Go Magazine 2011

8/3/2019 Go Magazine 2011

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UNDERGROUND NEW YORK GO BOHO IN FT. MYERS ATLANTA GOES WILD

COMPLIMENTARY COPY

THEGREATFOOD

HUNTPg. 52Pg. 52

A coast-to-coast searchfor monster clams, juicypork ribs and the originsof the whoopie pie

THERES NOTHING STOPPING YOU NOVEMBER

ONTHEGO COFFEE GEAR

EATING WITH STRANGERS

WINE COUNTRY SHOWDOWNGOURMET TRAVEL MEALSTHE BIZ OF GLUTTONY

Pg. 14

Pg. 24

Pg. 26

Pg. 78

Pg. 80


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NOVEMBER 2011 64 GO MAGAZINE

CLOCKWISEFROMTOP:PATRICKSCHNEIDER(1,3

),MIKERUMPH(2,4

),MATTHEWW

EXLER(5)

overrun with thousands of barbecue fans

in just a few hours. It is on this soundstage

that teams will drop off their blind tasting

submissions, like offerings to Zeus on Mount

Olympus. With so many teams, roll call drags

on for some time and is punctuated occasion-

ally by cell phones blasting rock anthems like

Born to be Wild. Teams mill about in small

groups, chatting and laughing. At this early

stage, old rivals have set aside their competi-

tive gusto for a friendly catch-up. Janet Conn,

a longtime MBN judge, sums it up well: For

one weekend a year, were not talking about

war or the economy. We gather on an even

playing field for great food and company.

hat playing field has grown

exponentially over the past

few years. Food competi-

tionsfrom county fair pie

bake-offs to big-sponsor

professional blowoutshave been around for

decades (the pice de rsistance of them all

the Pillsbury Bake-Offcelebrates its 45th

anniversary in March), but their popularity

has skyrocketed with hit network television

shows. The worlds best chefs go head-to-

head on shows like Top Chef and Iron Chef

America, while hapless home cooks are will-

ing to be publicly humiliated and tossed into

the fire for their chance to learn knife skills

from a vein-throbbing, foul-mouthed Gordon

Ramsay on MasterChef.

According to Moira Campbell, food

expert and founder of New York Citys Rum

& Blackbird Food Tours, our 1950s cooking

ideologywhere mom puts dinner on the

tablehas been reinvented. Were living

in a spectacle culture. Just like a sports fan

recognizes a foul play on the field, a food

competition spectator can recognize an

overcooked piece of meat. It has all of the

emotion and pageantry of a classic sporting

event. They earn what Campbell calls cul-

tural capitala credibility thats based, for

example, on knowing whether a dish has been

steamed or cooked in an immersion circulator.

Not sure I know the difference beween

a pork butt and a pork shoulder, I seek out a

team to take me under its wing. J.B. McCarty

of BlackJack Barbecue is sitting in a lawn

chair under the Big Red Rig, his teams

canopied double-decker pit. A Southern

gentleman, he invites me to pull up a chair,

hands me a beer and offers his take on food

competitions. These are family traditions

that are passed down, says McCarty, who

also comes for the camaraderie. One of our

proudest moments was when a competing

team that we had mentored took top honors

and thanked us in front of a crowd of 10,000

that was almost as good as winning.

The team to beat in this competition is

Jacks Old South. Behind the leadership of

barbecue guru Myron Mixon, the team has

won more than 180 grand championships since

its formation in 1996. Jacks Old South is a

prime example of how food competitions can

enhance or even define a brand; it has its own

product line, hawks sponsorship and franchise

opportunities and even hosts a barbecue cook-

ing school at Mixons home in Unidilla, GA.

While Mixons team might have the best odds,

I think Ill prefer my traditional underdog role,

so I continue searching for a less experienced

team with some fire in its belly.

Wandering the grounds, I notice a small

offset cooker tucked away in a corner of the

MBN lot. It features a custom paint job of

white-hot flames that envelop an immacu-

lately polished jet-black exterior.

What really catches my attention, though,

is the teams name: Two Worthless Nuts. Hail-

ing from Cleveland, Two Worthless Nuts team

captain Robert Marion has traveled farther

than any other competitor, and his team name

pays homage to his native state and the poi-

sonous nut that gives it its nickname (What is

a Buckeye? goes the local saying. Its nothing

but a worthless nut.). Hes a giant of a man

with a vise-grip handshake whose husky voice

crackles like hickory chips on an open flame.

My arrival is serendipitous. Marions partner

couldnt make the trip to Charlotte, and he

agrees, on the spot, to make me an honorary

if only temporaryWorthless Nut.

I take a seat on yet another lawn chair

with yet another beer, while Marion gives me

a personal backgrounder. A full-time military

family life consultant, he counsels soldiers

and their families regarding the daily stresses

of military life. The barbecue circuit, Marion

says, has been a way to form great friendships

and satisfy his competitive nature. Theres

nothing like putting your best effort into

cooking the perfect rib, he says, as he trims

and dry rubs thirteen slabs of pork rib (beef is

blasphemy in the MBN) for their trip to the

smoker. When I ask him who his greatest rival

is, he says, without missing a beat, Myron

Mixon and Jacks Old South.

I agree to help out at Marions tent when

the competition heats up, but first I want to visit

the backyard grillers to see how the amateurs

are stacking up. The scene on the gravel lot is

like that of a post-apocalyptic refugee potluck.

Jimmied grills shroud the area in a thick, sweet

smoke while everyone from diaper-wearing

toddlers to octogenarians is camped out under

Just like a sports fan recognizes a foul playon the field, a food competition spectator canrecognize an overcooked piece of meat.

RECIPE FOR SUCCESSFew have more street cred in the cook-off scene

than celebrity chef and Food Network star Anne

Burrell. Here, she dishes out five tips for alwayscoming out on top.

1.Work on time management. When time is up, you

need to be done or youre out.

2.Be creative: embrace the challenges and whatever

special ingredients you may be given.

3.Mise en Place means everything in place and is

crucial in competition. Being organized can make the

difference between a good idea and a finished dish.

4.Work cleanly. Your prep station shouldnt look like a

bachelor pad.

5.Kiss up to the judges: smile, wink, dance, flirt, take no

prisonersdo whatever you have to do to win!


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FROMT

OP:PATRICKSCHNEIDER(2,3

),MIKERUMPH(1).LEFT(FOODEXPERIMENTS):ALBERTYEE

These are familial and cultural traditions

that can be worn as a badge of honor. For the

food competitor enthusiast or even someone

just traveling to a new destination, its an

inroad to the identity of a particular locale.

There is no better way to gain a sense of place

than through these kinds of events. While a

fashionista layers clothing, a foodie layers

flavorits history and tradition all wrapped

up in a morsel. Nowhere is this truer than in

barbecue, where the eastern North Carolina

vinegar-based sauce, the Memphis dry rub and

the South Carolina mustard sauces each carry

with them culinary and cultural traditions.

Food competitors are also not short on

opinion, and Ive gotten a few insider tips on

Charlotteculinary and otherwisethat no

guidebook could provide. From which up-

and-coming neighborhood is worth checking

out (NoDa) to a must-visit barbecue and biker

bar (Macs Speed Shop), Ill anchor my next

getaway with a food competition and count

on the locals to steer me in the right direction.

But for now, Ive got a bone to pick and plate.

With the whole hog judging complete, I

make a mad dash to Two Worthless Nuts to

help Marion with his blind box rib plating.

The clock is ticking as he gives the immaculate

slabs a final brush of his signature saucea

sweet and spicy glaze with a cayenne kick.

Once the box is sent off to the judges, Marion

takes a deep breath, lights up a cigarette and

resigns himself to the fact that its now all in

the hands (and palettes) of the judges.

y 6pm, most of the trailers

are packed up and the com-

petition portion of the Time

Warner Cable BBQ & Blues is

coming to a close. The results

are in and the teams are showing the wear

and tear of their marathon cooking session.

As expected, Jacks Old South takes top hon-

ors, winning the Grand Championship and

a coveted spot at the 2012 Memphis in May.

Zach Goodyear and Saucemans BBQ leave

empty-handed, save for the dozens of cinder

blocks they have to remove from the parking

lot. Yazoos Delta Qs whole hog places second,

and Im tempted to storm the stage in outrage.

The boys from Moonswine Racers, meanwhile,

take first in the amateur ribs category and, I

imagine, everyone in the backyard grillers lot

gets to hear about it.

For Rob Marion and Two Worthless

Nuts, the results are bittersweet. Jacks Old

South crushes the competition, but when the

individual scores are revealed, Marions team

ranks above Mixons in the rib category with

a point-and-a-half spread. I feel like a kicker

who nails a last minute tying field goal, only to

have the opposing team score a touchdown in

overtime. For all of Marions confidence during

the competition, I can tell that hes genuinely

disappointed. During my short stint in the

Memphis Barbecue Network, Ive learned that

it doesnt matter whether you win or lose, or

even how you play the game, but rather whom

youre playing with. Next to flavor, camarade-

rie reigns supreme in the unpredictable world

of food competitionsand sometimes being a

worthless nut aint such a bad thing.

You and Nick knew each other as rivals?

Yeah, he and I had aI dont even know

if it was a friendly rivalry, but it was defi-

nitely a rivalry. We were each others main

competition. We came in first and second

in at least four different competitions,

and we even tied in the Bacon Takedown

and the Park Slope Pork-off. With Nick, I

always liked to tease him that second

is the first loser.

Speaking of rivalry, you won Casserole

Crazy in 2008, but Nick won it in

2009 and you didnt even place. No

offense, but what happened? Id like to

emphasize that at the 2009 competition,

I had a 103 fever. So I could neither taste

my food nor breathe on it, so I had to

make a casserole based solely on what I

thought would work. I did receive, by the

way, honorable mention. And I still, to this

day, think that it was the best one out

there, and I think that even Nick said it

was the best bite hed had all night. Thats

all I have to say about that.

So who crossed no mans land first?

After the Bacon Takedown, when I

received [as a prize] what I think was

my third Rachael Ray cookbook, I thought

it was time for Nick and I to partner and

see if we couldnt do these food

competitions better.

Tell us about the psyche of the

food competitor. These people are

looking for an outlet. Theyre govern-

ment workers, theyre lawyers, theyre

doctorsand its not that theyre

dissatisfied with their day jobs, but

sometimes they dream of doing other

things, like an opening a restaurant. And

to have Bon Apptits Andrew Knowlton or

some other big-name food critic try their

food and rate it, how awesome is that?

Theyre looking for validation. Its one

thing to have your spouse or your friends

taste your food and say its great, but

what about 300 strangers?

What do you think is behind the cook-

off craze? People are seeing all these

competitions on television, and they

think, How would I do on an amateur Top

Chef? Top Chefis very popular, and I think

it started this avalanche of food competi-

tions from Gordon Ramsays competitions

to Top Chef Masters, Top Chef Desserts

and The Great Food Truck Racethere

are so many food competitions out there.

And Top Chefis on its ninth season, so its

been building for quite some time.

BEHIND THE APRONTheo Peck and Nick Suarez, the duo behind The Food Experiments (thefoodex

periments.com), were once cutthroat rivals on New Yorks competitive cooking

scene. Today, theyre producing some of the most exciting cook-offs and

throwdowns on the circuit. Peck (left) offers an insiders perspective:


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COMPETITIONCALENDAR

While barbecue is king in the

world of food competitions,

there are plenty of other

gastronomic gauntlets

being thrown down.

Whether youre a spectator

or a competitor, youre bound

to find a culinary battle

lurking around the corner.

SMOKIN BIGCHILI CHALLENGEMesquite, NV (86 miles from

Las Vegas)

The International Chili Society

celebrates 45 years of capsicum

creations. Leave the beans at

home. Jan. 14. chilicookoff.com

ZEHNDERS SNOWFESTBEST APPLE PIE CONTESTFrankenmuth, MI (28 miles from Flint)

Known as Little Bavaria, this small

town brings out big competition

as apple crumble takes on double

crust. Jan. 25.zehnders.com

COWBOY COUNTRY ROUNDUPAND CHUCK WAGON COOKOFF

Hondo, TX (46 miles from

San Antonio)

Old West enthusiasts celebrate

the heritage of chuck wagons with

a contest that relies on cooking

methods from 1860s cattle drives.

Feb. 26. americanchuckwagon.org

PILLSBURY BAKE-OFF

Orlando

The motherload of all cooking

competitions, this years winner

of the 45th Annual BakeOff

will walk away with a hefty $1

million. Will it be savory or

sweet? March 2527.

pillsbury.com/bakeoff

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