Monday, September 24, 2012
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Drat. Then Yum!
Despite best laid plans we find out Franklin's is closed all next week. Drat! I guess I'll just have to settle on eating my fill at the third annual Texas Monthly BBQ Festival.
However to make me feel better, my Mrs made pie. I do feel better.
However to make me feel better, my Mrs made pie. I do feel better.
Friday, September 14, 2012
You snooze, you lose
Well, I had great plans to grab some Meat Fight tickets for Scott and I this morning when I got up. Unfortunately I spent a little too much time dreaming of BBQ and not enough time getting up to buy tickets. By the time I hit their website they were sold out. Oh well, I'll just have to make do with a freezer full of Aaron Franklin's brisket, if my buddy Dave can work his magic next weekend. He gets up early. Got my fingers crossed!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Wanna be on a BBQ TV show? Here's your chance
Got this e-mail through my blog and they said to share it so here it is! Looks like they're mainly looking for cooks and restaurants rather than just eaters like me, but good luck to YOU! Click on the letter for a larger view.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Bedford Blues and BBQ 2012
sampled September 2, 2012
This was my third KCBS judging stint at the annual Bedford Blues and BBQ Festival. As there are not many KCBS events in Texas, this is billed as the KCBS Texas State Championship. This year there were 59 cooks competing, up a bit from the 51 last year. We had plenty of judges present, I'd guess about 60 or so. The judges meeting kicked off at 10:30 am with the usual instructions, CD, and the BBQ oath. The food began to arrive at noon and continued non-stop til 3:30 pm. Overall, I was disappointed with the quality of the entries I sampled this year. I had one piece of chicken which was exceptional, but the ribs, brisket and pulled pork were all very average. Discussions with the other judges after we had turned in our score cards showed I was not alone in that evaluation.
After the 4 main meats, about 2/3 of the judges departed, and us hardcore types stuck around to try sides, sauce and desserts. Since we had a much smaller judging crew left, they split us up on sauce and beans and our table received 10 samples of sauce. Again, several were "OK", but nothing stood out, except in a negative way! One, I swear, was just ketchup. Maybe one of the cooks was just screwing with us, but I don't think there was anything in that cup but store brand ketchup! Another was so thick it was gelled and laid on my plate in a pile! A pile of sauce. Ick. I wish I could have taken a photo of that, but we're not allowed to take pictures of entries. Potato salad was up next and this was one of the better categories of the day. The fact that a sponsor had kicked in a $1000 prize probably helped that a bit. The one that stood out to me had bits of bacon and grilled shrimp. Yum! Desserts were last and as they came in there were oohs and ahhhs from the judges. We were even lobbying for specific entries, "Hey, we wanna judge that cake!" Some of them really looked great. We ended up with only two dessert entries to judge at our table, and the standout was a peanut butter cream chocolate cheese cake. It was as good as it sounds.
I left a full and happy man after a fun afternoon of sampling some pretty good food with some really nice folks. Once again the facilities at Bedford were great. We dined in air-conditioned comfort and the KCBS staff did a great job of running the fast moving events. I hope to be back for number 4 next year!
This was my third KCBS judging stint at the annual Bedford Blues and BBQ Festival. As there are not many KCBS events in Texas, this is billed as the KCBS Texas State Championship. This year there were 59 cooks competing, up a bit from the 51 last year. We had plenty of judges present, I'd guess about 60 or so. The judges meeting kicked off at 10:30 am with the usual instructions, CD, and the BBQ oath. The food began to arrive at noon and continued non-stop til 3:30 pm. Overall, I was disappointed with the quality of the entries I sampled this year. I had one piece of chicken which was exceptional, but the ribs, brisket and pulled pork were all very average. Discussions with the other judges after we had turned in our score cards showed I was not alone in that evaluation.
After the 4 main meats, about 2/3 of the judges departed, and us hardcore types stuck around to try sides, sauce and desserts. Since we had a much smaller judging crew left, they split us up on sauce and beans and our table received 10 samples of sauce. Again, several were "OK", but nothing stood out, except in a negative way! One, I swear, was just ketchup. Maybe one of the cooks was just screwing with us, but I don't think there was anything in that cup but store brand ketchup! Another was so thick it was gelled and laid on my plate in a pile! A pile of sauce. Ick. I wish I could have taken a photo of that, but we're not allowed to take pictures of entries. Potato salad was up next and this was one of the better categories of the day. The fact that a sponsor had kicked in a $1000 prize probably helped that a bit. The one that stood out to me had bits of bacon and grilled shrimp. Yum! Desserts were last and as they came in there were oohs and ahhhs from the judges. We were even lobbying for specific entries, "Hey, we wanna judge that cake!" Some of them really looked great. We ended up with only two dessert entries to judge at our table, and the standout was a peanut butter cream chocolate cheese cake. It was as good as it sounds.
I left a full and happy man after a fun afternoon of sampling some pretty good food with some really nice folks. Once again the facilities at Bedford were great. We dined in air-conditioned comfort and the KCBS staff did a great job of running the fast moving events. I hope to be back for number 4 next year!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Definition of a friend
A friend is someone who goes to Houston on business, and on the way back stops at Kreuz Market in Lockhart to bring you a box of jalapeno cheese sausage. Woo hoo!! Thank you Ken!!
While I'm at it, thanks to Dave for grabbing me a Texas Monthly BBQ Fest ticket while I was off bass fishing. Those things sure don't last long!
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