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
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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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NOVEMBER 2011 68 GO MAGAZINE
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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NOVEMBER 2011 69 GO MAGAZINE
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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