3rd ANNUAL WINE COUNTRY BIG Q BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP

Do you love BBQ and wine? This is the event for you. Some of the top BBQ Champions will be competing in Santa Rosa this weekend. You will be able to sample great barbeque with some fabulous local wines from the Sonoma area. Dr. BBQ will be in attendance cooking for Guy Fieri's team: "Tex Wasabi's All-stars". Guy will probably attend the awards ceremony. There will be a category that the public will vote for called "Bakin' for Bacon" desserts. I plan to cast my vote after our judging duties. Hope to see you there.

Wine Country Big Q
2500 Farmers Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
1 pm to 5 pm Saturday

GARLICKY GREENGO

We have reviewed another great tasting sauce from Hot Line Pepper Products. This sauce features jalapenos and garlic, two of my all time favorite vegetables. Check it out.

Garlicky Greengo

BACON DOG CHEWS

What will they think of next? Even dogs want in on the bacon craze. I prefer to call it a lifestyle choice. Lucy our highly pampered and slightly spoiled 'English Cream Golden Retriever Lap' dog now owns a bacon flavored dog chew. Does she like it? "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!"

WAGON WHEEL BACON

Several Saturdays ago was a beautiful bright sunny day at the ‘Feather Falls Casino’. We were judging a ‘Three Meat’ BBQ competition. Our judging duties had been fulfilled and we had several hours before the award ceremony. We had received a hot tip of a local butcher who smoked and cured bacon.  This was the perfect opportunity to go on a ‘Meat Adventure’ to the ‘Wagon Wheel Market’ in Orville California. We jumped into the ‘Racing Honda’ grabbing a fellow judge named Butch and raced to our meaty destination.

The Wagon Wheel Market is an all purpose general store with a full service meat market. The meat market has; ‘Award Winning Smoked Meats’, complete sausage kitchen, wild game processing, ranch butchering and USDA choice certified premium beef. For over 30 years the Wagon Wheel has been run by the Butler family. We were lucky to meet Pat Butler the head butcher.

 Pat was more than happy to answer our numerous questions. Pat uses hickory wood to smoke his bacon. The cure includes maple and cane sugar. No phosphates are used in this process. This bacon looked fabulous. We loaded up our cart with sausage, beautiful meaty smoked ham hocks and of course bacon. We returned to the BBQ event. Our purchases were safely tucked away in our portable ice cave until we returned home.

We had to wait several days before we returned home to try our bacon. This slab had a beautiful shiny sheen created by the cure and smoke. We cut into the slab and saw the meat to fat ration was of equal proportions. We sliced some rashers and cooked them in our trusty black iron pan. The vehicle to test drive this bacon would be a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. The bacon fried up perfectly crisp. It had a wonderful meaty flavor. It leaned on the sweet side with its maple flavoring. Salt and smoke was in perfect balance. This was quality bacon that we enjoyed. Bingo!!!! We shall definitely return to the Wagon Wheel Market. It is always a pleasure to have a successful Meat Adventure.

Wagon Wheel Market.

4607 Olive Hwy
Oroville, CA 95966
(530) 589-1824

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

 We would like to wish everybody a happy 4th of July. We hope your barbeques and smokers are getting a work out today. Chicken wings, beef short ribs salads and fresh corn on the cob is on our menu. What is on your grill?
  This Holiday is so much more that a day to celebrate our Independence. The fourth is a red letter day on our calendar. It is time for Coney Islands annual "Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest.." Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut may have some competition from his new young nemesis Matt 'Megatoad' Stonie. Be sure to check  your local television  listings for the 12 est. noon contest.

BACON MAPLE BAR

This  new discovery will not make the evening news. We have already experienced 'Bacon Maple Bars'  at Voodoo Donuts in Portland. What makes this special is our local bakery the 'Bear Claw' makes these treats several times a week. They sell out fast so you might want to call ahead and reserve one. How does it taste? It taste better than anything you could ever imagine. Life does not get any better while consuming this sweet/savory treat. Oh Yeah!!!!!!!!

Bear Claw Bakery
2340 San Pablo Ave.
 Pinole, CA 94564
 (510) 724-3105

SILICON VALLEY BBQ CHAMPIONSHIPS

Let's talk about what is hot besides the weather. The competition BBQ team named "Left Coast Q" has been on a hot streak". Yesterday they won their third 'Grand Champion' award in a row. This is an accomplishment that has the BBQ community agasp. We were there to witness this accomplishment and would like to share some images. We would also like to mention the third place winner Zack of the team 'Son of Smoke". This young man is an up and coming competitor that is in the running for "Rookie Team of the Year". He is on his way with this showing and we are pulling for him. Sit back and have a cold one while we share a couple of moments from the competition.

We also have to mention our good friend and fellow 'Kansas City Barbecue Society Certified BBQ Judge" Amby and her daughter Dani. They both were competing in the 'Backyard Division" under the team name 'QNQT'. They were victorious with a first place in Chicken. Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the competition there were several hours to kill waiting for the award ceremonies. Most people searched for shade and liquid refreshment. This group had the right idea. Some 'Pickin and Grinnin' made for a cool time. 

We leave you today in the judges hall. Thanks for sharing our great hot day in Silicon Valley.A special thanks to Joe Sweeney the event organizer. Thanks also to the Santa Clara Rotary Club who extended the 'Red Carpet' for all that attended. What a day!!!!