Last month saw my first food competition: the San Diego Burger Battle. I’d judged KCBS barbecue, assisted Doug Keiles in Oakland, and covered the World Food Championships, but this was my first time at the helm of my own competition effort. I learned a lot from the experience and over the next couple of days I’ll be sharing those lessons here for anyone who’s thought about competing.
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Sometimes we get slow news weeks and I have to save up items just to give people a decent-sized post. This is not one of those weeks. From food competitions to seaweed beer and Doritos Roulette, there’s a lot to talk about.
London Calling: A Fein way to rub your meat
Now that I’ve caught your attention with a very tasteless pun, it’s time to introduce you to a very tasteful seasoning rub. Adam Feinberg is the big brain behind Feinberg’s Rubs and last week I had the opportunity to try his Everything Rub on a 3 pound London Broil I was barbecuing for friends.
Burn! Tested: Ribs Within Chicken Rub
I first met Doug Keiles two years ago when I helper monkey’ed for his team, Ribs Within, at the Meatopia Bare Bones Barbecue Competition in Oakland’s Eat Real Fest. He’d just appeared on Chopped and was about as happy as it gets.
Hot News
Big news from the World Food Championships for all of us home chefs. Even if you can’t make it to one of the WFC qualifiers before the WFC November 12-18, you can still backdoor your way into competing through the #FoodChamp Challenge.Grab your favorite recipe (category appropriate) and hit submit to present your best case to the World Food Championships’ panel of judges and you just may earn your spot in Las Vegas. The #FoodChamp Challenge series, in partnership with Kenmore, will be hosted on cookmore.com. The fun begins on May 1. Get more information here.
Masker’s Yule Hog Part 3: Hamming it Up for Santa
“The flu, Kringle? Really? That’s what bacon, sausage, and ham get me for Christmas?” That’s what went through my head when I staggered out of bed this year to an empty plate and no Big Green Egg under the tree. Oh, well. At least my family still loves me (thank you very much for the FoodSaver vacuum sealer, Mom and …
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In the latest round of legal flak aimed at Sriracha, a California judge has ruled in favor of the town of Irwindale. He decreed that the factory stop making “anything that causes odors” at Sriracha’s Irwindale facility. What this means to us hot sauce lovers possibly is less Sriracha on store shelves next year. Considering the sauce has gotten so popular Subway makes a Sriracha Chicken Melt sammich, this is kind of a big deal. Judge Robert H. O’Brien filing says, “[Huy Fong Foods] is to immediately make changes in its site operations reducing odors and the potential for odors” consistent with the city’s air quality mitigation measures. The factory processes fresh chilies for three months out of the year.
