KERA radio interview with Aaron Franklin 10/14/15

Heard this interview on the radio today and thought some of y'all might enjoy it.

http://www.kera.org/2015/10/14/the-baron-of-brisket/

Smokin' Blues and BBQ Fest in Duncanville, October 23rd and 24th CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER

UPDATE!  THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO HEAVY RAINS IN DFW.  THEY ARE TRYING TO RESCHEDULE FOR NOVEMBER 21.

https://smokinbluesbbqfest.com/

IBCA competition cook with proceeds from the festival going to a very good cause, the Texas Lions Camp in Kerrville, Texas.  They are still looking for more cook entries.  Take a minute and check out the video below to see what the charity is all about.  They have some great blues bands booked, too!  People's choice award sampling is included in festival tickets so every ticket gets you some BBQ, blues, and helps some kids!

Dallas Kosher BBQ Championship October 25th

http://dallaskosherbbq.com/championship/

Looks like a fun event and it is FREE!  Only 6 teams so far but lots of activities and it's FREE!

Smoked Dallas 10/3/15

The second annual Smoked Dallas was another fun time in a little pocket park in the middle of downtown Dallas.  As usual we bought VIP tickets well in advance.  The surprise was they were still available on the day of the event.  In fact, I showed up about 20 minutes before opening at 1 pm and we ended up 7th and 8th in line.  Is BBQ losing its cool?

This year's check in was much more organized than last year. Clearly they learned some lessons last year and everything ran much more smoothly.  About a quarter til  they came through, scanned tickets, attached wristbands, checked IDs for alcohol sales, and did security checks on bags. When the magic hour of 1 pm arrived, we went straight to the food with no waiting.  That was a nice change from last year where all the check ins happened during the VIP magic hour, not before.

We were first in line at Schmidt Family BBQ and got the first slices off a fresh brisket.  After that we wandered around to the BBQ booths gathering a couple of samples at a time then checking them out at the well placed tables near the booth.  We never had a problem finding a spot to chow down.

There were only 10 BBQ joints in attendance but the food was uniformly good.  Standouts to my taste were Black's brisket and garlic sausage, Schmidt Family's brisket, and Louie Mueller's always excellent jalapeno sausage.  Heim brought along some candied pork belly, which was an interesting diversion.  Not a single rib appeared, which seemed a little strange, but understandable when you can trim tiny samples of brisket, but a rib is a rib and a little tougher to divide.  Looking back at last year's event, only Hutchins had ribs.

In addition to the BBQ joints, there were a number of chefs with items that were neither smoked or BBQ.  Most I skipped, I got my fill with the excellent BBQ being served, but I did have to try a couple of items.  The fried quail did nothing for me but I did like the big shrimp and grits.  The shrimp seemed to be grilled, not smoked, but whatever it was, I do like shrimp.  The dessert from Haute Sweets was good enough I had to go back for seconds before they let in the general admission folks.

All in all it was a delicious day in a beautiful park with lots of places to sit in the shade and chow down some tasty Q.