Monthly Archives / October 2015

30
Oct

2015 Townsend Spice Kids' Que

01-2531This is the future of barbecue: the line-up of awesome competitors at our third-ever Townsend Spice Kids’ Que at Praise the Lard Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off.

03-2545Group shot with Shane Linn of Townsend Spice, who generously sponsors this contest.

31-1980Each team gets a goody bag …

30-2321Filled with gifts from our sponsors. We’re particularly grateful to Thermoworks, who provided a Thermopop for each child. I saw several parents coveting these.

11-2048Chris Pritchard fills each grill with hot coals from our burn barrel.
14-2068This year the competitors cooked chicken breasts, generously donated by Jack’s Meat Market in Murphysboro.
15-2071Brother/sister team work. John Voss and Madison Voss.
16-2073

17-2087 18-2135

19-2142Checking temps with a Thermapen.

22-2168
23-2189
27-2250
20-2154

04-2011 05-2016 06-2020 07-2027 08-2030 09-2034 10-2036 12-2055 13-2058 24-2216 25-2224 26-2237

29-2308The walk to turn-ins.
28-2299High five.

02-2540This year’s 1st Place winners: Ava Wong and Madison Guy of You’ve Got the Wong Guy. This is Madison’s second return to the winners’ circle.

Townsend Spice Kids’ Que Results
3rd Place Meat Head Maddie’s – John Voss and Madison Voss
2nd Place Backdraft BBQ – Ethan Grob
1st Place You’ve Got the Wong Guy – Ava Wong and Madison Guy

Mark your calendars NOW for 2016. It’s always the third weekend AFTER Labor Day, so next year’s dates are September 22-24, 2016.

Read more about this year’s cook-off results and events.

Photos © Troy Brown.

Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too! 

28
Oct

Charleston Wine + Food Festival

01-4123The Charleston Wine + Food Festival is one of our favorite events and we were happy to help them celebrate their 10th anniversary. We raced from the NBBQA convention in Nashville to Charleston in order to cook for the Toasted finale event. Fortunately we made it just in time for this soiree in The Bower at Edmund’s Oast, where we sipped special cocktails and slurped these briny, chilled oysters.

02-4239We also had time to zip through the tasting tents and purchase t-shirts from Y’allsome, and dozens of jars of sauce, mustard, and other delicious food items.

03-4152We cooked alongside some friends from St. Louis ~ Kevin Nashan from the excellent Sidney Street Cafe.

04-4155And of course we mixed up some of our very special Sexy sauce for the ribs.

05-4169

06-4174Phillip showing off our signage.

07-4192X marks the spot for 10 years of delicious fun.

08-4183Watching the sun set over the harbor, listening to lively music, and tasting delicious wines, spirits, and other bites made for a memorable evening.

09-4186

10-4194Look for this Virgil Kane bourbon. I was gifted a bottle of the ginger-infused variety and it’s really good.

11-4214We had just one day to explore Charleston and I was so excited to take my dad and our crew to all of my favorite spots. We’re renovating a building around the corner as a sauce factory and coffee/breakfast spot and we wanted to look at the many ways to incorporate vintage/refurbished fixtures and finishes into our design.

12-4215

 

We ordered most of the menu at Leon’s Oyster Shop. We also visited Artisan Meat ShareSt. Alban, Two Borough’s Larder, The Daily, Butcher & Bee, and Edmund’s Oast, Ann Marshall and Scott Blackwell were kind enough to meet us at Highwire Distillery to give us a tour. Their building is remarkably similar to the building we’re refurbishing as The Factory at 17th Street and I wanted our gang to have a look. 13-4244And had an amazing experience at Husk, where we were showered with course after course of outstanding dishes. Thank you Weaver, Sean, and Jeff!

14-4235And of course, no trip to Charleston is complete without a cocktail or two at the beautiful bar at Husk. John Lewis and Jess Nieri joined us to celebrate the event and our friendship. Note Jess’s re-design of our now-famous “aint no thang but a chicken wing” t-shirt.

Huge thanks to the incredible team at Charleston Wine + Food Festival ~ Gillian, Mary, Liz, and more ~ who helped make this such a magical weekend. This is a behemoth of an event, with so many moving parts, and y’all made it look effortless, while making us feel so special.

Follow our adventures in real time on Instagram and Twitter.
See lots of entertaining and barbecue ideas on our Pinterest boards.
And we post fun things on Facebook, too!