BBQgeek

Kingsford Competiton Briquets

  Strolling through the local Home Depot, I noticed something exciting, something new.  In the grill aisle, where I would usually find my standard Kingsford Charcoal I spotted an unusual looking Kingsford bag.  It appeared that Kingsford has made a play for the serious BBQ crowd -  the competition boys.  Reading over the bag, it promised to burn hotter and longer than my normal charcoal.  I picked up a bag and brought it home and did a little research.  The best article I found was hereover at the Virtual Weber Bullet.  Continue reading Kingsford Competition Briquets here....

2009 State of the Barbecue Industry Report

The Hearth, Patio, and Barbecue Association released their 2009 State of the Barbecue Industry Reportrecently.  The report was compiled by soliciting responses from over 29,000 people.   There are some really interesting factoids in the report.  Here's a few I really liked:

• Dry meat rubs are popular among consumers. In fact, dry rub usage has increased among gas grill owners to 59 percent in 2007, from 21 percent in 2003.

• The male head (52 percent) normally makes the decision to cook, lights (65 percent) and cooks (59 percent) on the charcoal/wood grills.

• Four in 10 consumers who cook on a charcoal grill (39 percent) normally use barbecue sauce to add flavor to their dishes. Most popular flavors include hickory (65 percent), mesquite (49 percent) and honey (49 percent).

• And my favorite - Whether male or female, the primary grillers in the majority of households considers themselves to be average or above in terms of cooking skills.

 

The Bubba Keg Convection Grill - Coming soon to BBQgeek

Start your engines. It's BBQ season!

Thanks to Todd Posey for sending us this fantastic grill mod.

Looks innocent enough...

And then vroooom....

Green Apple Fennel Slaw

  Confession time... I've never, ever been a fan of two of the main staples of the BBQ world - cole slaw and potato salad.  They've both  struck me as mealy, soggy mayonnaise delivery devices.  If I want some mayo, I'll just jam a spoon down in the Hellman's and go at it.  That's just me.  So, I started searching for a suitable substitute for cole slaw a long time ago.  I don't recall the original recipe that inspired me, but one day I started working with green apples.  What a great day that turned out to be.  I learned that cole slaw could be bright, crunchy, sweet and savory all at the same time.  All you need are some apples and fennel and the rest is easy.  Contine reading Green Apple Fennel Slaw here....

The National - Athens, GA

    Lamb sweetbreads with lima beans, bacon, and sherry

While in Athens, GA this week attending a seminar presented by the GA Beef Board, I was lucky enough to dine at The Nationalwith my chef buddies - Stephen, Matt, and Guillermo - from Havenand Valenza .   We pulled up to the bar around 4pm and ordered a round of suds.  Ten minutes later we had made all our choices and the plates were on their way.     Continue reading The National here...

ATL BBQ Club - March 2009 Meeting at Sam & Dave's BBQ2

 It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Marietta, GA when the members of the ATL BBQ club descended upon Sam & Dave's BBQ2 for their monthly "meating".  Sam and Dave's offered up a combo plate of four meats (pulled pork, ribs, chicken, brisket) and two sides for a very generous price.  Over 60 happy attendees enjoyed the sampler plate and some great company that fine day.  The March 2009 meeting represented the largest assembly yet of the ATL BBQ club.  Outside of the great food and great conversation, several of the club members were able to address the group and offer up new grill tools, homemade sauces,websites, and commercially available rubs (thanks to Rod for restocking the BBQgeek on Steak Out!).  Bob Herndon, the president of the ATL BBQ club, had some great giveaways for the attendees.  In all, it was a fantastic time.  Special thanks to Dave and Bayne of Sam and Dave's for playing the gracious hosts and to Bob for all his hard work in bringing the group together.  Lastly, thanks to all the attendees.  Your presence made this a meating to remember.  If you wish to view the photo album from the day please go here .

Bacon Explosion Creators Cash In

I've resisted posting the recipe for the all-too-trendy Bacon Explosion on my blog because somewhere over 16,000 people had that genius idea already.  However, the NYTimes is running a story today that the creators of the Bacon Explosion, Jason Day and Aaron Chronister, signed a six figure book deal for a BBQ cookbook that's due to hit shelves in Spring of 2010.  Jason and Aaron have spun up a little bbq blog called BBQaddicts here.  From the look of things, their blog has only been up since October of 2008.  If I'm piecing the timeline together correctly, Jason and Aaron launched their blog, and then posted their fateful recipe 2 months later.  A mere 3 months after that recipe hit the Internets, they are signing large book deals.  Whew.  Quite a ride.  In crawling through their blog, it's somewhat light on content and heavy on giveaways.  They also appear to be bolting on a smoker store and a spice rub store.  I'll be watching these guys with interest to see what they come up with next.  As for me, I've gotta come up with my own bacon explosion.

BBQ School - Pork University is now accepting reservations for 2009

Sam Huff of Sam and Dave's BBQ fame in Atlanta, GA has posted the class schedule for Pork U's 2009 schedule here.  Pork U is held a couple times a month at the Wit's End farm in Marietta, GA.  For a nominal fee, attendees are treated to a full day of education on all things BBQ.  Class begins promptly at 8am, and within minutes breakfast is set to cooking in several dutch ovens.  While the cobbler and sausage are doing their thing, Sam begins to run the class through the basics of competition style BBQ.  Sam teaches from many years of hard earned experience.  He has won many grand championships throughout GA and the Southeast. Over the course of the day, students will learn how to prep and cook baby back and spare ribs, pork butt, chicken wings and beer can chicken, beef brisket, as well as several side items.  By the end of the day, you will have cooked and consumed breakfast, lunch and dinner. Wit's End farms is stocked with more smokers and cookers than the mind can imagine.  The cookers range from a 25 foot, reverse flow smoker to a competition trailer to several varieties of smaller cookers.  I'm not aware of any other class in the Southeast that offers such a broad variety of experiences at such a reasonable price.  If you have caught the BBQ bug and want to raise your game to the next level, I suggest that you enroll in Pork U. as soon as possible.  Sam's classes sell out every year for a reason.