Sunday at Hill Country...

Fantasy Football!

If for whatever reason you have to take fantasy football league preparation on the road, look no further. The Flatiron barbecue den is offering reserved tables, drafting boards, a huge screen and terrifying amounts of jalapeño cheese sausage to anyone engaging in the sport of would-be kings. (No, not water polo.)

Hill Country BBQ 30 West 26th Street NY, NY 10010

Campfire Cookoff in Central Park

From The Strong Buzz via Gary..

Campfire Cookoff in Central Park

If you haven’t been able to escape the city this summer, Backpacker Magazine, NYC Parks and Recreation, and Victorinox Swiss Army are taking you away to the great outdoors (via Central Park) this weekend as they host their annual Campfire Cooking Challenge.
Competing this year are three chefs from around the country who are taking their kitchens outside without hesitation: Tim Love (The Love Shack & Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Ft. Worth, TX), Melissa Perello (of the upcoming Frances in San Francisco, CA) and Chris Santos (The Stanton Social in New York City, NY).

Armed with only camping stoves, a cutting board, wild-grown produce, Victorinox Swiss Army cutlery, and a slim choice of proteins, these chefs will face off in a high-heat battle for title of King of the Campfire! Come out to the park and watch as the chefs are judged by chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, among others.

The Campfire Cookoff is free and will be held Saturday on Dead Road between the Bandshell at 72nd Street and Sheep Meadow in Central Park, NYC.

—Dara Levine

Contests: BBQsaucereview.com Giveaway

Sorry for the late post as this contest ends tomorrow, but check out BBQ Sauce Reviews. I love Mad Dog BBQ Sauce, even if the judges didn't when I used it in New Paltz last year, so I'm excited about this contest.

Here's the info copied right from their website...

I really love sauces that mix the mild with the mysterious, provide the sweet and a special treat, and add thrill to my grill. Sorry, I was just watching Captain Curt’s video again, and was caught up in a world of BBQ rhyme.

And if Captain Curt’s sauce represents the Don King of the BBQ sauce industry, then David Ashley’s Mad Dog sauces might be it’s James Taylor, with a fine story to tell and a clean, natural appearance. If you haven’t tried it, you’re missing out on a critical component of the BBQ sauce world - Mad Dog Sauces.

I reviewed Mad Dog Original back in April (here), and followed that up with Mad Dog Ultra Hot (here) a month later. All natural, high-quality ingredients, excellent stuff … It seems like every time I turn the page (on the web that is) I see that Mad Dog is winning another award.

Now is your chance to get two bottles for nothin!

Two lucky winners will each receive a two bottle sampler pack of (1) Mad Dog Original and (1) Mad Dog Ultra Hot.

Simple Contest Guidelines

• Comment on this post (on their website - not here at WhiteTrash BBQ) about anything - maybe say something nice about the sauce or this blog. Give me some new business ideas or something! Whatever! Just a comment will enter you.
• Enter a comment below by Sunday August 23rd.
• Winners will be chosen randomly via the Piper method and announced on Monday August 24th.
• If you are new to this site, please enter your name in the contests mailing list to be notified of contests in the future.

Thanks,

Brian

The Perfect Grill ... for a Cannibal

Now this is disturbing. From TMZ

The Perfect Grill ... for a Cannibal

Shared via AddThis

BBQ Events: Blues BBQ

Here's something to do this weekend. If I go, it'll be for the music. That may be a little harsh. I've never been to Mara's Homemade or Dallas Jones, but none of these places intrigue me. Nothing's intriguing me lately. I got them mid-summer time blues.

Blues BBQ

Pier 54 at W.14th St.

August 23, 2-9pm
Rain or shine!

Back for the 10th year, Hudson River Park’s annual Blues BBQ Festival brings the best Blues bands from across the country together with 4 of the 10 Best New York City BBQ restaurants (2008 Citysearch) for a fantastic summer day on the river. This feast for your senses brings you the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a true southern BBQ experience!

2009 line-up:
2:30 Eden Brent
3:45 Homemade Jamz Blues Band
5:00 Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater
6:15 Diunna Greenleaf
7:30 Michael Burks

Restaurants:
Brother Jimmy's BBQ, Dallas Jones Bar-B-Q, Dinosaur Bar Be Que, Mara's Homemade

Firemen Grilling

Now this one has my wife excited. According to my wife, it is a known fact that NYC firemen are some of the hottest men in the world and on Tuesday, August 25, 2009, you can come and hang out with the boys at the Fairway Firefighters Food Face-Off. Before you let your imagination run away, it's a grilling challenge.

Donning aprons, caps, spatulas, and basting brushes, rather than their traditional gear, hoses and axes, teams of NYC’S firefighters will compete in Fairway’s Firefighters Food Face-Off, a grilling “throwdown,” on Tuesday, August 25 at noon in parking lot of Fairway’s corporate headquarters at 2284 12th Avenue at 126th Street.

The firefighters will cook their best ribs, burgers and a dish using a secret ingredient that will be unveiled at the contest. A panel of judges, including Mitchel London, Fairway’s Chef de Cuisine and Regina Schrambling, food writer extraordinaire, will determine a winner and a runner-up.

The event will benefit the FDNY Foundation which is the official not-for-profit of the FDNY established to promote Fire Safety in New York City and the professional development, training, and education of members of the FDNY.

Fairway has a long-standing commitment to firefighters, exemplified after the 9/11 tragedy, when Fairway adopted local firehouses and supplied food for them throughout the search and clean-up process and by the special shopping discount they receive at Fairway’s five locations.

The public is welcome and will be treated to samples of all the food prepared for the competition.

What: Fairway Firefighters Food Face-Off (Grilling Challenge)
When: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 from 12 Noon – 1 p.m.
Where: Parking Lot of Fairway Market 2284 12th Avenue at 126th Street, Manhattan

Photo of the fireman courtesy of On Point Publishing. You can see more of FDNY's best at their website here.

Ryan's Story

Here's the full story on Ryan's death. The one thing that is wrong in the story, is that Ryan did not have a history of seizures. His last seizure was when he was 7 years old.

Ryan's Story

R.I.P Ryan Barrett

I just heard the tragic news that Ryan's body has been recovered. Please pray for this family and all who are suffering.

Missing Child

Everyone please pray or send out some good thoughts to Ryan Barrett, who is slightly autistic and missing from a camping trip with his father and a bunch of other fathers and sons. Ryan's been missing since yesterday afternoon from approximately 5:00 PM until now.

While you're at it, send out some prayers and good thoughts to his family and the team of searchers too! They'll need all the help they can get.

I can't imagine what it would be like to loose a child. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say.

Updates will be taking place on Ryan's mother's website, Tales From the Bonnie Blue House.

Thanks everyone!

BBQ Recipes: Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon Peach BBQ Sauce

Here's a recipe that I tried last night. I'm sorry that I didn't take any pictures, but the fine folks at Old Bay did. I love Old Bay and I use it on pork and chicken all the time. A little bit of advice folks, just because an ingredient is traditionally tied to one type of food, in this case Old Bay traditionally is used with sea food, don't be afraid to try it with something else. You might be surprised at the results.

This grilled pork was some good eating, but the sauce was a bit too sweet. Next time I'd cut the peach preserves by about 1/3. Enjoy.

OLD BAY® serves double duty as the savory secret in this recipe developed by Chef Tory McPhail of Commanders Palace in New Orleans, Louisiana. The special blend of spices jazzes up the grilled tenderloin as well as the Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce for an easy-to-make delight.

Ingredients:

2 pork tenderloins (about 2 pounds)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 tablespoon OLD BAY® Seasoning

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce:

1 cup peach preserves

1/4 cup bourbon

1/4 cup ketchup

1 1/2 teaspoons OLD BAY® Seasoning

Directions:

Rub pork with oil, then season with 1 tablespoon OLD BAY and garlic.

Barbecue Sauce: Mix preserves, bourbon, ketchup and 1 1/2 teaspoons OLD BAY in small bowl.

Grill pork over medium heat 25 to 30 minutes or until desired doneness. Brush with sauce during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Special for Two

Last night my wife and daughter and I, hit the King's Plaza Diner for dinner. It's a really cool old school diner, one of the few left in Brooklyn. Dinner starts with a relish tray, then pickles and assorted crudites, soup or salad, entree, dessert and coffee. Dinner last night even included an old school waitress who called me "Hun" all night. It was great.

Now if you know anything about old school diners, you know that the menu must have at least 500 different selections, from a mozzarella omelet (which my daughter had) to King's Plaza Paella for two, which my wife and I split. The trick with the old school diners is that even though they offer 500 different items, everyone of them has to be good and the portions plentiful

I never saw paella on the menu before and I was a little skeptical; even the waitress had to check the menu to verify it was there, but let me tell you, it was good. KP didn't disappoint.

As you can see from the picture above, it's hardly paella in the loosest sense of the word. But the dish did have rice, chicken, lobster, clams, shrimp, scallops, roasted peppers, peas and carrots. Once you dropped the paella reference and thought of this dish as a "chicken and rice" dish, it was really, really good. There wasn't any "Spanish seasonings" in this dish, but it was well flavored with the tasted of chicken and shellfish. I can't wait to try it again.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

BBQ Meats: Sograte BBQ and Beef Jerky

I've been using Twitter for some time now, and I have to say I really haven't figured out how to use it to my advantage. When I first started so many of the tweets were absolutely useless information. Tweets like "I'm at the park" or "Just back from dinner. Yum" seemed to dominate when I first signed up.

Now it seems that the twits are getting focused. About a month ago there was a tweet from Sograte offering free samples of his all natural hickory smoked beef jerky to anyone who responded. I don't know how many others responded, but I know a good offer when I see it. I jumped on it.

About a week later two bags of jerky arrived in my mailbox. I was expecting small sample packages, but Sograte sent two full 3oz bags of jerky! Nice.

My "samples" were a bag of "Black Pepper Beef Jerky" and "Texas Heat." Both were large strips of beef very unlike the commercial processed foods available in all the 7-11's across the US. This beef jerky is dry, but pliable and obviously made from quality meat and spices.

Both were very flavorful and addictive. I first sampled the jerky with a former vegan. She enjoyed it so much that I had to stop her before she consumed both bags. I wanted to take some home for the family! That night the family and I finished it off.

Both jerkys have some heat but oddly, the "Black Pepper Beef Jerky" was spicier than the "Texas Heat." I loved the slight smokiness flavor to the jerky. After eating tons of BBQ in my life, smoke taste is very important to me. I could tell that this smoke was the real deal; no chemcial liquid smoke flavor here. Sograte is one of the few manufacturers that makes its jerky over a live hickory smokehouse fire.

So to Sograte - thanks for the outstanding beef jerky. And to you my faithful readers, go buy some! It's available online here. Trust me, this is good stuff.

Off the Track

This post has absolutely nothing to do with barbecue, live fire cooking, cooking, food or even eating. We'll return to that tomorrow, but today, it's a little lecture.

Take care of your eyes folks! They're the only ones you'll ever have.

Friday my two kids and I went to the local ophthalmologist for an exam. As you may know, my daughter is diabetic so she goes to the ophthalmologist every year. My son, told us that his vision was getting a little fuzzy and I was due for a new prescription as well and hadn't been to a real eye doctor in about 20 years, so we had a little family bonding time at the eye doctor's office.

I've never had such a thorough exam in my life. The doctor first saw us at 11:00 AM, and we didn't leave until about 3:30! Our eyes were checked for vision, dryness, spacial acumen, glaucoma and God knows whatever else. They performed tests I didn't even know existed. Results were mixed, as one condition has appeared that needs to be monitored for the next year. I'm glad we went a professional!

No disrespect for the guys at the mall, but sometimes you just gotta go to the pros. Need to know the difference between an Ophthalmologist, Optician, and Optometrist? Click here. It answered my questions.

Take care of your eyes folks.

BBQ Events: First Friday Blues

There's a barbecue joint in New York City, actually there's two them, who get no respect. They're the Waterfront Ale House in Manhattan and Pete's Ale House in Brooklyn.

They're both run by my friend and fellow competitor Sam Barbieri who also happens to be the pit master for the Fuggedaboutit BBQ team, supporter of New York's only sanctioned bbq contest, Grillin' On The Bay, and a damn fine cook.

The reason that both the Waterfront Ale House and Pete's Ale House get no respect in the barbecue community is that they're primarily bars with a full menu but with a limited amount of barbecue being served. But, to use some old New York slang, the barbeque they serve is choice. They offer pulled pork, 14 hour smoked brisket, chicken and award winning barbecue spare ribs. What more can one want?

And what could go better with barbeque than blues? Every first Friday it's The First Friday Blues Show at the Waterfront Ale House in Manhattan. The party starts at 11:00 PM. This month the band is The Black Coffee Blues Band. See you there!

Wordless Wednesday Even Tho It's Thursday

Beef rib at Daisy May's BBQ USA

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Big Lou Gives Up Secrets To Winning Gourmet Category At The Feedbag Burger Summit

Josh Ozerksy, friend, competitor and restaraunt editor over at The Feedbag recently posted a great video of Big Lou Elrose, friend, competitor and pit master over at Wildwood BBQ presenting his award winning burger.

You should try this burger. I tell you, the burger is easily the best thing on the menu over at Wildwood!

Check it out here...
Big Lou Gives Up Secrets To Winning Gourmet Category At The Feedbag Burger Summit

Posted using ShareThis

BBQ Equipment: The Auspit

I was recently given an exclusive demo of the Auspit and I'm intrigued. What is an Auspit? Well, "AuspitTM is an easily portable stand-alone battery-powered rotisserie system from Australia that can be used from the mountains to the beach to your backyard, serving five-star meals to 1-16 people at a time. The motor runs for over 90 hours on just two D-sized batteries, and the spit can handle up to 18 pounds of mouth-watering meats, vegetables, etc. -- you name it!"

I really like this little rotisserie. Simple, clean, and it works as advertised. It uses very little fuel and cooks like a machine 10 times its size. The Auspit breaks down and packs away into a small duffel bag and cleans up in minutes. The standard version retails for $139 and the all stainless sells for $172. You can check out their website here.

I wonder if I can get my kids to get me one for my birthday?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry. Sorry for the poor quality of the photographs. I forgot to take my camera with me that day.

Popular

I know what's like to be popular.

Royal Oak continues its dominance of the Brooklyn charcoal market, but look; it's been joined by an upstart.

On another note - dinner tonight at Daisy May's with the New York BBQ Lover's Meetup Group.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry