact, the states of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Indiana and Missouri held the top six spots in state rankings for many years. Iowa is still the largest pork producing state. The 1980s and 1990s have seen major technological developments in the pork industry, some of which have allowed production to grow dramatically in states not known for pig production. The most notable growth has occurred in North Carolina which is now the second largest pork producing state. Despite inherently more expensive feed, North Carolina producers became cost competitive by using pigs with the genetic capability for higher reproductive efficiency and enhanced lean muscle growth (and resulting better feed efficiency), capturing economies of size, and developing pig raising methods that controlled diseases and, therefore, improved productive efficiency. Many producers in other areas have now adopted these same methods. Today the United States is one of the world’s leading pork-producing countries. The U.S. is the third largest exporter, trailing only long-time world leader Denmark and Canada. U.S. production accounts for about 10 percent of total world supply.

Cool Smoke: KCBS Team of the Year 2007

2008-02-09T01:30:00.000-05:00

During the annual KCBS banquet held January 18-20th, in Kansas City, the Team of the Year (TOY) Awards were announced. The 2007 winner is Tuffy Stone and Cool Smoke out of Richmond , Virginia. Congrats to Tuffy and the gang who have been competing on the circuit since 2004 and have already racked up 10 State Championships.
http://www.kcbs.us/news.php

Fab Products: :Competition BBQ dirty little secret.

2008-02-08T00:52:00.004-05:00

FAB is designed to –

Enhances natural meat flavors
Makes your BBQ juicier
Improves texture for better slicing and taste
Increases yields
No added salt, easy to use.

When I first started competition cooking I had no idea of what people was using to win.
I was told many things, some were true and some were not. The one thing that I found that worked a little was Fab products :
http://www.theingredientstore.com/generalstore/product_details/888.htm .
When you are competing your ears perk up when you start hear things on BBQ forum.
I know many teams successful teams use it. I think the success is due to using small amounts. I found it to be a very powerful substance.
We have stopped using it and have had some success without it. I think using it kinds of go against the true art of BBq. But then again I only have a few trophies.

Travel Virginia Magazine

2008-01-31T20:28:00.000-05:00

I am always impressed of how BBQ has so many facets.I have for the last year have been writing a BBQ article for a Local tourist Magazine: Travel Virginia Magazine. It is a tourist magazine about events and happenings in the Mid Atlantic states.

Since I travel all over the Mid Atlantic for catering and BBQ competitions, it is a perfect match. We try to give our readers exciting recipes and a taste of Real BBQ through out the Mid Atlantic area.

Our travels for 2008, will take us all over the Mid Atlantic region to New Jersey all the way down to North Carolina a "BBQ haven. Please stop by and say hi.

Qing 4 the cure 2008

2008-01-27T09:26:00.000-05:00

We want to thank everyone who supported the Qing for the cure 2008. It was another successful year to help fight childhood cancer. May Justin's memory live on by our efforts in fighting childhood cancer. We had teams all over from the state and country supporting us!A big BBQ thanks to all. Attached was a nice article from a local newspaper. Enjoy! We also want to thank Mike Tripp and Christy Mitchel of the Staunton News Leader

11-years-old when he died, a photo of Justin Harris sits on the stage as "Across The Miles" performs at Quing for a Cure.

John Atkins of "Pigs on the Run" checks the meat as it continues to cook at Quing for a Cure at Hugh K. Cassell Elementary School.

Eric Blum, Dan Hixon and John Atkins remain outside near the cooker as the meet continues to cook during Quing for a Cure.

Kim Lowry, Gary Cline and Krista Hendricks serves customers while volunteering at Quing for a Cure.

Gary Cline and Trish Shaffer serves customers while volunteering at Quing for a Cure.

Dan Hendricks serves customers while volunteering at Quing for a Cure.

By Christina M. Mitchell/staff
cmitchell@newsleader.com

WAYNESBORO — The smell of smoked pork wafted in from the kitchen at Hugh K. Cassell Elementary School on Saturday.

Around the tables usually reserved for school lunches, a couple hundred people — most of them adults — sat munching on barbecue and listening to bluegrass.

The second annual 'Qing for a Cure drew in friends, neighbors and even a few strangers for a fundraiser in memory of Justin Harris, one little boy whose passions included cooking barbecue and raising money for cancer patients.

In 2005, Justin, then a fourth-grader at Cassell Elementary, was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. He died in May after more than a year of battling the disease, but even in his final days, Justin's focus was on how he could help other people, especially at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the place that had so helped Justin and his family. A junior champion barbecue cook, Justin helped run the first 'Qing for a Cure, conducted last January.

On Saturday, his father, Mark Harris, said he knew Justin would be happy to see his friends and family continue to support his cause. In addition to raising money for St. Jude, the proceeds from Saturday's event will benefit the Ronald McDonald House and another local family battling cancer.

"The last two years, people have given us a lot, and we just wanted to do something to give back to the community and let them know we appreciate their support," Harris said.

In the next year, Pigs on the Run, the Virginia-based barbecue team that the Harrises participate in, want to form 'Qing for a Cure into a non-profit organization.

Outside behind the school kitchen Saturday, most of the members of Pigs on the Run stood in the cold tending to General Lee, the orange-sided smoker that Justin named before he died.

Four other barbecue teams had volunteers in the kitchen and on the serving line.

Justin, as family friend and fellow Pigs on the Run cook John Atkins described him, was a kid who liked Virginia Tech, race cars and barbecue.

At Justin's memorial service earlier this year, Atkins said the boy had left him a message for his uncle to pass on: "U.Va. will never beat Tech, and he's always a better cook than I am," Atkins recalled with a chuckle.

The team said they came out Saturday to remember Justin, and even though this year's crowd seemed a bit smaller than last, it's something they'll keep on doing for as long as they can draw somebody to eat at their table.

"If they're willing to support us, we're willing to come out here and do this," said Eric Blum, the Pigs on the Run team member who first suggested last year's event. "The seeds are planted, now let's grow it."

Q'in for a cure in Justin's memory

2008-01-22T19:14:00.000-05:00

Q'in for a cure in Justin's memory
By Mindi Westhoff/staff
mwesthoff@newsleader.com

STAUNTON — In May they took Chesapeake by storm.

Four months later, Pigs on the Run placed first in the Hedgesville, W.Va., competition, and again in Bridgeton, N.J. But on Saturday, the three-time state barbecue champions will join with its competition for something more important than a trophy: a cure.

ADVERTISEMENT

The local competition barbecue team, Pigs on the Run, and fellow teams from Richmond, Northern Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and New York will host Q'in for a Cure in honor of junior member Justin Harris, 11, who died of cancer last May.

The community barbecue fundraiser, now in its second year, was conducted last January to help Justin's family with their finances. According to family friend and fellow teammate John Atkins, Pigs on the Run teammate Eric Blum came up with the idea after watching Justin's parents, Mark and Chris Harris, struggle to make ends meet and pay their medical bills.

"People don't realize, when you have a child with cancer, it's deeply devastating financially, emotionally and physically, Atkins said. "Insurance doesn't cover as much as people think sometimes."

After Justin died, Pigs on the Run decided to keep the fundraiser going to support organizations that helped the Harris family through Justin's cancer.

Other than the insurance from families who stay there, Ronald McDonald House runs completely off donations from the community, and Mark Harris plans to donate some of the money raised Saturday to the house where he and his family stayed during Justin's treatment.

"I didn't realize what a great thing that is until we were staying there on and off for several months," Mark said of Ronald McDonald House. "They give you supplies while you're there, and you don't have to want for anything."

Throughout his illness, Justin also was a driving force in raising money for St. Jude's Christian Hospital, so the team plans to donate part of the proceeds to the hospital as well.

"He was adamant that we help with the St. Jude radiothon last year," Mark said. "He wore himself out going to those, because he went to all of (the ones) in our area."

More than 500 people attended last year's Q'in for a Cure, which raised more than $10,000. The teams have set a goal of 700 attendees this year.

Each ticket buys a barbecue pork tenderloin (optional hot dog for kids younger than 9), green beans, potato salad, a dinner roll, dessert and lemonade or iced tea. All proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children's Hospital, Ronald McDonald House and a Waynesboro whose son is undergoing cancer treatment.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Q

2008-01-17T01:08:00.000-05:00

Long time Coworker and fellow BBQ enthuaist Judy Serkes visited Dinosaurs BBQ in Harlem NYC, NY She said over all the food was good.
I love the BEER!
Judy Serkes
We went with a party of nine-had a 1:30 reservation on a Sunday and were seated promptly. I think a reservation is almost a must.

I tried the Creole spiced deviled eggs for an appetizer which were great with a nice spiciness. The Fried Green tomatoes were wonderful as was the smoked shrimp remoulade. There is a fantastic selection of beers with about 23 on tap. My husband had a can of PORKSLAP beer….

I had the TRES HOMBRE for my entrée-

A spirited serving of Bar-B-Que pork, Texas Beef
Brisket (sliced) & Bar-B-Que ribs...all for 17.95 ! With two sides: Bar-B-Que Beans • Syracuse Style Salt Potatoes • BBQ Fried Rice
Simmered Greens (vegetarian) • Mac & Cheese • Gingered Applesauce
Cole Slaw • Mini Iceberg Wedge with Bar-B-Blues Dressing • Creole Potato Salad
Fresh Vegetable of the Day • Fresh Cut Fries

The Syracuse style salt potatoes were wonderful and went well with the meats. My favorite of the three meats was the pork bar-b-que. There were some great sauces on the table of varying degrees of sweetness and heat to add to the dishes.

The restaurant is in Harlem and easily accessed by subway. The closest subway stop is the 1, at the intersection of Broadway and 125th St.

Address:
646 W 131st St.
New York, NY 10027
212-694-1777
By Judy Serkes

New York, NY
In December 2004, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que opened in Harlem, NY. This location has contributed to the pioneering of a unique section of Harlem. Nestled under the grandiose Riverside Dr. bridge, this place possess the same charisma, style, and flavor of its upstate counterparts. Harlem Dinosaur has become a favorite destination for Manhattanites, locals, and everyone in the tri-state area.

The Original Charcoal Company

2008-01-02T20:02:00.000-05:00

I am always looking for a good charcoal for our BBQ competitions. My team mate Mark found The oringnal Charcoal Company charcoal for about $2.99 a bag. So I told him to get a pallet of it and we would half it. After first three contest , we were hooked. Three grand championships. I like the flavor and it cooked very steady. It does very well with chicken, pork and Brisket.

Smokey Angel. 2007

2007-12-11T21:02:00.002-05:00

Pigs on the Run BBQ Team was nominated for a Smokey Angel Award Jan 2007 for Qing for the Cure: We raised over $12,000 to help the Harris family and to cure cancer.

Smoky Angel
"One kernel is felt in a hog shed; one drop of water helps to swell
the ocean; a spark of fire helps to give light to the world. None are
too small, too feeble, too poor to be of service. Think of this and act."

-- Hannah More (1745-1833),

click to enter

In the aftermath of this year's devastating hurricanes, I became aware of some of the exceptional humanitarian work that many members of our BBQ Community were doing in Florida, and neighboring states, to help people who were impacted by the storms. In most cases, our bbq brethren themselves were affected by the storms, yet they were among the first responders to contribute their time & resources to help feed hundreds, if not thousands, of people who were left homeless, hungry & confused by nature's wrath. While I completely understand that these acts of kindness are done from the heart, and that no *rewards* are expected ... it just seemed to me that these folks needed to be lifted up & recognized for their kind and unselfish good deeds.

Thus, the idea of the Smoky Angel Spirit Award was born. With a lot of help & en- couragement from Mike @ HawgeyesBBQ, Doug Worgul, and with the outstanding, creative design and artwork of Todd (BuckSpin) ... the idea took shape ... and most importantly, with the financial help from all those of you who pledged funds to this project, it has become a reality.

The "Smoky Angel" is a die cut, antiqued gold hat/lapel pin ... that depicts an offset smoker with a halo around it...and a whisp of smoke curling out of the smokestack, not unlike an angelic apperation. It was designed to be elegant, yet subtle. We want- ed it to have a *timeless* look to it ... not flashy or loud. Todd did an outstanding job of crystalizing all of our collective thoughts into his design, and it is our hope that this lil' Smoky Angel will generate lots of Good Karma awareness...and manifests itself in many future good deeds throughout our BBQ Community.

Everyone who is nominated for a "Smoky Angel" pin will get one. Nobody is going to judge the merits of anyone's nominations, but rather we ask that all nominations are done in *Good Faith* ... and are consistent with the spirit of the award, which is: Acts of Humanitarian/Good Deed/Random Kindness. In order to nominate someone for a "Smoky Angel", all you have to do is tell us ... in a couple of short paragraphs on The BBQ Forum ... who you are nominating, and what they did to merit your nomination. Once you have made your nomination on The BBQ Forum, then just click the button at the top of this page, and let us know the mailing address of the person you have nominated ... and we'll send them their pin.

You may nominate more than one person for a pin, but PLEASE, only nominate one at a time. All addresses will be kept strictly confidential, and not used for any other purpose other than to mail the pins to recipients of the award................John Eddy

ZydeCo Bourbon St. Barbecue - Not real BBQ!

2007-12-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

Located at 12 Elliwood Ave Charlottesville va.

I had the pleasure to visits Zydecos. I was truly impressed with the atmosphere. We were seated promptly and the waitress was quite pleasant. I was excited that there was another BBq joint in Charlottesville. I asked the waitress what type of smoker they use to cook their BBQ. She proudly claimed we use an oven to cook our bbq ! RED flag!!!!! I was very dissapointed. I ordered the cat fish instead. It was ok but another chance to eat great BBQ vanished. I also think the portions were small and over priced.Parking is always an issue at the Corner. I hope this is not the way they cook bbq in New Orleans!!!!!. I also think it is a complete sin to charge $9.99 for oven cooked bbq when pork is about .96 cents a pound. What are they thinking!!!! They also provide on site catering: ask to see there cooker lol! I do love there website!!!!!!Too bad they put all thier effort in that website instead of making REAL BBQ!

Competition Scrutchfield brisket Technique:

2007-12-05T20:20:00.001-05:00

1 Cup c&h Sugar

1 Cup Non-Iodized Table Salt

½ Cup Brown Sugar (Dried out lightly by exposing on cookie sheet room temp.

several hours, or slightly warmed

5 Tablespoons + 1 Teaspoons Chili Powder

2 Tablespoons + 2 Teaspoons Ground Cumin

4 Teaspoons MSG (Accent)

4 Teaspoons Cayenne Pepper

4 Teaspoons Black Pepper freshly ground (important)

4 Teaspoons Garlic Powder

4 Teaspoons Onion Powder

==========================-

SCRUTCHFIELD BRISKET

Use Prime Beef if ya can get it.

rub that's heavy in garlic and pepper, Seasoned about three hours before.

Smoke 8-10 hours at 225 until internal temp is 165-170.

Use 4 chunks of Oak. 2 chunks of Cherry and 1Hickory, white hot charcoal.

After 165+ put brisket in foil and cook at 300 till internal temp reaches 205

put it away in an insulated environment (I use a sleeping bag at contests)
still wrapped in foil for several hours to allow it to still cook.

Slice 1/2" thick.

----------------=

ON BBQ Smoker Make Coals hot at 10PM

11:00 p.m add wood chunks

briskets on at 12:00 midnight at 220 degrees

5:00 a.m. measured internal temp, 150.

8:00 am 160

9:00 am 165.

At (165) wrap brisket in boat of foil. Fat side down I place the brisket

on 4 layers of foil each layer large enough to wrap the brisket fully one

time. I then put the brisket/foil pkg on a 300 degree Weber 22 1/2"

grill, coals on one side, meat on the other,

10:00 am. Internal temp 190

10:30 am 205.

By this time there is a substantial amount of drippings in

the bottom of the boat and they a mildly boiling.

Wrap the package back up quickly,

put in an insulated environment like a ice cooler,

no ice of coarse! until turn in time

2:00 when opened the steam still rolls out!

Pigs On The Run BBQ Trailer

2007-12-02T01:02:00.000-05:00

A good shot of Big Red.
We had a great time at Shelby Nc at the Hog Happ'n. It was great to Richard and Carole from Red White and Que. Also bill and gary and Hoss' BBq Congrats to all. Look for the Pigs on the Run BBQ Cooking trailer on the road next year!

Buck Island BBQ / Bayou BBQ

2007-12-01T17:16:00.000-05:00

I recently visit the Buck Island BBQ on route 53. I was impressed with the pulled behind Nc cooker. (I prefer an off set smoker) I walked in on a lovely Dec day. I was eager . I was met by the owner. He was very proud and spent time explaining how he prepared his food. I was a little surprise it took over 14 hour to cooked pork butts. I was anxious to try his bbq.He was very passionate. Passion is a very important ingredient. He also told me he made his own sauce. I notice that the food was out in the open with no sneeze guard .

The Judges Review. The main criticism was way too much sauce. Sauce is not the boss with good bbq that pig died for a reason. If you can not taste the pork why eat it. Also the pork is way over cooked. Length of cooking time does not produce great bbq. I know of championship teamsthat win with 5 hour pork butts.
I do wish them luck and believe they have a great idea. If they decrease the cooking time and sauce they could have a winner. I say serve the sauce on the side along with other choices. Good Luck!
Score: taste 3, tenderness , 2 appearance 4.
But I could be wrong and they could make millions!
Very friendly!
I truly liked the atmosphere.

Pee Wee's Pit Barbecue BBQ Review

2007-11-30T20:35:00.000-05:00

What can I say? I wanted to so much fall in love with this place. Heck , the name alone should be good enough right. NOT!. I was very disappointed with what they call bbq. The first thing I noticed was that there was no smoke. I was right they cook it in a crock pot . They do smoke pork loin but I have not got the nerve to go back. I think there motto is the "sauce is the boss". Too much sauce and no bark or rub. ˆ don't think the Judge will like this one. Scores please.

BBQ Judges scores. Pulled pork (no slice available) appearance 4, Taste 3, tenderness 3. over all a 1 dqed not real BBQ

Sorry guys, use a smoker and maybe next time.
Well what the heck they will probably make tons of money and open up a chain of joints.
It ain't championship "Q"
Posted below are some spirited comments: I truly don't agree with either one but thought it would be good idea to post their thoughts. Thanks for reading my blog .

Jinx's Pit Stop

2007-11-26T19:47:00.000-05:00

Located at E Market street Charlottesville

The first thing I notice about the Pit Stop, is that it is "different" . It is "different" about the use of slaw, it is "different" about the spelling of "BBQ" (barbecue) and it is "different" about pull pork. They do use an indirect cooker (home made). I notice a hint of hickory smoke. Also I notice a abnormal amount of fat in the sammich. I did not notice any rub and very little bark. I did like the french fries though.The place is tiny and Jinx is a character.I think the pork is chopped and not pull ( probally the reason for all the fat. But all in all it is in the spirit of TRUE BBQ. I think it is worth the visit.

Talkin' Turkey With John Atkins

2007-11-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

We had a great time cooking with Audrey. She is a real pro!
November 22, 2007

Turkey is a staple to your Thanksgiving dinner just as much as pit master John Atkins of the BBQ Connection has become to Good Morning Charlottesville.

Atkins and his son Bryant tempted our taste buds once again with delicious smoked turkey and all the trimmings.

He wrapped up an illustrious BBQ season earning three state championships.

USDA: A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey

2007-11-18T00:08:00.000-05:00

Let's Talk Turkey—A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey

Fresh or Frozen?

Fresh Turkeys

Allow 1 pound of turkey per person.

Buy your turkey only 1 to 2 days before you plan to cook it.

Keep it stored in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook it. Place it on a tray or in a pan to catch any juices that may leak.

Do not buy fresh pre-stuffed turkeys. If not handled properly, any harmful bacteria that may be in the stuffing can multiply very quickly.

Frozen Turkeys

Allow 1 pound of turkey per person.

Keep frozen until you're ready to thaw it.

Turkeys can be kept frozen in the freezer indefinitely; however, cook within 1 year for best quality.

See "Thawing Your Turkey" for thawing instructions.

Frozen Pre-Stuffed Turkeys

USDA recommends only buying frozen pre-stuffed turkeys that display the USDA or State mark of inspection on the packaging. These turkeys are safe because they have been processed under controlled conditions.

DO NOT THAW before cooking. Cook from the frozen state. Follow package directions for proper handling and cooking.

Allow 1¼ pounds of turkey per person.

Thawing Your Turkey

There are three ways to thaw your turkey safely — in the refrigerator, in cold water, or in the microwave oven.

In the Refrigerator (40 °F or below)
Allow approximately 24 hours for every 4 to 5 pounds

4 to 12 pounds
1 to 3 days

12 to 16 pounds
3 to 4 days

16 to 20 pounds
4 to 5 days

20 to 24 pounds
5 to 6 days

Keep the turkey in its original wrapper. Place it on a tray or in a pan to catch any juices that may leak. A thawed turkey can remain in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days. If necessary, a turkey that has been properly thawed in the refrigerator may be refrozen.

In Cold Water
Allow approximately 30 minutes per pound

4 to 12 pounds
2 to 6 hours

12 to 16 pounds
6 to 8 hours

16 to 20 pounds
8 to 10 hours

20 to 24 pounds
10 to 12 hours

Wrap your turkey securely, making sure the water is not able to leak through the wrapping. Submerge your wrapped turkey in cold tap water. Change the water every 30 minutes. Cook the turkey immediately after it is thawed. Do not refreeze.

In the Microwave Oven

Check your owner's manual for the size turkey that will fit in your microwave oven, the minutes per pound, and power level to use for thawing.

Remove all outside wrapping.

Place on a microwave-safe dish to catch any juices that may leak.

Cook your turkey immediately. Do not refreeze or refrigerate your turkey after thawing in the microwave oven.

REMINDER: Remove the giblets from the turkey cavities after thawing. Cook separately.

Roasting Your Turkey

Set your oven temperature no lower than 325 °F.

Place your turkey or turkey breast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan.

For optimum safety, stuffing a turkey is not recommended. For more even cooking, it is recommended you cook your stuffing outside the bird in a casserole. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of the stuffing. The stuffing must reach a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

If you choose to stuff your turkey, the ingredients can be prepared ahead of time; however, keep wet and dry ingredients separate. Chill all of the wet ingredients (butter/margarine, cooked celery and onions, broth, etc.). Mix wet and dry ingredients just before filling the turkey cavities. Fill the cavities loosely. Cook the turkey immediately. Use a food thermometer to make sure the center of the stuffing reaches a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F.

A whole turkey is safe when cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer. Check the internal temperature in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook turkey to higher temperatures.

If your turkey has a "pop-up" temperature indicator, it is recommended that you also check the internal temperature of the turkey in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast with a food thermometer. The minimum internal temperature should reach 165 °F for safety.

For quality, let the turkey stand for 20 minutes before carving to allow juices to set. The turkey will carve more easily.

Remove all stuffing from the turkey cavities.

Timetables for Turkey Roasting
(325 °F oven temperature)

Use the timetables below to determine how long to cook your turkey. These times are approximate. Always use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature of your turkey and stuffing.

Unstuffed

4 to 8 pounds (breast)
1½ to 3¼ hours

8 to 12 pounds
2¾ to 3 hours

12 to 14 pounds
3 to 3¾ hours

14 to 18 pounds
3¾ to 4¼ hours

18 to 20 pounds
4¼ to 4½ hours

20 to 24 pounds
4½ to 5 hours

Stuffed

4 to 6 pounds (breast)
Not usually applicable

6 to 8 pounds (breast)
2½ to 3½ hours

8 to 12 pounds
3 to 3½ hours

12 to 14 pounds
3½ to 4 hours

14 to 18 pounds
4 to 4¼ hours

18 to 20 pounds
4¼ to 4¾ hours

20 to 24 pounds
4¾ to 5¼ hours

It is safe to cook a turkey from the frozen state. The cooking time will take at least 50 percent longer than recommended for a fully thawed turkey. Remember to remove the giblet packages during the cooking time. Remove carefully with tongs or a fork.

Optional Cooking Hints

Tuck wing tips under the shoulders of the bird for more even cooking. This is referred to as "akimbo."

Add ½ cup of water to the bottom of the pan.

If your roasting pan does not have a lid, you may place a tent of heavy-duty aluminum foil over the turkey for the first 1 to 1 ½ hours. This allows for maximum heat circulation, keeps the turkey moist, and reduces oven splatter. To prevent overbrowning, foil may also be placed over the turkey after it reaches the desired color.

If using an oven-proof food thermometer, place it in the turkey at the start of the cooking cycle. It will allow you to check the internal temperature of the turkey while it is cooking. For turkey breasts, place thermometer in the thickest part. For whole turkeys, place in the thickest part of the inner thigh. Once the thigh has reached 165 °F, check the wing and the thickest part of the breast to ensure the turkey has reached a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F throughout the product.

If using an oven cooking bag, follow the manufacturer's guidelines on the package.

REMEMBER! Always wash hands, utensils, the sink, and anything else that comes in contact with raw turkey and its juices with soap and water.

For information on other methods for cooking a turkey, call the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854)
TTY: 1-800-256-7072
www.fsis.usda.gov

Storing Your Leftovers

Discard any turkey, stuffing, and gravy left out at room temperature longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

Divide leftovers into smaller portions. Refrigerate or freeze in covered shallow containers for quicker cooling.

Use refrigerated turkey and stuffing within 3 to 4 days. Use gravy within 1 to 2 days.

If freezing leftovers, use within 2 to 6 months for best quality.

Reheating Your Turkey

Cooked turkey may be eaten cold or reheated.

In the Oven

Set the oven temperature no lower than 325 °F.

Reheat turkey to an internal temperature of 165 °F. Use a food thermometer to check the internal temperature.

To keep the turkey moist, add a little broth or water and cover.

In the Microwave Oven

Cover your food and rotate it for even heating. Allow standing time.

Check the internal temperature of your food with a food thermometer to make sure it reaches 165 °F.

Consult your microwave oven owner's manual for recommended times and power levels.

For more information about food safety (in English and Spanish), call:
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
1-888-MPHotline
(1-888-674-6854)
TTY: 1-800-256-7072
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday
E-mail: mphotline.fsis@usda.gov
Or "Ask Karen," FSIS' Web-based automated response system - available 24/7 at www.fsis.usda.gov.

Last Modified: July 17, 2006

Three Eyes' : Dan Hixon Cooks with POTR

2007-11-15T22:19:00.000-05:00

Excerpts from 3 Eyez BBQ
10/12/07 - Dan had the privilege of heading out to Kansas City a few weekends ago to check out the biggest BBQ contest of the year, The American Royal. Here is what he had to say about it..

The American Royal. Up until the Bridgeton, NJ contest the Royal was just another big contest that you hear a lot about but we weren't going since we hadn't yet won a qualifier. During the Bridgeton contest, Dan was approached by John Atkins from Pigs on the Run who asked him to cook with his team in Kansas City. That was an offer that Dan simply could not turn down. Within 24 hours Dan had plane tickets and a date with the Royal....

WOW! What can you say about 511 teams in one parking lot competing for $120k in prize money? "WOW!" about sums it up. After driving the 18hrs in May to the GAB, Dan was thrilled to be drinking a bit of Knob Creek with the Dizzy Pig crew 3.5 short hours after boarding a plane in Baltimore. It seemed all the heavy hitters from the east were there such as I Que, I Smell Smoke!, Cool Smoke, Dizzy Pig, Philly Pigs and of course POTR. If that wasn't enough you got those "other" teams like Lotta Bull, Buttrub.com, Qua, the list goes on and on.....

This contest has its fair share of partying too. I saw drunks walking into fences, into trailers where teams were sleeping, one guy asked me for antihistamines at 3:45am. Trust me, you could spend all weekend just people watching!

The weekend was not to kind to POTR though. No calls, not a one. BUT we did get close with a tie for 23rd in sausage and 53rd in ribs. Not too shabby, but a bit of money and a trophy would have been nice. I have to send a big THANK YOU to the guys in POTR. They treated me like one of their own, let me cook, run boxes and gave me a place to sleep. What more could you possibly ask for?

So, I could write on a on, but I'll stop here. 3EyzBBQ hopes to be going to the Royal next year.

Pig Daddy's BBQ : Steven Adkins

2007-11-15T21:49:00.000-05:00

When I think of BBq I think of good things. Today I found out that Steven Adkins passed away at age 39. Steven started BBQ at about the same time I did. He choose to make it his full time occupation. I remmember sitting in my drive way as it was snowing and He told me how great it made him feel to cook BBQ for people. God Bless you Steven!

Stephen Douglas Adkins, born May 22, 1968, passed away suddenly on Sunday, November 11, 2007, in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He will be most remembered as a loving and wonderful son, brother, dad, uncle, cousin, and friend to all who knew him. He was preceded in death by his paternal grandmother, Grace A. Glover.

He is survived by his sons, Jaxon and Cayden; parents, Joyce Warren Adkins and Arthur O. Adkins of Virginia Beach; maternal grandparents, Fred and Ruth Warren of Hollister, North Carolina; sister, Diane McFadden and her husband, Joe and two nieces; and a brother, Brian Adkins and his wife, Heather, and two nieces, all of Richmond; a brother, Taylor Adkins of Virginia Beach; and many wonderful aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and girlfriend, Stacy.

Stephen was the owner and operator of Pig Daddy's BBQ in Charlottesville.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the entire staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital.

A memorial service will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday, November 17, 2007, at Teague Funeral Home in Charlottesville.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions be made to Ducks Unlimited, 1-800-453-8257.

Friends may sign the guest register at teaguefuneralhome.com

FOOD- THE DISH- The joy of cooking: BBQ-ers say good-bye to Adkins

2007-11-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

Pig Daddy's owner Steve Adkins, seen here in 2005, will be missed in the BBQ community.
FILE PHOTO BY CHRISTINA BALL
Last week, friends, family members, and BBQ lovers around town mourned the loss of Stephen Douglas Adkins, 39, who died suddenly on November 11. Adkins owned Pig Daddy's BBQ on Avon Court, just off Avon Street Extended, and his concoctions have been a familar presence at UVA football games as well as at places like the Bellair and Shadwell markets.

"Steven was very passionate about his style of BBQ," says champion BBQer John Atkins, owner of the BBQ Connection. "He once related to me that cooking BBQ gave him great joy in pleasing his customers."

Indeed, Adkins expressed that joy to Dish in a 2005 column ["Avon calling: Pig Daddy's moves BBQ indoors," June 9, 2005]. Atkins' landscaping career did include a couple of run-ins with customers that were written up in the Hook's "Fearless Consumer" column, and after the 2002 drought put the kibosh on that business, he started cooking BBQ full time. He never looked back.

"No one ever told me, 'This is the best mulch job I've ever had,'" he said, "but they do say it about my barbecue."

Guestbook entries on the Teague Funeral Home's website (teaguefuneralhome.com) and on the Daily Progress website (dailyprogress.com) describe Adkins as someone who could always make people laugh, could imitate the lion in the Wizard of Oz perfectly, and could make some awesome hush puppies. Family members could not immediately be reached for comment, so we're not sure yet if Pig Daddy's will keep making its fab BBQ, but we'll keep you posted.

"He will be truly missed in the Charlottesville BBQ community," says Atkins.

Bandannas BBq St Louis Mo.

2007-10-23T01:06:00.000-04:00

Well on our way to MECA :Kansas city we had to stop at a BBq Joint. We got lucky at Banderas. It was pretty good for a chain. The smoke chicken was moist and tasty.

Frost valley Crew helps Pigs on the run BBQ team secure the win!

2007-10-15T22:17:00.000-04:00

I am always humble when anyone drives to see us to compete. I was totally impressed with the support of the Frost Valley crew.I have known Eric Blum for over 10 years and I have always heard stories about this group.I look forward to our fundraiser next year. Thanks !

Hear is the story from the the Frost valley Alumni Blog:

Eric Blum, our famous Camp Schlep lo these many years, is a member of a competitive BBQ team. Last month his team - they call themselves "Pigs on the Run" - were taking part in the N.J. State Championship known as the "Bridgeton King Pig." Eric emailed several FV friends to ask for help at the event. Says Matt Buczek: "Of course, who could pass up such an opportunity?"

What Matt and the other FV'ers knew as BBQ'ing was in fact grilling, as they were soon to learn. Armed with meat that had been on the smoker for 18 hours, our team competed in these categories: Pork, Brisket, Ribs, and Chicken. After a hard day's toil, the team placed first in Pork, Brisket and Chicken (we came in 5th in ribs) and were crowned overall grand champions! Again here's Matt: "Yup, I am adding 'Champion BBQer' to my resume."

Present were Eric Blum, Bill Baker, Jim Gibbons, Jeff Daly, Brian Butler, Matt Buczek, Kelly Zingone.

You can see in one of the photos the champions' trophy, a four-foot tall carved wooden pig.

It was a great day for all of us, the master BBQ'er, Eric Blum, writes. It was so much fun getting together with FV alumni once again. Our pitmaster John Atkins was a little leary many months ago when he decided to do this competion and asked if I could get anyone to help. My first response was of course I can, so I made some quick phone calls to Bill Baker, Jeff Daly, and Bobby Eddings gave them the details and they took care of the rest. When I let John know that a bunch of people from Frost Valley would be coming on saturday to help, he again was a little nervous-however he was not suprised since he has been hearing about camp for many years from me while we work together in the O.R.. When the crew finally arrived on Saturday morning our team had been cooking all night long and they just jumped right in and helped with whatever scut work that needed to be done. Jeff, Matt. and Bill formed "the wedge" for each turn in. At the completion of the turn in's John our pitmaster spent sometime explaining to everyone what real BBQ was and how he cooks it-this of course was done while everyone was eating the "left overs", which the common theme from FVer's was "This is the best I've ever eaten".

And: During the awards ceremony Brian Butler was a bit upset that our ribs came in 5th-and he could be heard yelling "Pigs on the Run" through out the ceremony.

And best of all: John said that he is willing to bring the Rig up to the valley and do a BBQ cook out as a fund raiser. After more consultation between Jeff, John and myself this is something that we are going to be working on for the not to distant future-February maybe.

King Pig Pics Bridgeton NJ.

2007-09-18T15:40:00.000-04:00

We were shocked to win over Philly Pig and Dizzy pig. Two very strong teams.

Nathan took my son Bryant's place in the trophy patrol! Good Job!

Smokey Bottom Boys have been on my tail all year and I was really hoping that the could pull the RGC this time too! Two GREAT Guys!

What a weekend! I do want to thank the KCBS Reps. Linda it was great to see you again. You have a special place in our heart. Thanks, also to John "Guts" Goodman's family ,it was great to be a part of something special ! Thanks for letting me bring the little one up. I wanted the main focus to be family since we have lost Justin Harris and Rosselle Martin in the last two years.
Thanks to all!

King Pig BBQ contest ,Bridgeton NJ

2007-09-17T13:50:00.000-04:00

What a great contest! It was very Danville Like. The weather was good. It rained all nite which was to our advantage. I catering in the rain and wind all the time. Also the people were great! I have never been to New Jersey and was happily supprised how much like home it looked.
Our team was focus, after a little celebration , they were focused. I have recieved compliments from other teams that we were focused.
We are extremely thankful for the win. Our BBq angel "Justin Harris" has been very good to us. Also i want to remmember Rosswel Martin my mother in law. She was one of our first team mates. She was mainly there to help us out than tfor he love of BBQ.

Lastly we love the trophy. 80 lbs Pig trophy what a jewel. The artwork is awesome!!! I just have to find a place for it in our house.
I want to thank everyone from the king pig contest and all the teams. Lastly , my team, Unbelievable bunch of guys.

King Pig BBQ Championship

2007-09-17T13:17:00.000-04:00

Team {l to r} John "Guts" Goodman, John Atkins "pitmaster" Thomas Ratcliff, David Hanson, Nathan Goodman, Granville Westernland, Eric Blum.
King Pig BBQ Championship
Monday, September 17, 2007
By JASON LADAY
jladay@sjnewsco.com

BRIDGETON -- Some of the best barbecue teams from as far as Virginia and as near as center city engaged in gastronomic battle Saturday for the title of grand champion, at the inaugural Bridgeton King Pig BBQ, at Sunset Lake.

All had their eyes on the big prize -- an opportunity to compete at the American Royal Invitational cook-off in Kansas City, Missouri.

A round of applause greeted reserve champions Philly Pigs BBQ Team, as they made their way to the stage.

Hoots and cheers, likewise, followed the grand champions -- Pigs on the Run, hailing from Palmyra, Va.

"New Jersey is a beautiful state. I don't care what anyone says," said John Atkins, as he celebrated the team's fourth grand championship. "We started in backyards, just like everyone else, and what we do is hard work."

Atkins and his team will be heading to Kansas City's American Royal Invitational in October.

Atkins says Bridgeton can definitely expect his team to come around next year.

"It's the Olympics of barbecue," explained Melissa Hemple, director of recreation for the City of Bridgeton and one of the organizers for the two-day event. "I really don't know how else to describe it."

The judging began at noon, when the 20 teams hurried to present their entries for the chicken category within the allotted 10 minute time window. The other three categories -- pork, pork ribs and brisket -- came later, spaced 30 minutes apart.

"These competitions switch back and forth between party and serious competition," said John Kozac, grillmaster for Baba and the Pig Man, from Heislerville. "You first pull up and it's like a party, and everyone's friendly -- then midnight rolls around and everyone buckles down to cooking. When everyone's settled with their food, it's a party until the judging at noon, where everyone's like, Don't talk to me.' Then it flips back to a party until everyone goes home."

More than 30 Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned judges were on hand to pick the winners.

Cash prizes and trophies were awarded to the top five in each of the four categories, with first place earning its distinguished chefs $500.

The reserve champion received $750 and a 2-foot-tall wooden pig, carved by local chain saw artist Brian "The Ackmonster" Ackley.

The grand champion received $1,500 and a taller, 80-pound chain saw-carved pig.

The competitors cooked through the night, held together by an atmosphere that alternated between family gathering and the SATs.

"This is what I do. It's my hobby," said Steve Polson, a member of barbecue team The Senator, from Wilmington, Del. "It's a combination of a two-day tailgate party and a competition."

Nearly 600 people came out to see the event and the final judging, as well as some live entertainment in the form of area bar-scene favorite Last Call.

Also on hand were Wayne Cossaboon and H. Blair Earling, of Millville, winners of the city's "We've Got Talent" competition in June.

"I was excited for the barbecue, but I had no idea the bands were playing, which made me ever more excited," said Valerie Ridgway-Carter, of Hopewell Township. "We definitely need more exposure for the city, and this event is great for community awareness."

The general opinion of most people enjoying the food, music and scenery at Sunset Lake was that the competition was a great idea and should become an annual event.

However, there was some constructive criticism.

"I try to support local events, and this one is fantastic," said Denny Dunnagan, of Upper Deerfield. "But, they could've had a lot more people here with better, and more visible, advertising."

Other suggestions included more organized parking and having more than just one actual barbecue vendor.

Competitors are not allowed to sell or give samples of their offerings unless they purchase a vendor permit.

Jack's Down Home BBQ, from Philadelphia, was the only team to get the go-ahead to make their award winning meats public.

The winners of the inaugural Bridgeton King Pig BBQ:

Chicken

Fifth Place: Penns Porkmeisters BBQ, Middletown, Del.

Fourth Place: Smokey Bottom Boys, Bel Air, Md.

Third Place: Jack's Down Home BBQ, Philadelphia

-Second Place: The Senator, Wilmington, Del.

First Place: Pigs on the Run, Palmyra, Va.

Pork Ribs

Fifth Place: Pigs on the Run, Palmyra, Va.

Fourth Place: Hoff Daddy's, Media, Pa.

Third Place: Jack's Down Home BBQ, Philadelphia.

Second Place: Dizzy Pig, Fairfax, Va.

First Place: Philly Pigs BBQ Team, Lumberton.

Pork

Fifth Place: Pigheaded BBQ, Middletown, Del.

Fourth Place: Dizzy Pig, Fairfax, Va.

Third Place: Philly Pigs BBQ Team, Lumberton, N.J.

Second Place: Real Deal BBQ, Wilmington, Del.

First Place: Pigs on the Run, Palmyra, Va.

Beef Brisket

Fifth Place: Jack's Down Home BBQ, Philadelphia.

Fourth Place: Real Deal BBQ, Wilmington, Del.

Third Place: Philly Pigs BBQ Team, Lumberton, N.J.

Second Place: Dizzy Pig, Fairfax, Va.

First Place: Pigs on the Run, Palmyra, Va.

Barbecue and bluegrass featured at Pickin' in the Panhandle

2007-09-09T23:55:00.000-04:00

Saturday September 8, 2007

Matthew Umstead / Staff Writer)

Barbecue and bluegrass featured at Pickin' in the Panhandle

By MATTHEW UMSTEAD martinsburg@herald-mail.com

INWOOD, W.Va. - The "pigs" were the overall winners of the first professional barbecue competition at the inaugural West Virginia State BBQ & Bluegrass Festival held Saturday in Back Creek Valley.

"It's better to be lucky than good," said John Atkins, pit master of the Pigs on the Run competition team, which is an outgrowth of his Charlottesville, Va., area catering business, The BBQ Connection.

Atkins' team was one of 24 that participated in the West Virginia BBQ Masters competition held at the daylong festival, which Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention & Visitors Bureau organizers promoted as "Pickin' in the Panhandle." More than a dozen amateurs also competed, CVB board member Larry Hines said.

Berkeley County Commissioner William L. "Bill" Stubblefield served as one of several "celebrity" judges for the barbecue competition involving pork, chicken and the chef's choice.

"Absolutely superb with a capital 'S,'" Stubblefield said of the barbecue selections that graced his palate.

Though not a "big chicken fan," Stubblefield said one entry was "heavenly" ... "spicy, but not overdone with a subtle, yet distinctive taste."

"Some of the pork was the best I think I ever had," Stubblefield said.

As for judging the entries, Stubblefield said each category had a standout, but as a judge in the blind tasting, he didn't know who prepared it.

Atkins said his competition team received $1,800 in prize money and two trophies for their winning entries, and now will prepare for the national barbecue championship next month in Kansas City, Mo.

Though Saturday's competition was not a sanctioned event, CVB officials have said they hope to have a sanctioned contest for next year's festival.

"We love supporting contests, especially new contests," Atkins said. "The people were wonderful. We love West Virginia."

Aside from the barbecue, the festival also featured a band competition. The overall winner, By & By of Washington D.C., will be invited back next year as a professional act, according to organizers.

"I'm overly pleased with the turnout," Andrea Ball, executive director of the CVB, said of the more than 3,000 people who traveled to the Lazy A Campground off Back Creek Valley Road for the festival and music.

Dean and Karen Ullery of Cumberland, Md., decided to make the trip on the weekend of their 22nd wedding anniversary.

"We decided to sing a couple songs since we're here," said Dean Ullery before the couple got on stage as part of the amateur competition.

"It's new for the Panhandle," said Steve Warner of The Rolling Coyotes, which performed Saturday morning. "And I think it's a real winner. Barbecue and bluegrass. It fits Berkeley County and West Virginia. It's a perfect fit."

Warner said the campground, formerly part of the Ashton farm off Kathy's Lane, was a particularly pleasant venue.

"Back Creek Valley is like a hidden treasure here in Berkeley County," Warner said. "It's off the beaten path, but easy to get to."

Related Stories:

Championship BBQ Brisket Tips

2007-09-05T14:10:00.000-04:00

Turn up the heat. Try Cooking at 275-300
Put the fat cap between your brisket and the heat. For a stickburner that probably means fat down.
Wrap it in foil with a cup of flavorful liquid after ~165* internal or good bark has formed
Pull it at 188*
Rest in a cambro for 4 hours, wrapped in foil, fat cap up

Good Morning Charlottesville

2007-09-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

It is time for another GMC BBQ!
BBQ is not just for breakfast any more. Our menu composed of typical comfort food. We had a great time cooking BBQ meatloaf, bbq beans, corn slaw, potato wedges.

September 3, 2007
Emeril Lagasse, watch out. John Atkins is smoking out his competition.

This award-winning barbecue expert has been whipping up delicious recipes for years.

Atkins says that while nice weather and good friends make for a successful cookout, the true secret is in the rub.

"Seasoning is in the essence of barbecue. It gives you the flavor. It really tells you, Wow this is something good to eat!" said Atkins.

It's not all fun and games. Atkins, and his son Bryant are serious about their smoker on wheels. They take their recipes on the road and compete in barbecuing competitions across the nation. If you want proof of their success, look no further than their impressive collection of trophies and metals.

Their next competition is in early October when the traveling chefs from Central Virginia will take on the big boys at the National Championship in Kansas City.

They are also hoping to represent the state of Virginia at the Jack Daniels Invitational in Lynchburg, TN.

Our hats go off to the chefs.

If you would like to give Atkins' award-winning recipes a try or read his on-line BBQ blog go to his website www.pigsontherun.com.

Just Peachy BBQ beans !

1 pound of ground cooked beef
1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 (#10 can, about 6 pounds and 10 ounces) baked beans (recommended: Bush's)
3 large peaches diced
1/2 cup barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons BBQ Rub, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the grouns beef and cook, stirring, until somewhat crispy fully cooked . Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, leaving the fat in the skillet.

Add the pepper and onion to the skillet and cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a large baking pan.

Add the beef, beans, peches, barbecue sauce, and rub to the pan. Mix to combine and bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, about 1 hour.

BBQ Rub:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sweet paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tablespoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Yield: 3/4 cup

BBQ Meatloaf is a great comfort food!

BBQ MEATLOAF

Ingredients:
2 Pounds Ground Beef (80-percent lean is preferred)
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
1 yellow Onion (peeled and chopped)
1/2 Cup Dry Bread Crumbs
1/3 Cup Barbeque Sauce
2 Large Eggs
3 Tablespoons Ketchup
2 Teaspoons Salt
2 Tablespoons Hickory Barbecue Sauce (or your favorite BBQ Sauce)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a large bowl and add meat, onions, bread crumbs, Barbeque Sauce, eggs, ketchup and salt. Mix ingredients until thoroughly blended. Pack into an 8-inch x 4-inch loaf pan and smooth top. Coat top with a thin layer of Hickory Barbecue Sauce, reserving the majority of the sauce for basting on the grill.

Place loaf on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow, cook in 325-degrees F oven until thoroughly cooked (center reaches 155-degrees F), about 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.

Preheat grill to use the indirect/medium method of cooking. (About a 350-degrees F grill with charcoal on each side for a Weber kettle or the middle burner(s) off for a Weber gas grill).

Remove chilled meatloaf from pan and slice crosswise into 1 inch thick slices.

Grill slices directly over heat source for one minute per side. Move slices to the center of grill, indirect heat source, and continue to grill for 2-3 minutes and glaze with Hickory Barbecue Sauce.

6 servings

Greenbrier Barbecue to get new chefs for 2008

2007-08-31T08:52:00.000-04:00

Ken Hess is the back bone of the BBQ program at the Greenbrier. He is a certified KCBS BBQ judge and KCBS Competition Cook.. He has won many awards. He will be the man behind the scences in Greenbriers new BBQ class! Ken is a great guy and will be a great compliment to this new upgrade in BBQ at the Greenbrier

The legendary Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, WV is taking their BBQ classes in a new direction for 2008 and they have reached an agreement with three barbecue champions to lead the way. Ray Lampe AKA Dr. BBQ of Lakeland, Florida, Myron Mixon of Jack’s Old South in Vienna, Georgia and Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson BBQ in Decatur, Alabama will be the new instructors and each class will feature two of the three on a rotating basis. The new chefs will bring real slow cooked championship style BBQ to the classes and the format will involve a hands on approach that will have the guests doing much of the cooking. These new classes will begin in June of 2008. For more details contact the Greenbrier.

Vote For Pig Daddy's BBQ

2007-08-27T14:40:00.000-04:00

Click on the title to vote.

http://myfoxphilly.cityvoter.com
True to the Que!!!!! Jerry and Linda Are GREAT! and they know how to cook great BBQ! Please give them your vote.
Thanks
John Atkins
Pigs on the Run Championship BBQ Team

Uncle Sugar

2007-08-23T22:53:00.000-04:00

Meet Uncle Sugar , the new spokesman for the BBQ Connection. Uncle Sugar represents what is good about BBQ. He will wax poetic about his passion: BBQ! He is full of useful hints and sayings. Uncle Sugar will have weekly article about bbq sayings. Please stop by and see whats on Uncle sugars mind. Feel free to submit any sayings. Thanks ! Enjoy.

Uncle Sugars sayings!

You needa bone to have a rib son!

If you are looking you are not cooking.

I can put bbq suace on a buffalo chip and find some one to eat it.

Real BBQ is cooked low and slow.

BBQ, it's not just for breakfast any more.

The analogy of competition BBQ ribs.

2007-08-14T20:12:00.000-04:00

Championship BBQ Ribs

When I first started cooking real BBQ , I started with pork loin ribs ( baby backs ). I saw a spot on the Today Show with Chris Lilly. I copied his recipe off the Internet . His recipe call for cooking them in an oven. I guessed I cooked over a dozen ribs. My wife enjoyed them so it wasn't hard to spend the money on them. In the instructions I was told to peel off the back membrane. I had no clue what that was. After a dozen ribs , I figured it out. It is very essential to have a sharp knife and a paper towel handy. The recipe also introduced me to what a rub was. At first , I had trouble wasting so much seasoning but quickly learned it was part of the game. Finally , I figured to kick it up a notch and get a smoker. I bought an El cheapo Brinkman. I made the changes and then I was hooked. I loved that smoked flavor.
After mastering the Chris Lilly ribs , I thought was ready to compete. Since Chis Lilly mostly competes in Memphis In May contest , I would try a MIM in Richmond Va. It was definitely a learning experience. I got the pleasure to meet Myron Mixon of Jacks Ole South and many other great teams that weekend. I was grateful we did not finish last (DAL)!I left that contest with a lot of respect for BBQ.
The next contest was in Danville Va , a KCBS contest. The ribs we used this time were spare ribs. We used spare ribs cut to a St. Louis cut. "St. Louis Style Spare Ribs ,pork ribs that are taken from the whole spareribs of the hog, which have had the brisket bone and some meat surrounding it removed so the cut appears more rectangular in shape. In comparison to whole spareribs which can weigh up to 5 pounds, the St. Louis Style Spare rib will most often weigh up to the 3 pound range. ("http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term )
We found that the spare ribs gave us more room for error and more meat. We continued to use the Chris Lilly recipe withe spare ribs. The recipe called 1/2 cup of grape juice and a 1/2 cup of apple juice then wrap with foil. After a few contest a new lang smoker I found that was painful and way too much work. I also figured out that I had to increase the cooking time with the spare ribs to about 6 hour. Then after we got rid of the foil ,we went to 7 hours.
Other tricks we learned on the way is to roll your ribs and sprinkle rub on the bones. The marrow and the rubs really gives you a little more of a edge. Also we found out what honey , Parkay margarine and dark brown sugar is all about. They all can give you a different layer of flavor.
Sauces: There are many different sauces. We have won with K.C. Masterpiece and many other BBQ sauces. Experiment with your favorite sauce.At most contest , we found that the judges like sweet ribs with a medium heat. We were most successful at Danville , Chesapeake Va. , and Snow Shoe WV x 2. I think ribs are definitely regional. In New Holland maple is king! We learned that the hard way.In WV they like Cinnamon, go figure.
After 20 contest we still are tweaking the ribs. We still use foil if we need to speed up the cooking time and try to play around with the sauce. All in all we are happy with our finish product.The biggest problem is not to over and under cook you ribs. Good Luck and hope this helps.

Virginia top Six BBQ Teams on the KCBS Circuit

2007-08-11T18:17:00.000-04:00

Tuffy Stone of Cool Smoke is the hottest team on the circuit.

Top Six KCBS Virgina BBQ Teams: as of Aug 9th according to http://www.nationalbbqrankings.com/rankings/

1. Cool Smoke : Richmond 17

2. Dizzy Pig :Northern Va 63

3. Checkered Pig :Martinsville 65

4. Pigs On the Run :Palmyra 113

5. Shenandoah Q Crew : Northern Va 167

6. Free Range BBQ : Northern Va 182

Great Jobs guys you represent the state well!

Pitmaster's Picks

2007-08-07T14:44:00.000-04:00

PITMASTER'S picks: Here are a few events worth visiting for Sept and Oct.

8th Sept :Welcome to Pickin’ In the Panhandle…the WV BBQ and Bluegrass Festival . We hope you plan to attend this inaugural event on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at the Lazy A Campground in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, approximately 1 hour from the DC and Baltimore Beltway! Enjoy the best of the Berkeley County, West Virginia…countryside as it’s meant to be seen!

Beautiful Back Creek Valley, located 8 miles off of Interstate I-81 and the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Convention and Visitors Bureau welcome you to the open meadows, meandering creek and big red barn of the Lazy A Campground, the perfect setting to do a little pickin’ of your own as you sink your teeth into some of the best BBQ in the region and enjoy some real mountain music by some of the finest Bluegrass Bands in Appalachia. Come Visit The BBQ Connection for some World Championship BBQ. http://www.panhandlepickin.com/index.php?pr=Home_Page

10/05 - 10/07 2007 Kansas City, MO

The 28th Annual American Royal BBQ contest
1701 American Royal Court, Kansas City, MO 64102
http://www.americanroyal.com/
The World Series of BBQ.
Come support Virginia's own John Atkins of the Pigs on the Run BBQ team as the competes for World Championship of BBQ!

10/06 Old Farm Days Celebrating Virginia’s Farming History 2007

For the 12th year, the Fluvanna County Historical Society, coupled with the Old Farm Day Committee, will host Old Farm Day on at Pleasant Grove, Route 53, and Palmyra. The festivities will take place between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., rain or shine. Old Farm Day features arts, crafts, contests, demonstrations, entertainment and exhibits reminiscent of the old farm lifestyle. Come Visit The BBQ Connection for some World Championship BBQ.

Saturday, October 27, 2007 (11:00 AM-6:00 PM)
Powhatan's Festival of the Grape
4th Annual Powhatan's Festival of the Grape. A festival for family enjoyment, tasting of Virginia's finest wines, delicious cuisine, continuous live music and entertainment, arts and crafts. Don't miss what is becoming one of the best wine festivals in Virginia. Experience the charm of historical Powhatan Courthouse. Only a short drive from Richmond, Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Williamsburg, Lynchburg or Farmville. Follow VA-288 (World War II Veterans Memorial Highway); take Rt 60 W Exit toward Powhatan; follow Rt 60 for approximately 12 miles; turn left onto Rt 13; follow Rt 13 for 2.3 miles. Fee includes wine glass. Come Visit The BBQ Connection for some World Championship BBQ.

Inexpensive BBQ Wedding

2007-08-07T14:02:00.000-04:00

Weddings can be very expensive! Here are some helpful hints.
Ask the Farmer
Do you know any farmers who raise hogs? Are any of them relatives or friends? Or better yet, did you invite any to the wedding?

When farmers sell their pigs, they are docked for any that are disfigured. For example, hogs frequently break a leg. If the farmer tries to sell this pig, he will be docked substantially and, in a sense, will practically be "giving" it away to the slaughterhouse.

My dad used to raise hogs. When one broke a leg or injured itself, he would take it to be butchered. Since it was hardly worth anything at the sale barn, the meat was practically free. All we had to pay for was the processing.

Very often, if you talk to a farmer, they will have a hog they need to butcher, and they will sell it to you very inexpensively. Then you just have them take it to a local butcherer. Tell the butcherer what you want the meat for. They will make nearly the whole thing into rolled roasts or whatever. You will have to pay for the processing, but the price is inexpensive when you consider how much meat you will get.
Darcie

Check Out Catering
My wedding was catered by a local BBQ company. They charged a little under $5 per person and provided brisket, sausage, potato salad, beans, bread, pickles, onion, sauce, tea, napkins, plates, cups and plastic eating utensils. It was much cheaper to feed our guests a full meal than doing "party food" like cheeses and veggies. It was nice that the caterer provided the cups, plates, etc. which can add a large expense to the wedding meal. We still had the imprinted cake napkins, and had to buy our own plates and forks for the cake. Skip the appetizers, and that will save a bundle! Also, find a "home owned" business or a friend to make your cakes...many retired people and homemakers make cakes as a hobby, but be sure to ask for photos of the cakes they have done in the past.

Don't go too cheap on your wedding. You want it to be special, and not known as the frugal event of the year!

Don't Forget Potatoes
How about baked potatoes? They are cheap and filling, hopefully reducing the amount of other food your guests eat. You might be able to have a local grocery store bakery do the baking (or have several friends donate oven space), and store the hot potatoes in an insulated cooler until reception time. Have some chopped green onions, sour cream, butter and maybe shredded cheese on hand for topping.
Lisa

Prioritize, Decide and Stockpile
I know what you mean about the food. We did all the food for my daughter's reception four years ago. We didn't do too bad.

Luckliy, you have chosen what can be one of the cheapest ways to entertain (jambalaya being the cheapest) a large group of people. Baked beans and coleslaw can be made very inexpensively yet be delicious. Also, the type of meat you plan to cook will have a lot to do with the cost. I would stick with chicken. Chicken quarters have frequently been on sale here for as little as 29 cents a pound. Start buying now and stash in the freezers of people you trust.

Chicken is also easier to handle and a lot classier than hamburgers. Add chips and dip and that is all you need. The secret is not a lot of different items, but a lot of a few items.

Decide on what you will serve to drink and start stockpiling. Alcohol should be kept to a minimum if served at all ( we didn't). Stores here are selling 2 ltr cokes for as little as $.68 each and there a many off brands you can buy even cheaper.

Don't stint on your wedding cake. There is nothing worse than having an ugly cake. However, you can save money on it by making your own cake top. When my daughter got married, I nearly died when we priced the cake tops ($60 and up). My daughter bought the pieces, and with a glue gun, she made a beautiful one for about $15. Instead of going to a regular bakery, check out some of your local food stores that have bakeries. There are two here in town that are as good as the big name and twice as expensive bakeries. Try out a small cake first to check taste.
SL

Don't Grill
My husband and I just got married ourselves, and cost was definately an issue. We had an outdoor wedding at my grandpa's house with a picnic afterwards. Being college students, we really had to keep everything as cheap as possible, without looking cheap. Here are some of the things that we did to keep prices down.

For the reception, we had BBQ Beef, baked beans, potatoe salad, chips, a veggie tray, beer, pop, and tea. All of the food we made ourselves. We decided on BBQ beef instead of grilling because we knew that there would be a lot of children at the wedding and we didn't want any of them to get burned accidently. Besides, it was nice to have everything ready to eat when we were ready. We bought a brisket and cooked it really slow for several hours, and then just mixed it with some BBQ sauce. It was really good and we got several compliments on it. To serve it, we just had some crock-pots. For the beans, we just bought some of the REALLY big cans of pork and beans, and mixed them to taste and then baked them for several hours. We served them the same way.

The veggie tray we got at Sam's. If you decide to do something like this, I highly reccommend them. It's way cheaper than buying all of the vegtables, you get dip, and it's only $9.99. You can also buy just the bags of veggies, already done up in different mixes for about $4.00.

We bought some pretty bowls that fit in with our colors at Wal-Mart for chips and potato salad (which we also bought at Sam's at two quarts for $2.99) and set the bowls in coolers of ice to keep everything cool. The bowls were $1.00 each.

For our cake, we were lucky to have a friend that worked in a florist's shop that did the cake and our flowers for only $120, but I have seen some beautiful cakes where people just have bought several different sized square or round cakes and then they take them to the reception and decorate with real or fake flowers.

For decorations, we used LOTS of ballons (240 or so). It was $35 bucks to rent the helium tank and the ballons were about $12. We later used the ballons instead of throwing rice or bubbles when we left. We attaced a card with our names and wedding date on them. For center pieces, we used potted plants that we did ourselves. We covered the pots with wrapping paper to match our colors. To decorate for the ceremony, we got hanging baskets that we planted and hung from shepard crooks. You can also rent arbors from Hobby Lobby for pretty cheap. (I think around $30 or so)

All of the paper products (plates, napkins, silverware, cups, tablecloths) we got a discount party store for about $35.00. There was enough for 75 people.

I am so very glad that we went with this type of wedding. It was so nice that we could just have a nice "family picnic" where we could sit and talk with our friends and family and not feel like we were putting on airs. We told people to dress comfortably, bring their kids and be ready to have a good old fashioned time. Good luck with your wedding!!

Avoid Last Minute Cooking
There are some ways to cut your costs and cook it all yourself. Some of this can be made the night before, so you're not going too nuts on the wedding day itself.

Fruit salad is refreshing and not too expensive if you leave out the strange fruits like kiwi, passion fruit, mango, and the rest. It's my experience that most people pick those out anyway, so why pay for them?

Instead of beef barbeque, do chili con queso barbeque. Simply substitute cooked red beans for half the ground meat in your usual barbeque recipe. Same taste, but the beans are much cheaper.

Egg salad can be stretched by adding chopped firm tofu (whether this is cheaper or not depends on the best price you can find on the tofu and eggs.)
Nea D

Bulk Buying
I'm sure this has already crossed your mind, but just in case it hasn't, buy your supplies in bulk. There are many food warehouse stores around. Compare the prices for things you will be buying, such as condiments, meat, etc. There are also many meat stores out there that give discounts on their meats when bought in package deals or larger amounts and they'll even have it cut and/or prepared to your specifications at no extra charge. They're also very helpful when asked for advice about amounts needed and other details.

Try making the rolls and buns instead of buying them. They are unbelievably cheap when made at home. I have a bread recipe that makes five loaves of bread and we use the same recipe to make anywhere from 36 to 48 hamburger buns, 60 finger rolls, or 60 dinner rolls. You can adapt practically any bread recipe and also use the ingredients you want.
Also, if you're going to make a salad, it's cheaper in the long run to make it from scratch. I know because I help to make the purchases and prepare the meals for a senior's group at our church and these are some of the things I've learned to do.
Joyce in MA

Greek Themed
We have used the following menu to feed a crowd (20+) with great success on several occasions. It's a Greek-style meal that lets you cook all the meat on one BBQ at the same time.

Pork souvlaki (chunks of marinated pork on wooden skewers) - We buy ours in 10-packs from the butcher at the Price Club for $6.99 per pack. You'll need one or two skewers per guest.

Greek pitas - Use the thick kind without the pocket. They can be bought from the Price Club at $4.29 for 20 pitas. Have one per guest.

Bowls of chopped tomato, chopped onion, shredded lettuce, and tzatziki for garnishing the souvlakis

Large Greek salad with lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, black olives, cucumber, feta cheese, and vinaigrette dressing.

Roasted potatoes (with olive oil, lemon juice, rosemary, black pepper) - These could be roasted in somebody's oven at home ahead of time and then kept reasonably warm with the pans wrapped up well in foil. A 10-pound bag of potatoes will easily feed 20+ people.

To feed 20 guests, it costs $20.97 for the souvlaki (allowing 1.5 per guest), $4.29 for the pitas, about $12 for the salad, $3 for the potatoes, and another $10 for the garnishes. So there you have a full meal for 20 people for about $50.
Carolyn, St. Catharines, Ontario

Don't Forget Veggies
You may consider grilling vegetables along with some sort of meat on skewers. Alternate the meat with vegetables, such as cherry tomatoes, onion, and red, yellow, and green peppers. This will stretch the meat and help save on costs; vegetables are less costly and more healthy than meat! Also include some sort of inexpensive, yet appealing starch, such as rice pilaf, home-made breads, or pastas. Rice, pasta, and bread are rather filling, and if artfully and thoughtfully prepared, are greatly appreciated by one's guests.
Marion

Ask Suppliers
One solution for saving money for the wedding reception would be to check and see if there is a meat packing plant in the area. I know they will sometimes sell to outsiders, and that should cut the meat costs considerably. If you are planning to serve chips, you might want to see if there is a distributor in your area for that too. Sometimes they will sell what they call "out dated" items that are perfectly fine for consumption. If all else fails, chase down the guy who delivers to the grocery store and ask him where you can purchase them at a cheaper price. As for the buns, check for a bread store. You can buy bread, buns, and other items for a fraction of what you pay at a grocery store.
Sandy

Virginia BBQ Pirates Win Big

2007-07-31T14:04:00.000-04:00

Stevensville Md

Congrats to the Virginia BBQ Pirates for first place in brisket and a 17th over all This was ther first KCBS bbq contest.
Great JOB guys!!!!!
This is only the begining .

Pirates rule!!!!!!!

Grill power

2007-07-30T16:44:00.000-04:00

It was great talking to Maria. We had a great time talking about BBQ and Grilling. I hope you will enjoy the article.
By Maria Longley/staff
mlongley@newsleader.com

Amanda Bowles/The News Leader

Meat is fresh off the grill at John Atkins tent at the Daylily Festival in Fishersville. Atkins has participated in several barbecue competitions and has himself won many. Getting started

Here are some of the basic supplies that Atkins recommends for fun and healthy grilling/barbecuing:

Grill brush. It's important to clean your grill for flavor and safety reasons. Atkins prefers short wiry brushes that look like big Brillo pads. "The longer -bristled brushes tend to break off," he says.

Nonstick cooking spray. Keeping the grill lubed helps make clean up much easier.

A quick-temperature probe. You don't need an expensive one. They're great for helping you keep the meat from drying out but also making sure it's cooked enough so no one gets sick.

Charcoal chimney. These help cut charcoal heating time nearly in half and eliminates any need for lighter fluid or quick-lighting charcoal.

Use regular charcoal, not quick-light charcoal, for better-tasting food.

Tongs and spatula, 6 to 8 inches. You don't need to spend a lot on these, Atkins says.

Wind-resistant lighter.

Newman's Own Italian Dressing. "We use it for competitions," Atkins said. "I like it because it's all natural, and it works great on chicken."

Barbecue tips

Meat cuts

Trim beef steaks to 1 1/48-inch fat to reduce grease drippings and help minimize open flames. If you like juicy hamburgers, go with ground beef that's about 20 percent fat.

Have fish fillets cut from 1 to 11 1/42 inches thick — anything thinner will dry out too fast.

Pork chops should be 1 to 11 1/42 inches thick — this cut is ready when the meat is slightly pink along the bone and when the juices run clear. "Today's pork loin can be served around 150 degrees," Atkins says. "The minimum for preventing trichinosis is 145 degrees."

Safety

Atkins is a surgical technician by day and sees grilling burns once or twice a year. "These are just the ones that are so bad that they have to go through the operating room," he said. Needless to say, he stresses safety around a hot grill:

Don't cook in an enclosed area, or even a semi-enclosed area, to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Don't throw lighter fluid or kerosene on a lit grill.

Keep kids and pets away from the grill.

Don't touch a lit grill.

Use grill gloves, which are like welding gloves and protect your hands from the many ways you can singe them while working a grill.

Always wash your hands before and after handling raw meat.

It may not be a movie, festival or concert that you're in the mood for. Maybe it's a date out back with your grill.

If you're a novice outdoor cook, or one who only takes the cover off once or twice a year, the thought of firing up the charcoal may quash the temptation of savoring juicy pork tenderloin or New York strip steak.

Fear not the grill, says barbecue master John Atkins. The owner of BBQ Connection, a catering business he owns with wife, Teresa, and leader of the Pigs on the Run, an award-winning barbecue team, says people would grill a lot more if they didn't make it such a big deal in their heads.

"It's really the easiest thing to do if you prepare a little beforehand and have the right supplies going in," he said.

Any grilling enthusiast like Atkins will tell you the payoff is big, and not just flavor-wise.

"Barbecue and outdoor grilling is that feeling of friends and having fun," he said. "That's what barbecue is about. Only an idiot would sit out there with that hot grill all day and not enjoy themselves with their family and friends."

Atkins has plenty of tips for keeping your grill or barbecue experience light and fun:

One of his biggest rules about flavor is to stay away from the lighter fluid or quick-lighting coals. "The lighter fluid can import not a very favorable taste," he says. "The way I see it, if you don't have time to light your charcoal, you don't have time to grill. People are slowly poisoning themselves with all that stuff. Stick with regular charcoal."

If you're grilling, which is cooking something at 300 degrees or higher (as opposed to low-and-slow barbecuing), marinating is a great way to season the meat. It tenderizes it and adds some flavor. He suggests using about 1 to 2 cups of marinade for every 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of food. The marinade should completely surround the food and should sit for at least four hours in the fridge or overnight. Cooked meat should never be returned to a cold marinade.

Brining meats that tend to dry out, like chicken breasts, infuses big flavor and juiciness. For brining and rub recipes and tips, visit www.pigsontherunbbq.blogspot.com.

When you're grilling, it's best not to walk away for too long. "You really need to watch it to keep it from burning or overcooking."

Only turn the meat once. When you're grilling meat to a medium doneness or more, close the grill lid to decrease cooking time. Try to use tongs, not a fork, to turn meat to avoid piercing it and letting juices escape.

Grill Cleaning Tips

2007-07-30T16:17:00.001-04:00

Grill Cleaning Tips.
Most people find no pleasure in cleaning a grill. But since I have started competing and catering I found great solace in cleaning a grill. They say cleanliness is next to godliness and the grill is no exception. A clean grill is like a canvass, leave a bunch of crap on it and that is what you will get: CRAP!

Clean your grill:
There are two different thought: The first is that you clean your grill after each cook while it is still warm. Clean the inside and outside of the grill and lid. If you allow cooking residue to burn off the inside of your grill every time you use it, you shouldn't have to work as hard at scrubbing the inside. You can simply brush off flaking baked-on grease with a brass wire grill brush. If you want to get your grill in sparkling condition, either inside or out, warm soapy water and a sponge or dishcloth are usually sufficient. The upside is the most residue will come off the downside is if it is too hot you can burn yourself.

The second is to clean before each cook. The upside is you will not get burn; the downside is that it is harder to clean.

I prefer to clean after each cook with a rigid wire brush and before each cook I will use a cooking spray before I start the fire. Clean the cooking grate. After the coals have died out, brush off any loose particles on the warm (not hot) cooking grate with a brass grill brush. For more thorough cleaning, use a wet, soapy, fine steel wool pad with only slight pressure. Rinse thoroughly and dry.

As needed:
Charcoal Grill: ensure that you clean ash after each cook. I use a fire place shovel and shovel the ash in a small galvanize trash with a securable lid. Remove cold ashes from the bottom of the grill.This prevents airflow problems next time you grill. Ashes also absorb moisture, which may cause premature rusting of the grill.
Once a year wipe down the outer surfaces of the grill.

Gas Grill: check gas connection clean outside thoroughly once a year.

Reference:http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grillcare/care.aspx#charcoal

The BBQ Connection BBQing and Grilling Tips

2007-07-18T14:55:00.001-04:00

We are well into summer. Here are few tips for grilling and BBQing .

BBQing and Grilling is all about flavor
Seasoning: There are many ways to season meat.

1. Basic BBQ rubs Making Your Own Rub
There are many ways to season your meat, but the simplest; most straight-forward mixture is a rub. The first step in creating any recipe is to conceive of the result that you want. You may take a different turn along the way, but it’s best to start with a plan. Here are some tips that will be essential and give hints as to relative proportions of the ingredients.

In the case of a rub, the main ingredient will most often salt. Salt is a flavor enhancer and, I believe, a carrier of flavors. For a starter rub, try:
There are many types of salt : i.e. kosher, hickory smoke salt, table salt Kosher salt is more course and used on larger cuts of meat, such as a Boston but.

Salt - 1 portion

Sugar is optional.
Some people do not like to use salt. I think a little sweetness adds to the depth of flavor. Again there are many types of sugars both fine and course. Use the fine sugars for small cuts of meat like ribs and the course for large cuts of meats like brisket.

Sugar - 1/2 portions

The next two ingredients are next in popularity, because they begin to create a taste that we expect. You may increase one over the other for a particular effect, but initially, I recommend equal amounts.

Onion Powder - 2/3 portions

Garlic Powder - 2/3 portions

We now have the beginnings of a base, which can also stand alone for some purposes. But, if we continue to refine the direction we have the next tier of flavorings to choose from. In my basic rub, I use the following:

Ground Bay - 1/3 portions
Ground Thyme - 1/3 portion
Pepper - 1/3 portions: I like to use a blending of peppers. I may stat out with a black pepper 1/2 portion, a red pepper 1/4 portion and a 1/4 portion of white pepper. This will carry the heat all the way through.

At this point, we have a balanced and functional rub. I recommend place it in a zip lock bag and let it sit over night. The next day, or the day after, sprinkle a little on cooked meat. Use it sparingly, as you would salt. Savor the flavor, meditate over it. If you don't like it, you may sparingly add more of one ingredient. Be careful not to overpower your taste buds. Take time between tasting. Once you are satisfied with the result, consider this your Basic Rub.

This is your essence as one famous cook puts it.

Once you have a dry seasoning, it is a matter of adding liquids to build your own sauce. Use the same techniques and be careful of additives such as soy, teriyaki and Worcestershire sauces. Different brands produce different results.

2. Marinating helps break down connective tissue in the meat and also adds some flavor. Use roughly 1 to 2 cups of marinade for every 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of food. The marinade should completely surround the food. Cooked meat should never be returned to a cold marinade.

3. Brining meats like pork, chicken and turkey for better flavor and juiciness.
Simple Brine
1 gallon water
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup kosher salt
Stir ingredients together thoroughly until salt is dissolved and chill to refrigerator temperature. The recipe is scalable so you can increase or decrease the ingredients proportionately depending on your need. Now you are ready to brine.

Brining time and the method of doing so depends on the size and thickness of the cut of meat. Thin cut pork chops should take no more than two hours and you can do the brining in a plastic refrigerator bag. A turkey can best be brined in a five gallon bucket with a lid and must sit in the refrigerator or on ice at least 24 hours. Always brine at below 40 degrees. These brining times are a guide and understand that you can brine too long, which may make the meat too salty.

4. Smoke: like salt and pepper. Smoke is a seasoning. Too much of it can ruin a god piece of meat. There are many types of woods to use. Normally it is safe to stick with a wood produces an edible nut or fruit.

Misc. tips:

Trim beef steaks to 1/8 inch fat--this reduces grease drippings to help minimize open flames. If you like your hamburgers juicy go with ground beef that is about 20 percent fats. Have fish fillets cut from 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick--anything thinner will dry out too quickly. Pork chops should also be at least 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick--this cut is ready when the meat is slightly pink along the bone and when the juices run clear. Today’s pork loin can be served around 150 degrees.” Pork and all foods made from pork must cook to at least 145º F to prevent trichinosis, a very serious illness."

For direct cooking on a charcoal grill, use a charcoal chimney. Lighter fluid can impart a very unpleasant flavor to your food. Make sure there is enough charcoal to extend in a single layer 1 to 2 inches beyond the area of the food on the grill. . For indirect cooking, food is placed over a drip pan and the briquettes are placed on both sides of the pan.

Carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are given off during combustion, so never barbecue indoors as these odorless, toxic fumes may accumulate and cause death.

Always use a clean grill. A dirty grill can take away the flavors of your food. Also use a cooking spray before you get started. It will prevent your food from sticking.

Whenever barbecuing, use tongs to turn the meat. A fork should never be used as it will punch holes in the meat and allow the natural juices to escape, causing the meat to lose flavor and become chewy.

When grilling meats, it is usually best to turn the meat only once. When grilling meat to a medium or greater doneness, use the lid to assist in cooking. This will decrease the cooking time by applying heat to all sides of the meat at once.

Tomato and/or sugar based BBQ sauces should be added only at the end of the grilling process, since this sugar will burn easily and are seldom considered an internal meat flavoring.

Always wash your hand before and after handling raw meat.

Keep hot foods hot 140 degrees above and cold foods cold 40 degrees and below.

Top Five Grilling supplies The BBQ Connection can not do with out:
1. Charcoal Chimney. Lighter Fluid is BAD! Lowes
2. Grill Brush, GREAT BBQ comes from a clean grill. Lowes
3. Lighter. No fire no food. Preferable wind resistant. Lowes
4. Heavy Glove. Meat does well with heat not hands. I prefer welding gloves. Tractor supply store
5. Temp probe. No second guessing when it is done it is done!
6. Pam. A cooking spray is important to seasoning a grill. Martins
for more info go to http://pigsontherunbbq.blogspot.com/

BBQ Trick or Treat:PUMPKIN MAN

2007-06-13T20:27:00.001-04:00

Fall is coming and I can feel the cold air nipping at my noses and the sweet smell of bbq.Yes BBQ! Every Just afrter holloween I travel to Shelby NC. to the Hog Happnin. One of the best barbecue contest in the country. Located southwest of Charlotte. The contest is a fund raiser for a local charity. All the funds raised at the Hog Happnin' go to charity with the majority going to children's charities. They have raised in excess of $150,000 for our charities since our beginning.
My First contest their I competed by myself and entered into 10 categories. My wife thought I was an idiot and She might of been right. The first night is an anything butt. Anything Butt is in anything but the four main Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS)categories: Chicken, pork ribs, pork but or shoulder and beef brisket. The anything butt categories were Gumbo/Stew Meat Dessert Fowl Vegetables Seafood. I competed in all 5 . I made a seafood gumbo and placed it in a carved pumkin. Yes! A carved pumpkin. The seafood soup was a bachemel sauce with crab and butter and cream and a little bit of cream of sherry. ( I like sherry she is a good friend lol) I carved out the pumkin and made sure the lid fit tight. The second entree was an oyster on the half shell stuffed with lumped crab.I made a bachemel sauce with the crab but made it thicker. I shelled the oyster and placed the crab meat on the oyster. I placed it on the smoker for 30 minutes at 250 degrees . I used dried grape vines for smoke. It is a marvelous smell. After 30 to 45 minutes a dark mohogany color will form on the crab meat on top of the oyster. I recommend a little Texas Pete to bring out the fullest of flavor.Then it was on to the next entre wich was a smoked turkey. If you haven't tried my smoked turkey breast you haven't lived. Very very simple. I rubbed the boneless turkey breast with olive oil and garlic salt. cook for three hours melt in your mouth.I also did a desert and a stuffed acorn squash for the vegetable category.
Anything butts are a little different than the regular main four categories. The main categories( chicken , ribs , pork and brisket) are judge blind. Blind judging is where the competitor places the meat in a styrofoam box and a judge jdges it with out knowing who's it is. This anything Butts was judge onsite meaning the judges came to our cooking site.
I had the opportunity to explain our entrees to the judges. It was great to connect to the public. The charity that year was adoption of foster children.I was lucky to find some judges who loved seafood.
After cooking five entree it was time to get ready for the real cooking.
In a KCBS contest therer are four main categoriesThen comes the serious competition with the standard KCBS categories of Poultry, Ribs, Pork, and Brisket .

THE PIGS ON THE RUN BBQ BLOG: BBQ and 1607

2007-06-13T20:23:00.000-04:00

THE PIGS ON THE RUN BBQ BLOG: BBQ and 1607

BBQ and 1607

2007-06-13T20:11:00.000-04:00

I have competed in many competition barbecue events over the last five years and I’ve wondered where barbecuing got its start. I was always told that barbecue was cooked low and slow with smoke. It has been argued for years where barbecue first entered our nation. I have also been told that real BBQ is spelled BARBEQUE! Whether it is folk lore or truth, I like to think my version is best. In 1607, Jamestown, Virginia was settled. It was the first english speaking colony. Pigs were not native to the area, but were imported to the colonies from England and Bermuda for food and the sport of wild boar hunting. The climate of Virginia was so conducive to pig-rearing, the animal quickly multiplied to the point of nuisance to the settlers. Eventually, pigs were rounded up and transported to an island on the James River. It became known as “Hog Island.” These wild pigs were the principal food for new settlers as well as Native Indians as they were available year round and more easily caught than wild game and fish. Since the Native Indians had been smoking meat long before the settlers arrived in Jamestown, they taught them the art of smoked meat.
Now, the way it got to North Carolina was through a man in the 1700’s who was mapping the border between the two states. It was reported that he had “roasted boar” every night. I believe the settlers were looking for a condiment or sauce to compliment the pork. Tomatoes were considered poisonous at the time. However, apples, juice from oysters (a substitute for worcester sauce) cane sugar and salt and pepper flake were readily abundant. Combined, these are the makings of Eastern North Carolina barbecue, probably developed in Virginia. I always love to tell this story to people from North Carolina. It really gets their goat. I told one guy this story in our local barber shop and he almost popped me one. North Carolina is known for three main sauces: Eastern Carolina, which is mainly apple cider vinegar; Piedmont sauce, a mixture of tomato and apple cider vinegar (some must have taken a dare and eaten the first tomato!); and Western Carolina, a sweeter, tomato-based sauce. The chief barbecue meat was pork. From there, it branches to Memphis, TN where the use of sweet molasses is used along with a meat rub, mainly on ribs and pork. It’s on to Kansas City, MO where it features a sweet tomato sauce combined with meat rub, but it’s used on chicken and brisket in addition to ribs and pork. It is then on to little ‘ole Texas where barbecue features a bigger, bolder taste featuring a sweet, hot, spicy tomato sauce used on brisket—the Texas definition of barbecue. There are oddities in the barbecue world, like the mustard-based sauce used in South Carolina and “who knows what” being used for sauce in California. And in Alabama, there is even a “mayonnaise-based” sauce used on chicken. But, no matter your taste in BBQ, it will always evoke memories of great food and fun. There are many people who are very passionate about their BBQ, so, long may it live! Happy BBQing!

John Atkins, your humble pit master, is a local ambassador of BBQ. His accomplishments include 3-time Virginia State Champion; Top Five in World Pulled Pork Competition Kansas City, MO; BBQ Lecturer and cooking instructor; Certified KCBS Judge; Member of KCBS; 2X Grand Champion Chesapeake Jubilee; Reserved Grand Champion Snow Shoe, WVA; BBQ Contest Advisor, caterer; Local TV Personality for GMC Instructor for BBQ How-To-Videos.

1607 BBQ Sauce
2 quarts apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 cup dark brown sugar

Yankees do great barbecue!

2007-06-04T19:36:00.000-04:00

I met Linda and Jerry on the contest circuit . I attended one of their bbq judging class.Linda was elected on the KCBS board. I recently had the chance to work with them at a judging class. I had the chance to cook for them. They are great people even though they are from the north! The truth is great BBQ is not just a southern thing some of the best BBQ comes from the north. Enjoy this article below.

Serious barbecue for devout followers

By LARI ROBLING
For the Daily News
THERE ARE THOSE who will order up some ribs for Father's Day because it fits the theme. And there are those who treat barbecue like a religion - a year-round devotion. Linda and Jerry Mullane and their son, Chris, fall into that category.
After Chris broke his leg and the traveling soccer team was put on hold, they suddenly had their weekends free and were looking for something to fill the time. So the family answered an ad to train as volunteer judges in barbecue competitions. Chris' leg mended, but the 'cue became a calling.

Linda and Jerry Mullane are now on the board and are certified judging instructors of the Kansas City Barbecue Society. Just over two years ago, they opened Pig Daddy's BBQ in Drexel Hill.

Jerry Mullane is at the helm of Cindy LaPork (every cook gives his smoker a name), which is loaded with cherry or hickory wood. There's no temperature control, so he has to keep the smoke and heat constant. And when they say Pig Daddy's 'cue is long and slow, that can mean up to 14 hours for the brisket.

Bear in mind that the Mullanes are on the competition circuit. So, when they serve their 'cue, it's nearly "naked," which doesn't hide the quality of the meat in a barbecue sauce.

Linda Mullane explains: "It's a personal preference, but we like the meat to stand out and just use a small amount of homemade finishing sauce at the end. You can order extra sauce if you want more."

The meats cost $9.50 per pound, and you can figure on one-third to one-half pound per person. Platters will get you two sides, or you can order individual half-pints ($2) and full-pints ($4). Get there early on a weekend or you will miss out on the Dinosaur Bones - big beef ribs.

The Texas-style beef brisket rules with its smoky but beefy flavor and perfect texture. This is great 'cue.

I opted for the Carolina-style pulled pork sandwich over the Kansas City-style because I love the vinegary punch of Carolina pulled pork- although the debate over adding mustard to the sauce can be argued with as much conviction as the Sermon on the Mount.

The pulled pork was as smoky, tender and juicy as it should be. However, I prefer to have my pull on plain, old white store-bought sandwich bread to really do the sop job. A Kaiser roll is too East Coast for my tastes.

The pork spare ribs ($10 half-rack, $19 full) were excellent, accented with a terrific rub and time in the smoker.

I think I'd opt for extra sauce - just personal preference.

I also enjoyed the Texas Tommy ($6.95) that fits a Texas-size appetite. "P-Daddy" double-smokes a foot-long sausage and douses it in their own Hawg Wild Chili and Cheez Whiz, proving once and for all that there is a reason for Cheez Whiz in this world: It glues the chili beans on the steak roll. This is a delicious pig-out.

Pig Daddy's is good barbecue, obviously cooked long and slow the way only a self-respecting barbecuer can do it. Their dry rubs and sauces are clearly made in-house. And I like their choice of apple and hickory woods, which adds smoke but doesn't overwhelm the meat.

As far as the sides are concerned, there's a decent coleslaw, but I'd like a little more vinegar to offset the richness of the meat I'm eating. Skip the mac and cheese, which is too gunky on the palate to work with this food. You need a creamy mac and cheese with very little thickener to pair with a heavy barbecue.

Also skip the sweet potatoes, which are too much like canned pie filling.

The collard greens are unremarkable, and even most of a bottle of hot sauce at home didn't help.

I will give credit where credit is due, however. The baked beans are redolent with smoked pork and, even though they start with a canned product, these beans are a close second to my grandmother's made from scratch.

Their Mexican and Tex-Mex offerings are good enough, but I think the menu should be pared down. I'd rather see fewer extraneous choices and more attention paid to bringing the sides up to the quality of the barbecued meats. After all, if you are going to the altar of barbecue, you don't want someone preaching outside the faith. *

Guts' Smokehouse BBQ Team

2007-06-03T08:48:00.000-04:00

"The Guts' Smokehouse BBQ team captures their first ribbon ... a 10th place finish in Ribs at the Chesapeake Jubilee in Virginia. Along with the ribbon the team made many new friends like John and Mark from 'Pigs on the Run' (who ended up as Grand Champion) and George from '3 Ps'. We already looks forward to competing against them next year"

Chesapeake was a great contest, not just because of the competition but because we got to meet John from Guts' Smokehouse bbq team. His love for the sport was a very familiar thing for us. His dedication to smoker and his attention to detail was enough effort to get his first walk. 10th in ribs! Congrats Guts' Smokehouse BBQ team.

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We signed up for the Sam's club contest in Chesapeake. 9/16/11 - 9/17/11 Sam's Club 4710 2444 Chesapeake SQ Ring Rd. Chesapeake VA
2011 Sam's Club BBQ Series & National Championship