BBQgeek

Atlanta BBQ Club - June Meeting - Pig-N-Chik, Sandy Springs

On Sunday, June 13th the Atlanta BBQ Club held their monthly meeting at the Pig-N-Chik on Roswell Rd. in Sandy Springs, GA.  I had a daddy/daughter date earlier that day with my four year old at Perimeter Mall (she's a big shopper).  After an arduous two hour shopping extravaganza, we made our way to Pig-N-Chik for my first meeting with the Atlanta BBQ Club.  Arriving a few minutes late, Pig-N-Chik appeared to be plenty busy with a nearly full dining room.  I immediately spotted the BBQ club banner on the wall and made my way up to the counter to order some grub.  I've long been a fan of Pig-N-Chik and am very familiar with their product.  They've probably catered well over a dozen events for me at the MonsterTelco.   I would put them in the top 5 Atlanta BBQ restaurants.  Among all the BBQ restaurants I've sampled in Atlanta, I rate their stew the best (but it's still a long shot from what I grew up on in Virginia.)

I made my way to my booth with my daughter and sought out the club organizer, Bob Herndon.  Bob was a friendly guy and immediately made me feel welcome.  In total, there were probably around 20-25 folks in attendance, including family members.  A club "meating" basically consists of eating some BBQ and talking shop.  I can  totally get down with that.  Since I arrived late, I didn't manage to get a seat at the big-boys table.  So, I missed out on some of the shop talk.  But I did get to hear the group announcements.  This "meating" had a couple BBQ judges and a bona fide, up-and-coming Spice Baron - all with very interesting information to share, ranging from the change in judging at Memphis May to upcoming television appearances.

Rod, aka the Spice Baron, is a joint replacement specialist by day and a entrepreneur by night.  He's got a spice blend business, Rod's Rub, that's set to take over the grill and BBQ spice blend market.  He's already managed to land a TV gig (date and time to come) and he's brokering some lucrative private label deals.  Rod was gracious enough to give me his "In the Black" blackening rub and "Steak Out" beef rub to try out and evaluate.  Be sure to look for an upcoming post in the next week.  Thanks to Rod for the gracious gift.

I encourage you to seek out the Atlanta BBQ Club if you like to eat BBQ and enjoy good conversation.  These are a great bunch of folks and you might pick up a trick or two.

Who has the best BBQ in Atlanta?

Ajc.com is running their annual Best BBQ in Atlanta poll here .  Right now, it's just the nomination phase.  After that is complete, we will get an opportunity to vote on our favorites.  Do your civic duty and go cast a vote for your favorite BBQ restaurant.  I wouldn't want to sway your votes or anything, but I'd sure be happy to see votes cast for Sam and Dave's or Fox Brothers.

Smoked Trout - Fourth of July Chattahoochee Bounty!!

I received a call late on the 4th of July from my distinguished friend, Dave Caudell, that he had some beautiful Georgia rainbow trout caught that day that were just begging to be smoked.  He had hit his limit for the day and wanted to make sure that his fish would not go to waste.  After a late night, post-fireworks rendezvous the trout were securely in my possession, and I began to ponder how to honor their grand sacrifice. 

I hadn't ever attempted a smoked fish spread, but the opportunity seemed too good to pass up.  I fired up the smoker on the 5th and got to work.  I knew that smoking fish required a delicate touch and strived to keep the cooker under 200 degrees.  Three hours later, I had a nice batch of apple wood smoked, fishy goodness. 

It took everything I had to not sit down and eat the entire batch of warm, smoked fish. If you haven't tried smoking your own fish, I urge you to.  It's extremely simple and well worth the charcoal.  The next step was to figure out how to make a smoked spread out of the trout.  Lacking a good recipe or a clue, I just made my smoked trout spread the same way I make my chicken salad.  The picture to the left is the total yield of 2 cups.   It's best to remove the meat from the fish while it is still warm.  The flesh separates very easily from the skin and all you have to do is flake through it and pick out the bones.

BBQgeek's Smoked Trout Spread

2 cups smoked trout, 1 half lemon, 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh chives, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, one chopped shallot, 1 to 2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce, 1 tablespoon mayo, 1/4 cup water

Take one cup of the smoked trout and place it in a food processor and reserve the remaining one cup of trout.  Combine the remaining ingredients in the processor except for the water.  Process the ingredients to a puree then slowly drizzle the water into the puree.  Remove the puree from the processor and place in a bowl.  Fold the reserved trout into the puree.  Cover and refrigerate.  Serve with crackers.  Enjoy.

Special thanks again to David Caudell of Roswell, GA (just down the road from that salad dressing, race car driving guy) for inspiring this post.

News!! Updates!! Winners!!

Well, first off BBQgeek.com needs to extend a big thank you to Richard Blais.  His interview on BBQ has helped me exceed 1000 page views in one week.  I guess a little molecular gastronomy and a reality series goes a long, long way towards generating some Hyperweb traffic.  Thank you, Richard.  I hope we can dig a little deeper into your idea of a nitrogen cooled smoker.....

In my little McCormick's Grillmates giveaway, we have a tie!  Congratulations to Jim "Jimmy" Cain and Tim "Geddy" Donehoo for submitting their winning responses.  Jim's won in the brevity category, coming in at just two words for the response, "Super Freak".  Tim achieved a tie on the promise to deliver the recipe for the bass sound that Geddy Lee achieved in the song "Camera Eye" on Moving Pictures by Rush.    Tim, I'll be awaiting my Fender Jazz and fuzz box in the mail any day now...

Finally, congratulations are in order for my competition BBQ buddy, Sam Huff,  and his Lost Mountain BBQ team for his feature in the Atlanta Journal Constitution on his Pork University (Pork U) barbeque class.   Sam is the co-owner of Sam and Dave's BBQ 1&2 in Marietta, GA - recently named by Zagat's as the best BBQ in all of Georgia. Sam got a great feature article and a picture spread on his all-day BBQ seminar.  The BBQgeek has been fortunate enough to "ride the train" (BBQ code for minding the smoker all day during the BBQ class) for a total of 4 BBQ classes.  I figure this makes me a Pitmaster Cum Laude (or a big sucker).  Congratulations Sam!