CERES BANDS BREWS & BBQ THROWDOWN

It was a hot fun time to be had at the Ceres Bands Brews & BBQ Throwdown this weekend. Hot with temperatures in the 90's and sizzling with great championship BBQ. Ceres is a small town in the Stanislaus County.  Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of agriculture. Today we celebrate BBQ with twenty one professional teams and eleven backyard teams battling for trophies and cash prizes. We were there with our official judges badges to sample and score fantastic barbeque.

We as judges can be a spoiled lot. The competitors braved the hot conditions while we huddled in an air conditioned Masonic Lodge for our judging duties. We also received a swag bag with t-shirts and wine. The Chamber of Commerce really rolled out the red carpet for us. Check out this next image with this competitors "Mobile Man Cave".

The public was treated to bands, adult beverages and great food. They were able to purchase sampling tickets to partake in the championship bbq. Misting tents were provided to take a quick break from the heat. Fun was had by all.

Congratulations to Big Poppa Smokers for winning the Grand Championship in the professional division. Smokey Boys BBQ won first in Chicken and Smoky River Boys won first in Ribs for the backyard division. Thankyou to the Chamber of Commerce who did a top notch job to provide such a wonderful event.

ADAM'S MEAT SHOP

Last weekend we squeezed in a mini Meat Adventure before our rib judging duties. We visited Adam's Meat Shop in Folsom California. Adam's was found by an old fashioned Google search. I just wrote this last sentence and had a little aside; A Google search is old fashioned? Adam's is located in a fairly new strip mall anchored by a huge Lowe's store. The outside is non-descript and I would have never found it if I had not been looking. We enter to a bright clean modern butcher shop.

Adams's offers a full butcher shop with all the trimmings. They will process game for the hunters and do custom cuts if requested. The sausage is house made with many different flavor offerings.They boast no nitrates and preservatives are used. I found a habanero/pineapple which was put into our cart. The meat refrigerators had some really nice looking bacon but it was not made by Adams so I passed this time.

We found some really nice USDA Choice Porterhouse steaks which called out our names. We had this for dinner the following day and it had all the right moves. It had a corn-fed beef flavor that we crave. The filet side was melt in your mouth tender with the strip side full of robustness of flavor. I even gnawed on the bone, it was that good.

Adam's Meat Shop will take care of all the meat needs for local residents of Folsom. It we are ever in this area Adams will be one of our stops. This was a good meat find.

Adam's Meat Shop
850 E. Bidwell St #145
Folsom, CA 95630

THE (Meat) TERRORISTS HAVE WON

I had to see it for myself. Berkeley California's "The Local Butcher Shop" gave into demands of a whack-job animal rights terrorist group Direct Action Everywhere to hang their anti-meat propaganda sign in the window in exchange that they would stop holding protests in front of their shop. This group is the same group which protested our BBQ competition in San Francisco.

We here at Mad Meat Genius do not like to take political stands but this is ridiculous. This group are a bunch of cowards who like seeing themselves in the news. Chez Panisse is located a block away but they choose not to protest this famous meat serving restaurant. It is a sad day when "The (Meat) Terrorists" have won.

RODS-N-RIBS

Rods-n-Ribs a benefit for the organization "Water for a Warrior" held in Roseville, California was our playground yesterday afternoon. This was a small town event that hosted big entertainment. Car show, farmers market, bands, crafts, food and of course a bbq rib competition. The weather was a perfect 80 degrees that was just hot enough for the kids to play in the fountain.

"Water for a Warrior" is a group which benefits veterans. Here is a quote from their website; " We will also be helping as many additional veterans as we can by providing products and services such as, hot tubs, accessories (such as rails, lifts, etc.), orientations, clean-ups, etc. and more.". They had a booth which sold tickets for the public to taste ribs. By purchasing ribs the public was also allowed to vote on their favorite rib to determine a "Peoples Choice" winner. They also had a raffle with fun prizes.

You have to check out Wild Bill cooking hot dogs with his wacky flame throwing car. Click the image to enlarge and witness a possibly new KCBS cooking method. This was a fun afternoon. We got to eat and score some fantastic ribs. Some veterans will benefit by this fun filled event. It does not get any better than this. Congratulations to "Pigs Can Fly' for taking the trophy today.

TREASURE ISLAND JOB CORPS CENTER FINE DINING

We return to the “Treasure Island Job Corps Center Fine Dining” to experience a working classroom of dedicated students serving some very elegant food. We are greeted by a familiar face, Chef Ron who is in charge of this gastronomical showcase of edible works of art. Today’s post will be a visual glimpse of our fantastic luncheon with descriptions provided by the Fine Dining menu. Bon Appetite!

Farm Salad with Fresh Ricotta….. Mixed greens, bruleed apricot, spiced candied marcona almonds and yogurt with cava vinaigrette.

Potato and Herb Soup… Light summer potato soup with herbed potato croquette and garnished with chive oil

Pork Tenderloin Wellington with Pluot Sauce…. served with roasted heirloom squash and long green beans  (Pictured Above)

Wild Mushroom Truffle Risotto,,,,,,, with white shimeiji, hen of the woods, shitake and oyster mushroom risotto finished with a touch of truffle oil and shaved parmesan, garnished with micro greens and roasted pine nuts.

Cassata afia  Italia….. A classic frozen Italian dessert of raspberry sorbet, Sicilian pistachio gelato and vanilla ice cream, served with raspberry coulis and white chocolate ganache sauces, berry compote and candied pistachio garnish.

Treasure Island Apple Strudel….Layers of flakey pastry encasing Granny Smith and Pink Lady apples baked with brown sugar and cinnamon, served warm with a crème anglaise sauce, caramel swirl, SchlagSahne and chocolate garnish.

Maple Frozen Yogurt….A richly delicious sweet and tart maple yogurt mousse encased in a golden cake beehive served with fresh berry compote, house made kiwi and raspberry sauce, crème Chantilly and garnish.

These Petite Fours were served before the dessert. This was one spectacular meal. I am not sure I want to reveal our lunch tab because I am afraid our secret fine dining spot could be discovered. Okay, twist my arm. This three course meal was all-inclusive for the sum of 13 dollars. Oh my! Chef Ron you are a teaching force that we appreciate and hope to return soon. The students at the Treasure Island Job Corps Fine Dining are heading for a bright and tasty future.

THE BACONER....SOUS VIDE BACON

What? I guess the question should be; Why not? “The Baconer’ is a company based out of Oakland California. I believe it is a fairly new business and sells at a few farmers markets and online. We found this bacon at the Kensington farmers market. What caught my attention was a big sign proclaiming Sous Vide Bacon. I had to investigate. I asked the friendly vender about this product and she did not know too much about the process. They were distributing some microscopic samples which I tried but was not the reason for my purchase. I plunked down 15 dollars for a 12 ounce package of sliced rashers because I was curious as all get go.

I reached out to the Baconer Company and talked to Camilo Velasquez who is the “Self-Appointed President for Life”. He graciously answered my questions in a vague sort of way. The pork is sourced from various farms and of various breeds. Duroc pig was one of the breeds mentioned. The bacon is cured in secret spices to achieve different flavors. It is hot smoked and here it is where it gets interesting. Commercially processed bacon has to be brought to an internal temperature of 145 degrees to be safe and ready to sell. The Baconer achieves this temperature by a Sous Vide machine. Mr. Velasquez tells me this process of Sous Vide retains moisture and flavor. I believe a taste test is in order.

Another interesting suggestion The Baconer recommends is to start your bacon in a frying pan with 1/8 inch of water to surround the bacon. Use a medium high heat and simmer off the water and crisp. This is for several reasons. It will protect the meat and cause it not to have heat shock and over render. (The Baconer’s claim). It also acts as a sort of braise. We will follow these directions

We cooked several slices in our trusty black iron to compare the techniques. The cast iron cooked a little faster and ended up being crisper. The braising with the water seemed to keep the bacon possibly a little plumper with less shrinkage. The unfortunate consequence was this method produced chewy bacon. They both tasted the same. We used our bacon in BLT sandwiches using some farmer’s market fresh tomatoes.

The Baconer’s bacon had a great pork flavor. It had a nice amount of smoke. The meat to fat ration was very good. We purchased the maple flavored bacon. We did not detect any maple flavor. It has a sweet component and there was a lot of sugar in these slices. I had to turn down the heat to not burn the bacon because of the high sugar content. This was very decent bacon but does it justify the high price tag? We know this bacon was finished in a Sous Vide machine because we were told this fact. Does it stand above the crowd with superior flavor and moisture? Not really but it is a very decent bacon.

GILROY GARLI-QUE CHALLENGE

We knew it was the right freeway exit when we could smell garlic. We were on our away to the Gilroy Garli-Que Challenge. The garlic festival is one of the largest food themed events in the United States attracting approx 100,000 people over a 3 day period. The garlic festival was also holding a KCBS State Championship which we were privileged and honored to be judges. The Racing Honda had special privileges today because we parked in the coveted volunteer lot right next to the festival. All else had to park several miles away in a field to be bus shuttled. Let's take a look.

The festival had several area for craftsman to sell their wares. This image above is of a bacon cooker. It involved a large ceramic cup with an attached saucer which one would drape bacon over the top of the cup. You would then bake or microwave the unit until the bacon became crisp. The fat would drip into the cup and saucer with crisp bacon remaining. It sounded interesting but at 25 dollars a pop I will stick to my trusty black iron. There was also plenty of garlic themed product to choose from today. I did find some garlic hot sauces.

It was hot today and it was crowded. There were plenty of refreshments and music to cool the stinking rose perfumed crowd. There was a cooking stage for garlic dish demonstrations. Giada De Laurentis was scheduled for the next day and we were sorry to miss her. We performed our judging duties and had some fantastic bbq today. I do have to admit none of the bbq competitors braved a garlic themed sauce or rub. We did score and sample championship bbq.

This is a picture of our friends Dana & Ric of the competition bbq team "Ric's Righteous Ribs" who took first place in the auxillary category entitled. "Anything Goes with Garlic". Congratulations to 'Smokin Mo's" for taking Grand Champions. We have to wait a whole week for our next bbq event. See you there.