2nd ANNUAL LODI BEERFEST & BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP

It was a beautiful day for a Beerfest & BBQ Championship in Lodi California. Lodi is known for stoplights and wine but today we were here to judge and cook some bbq. Ms.Goofy actually joined a cooking team to help out her sister on her quest to become a Master Judge. One must cook with a competition bbq team to qualify for the Master Judge title. Peggy and her sister cooked with "RBQ Barbecue" Team run by Rick Brandini.

The bbq competition was held outside of the actual beerfest but several teams vended so festival attendees could sample and purchase great bbq. The judges were sequestered in an air conditioned building which is always nice for our pampered judges lot. It was a beautiful day with the thermometer hovering in the high 70s. This is a popular event and usually sells out.

There were 48 teams today. There also was an maxillary category of Turkey Breast. This was an interesting category. They could not reshape the breast so many entries were presented sliced. The cooks were on their A game today proved by all the fantastic bbq I was able to sample and judge.Congratulations to Burn'n & Loot'n for the Grand Championship and Son of Smoke for Reserve. What a great day.

MEAT ADVENTURE

Chilebrown is on Vacation. What is there to do? How about driving 213 miles on a Mini Meat Adventure. This event was a fast paced tour of Northern California. Four Butchers/Meat Markets were visited. One ice chest was filled with cured, smoked meaty delights . Three quarters of a tank of gas was burned. This trip of Mad Meatness took 6 hours from start to finish. I think this may be a new Meat record. Sit back and buckle your Meat Belt. We will take you on a Mad Meat Genius , Mini meat adventure

Mad Butchers Meat was the first stop. This Industrial Cave of Meat was located on the outskirts of Sacramento. There was not to many businesses around this Cavern of prepared protein. They did smoke some sausage and this was procured. Mad Mead Butchers had a lot of Asians working at their facility. They sold a lot of package deals of meat. The clerk was very nice and told me they sold lots of meat deals. This would be a great place to pick up a freezer full of beef.

On to Jackson California. This leg of the trip was around 45 minutes. It was a scenic drive that passed through Sloughouse Ca. They grow a lot corn and at one time grew hops. Jackson Ca. is in the Heart of the Motherlode. That means Gold. Some of the richest Gold mines in Ca. were located here. Now they have some of the best smoked bacon, hams and sausage around. Lots of antique shops and even a ravioli factory are here. I was on a Mission. A Meat Adventure mission. Swingle's was my destination.

Swingle's has been around for a long time. This is a one stop Meat Emporium. If they do not have it, You have been watching Bizarre Foods to much. They smoke bacon, hams and sausage. They process game, livestock and have a lot of animals on the wall. Some bacon wrapped chipotle sausage, Jalapeno cheese sausage, bacon and smoked ham was bought and arranged in the ice chest. I would just like to mention their was a Giant revolving Cow that was situated above this Establishment.

On the Road Again

{ On the road again, Just can't wait to get on the road again.The life I love is visiting Butchers with my friends
And I can't wait to get on the road again.On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been.Seein' things that I may never see again!}

Sorry Willie.

Lockford California is the home of Lockford Sausage. This is a local favorite. When I say local, I mean all up and down the state. It is a local favorite,because , this is the only place to get this sausage that I know of. My favorite is 'Dakota'. This sausage is a mild combination of veal pork and turkey.I bought 20 dollars worth. It probably will not last long, because it is Ms. Goofy's favorite too.

Dakota Sausage

Lodi California. Do you want to be stuck again? (Creedence Clearwater Revival) You may be if you are at 'Lakewood Meats". Lakewood Meats is in very nondescript small strip mall in Lodi. The windows are even tinted to make this 'Last House' of 'Sausage Lore' a little more mysterious. Once you walk in, this a meat house of Love. This is an 'Old School' of sausage making. I was greeted by very friendly employees. They got a chuckle of me taking a picture of the front. All of a sudden I had the privilege to travel to the back of this sausage factory. I met the sausage maker and saw the scary smoker room. This is what Meat Adventure's are all about.!!!!

Scary Smoker

We have an Ice Chest of Meat. The next adventures are what to Cook with all this Goodness! Got any Meatsuggestions?

VAN RUITEN WINERY RIBS COOK OFF 2017

It was a beautiful day for Beer, Bacon and "Hey wait a minute". Let's start over. It was a beautiful day for a bbq event and fundraiser at the Van Ruiten Winery in Lodi California. Twenty six teams showed up to battle for Championship in three meat categories; ribs, tr-tip and a mystery meat of pork tri-tip. We knew not to pass up this event because this is California bbq in all of its glory. The event was held at the winery surrounded by grape fields. Lodi California is one of the major wine grape growing agricultural areas. The weather could not of have been nicer with the thermometer peaking at the low 70's. We were ready for a party and would like to share a couple of images with you.

 The teams were set up in back close to each other to make it convenient for festive activities. This cooking unit caught my eye because of the water delivery system. Notice the five gallon jug of liquid on the side. It delivers liquid of your choice in a constant drip to an interior pan to provide steam and moister for the interior of the cooker. This was new to me. The public purchased tasting tickets and strolled the grounds sampling award winning barbeque. We were lucky to be judging and sampled and scored some fantastic meats today. We especially enjoyed the fantastic California favorite tri-tip. This beef from the sirloin is a cut that is fairly easy to prepare and delivers big beef flavors. There was also a mystery meat which was called pork tri-tip. This meat was really a mystery because this cut is not as popular. It was also from the sirloin area of the hog and presented cooking challenges for the competitors. We enjoyed sampling and scoring this unfamiliar meat.

 We had live music today to provide a festive atmosphere. The Van Ruiten winery knows how to throw a party. Today's proceeds benefited the "Autism Speaks' organization. There was also a raffle held with local merchants and the winery participating. This type of event is fun for everyone. This is California bbq at its finest. See you next time.

GARLIC SAUSAGE STUFFED BACON WRAPPED PORK LOIN

Garlic sausage stuffed bacon wrapped pork loin is whats for dinner tonight. We always make a point to visit Lakewood meats whenever we are in Lodi California. Lakewood Meats is a quality butcher shop with a wide assortment of delicious meat products. Seeing this sign and the actual roast in the meat case made this purchase a no-brainier. I was actually a little proud of myself for not buying a whole lot more meat products today because we only had a small ice chest. We would have to wait a day to actually cook this roast because we were judging bbq at the Van Ruiten Winery today. 

There is not a whole lot of preparation in cooking this beautiful roast. It is really only involved building an indirect medium fire in a covered bbq. This roast is already seasoned. We did let it rest out of the refrigerator to allow it to come to room temperature. The roast was cooked for approximately an hour or until the internal temperature reached 145 degrees. The roast was rested for 20 minutes  before it was sliced with a sharp serrated knife.

Oh my gosh, was this fantastic? Moist, smoky, bacon, porky delight was our experience. This was served with some fresh peas from our farmers market. It does not get any better than this or does it? The sandwich the next day with a dollop of mayonnaise may have been even better. If you are ever stuck in old Lodi again be sure to pick up a Garlic sausage stuffed bacon wrapped pork loin at Lakewood Meats.

THROW BACK THURSDAY

Here at Mad Meat Genius we are going to celebrate 'Throw Back Thursday' in a non-traditional meat sort of way. We are not going too far back, in fact we are only going back to Tuesday evening. I could not resist sharing a couple of images of the biggest baddest beef ribs ever. These Fred Flinstone cuts were found at Lakewood Meats in Lodi. We smoked them for 5 hours until they were very tender. It does not get any better than this.

BACKYARD ON THE GRAPE 2025

 Backyard on the Grape is a practice bbq contest held at the fairgrounds in Lodi California. 14 teams dusted the cobwebs from their smokers/bbq's and did a mock battle. A winner was declared but  the teams were there mainly for the open face to face critique judging format. Normally the judging is blind. This means judges never see the cooks and do not know who cooked the entry. Today the cook submits his entry and the judges critique his entry face to face. It is a good learning experined for judges and cook. It helps the cook see what judges are looking for and makes judges articulate their scores.

It was a fun tasty day. Let the bbq season begin.

BACKYARD ON THE GRAPE 2022

 

This Saturday, "Fire It Up Events" held Backyard On The Grape in Lodi California. This is a tune-up bbq competition. Competitors cook their meats as any other contests. The difference is, instead of blind judging the entries are judged in an open forum by certified judges. The cook gets instant feed back about their bbq meat contest submissions. We would like to share a couple of images with you.

This type of contest is valuable for the cook. The team hears first hand from his judges what they are thinking giving their particular score. It also can be a tool for the judge to verbalize his reasoning for his particular score. It was a beautiful day for a bbq contest. It was great to get the wheels turning for hopefully a full bbq season.