WhiteTrash BBQ -- Real Pit Barbecue from New York City.
This is the story of a fire obsessed guy, living in Brooklyn, with a dream of producing award winning, competition busting, real Barbeque. Come live the dream as I compete around the country in the KCBS Championship Barbecue circuit.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Master Hamburger Seminar at RUB BBQ
There's still a few spots left - Care to join me in what looks to be one of the premier seminars in NYC?
From A Hamburger Today... Master Hamburger Seminar at RUB BBQ - Tuesday, February 9
The seminar will include a regional burger tasting—featuring a Mississippi Meatball burger, a North Jersey-style onion slider, and a Wisconsin-style butter burger—and "delve into the tastes of different beef blends, look at cooking methods, and offer tales and insights on the advanced frontier of hamburger experimentation." Beer is included in the ticket price.
Tuesday, February 9, 6 p.m. $30/person 208 West 23rd Street, New York NY 10011 (b/n 7th and 8th; map) RSVPs are required: 212-524-4300; rubburger@yahoo.com
I'm a bit surprised. I think I'm on all the mailing lists for the NYC BBQ restaurants and only Duke's sent me an ad about their Superbowl Specials. I don't usually list restaurant specials, I leave that up to Pigtrip, but since Duke's was the only one who cared, here's their ad.
So, you missed the opportunity to have Robbie Richter, pitmaster extraordinaire at Zak Pelaccio's (will it ever open?) Fatty Cue cater your Superbowl party but you're still craving the ribs? Well, high tail your butt over to Fatty Crab on the upper west side. Eats.com spills the beans on this rare chance to sample the Cue!
Fatty Crab UWS: Fans of the Zak Pelaccio's Malaysian joint can get a taste of his much-anticipated Fatty 'Cue on Super Bowl Sunday, when the UWS spot offers dishes, like smoked pork ribs, from the soon-to-open Brooklyn restaurant
Fatty Crab - Upper West Side 2170 Broadway, New York City NY 10024 TEL: 212-496-2722 Photograph of Robbie Richter and Zak Pelaccio courtesy of Josh Ozersky.
Hill Country BBQ is running a new special, The Feed Your Face Challenge. Here's how it works.
FEED YOUR FACE CHALLENGE! $65 Value – Could Be Yours For Free!
RULES: Any guest at any time may ask to participate in this challenge! If you can polish off this feast in 60 minutes (No bathroom breaks!) you don’t have to pay for your meal! PLUS you’ ll receive Hill Country hat and tee-shirt and a photo of you on the Wall of Cue!
Losers pay for their meal and carry their shame home!
The Opponent: ½ lb. of Moist Brisket ½ lb. of Lean Brisket ½ lb. of Beef Shoulder ½ lb. of Prime Rib 1 Small Hot Side 1 Small Cold Side 32 oz. Soft Drink 1 Cupcake of Your Choice
What are you waiting for? Head up to the counter and order! We Dare You!
The legend of Grillin' On The Bay is well known, but like most things its beginnings are much more humble. Today I debunk the legend and tell you the truth.
I first entered into the world of competitive barbecue back in 2004. I looked around at who were the players from New York City and at the time only two names emerged; Sam Barbieri (I hope I got the spelling of his last name right) from the Waterfront Ale House and Robbie Richter from Big Island Barbecue. I got to know these two fine gentlemen and the fact that a guy from Brooklyn (Sam) and a guy from Queens (Robbie) were competing and winning, made me more determined to enter the fray, which I did that very summer by cooking with Phil Rizzardi as a member of The BBQ Brethren team.
In the off season I continued with my life as a parent and responsible citizen of Sheepshead Bay by serving on our local school's sports association board of directors. Now 2004 was not a particular good year for the sports association with rising costs nearly putting us out of business. One particularly dark and stormy night, our board met to discuss ways to raise some ducats without putting the touch on our usual band of suspects. We ended the meeting without any real new ideas, but we were determined not to let the organization fail.
Heading out to my car, I thought I heard someone call to me as I was pondering what a new fund raiser could be. Getting in my car my phone rang. It was Robbie. "Hey Rob, do you know where we could hold a barbecue contest in the city?" he asked. A light popped on in my head of such colors I had never seen on this earth and I replied "I have a place if we can make it a fund raiser."
The next week Robbie set up a meeting between me, him and Matt Fisher, aka The Hampton Smoker who is currently employed at RUB Barbecue and who quickly became one of my best friends, at the Union SquareBarnes and Noble. We sat on one of the upper floors throwing out ideas about what we could do, who should do what and anything else we could think of. Things were looking good.
But there was one stumbling block; Robbie wanted to cook at Grillin' On The Bay (Yes, we came up with the name that very night!) After much discussion it was agreed that we all felt that an organizer shouldn't cook at his own event and Robbie stepped aside leaving Matt and I to put the contest together. Sometimes I wonder if he planned it that way all along.
Matt and I looked around and found that the New England BBQ Society had been hosting a one day contest every year up in Massachusetts called The Snowshoe Grilling Challenge. This event sounded like it was very similar to our ideas for Grillin' On The Bay and decided to check it out. I don't remember now if Matt came on that first trip to MA, but much of what Gary and Michelle Taft were doing we stole for our contest. Watching that contest, judging at it, I knew that Grillin' On The Bay was going to work.
NEBS was kind enough to agree to sanction our event and to supply the representatives who ran it. That's a story in and of itself and I'll get to that another day.
So, one a beautiful day in March 2004, Grillin' On The Bay was born. That's the truth and I'm sticking to it. Others may remember things differently, but this is how it was burned into my memory by a column of fire and smoke.
We are much indebted to the Tafts of the award winning barbecue team Lunchmeat, Robbie Richter, our continuing sponsor, RUB BBQ, the guys at the Waterfront Ale House for donations to the event every year and the rest of the NEBS board of directors for the success of this "little" Brooklyn event. We couldn't have done it without them.
I've often been asked about the origins of Grillin' On The Bay. Why a barbecue contest in New York City? Why in Brooklyn? Why on the bay? Well, it's a complicated story and today I will tell you. Settle down now, cozy up under your snuggie and get comfortable. It's an long read.
It was a dark and stormy night. A night perfect for barbecue. Rain and sleet teasing the flames whilst the winds whipped the smoke into dense clouds. It was one of those nights that separates the men from the boys. Only the men and women who love the Que and party at the altars of Bacchus and Vulcan would brave such a night to stoke the flames while preparing perfectly cooked food for their deserving and hungry families.
There I stood, manipulating the flames and dominating the fire to my will to perfectly tease the flavor out of a chicken that had willing sacrificed itself to the gods of fire, while a shadowy figure called to me from down the alley.
"You - you who grill on the bay," he called.
"Huh?" I answered. "Keep walking Bud. There's nothing for you to see here."
"You, mortal - the gods have been aroused by the sweet aroma of your burnt offerings."
"Burnt? Fuggehtabouit! Ya stupid bastard. What the hell are you talking about. Get the F--- (substitute the queen mother of dirty words here) outta here ya bum. I ain't no amateur. I don't burn my food," I replied angrily.
At that the figure was immediately engulfed in smoke and flame of such colors I had never seen on earth and its voice grew both in volume and depth. "Do not disrespect that which you do not understand," he bellowed while huge flames leaped out of my fire box.
"Thou has angered the gods of smoke and flame. I demand a sacrifice to amend your transgression."
"Look bud - I already told ya - Get the f--- outta here! I don't got no food for you. This ain't some whitetrash bumbf--- town. You're in Brooklyn and we don't take no shit from no one. You're all cute with the smoke and mirrors and shit, but get the f--- outta here before I grill your ass." I yelled back in as menacing Brooklynese I could muster.
Enraged it grew in size until it blocked the sky transforming into huge column of smoke and fire. I dropped my tongs and stood in awe. Holy shit - was this thing for real?
"Thou hast offended us greatly," its voice roared. "I command you to offer a sacrifice. On the last Saturday of March from this night forward thou shall gather like minded mortals to this site where you and your brethren (no - not that brethren - though they are always welcome) will offer a minimum of four species of burnt offerings to appease us and atone for your sin."
"You have been condemned to grill on the bay until our anger is appeased," it commanded. And just like that it was gone. My fire was out and my chicken burnt to ashes. "Sonofabitch - I guess he did get his burnt offering after all." I stood there looking at the remnants of what should have been a tasty meal and pondered what I had experienced. Could this have been real?
As I walked back into the garage to get some more wood to build a new fire, it hit me. "New York is too great a city to not have a barbecue contest." "Why not gather on the last Saturday of March and cook?"
That photo above is some of the "burnt offerings" from Grillin' On The Bay inn 2006. Hopefully this year's teams will be just as creative.
You now know the legend. Stay tuned for the real story.
I'm tired of looking at the computer screen. I've spent the day sending out invites and notifications for NYC's only sanctioned barbeque contest: Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown. Literally, I've been working on this since 10:00 this morning and now it's almost 5. Enough. I wish I was getting paid!
I will write more about the contest and the work it takes to put it together, but not tonight.
I had an interesting conversation with a friend today about WhiteTrash BBQ and he mentioned that he felt that WhiteTrash BBQ has become a blog "that seems to be holding back." Contemplating his comments, I think know he's right.
I have been holding back. I won't be anymore. I am re-targeting this blog to get back to my adventures in the barbecue world; be they good or bad. I'll talk about it all. Without care to outcome or to who winds up with sauce on their face. I've had to extradite my foot from my mouth many times in the past and if I have to do it again so be it.
I'm not looking to hurt anyone's feelings or to expose or promote anyone or any thing, but it's time to be honest again. (Well, I do promote myself and my interests and that will continue.)
I'm not going to worry about how any of my posts are perceived any longer. It takes too much work. I've spent hours composing posts from restaurant reviews, to comments about judging, to posts about the politics of barbecue and redacted anything I felt could cause controversy only to be slammed for my opinion time and time again. I'm done. To use an old phrase - let the chips fall where they may.
I want to get back to my thoughts. My feelings. Where I want to be.
I'm putting together Grillin' On The Bay for the 5th year now, and there are a lot of things to talk about. Things like putting together the event, getting the teams, the judges, the sponsors, the money etc and so forth. I don't think that's been covered anywhere on the net. At least not in a true fashion. It's all been sanitized for public consumption.
I think of myself primarily as a barbecue cook; not as a judge, an organizer or as a blogger. I plan to talk about that. Even though I wear many hats, I don't know how the barbecue community sees me. I'm giving up on my inner thoughts and condemnations for not being able to cook, judge, blog or even organize as much as I would like or as much as it seems others do. I still haven't found a way to make this pay my bills and until I do, WhiteTrash BBQ will always have to take second place to my family, my faith and my home and I'm not going to apologize for that.
I've got a few items that I promised to review and those posts will be going up this week. None of these products are barbecue related but after that, if it's not a product related to my barbecue adventure, and only I can define what that is, those products will not appear here.
There was a bravado that resonated around the NYC barbecue community when I started this blog. I'm claiming my spot again. I'm not going to be all to everyone, it's going to be all about me, me, and me. Sounds selfish doesn't it? But I believe it's the only way this is going to work. I hope you stick around.
This came into my e-mail today. It's some great news. Now Git-r-done!
NEW YORK, January 11, 2010 – Game on! COMEDY CENTRAL viewers are invited to attend the ultimate tailgate party with Larry The Cable Guy! Filmed in front of more than 50,000 people at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska, the World Television Premiere of "Larry The Cable Guy: Tailgate Party," debuts Sunday, January 31 at 9:00 p.m.
Thanking his fans with $4 tickets at Memorial Stadium, Larry The Cable Guy performs in the largest comedy show ever recorded. With a truckload of new material about TV, hot dogs and “buying in bulk,” Larry gives his fans in Nebraska and on COMEDY CENTRAL one tailgate party worth celebrating in this brand-new, one-hour stand-up special debuting Sunday, January 31 on COMEDY CENTRAL.
Tuesday, February 9, RUB BBQ will hold a Master Hamburger Seminar hosted by James Beard Award-winning burger expert Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History.
The Kansas City Barbeque Society
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