Art and BBQ
Big Mista getting his ribs ready.
here is a letter that my BBQ teammate sent me about an event happening this weekend in the Pasadena area:
Hey!
I just wanted to send out a quick note to let you know that Bigmista’s Barbecue will be cooking at the 31st Annual Pasadena Fall Arts Festival.
The festival will run from 10 am to 5 pm on November 8th and 9th. Come see some of Southern California’s Arts and craft and enjoy some of our delicious BBQ.
We will be serving moist pulled pork, spicy chopped chicken, extra tender spare ribs, juicy tri-tip and freshly smoked chicken links. All of this will be served up with Bigmista’s Secret Sauce. I’ll bet your mouth is watering already!
Don’t miss out on this great event! Put it on your calendar now! It will all be happening in front of the Pasadena City Hall on Holly and Garfield in Pasadena. Come early. Stay late. Bring your friends and family!
Looking forward to seeing you!
Bigmista/Neil
I’m sure that his BBQ will be delicious, like always.
Kinda funny BBQ video.
I’m not one who usually forwards along the funny joke or video. I’m just not that guy. But this one seems more than appropriate for this blog. The thing that makes it interesting is trying to guess the name of the actor.
When you get tired of guessing you might want to take part in this contest. It’s all part of a Honda Pilot promotion on YouTube. Feel free to submit your own DIY video for a chance to win some cha-ching here:
youtube.com/user/HondaPilotDIY
WSM (Weber Smokey Mountain) Smoker on sale
One of my favorite smokers for creating delicious BBQ is on sale at Amazon ($179). Not sure that you will be able to get it before Memorial Day, but Fathers Day is right around the corner.
Four Q BBQ Team wins People’s Choice
BBQ Junkie is not pictured 
… see all of the photos here
The Wishland Foundation’s BBQ Competition, Que’n For The Kids, that took place this last weekend was pretty awesome. It was my first competition where we had to do a peoples choice category and we won it with a decisive “landslide” victory. People’s Choice is a great category to compete in because we get to meet with many BBQ fans and the public loves it because they get to sample competition-style BBQ. We placed fourth overall and got 6th in chicken, 4th in ribs and 7th in brisket. GO TEAM!
Wishland’s Que’n for Kids this Saturday
The Wishland Foundation along with the California BBQ Association are putting on Orange County’s first-ever BBQ competition on Saturday April 19th. The festivities go from 11am to 4pm at Canyon RV Park at Featherly Park (91 Fwy. At Gypsum Canyon Rd. www.canyonrvpark.com) and are free to the public (parking is $5). Music, entertainment and a children’s activity area… what else could you want?… oh yeah, and super delicious BBQ.
Four Q BBQ team, me included, will be representin’ at this competition along with 22 other teams. It will be the first time this year that the entire team is cooking together. The rest of the team (minus me) has been doing really good this year; I hope that I can keep up. Aside from this being a great event for a wonderful cause full of pure BBQ bliss, the public will also be allowed to taste authentic competition-style BBQ and vote in a the people’s choice award. The tasting packages start at $10.
If you happen to go to this event stop by the Four Q BBQ Team booth and say hello. Hope to see y’all there.
Wishland’s Que’n for Kids (wisland.org)
Saturday April 19th from 11am to 4pm
Admission is FREE! Parking is $5.00
Tasting Packages start at $10.00
Canyon RV Park at Featherly Park
91 Fwy. At Gypsum Canyon Rd.
www.canyonrvpark.com
(Canyon RV Park is located just north of the 91 Frwy on the Santa Ana River under the Gypsum Canyon Bridge. Just Exit the 91 freeway and Gypsum Canyon Rd and enter the park on the North side of the frwy.)
Wishland’s mission is to provide assistance and cherished moments to seriously ill children and their families.
Happy leap-year barbecuers!
Yeah, the BBQ Junkie has been a bit of a hermit lately. The good thing is that my love of BBQ is remains alive, it’s just my love of writing is what’s giving me problems (actually it’s just finding time to write). I was just looking at my blog and noticed that my last post was during Thanksgiving. Wow, that’s sad. I didn’t even write about the smoked pork but tamales that I made for Xmas… or any other barbecue related items.
Four Q BBQ team will be competing this weekend in an unofficial backyard event that I am not able to attend. But, come April we will be having our first event in the O.C. (more details to follow). For now hang loose and I will have my first restaurant review of the year coming up next week. Thanks for continuing to visit.
Smoked Turkey
Smoked Thanksgiving Day turkey with a BBQ rub.
This was one of my first smoked BBQ turkeys; the other one is on the bottom grate. I was trying to get out of doing the turkey all together just because of all the craziness that having a new baby brings, but my family wasn’t going to allow that. Plus, the baby isn’t that new anymore and I should be able to work within this so-called “craziness-”
I must say, that I was impressed with the results and nothing could have been easier. This was especially true of the clean up, no roasting pans to scrub! YAY!
My smoker (WSM) fits two small birds, about 12lbs. each. I like the smaller birds for a few different reasons. First, they cook faster. Second the meat to skin ratio is more to my liking. Third, the drumsticks are way more manageable. They’re smaller and you have four of them.
What I did:
Generously rubbed some BBQ seasoning all over the birds (nothing special, just some extra BBQ rub that I had in a jar).
Got my smoker up to temperature and added some hickory chunks to the coals.
Smoked two turkeys at about 230º for about 9 hours (the time will vary)
Placed them in an aluminum tray, wrapped them in foil and sent them to the in-laws.
Tada!!!
If I were to make some adjustments here is what I would do next year:
Brine: First off, the birds were still a little frozen the day before the smoking, so I ended up not brining them…which I usually do. The meat could have used a little more saltiness and moisture, but isn’t that what gravy is for?
Inject the bird: I didn’t bother to inject, but I should have. This would have delivered some additional flavor deep into the meat. Especially in the breast.
Gravy: find a way to get some pan drippings from the smoked bird and make the gravy. This is one advantage of doing an oven roasted bird.
BBQ Sauce: consider offering some as a condiment to the smoked bird. This seems a bit heretical, but it may be the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving Day table.
Moorpark Fall Fest & BBQ Cook-Off
First place brisket turn-in box.
I had the opportunity to participate in a BBQ competition this weekend, along with the rest of the Four Q BBQ team, up in the lovely city of Moorpark. Overall we did pretty good, 1st place brisket, 3rd place pork, 5th place ribs, and 6th place chicken. 6th place chicken isn’t bad when there are more than six teams. Unfortunately that’s all there were. We were all pretty happy with what we turned in and had a great time BBQ’n in a walnut groove.
Check out my photos from the event: See my flickr photos. Want to see more? Then check out Soul Fusion Kitchen’s flickr photos here.
Here are the result from the competition:
Results
- Tropic Heat and BBQ by Dan
- Tie Breaker Tropical Heat
Half Chicken
- 1 Tropical
- 2 OU8 BBQ (Todd Eves)
- 3 BBQ by Dan
- 4 Pit Stop
- 5 Papa Smoke House
Spare Ribs
- 1 Dan
- 2 Tropical
- 3 OU8 BBQ
- 4 Pit Stop
- 5 4Q
Pork
- 1 Dan
- 2 OU8 BBQ
- 3 4Q
- 4 Tropical
- 5 Pit Stop
Brisket
- 1 4Q
- 2 Tropical
- 3 Papas Smoke House
- 4 Dan
- 5 OU8 BBQ
BBQ Commercial with an R&B vibe
A little something for your Thursda before lunch. Wish there was a Mr. Spriggs BBQ around here… it’s got me thinking about ribs right now.
Jack Daniel’s Neighborhood BBQ
Video from the last neighborhood BBQ
Just got this one from a BBQ friend, Nichola (pronounced like the Ricola commercial):
The QuickSilverEdition Mission is hosting another neighborhood BBQ this weekend. The last one sounds like it was a good time had by all… food, music and Jack Daniels as part of the prize. For more information on how to get on the list visit their website and click on the “get on the list link. Then, let me know how the event was.
Saturday, July August 4th
Baby Blues BBQ on Lincoln faces off against Glencrest BBQ down on A.K.
Also in the mix are the Matt Logan and the Tequila Team,
Jamal Northington, and Two Smokin dogs with his lady-friends.
Jason Stroh from Stroh’s Gourmet will be serving up delicious sides and salads.Saturday August 25th
Final Showdown and crowning of the Venice Beach Jack Daniel’s BBQ champions