Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boy

Photo: Daily News

You may have recently seen your favorite blogger written up in the The New York Daily News with his Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boy Recipe. The article rightly focused on Grillin' On The Bay, New York's only sanctioned BBQ Contest, but they wanted a recipe from your's truly to give the piece a more human touch. They wanted something simple and not very complex. So on the morning of the photo shoot, I came up with a quick recipe for Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boys.

I thought my recipe was very straight forward and simple, but the powers that be at the Daily News proclaimed the original recipe far too complex for the average reader. They then claimed it was much too long for the allocated space in the paper. "You're giving me 6 inches. I can only handle 2." said Ben Chapman, the uncredited author of the news article. Leaving all sexual innuendo aside, we chopped up the recipe, changed ingredients and removed enough steps so that Ben could handle it. It didn't change the final product too much but the original is much better.

Since you're all barbecue cooks or aspiring barbecue cooks, I assume you can handle the true unedited, full of obscure and hard to find ingredients, uncensored recipe. Here's the real deal.

Photo of the original recipe courtesy of the New York Daily News.

Grilled Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boys (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1lb sweet luganiga (Portuguese sausage) or your favorite link sausage
• 1lb jumbo shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
• 1 cup limeaide
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
• Baby Lettuce
• Mayonaise
• Chopped sundried tomatoes in oil.
• 6 - 6" crusty Italian rolls
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cooking Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil and limeaide. When emulsified, whisk in the garlic, Old Bay, salt and pepper. Add shrimp. Marinate shrimp for one to two hours. Do not marinate for more than 2 hours or the acid in the limeaide will begin to cook the shrimp.

Prepare a charcoal fire. When the fire is hot, grill the sausage until cooked through, approximately 15 minutes. Set aside. Drain shrimp from marinade. Do not dry them. Grill shrimp until pink and opaque for approximately 3 minutes per side. Do not over cook.Set shrimp aside. Slice bread to open, grill bread approximately one minute.

To assemble the sandwich. Put mayo on one side of the roll. Top with baby lettuce. Cut sausage into slices. Alternatively place sausage and shrimp on the lettuce. Top with chopped sun dried tomatoes. Serve.

Grillin' On The Bay & The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown

Grillin' On The Bay 2011

Saturday March 26, 2011

To benefit St. Mark School Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sponsored by RUB BBQ and Yelp!

Corner of East 18th Street and Avenue Z, Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn
Four Grilling Categories: Chicken, Beef, Pork Ribs and Chef's Choice
$75 to $125 to Enter
Cook for cash and fabulous prizes!

and

The Brooklyn Chili Smack Down
A People's Choice Chili Contest
Any type of Chili you want to make. -- You call it Chili - We call it Chili
Free to Enter to cook and $100 to the winner!

For the non-competitors out there..

$10 All the Chili you can eat - until it runs out!

Food Available starting at 11:00am -- Chili Tasting begins at 1:00PM

BBQ, Beer, non-alcoholic beverages and other food stuff 
available for purchase!

For more information: Email BrooklynQ or call 917-763-5062

This contest is not affiliated with the Kansas City Barbeque Society or any Chili Contest Sanctioning body.

And Now For Something Completely Different: The Mind Kitchen

I mentioned earlier that I was a guest on one of New York's most incredibly hip and underground radio shows, The Mind Kitchen. Well, it's finally available on line.

On this episode of Mind Kitchen Matt Timms sits down Robert Fernandez of Grillin' on the Bay BBQ Contest, painter and fine artist Matthew Langland and John Hoppin, musician and bigwig at Heritage Foods USA. Don't miss this special Iron Maiden-laden, prize-packed episode of the greatest game show ever to take place entirely within your mind. This episode was sponsored by Barterhouse: one of NYC's best importers of wine.

This was a real blast. (Do the kids still say blast?) I had a great time dishing up one of the most, shall we say exotic, meals in my repertoire. Have a listen here.

Wordless Wednesday: AlwaysHungry at Grillin' On The Bay

Take a look at this post by Always Hungry that features some of the outstanding foods at Grillin' On The Bay this year. They even have some shots of The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown. This was one hell of a day!

AlwaysHungry—AlwaysPartying: Grillin’ On the Bay

Posted using ShareThis

Grillin' On The Bay 2010

Some pictures from NY BBQ Lover's Meetup Group founder Kevin Lincoln of Grillin' On The Bay 2010. I really love these pictures. You get a real feel for what the day was like while not focusing on the food.

Clint Cantwell from Smoke in da Eye

Brother Mark BBQ

An unknown cook working his meat

The Two Fat Pollacks returned to the circuit at Grillin' On The Bay. Hey, where's the meat?

Doug Kieles from Ribs Within gets grilled by the media. Get it? Grilled? I'm such a card.

More pictures, including pictures of food, comments and links to come.

GOTB Blues

You wanna save humanity
But it's people that you just can't stand
- John Lennon

So my friends, Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is just 5 days away. I'm really looking forward to this year's event, we've got some outstanding cooks coming to The Bay, but frankly, I'm ready for it be over. Putting together an event is hard work.

The day will be fantastic. The food outstanding. The camaraderie of the barbecue community always revitalizes my soul. Kathie Dakai and Michele Taft are our reps from The New England BBQ Society this year, so I know this will be an extremely well run contest.

In the Brooklyn Chili Smackdown we have cooks from Virgil's BBQ, RUB BBQ, Wildwood BBQ, Porchetta Restaurant, Bourbon BBQ, The Waterfront Ale House, from some award winning BBQ teams like I Smell Smoke and iQue and a ton of others. Get ready for 36 different chilies for you to enjoy.

Beer is being provided by The Chelsea Brewing Company and RUB BBQ will be vending its award winning barbecue. There's going to be some seriously good eating on Saturday!

But right now, I'm worn out. Every year putting together GOTB, I face various obstacles and I always seem to find a way around them. Two years ago, I tried to transform Grillin' On The Bay into a two day full blown competitive barbecue contest but was almost completely derailed when our location pulled out after 10 months of negotiations. Last year, The Kansas City Barbecue Society tried to kill the contest for allegedly using their rules without paying them the proper tribute. Under pressure from KCBS, the reps quit one week before the contest, which almost delivered a fatal blow. Thank God that the New England BBQ Society stepped up and saved the day.

And this year, it seems that the beneficiary of the event, St. Mark School is trying to kill the event with simple and almost complete incompetence. (Take a look at their website - I think it was last updated 3 years ago!)

Grillin' On The Bay is put together by an incredibly small staff of people. We need to rely on volunteers from the school to make this day happen. When GOTB was first started, the school and the sports association had some incredible volunteers. These people were dedicated to improving the school, raising money for the kids and making life better for everyone involved. Sure, there were egos, but overall everyone worked for the common good. Now, not so much. The glory seekers are rampant, the workers are far and few between. The screw ups happen almost daily and I wonder, why do they make it so difficult to raise money for the school.

I stop sometimes and wonder why is it so hard now, when it was relatively easy when it first started. I know the answer and much of the difficulty comes down to the actions of just one man, who wasn't in the picture before. He routinely abuses his position on the staff of St. Mark, so much so that he sucks the joy out of doing any sort of volunteer work for the parish. The people he surrounds himself with are incompetent, dishonest, obstructionist and just plain lazy. After the contest I'll fill you in on all the details, but right now I'm tired of thinking about them.

It always comes to this at one point or another. I'm worn out, so I guess I just need to vent. I'm ready to just enjoy the day surrounded by wood fired smoke and to eat some barbecue.

Trust me, this is by far the premiere food event in Southern Brooklyn. The day will go off without a hitch and you'll have a fantastic time. I hope to see you there. You need to be there.

Grilin' On The Bay - An Update

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is currently taking up all my free time. Not that I mind. It's less than a month away and as of today we have commitments from 22 teams. We max out at 30 and I think we're going to hit that mark. That would be fantastic.

The teams are a nice mix of competitive barbecue veterans, newbies and some of New York's top restaurants. It seems that even the non-bbq centric chefs want the chance to play with live fire in Brooklyn. If you're thinking about competing - GET YOUR APPLICATION IN NOW. Don't get shut out. You can download the team application here.

With that many teams signed on, we're still looking for judges. Certified BBQ judges get preference, but if you're a foodie with a good palate and feel that you could judge the food as presented without any pre-existing notions, we'd love to hear from you. Download the judge's application and drop it in the mail. We'll let you know if you've been selected to judge this amazing event.

And of course, we still have room for Chili cooks. The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is a huge part of this event and attracts cooks from all over. Unlike the barbecue portion of the event, the chili does not need to be cooked on-site. Make it at home and schlep it to Sheepshead Bay. We'll have volunteers a plenty to help you heat it up and present it at the contest. You can download the chili cook's application here. Remember, The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is a "people's choice" contest, so bring your friends to vote for your amazing chili!

Yelp! has just signed on as a sponsor and RUB BBQ will be vending their award winning barbecue at the event. We're still seeking out sponsors and working on building the prize pool. If you're interesting in sponsoring the event, drop us a note at Grilin' On The Bay and we'll talk.

Grillin' On The Bay Rules Debate

This post didn't start out to be about contest rules, but it has evolved into one. It was supposed to be about putting Griilin' On The Bay together, but sometimes you just have to follow the flow. So rather than a long rambling post about putting the event together and incorporating some of the discussion about interpreting rules, here's a post concentrating on the cook's reactions and discussions about the rules of Grilin' On The Bay and grilling contests in general.

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is officially announced to the public. Grillin' On the Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is out there in the wild. It's on the web, it's on a few news sites, a bunch of foodie sites, The NEBS calendar and as a friend over at Sheepshead Bites says, "In our world, things are only official when banners go public." Well, the banners are flying. I guess it's too late to turn back now.

As anyone who's ever thrown a party knows, there's that moment after the invitations are sent when you wonder if anyone is going to show. There's a deafening silence that could drive one nuts!

Then, when you least expect it, the phone calls start. People do want to come. There are always some congratulatory phone calls, but being the pessimist I seem to have become, these fade quickly from my brain and the questions from the cooks start. "Why'd you pick this date?" "This location?" "These categories?" "On rule 14 - do you mean?" "If I submit X, will it be legal?" "Why did you rule out X but not Y"?"

The only question I'll answer here, since it's not the official site for Grillin' On The Bay or The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is I ruled out X and not Y because it's my contest and I don't like X. You know who I'm talking to.

It amazes me how the cooks interpret the rules and are always looking for the loopholes. It's always a small handful but it's usually the same cooks who are always looking for that competitive edge. It may be my Catholic school upbringing, but I was raised to accept a set of rules and find ways to work and succeed within them. There are conversations about the "letter of the rule" and the "intent of the rule" to the extent that you'd think we're arguing life and death here. It's only a cooking contest. It's supposed to be fun.

These guys - wow. Not that there's anything wrong with looking for any legal advantage, but these guys could argue forever. They would have made some great lawyers. I know I'd hire them. I certainly respect their determination.

A few years ago, long before Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown existed, there was a contest where it was debated if using Worcestershire sauce on a fish entry was in violation of the "one type of fish only" rule at that event since Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. I don't want to open a can of old worms, but to me this is common sense. Worcestershire sauce should be legal. No one I know would swallow a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce and exclaim, "Now that's some good anchovies!" Sauce is sauce and fish is fish.

Here's the rule of fish for Grillin' On The Bay 2010..

Fish: Whole, steak or fillet. No shellfish, mollusk or crustaceans. Fish may be cooked whole, but must be submitted in 6 separate and identifiable pieces. Teams have the option to use stuffing. The fish entry can not be stuffed with additional fish, shellfish, crustacean or mollusk. See stuffing definitions below.

GARNISH - Only green leaf lettuce, Italian or flat leaf parsley and curly parsley. Entry may not be wrapped with another item, (i.e. meat or pastry dough). Sauces, if used, shall be on the entry. No sauce containers are allowed. Chunks in any sauce must be finely diced. For NEBS purposes, ‘finely diced’ is defined as less than 1/8 inch in size. Additional edible products, of any kind, in the sauce are OK as long as these products are finely diced.

Inedible objects are NOT allowed in the entry box.

Pretty clear huh? I think so, but what do I know? I wrote them. Some folks think this is clear as mud. Even now when I look at the rule, new opportunities present themselves for the cooks. I don't want to give anyone any ideas, but boy this rule is a lot more "open" than I ever realized.

But the questions are good things. If there were no questions, that would mean there's no interest. So let the questions fly! I hope to see you there.

Grillin' On The Bay - The Truth - Really

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 Square Barnes 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.

Grillin' On The Bay - The Beginings

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.

The Making of a Barbecue Contest

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.

Suicide Food?

Check out this amazing website called Suicide Food. It's an interesting and sarcastic take on how many food stuff logos show animals happily marching off to death, killing themselves, serving up their companions for your consumption or simply refusing to dominate the world. I don't know if the author is a vegetarian or not, but his snarky comments are usually right on and dead ass funny.

It also pokes fun at most of the competitive barbecue team's logos! I know of just about all these logos and the legendary teams behind them. At least half of Suicide Food is dedicated to the art of the barbecue team logo.

They don't forget all the barbecue contest logos as well. My own Grillin' On The Bay, New York City's only sanctioned barbecue contest received the Suicide Food treatment...

"Case in point, this pig. He could rampage through Sheepshead Bay kaiju-style, leaving carnage and bloodshed in his wake. He could fill the people with a fear so toxic it would haunt their hearts forever. Or, he could walk away from the monstrous grill constructed for him. But he doesn't.

He just hunkers down, a bemused smile on his face, comfortable in the knowledge that his cooked flesh will feed many."

Yes, Grillin' On The Bay does feed many! Be sure to come check it out on March 27, 2010 right here in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn. That's in New York City! Teams and judges are signing up now.

BBQ Contests: Sayville Fall Festival

This contest is presented by RUB Restaurant - you know the same fine folks who sponsor Grillin' On The Bay - NYC's only sanctioned event, which will be on March 27, 2010. The winner of the Sayville Fall Festival Grilling contest will recieve an automatic entry into Grillin' On The Bay 2010. I hope we get someone new! Good luck everyone.

The RUB Rapid Fire Challenge

A couple of days before the event, our sponsor RUB BBQ with Pat LaFrieda Meats put together a new challenge for the teams; The Rub Rapid Fire Challenge. At the last turn in for Grilin' On The Bay, the chef's choice category, the cooks were given a mystery protein to cook and submit to a new team of judges.

It was indeed a challenge as our cooks were presented with an untrimmed prime hangar steak for the protein and judged by Andrew Fischel, Scott Smith, both of RUB BBQ, Nick Solares of Serious Eats and Gary Goldblatt of Pigtrip.

The Rub Rapid Fire Challenge Top 10 Results:
10. Josh Ozersky
9. Ma's Cue Crew
8. Smoke On The Water
7. Eat A Donut
6. Ribs Within
5. Purple Turtle Caterers
4. Wildwood BBQ
3. Porkaholics
2. Smoke In Da Eye
1. iQue

Grillin On The Bay - The Results

Thanks to everyone for coming out. It was a hell of wicked windy day down by the bay. These are the top 10 results in the grilling competition. I'll post the rest in the next couple of days.

Grillin On The Bay: Chicken
10.Smoke In Da Eye
9. Smoke On The Water
8. Eat A Donut
7. Purple Turtle Caterers
6. Transformer BBQ
5. Porkaholics
4. Ma' Cue Crew
3. Wildwood BBQ
2. iQue
1. Ribs Within

Grilin' On The Bay: Fish
10. Eat A Donut
9. Team Agave
8. Smoke On The Water
7. Porkaholics
6. Purple Turtle Caterers
5. Pearl Lee Q's
4. Wildwood BBQ
3. Transformer BBQ
2. iQUe
1. Ribs Within

Grillin' On The Bay: Pork
10. Wildwood BBQ
9. Beer Belly Porkers
8. Eat A Donut
7. Pearl Lee Q's
6. iQue
5. Smoke In Da Eye
4. Purple Turtle Caterers
3. Ribs Within
2. Team Agave
1. Transformer BBQ

Grillin' On The Bay: Chef's Choice
10. Ribs Within
9. Smoke In Da Eye
8. Ma's Que Crew
7. Pearl Lee Q's
6. Smoke On The Water
5. Beer Belly Porkers
4. Team Agave
3. Porkaholics
2. Transformer BBQ
1. Wildwood BBQ

Grillin' On The Bay Overall
10. Ma's Cue Crew
9. Porkaholics
8. Pearl Lee Q's
7. Team Agave
6. Smoke On The Water
5. Purple Turtle
4. IQue
3. Ribs Within
2. Wildwood BBQ
1. Transformer BBQ

Grillin' On The Bay

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smack Down

Sponsored by RUB BBQ and Butternuts Beer and Ale with

The RUB Rapid Fire Challenge
Sponsored by Pat LeFrieda Meat and RUB BBQ

Saturday, April 4th, 20009
Corner of East 18th Street and Ave Z Brooklyn, NY
11:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Free Admission. $10 for all the chili you can eat.
BBQ, Beer and other food items for sale.

It's an incredible line up of cooks this year.

• Smoke In Da Eye - Defending Champion!
• Purple Turtle Caterers - Returning Champions from the first Grillin' On The Bay.
• Beer Belly Porkers
• iQue featuring Andy O. C. Husbands of the award winning Tremont647
• Ribs Within
• King's County BBQ Truck
• Josh Ozersky of the Feedbag formerly of Grub Street with Shane McBride of Craft Steak
  
• Wildwood BBQ featuring Big Lou Elrose with Robbie Richter, former Pitmaster of Hill Country
  
• Moose's Mayhem
• Atom's Ribs featuring Matt Fisher, former Pitmaster of Wildwood BBQ NYC
• Team Agave
• Ma's Cue Crew
• Transformer BBQ
• Smoke On The Water
• Porkaholics
• Rb's BBQ
• Pearl Lee Q's
• Eat A Donut

And some wild entertainment from Cirque Du Soleil. I don't know what they've got planned, but I'm sure it will be fun. The New England Barbecue Society is sanctioning this event.

Additional sponsors include Grill Charms, The Waterfront Ale House, Andrews McMeel Publishing and Carrie Bachman Public Relations

This going to be a great day. I hope to see all of you there.

Gillin' On The Bay AND The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown - An Update

Grillin' On The Bay And The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown is approaching rapidly. April 4, 2009. It looks like this is going to be a great event with some real heated competition amongst some very talented cooks.

Here's the list of the grillin' teams that are signed on as of today. If you're thinking of cooking, Get your application in soon. Space is limited and just about gone.

• Smoke In Da Eye - Defending Champion!


• Purple Turtle Caterers - Returning Champions from the first Grillin' On The Bay.


• Beer Belly Porkers


• iQue featuring Andy O. C. Husbands of the award winning Tremont647


• Ribs Within


• Smokey Mikes


• Fire Fish


• Bay Burners


• King's County BBQ Truck


• Josh Ozersky of the Feedbag formerly of Grub Street with Robbie Richter, former Pitmaster of Hill Country


• Born Again BBQ featuring Kevin Lincoln founder of the New York BBQ Lover's Meetup Group


• Moose's Mayhem


• Atom's Ribs featuring Matt Fisher, former Pitmaster of Wildwood BBQ NYC


• Team Agave


• Ma's Cue Crew


• Transformer BBQ


• Smoke On The Water

Grilling Competitions

A new barbecue competition season is coming quickly to the North East. The first competition of the season in New York and New England is the Snowshoe Grilling Contest held up in Abington, MA. I'm not able to attend this year, but I have judged this event a few times. The Taft's do a fantastic job with this contest and if you're anywhere near the Abington VFW on March 21, be sure to check it out. It's sold out in terms of cookers, but I'm sure there will be lots of food and drink available to the public.

Right on the heels of The Snowshoe, comes New York City's only grilling and barbecue contest, Grillin' On the Bay which is being held on April 4 in Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn. Readers of this blog know that I am one of the organizers of this event. It raises money for St. Mark School and is a really fun time. This year we've added a separate contest, the Brooklyn Chili Smack Down which should be very interesting to say the least.

Almost a month later, on May 5th The Oyster Bay Railroad Museum hosts Smoke N' Steam. No website that I can find, but you can contact Ben Jankowski for information. I've never cooked this contest, but if the cards align, I might this year. I'd really like too. Oyster Bay is one of the prettiest towns on Long Island.

Actually all three of these contests are related. The Smoke n' Steam was inspired by Grillin' On The Bay and Grillin' On The Bay in turn was inspired by The Snowshoe. Maybe all three of us should get together and set up some sort of crown for the team that does the best at all three events. Michelle? Ben? What do you think?

After that the season really begins with contests all throughout the North East. I just sent in my application for my favorite event, The Hudson Valley Ribfest. The Harpoon Championships just got the OK from the wife. Things are looking good. Get your grill on!

And a little house keeping, dinner last night was a turkey sandwich on white bread. I was fighting a stomach virus and it was the only thing that I could get down yesterday. Cooking will resume soon.

Grillin' On The Bay and The Brooklyn Chili Smackdown

It's back and better than ever!

Grillin' On The Bay 2009

To benefit St. Mark School Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
Sanctioned by The New England Barbeque Society
Sponsored by RUB BBQ and Butternuts Beer and Ale
Saturday April 4, 2009

Corner of East 18th Street and Avenue Z, Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn
Four Grilling Categories: Chicken Breast, Fish, Pork and Chef's Choice
$75 to $125 to Enter - Cash and Fabulous Prizes
and
The Brooklyn Chili Smack Down
People's Choice Chili Contest
Any type of Chili you want to make.
You call it Chili - WE call it Chili

Free to Enter
$100 to the winner!
$10 All the Chili you can eat - Till it runs out!

For more information: Web: GOTB Email BrooklynQ or call 917-763-5062
This contest is not affiliated with the Kansas City Barbeque Society or any Chili Contest Sanctioning body.

Grillin' On The Bay: The Results

Here's the full results of Grillin' On The Bay. I'm off to work, but will post more information later. Thank you to everyone who cooked, judged, repped and sponsored the event. A big thank you to RUB BBQ for being our major sponsor, without whom this event would never have taken place.

Chef's Choice

1. Transformers BBQ
2. Smoke in Da Eye
3. Better BBQ Bureau
4. Real Deal BBQ
5. Beer Belly Porkers
6. Purple Turtle Catering

Pork

1. Smoke in Da Eye
2. Better BBQ Bureau
3. Beer Belly Porkers
4. Real Deal BBQ
5. Transformers BBQ
6. Purple Turtle Catering

Fish

1. Transformers BBQ
2. Real Deal BBQ
3. Smoke in Da Eye
4. Better BBQ Bureau
5. Beer Belly Porkers
6. Purple Turtle Catering

Chicken Breast

1. Better BBQ Bureau
2. Smoke in Da Eye
3. Transformers BBQ
4. Beer Belly Porkers
5. Purple Turtle Catering
6. Real Deal BBQ

Overall Ranking

1. Smoke in Da Eye............629.7138
2. Better BBQ Bureau........629.1428
3. Transformer BBQ...........615.4276
4. Real Deal BBQ................ 600.0000
5. Beer Belly Porkers..........593.1420
6. Purple Turtle Catering...531.4278