Youngish Upstart Paul with his Iron Boot Smoker

What’s interesting is how I found it. I opened up my fantasy sports page and was met with with these GIANT banner adds on the left and right side of my screen. On the left is Lee Ann, and on the right we meet Myron, who is covered in BBQ sauce and apparently wiping more sauce all over his silken snow white beard. It is truly a graphic shot. Lee Ann is carrying an axe and wearing a bowling shirt. I would be terrified to meet either of them in a darkened alley, which is apparently TLC’s aim with this show.

If you watch the video, you’ll meet the contestants. I call them contestants because they’re playing for money and prestige, baby. Competitor Tuffy tells us why he’s not afraid of his fellow Pitmasters.

I’ve been cussed out by French chefs. Think I’m afraid of a bunch of yokels standing around the hibachi?

This is classic on two levels. He makes fun of hicks (a seemingly decent portion of his audience) and champions (sort of) the French (alienating another key portion of his audience).  Is Tuffy trying too hard to be the reality TV villain here?

I’m not against good barbeque being highlighted by a television show, I’m just sick of television’s “Tough Guy Reality Show” presentations.  The tattoo shows are enough, thanks.  Now you have to name a show “Pawn Stars” and advertise it like they’re a biker gang?  Wasn’t there already a reality show about bike workshops?  What?!   There have already been three of those?!

I look forward to one year later, when Food Network has a show called “Smoked” hosted by Guy Fieri, and Bravo has a show called “Sauce Kingdom” hosted by George Foreman and some model lady, both featuring BBQ competitions.  Watching this stuff would be murder.  I enjoy eating barbeque.  I respect the process as well.  Do I need to watch an aggro-fest reality show where people cook for money to get my fill of barbeque?  No.

I have a short message for reality television: Nobody likes you.  Go eat worms.

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(Click on bracket to see a larger, easier to read version)

There are no rules and no criteria other than to answer the question: “What is the #1 meat?” You can base your vote on taste, cost, convenience, prestige, flavor…anything you want.  Just like the NCAA tournament, when a team from the East coast will randomly get sent into the Western bracket, there are a couple minor exceptions with our regions.  For example, Rabbit has been placed in the Poultry Region and the “Red” Meat Region contains a few reddish meats that technically aren’t actually red meat (Lamb, Veal, Venison).

Obviously March is the time of year when people do brackets for everything – and So Good is no exception. I don’t know if something like Meat Madness has been done before, but this is certainly the debut offering of such a tournament on So Good.  There are similar brackets going on right now, such as Washingtonian’s Burger Bracket to determine the best burger in DC.

On Wednesday we will begin voting on our first round match-ups. Two first round match-ups a day for 8 days, then we move on to the second round.  Finally, thanks must be given to one of my readers, Jenelle, who suggested this idea to me 4-5 months ago.  I’ve patiently been sitting on the idea until the NCAA tournament arrived (which was really tough because I LOVE the idea of  a Meat Madness bracket!).

Click “Read More” to see each Region up close and read a little analysis of some of the early match-ups we have to look forward to.

We have four regions, “Red” Meat Region, Poultry Region, Pork Region and Seafood Region. Let’s take a look at each one.

First up, the “Red” Meat region.  Steak (1), Lamb (2), Ground Beef (3) and Veal (4) are the top 4 seeds in this bracket, and I think there is no doubt that Steak and Ground Beef are forces to be reckoned with.  Will Lamb be able to protect its #2 seed? Or will Corned Beef present a threat in the midst of Lent?  Veal and Buffalo could be an interesting first round match-up as well.

The Poultry region presents us with a wide-range of tasty birds – plus Rabbit.  The top four seeds are Chicken (1), Turkey (2), Duck (3) and Rabbit (4).  Will the more widely used and readily available Chicken and Turkey prove impossible to stop? Or will advocates emerge for more tasty alternatives?

The Pork Region sees a bevy of 8 different meats all coming from the same animal.  The top 4 seeds are Bacon (1), Sausage (2), Prosciutto (3) and Ham (4).  Yes, I am aware that Prosciutto IS Ham, but we are going by the English definition here.  According to Wikipedia, “in English the word is almost always used for an aged, dry-cured, spiced Italian ham that is usually sliced thin and served uncooked.”  Bacon has proven to be the darling of the food blogosphere in the past year, but this bracket is stacked from top to bottom. Potential upsets abound with extremely strong lower seeds in Pulled Pork (5), Pepperoni (6) and Ribs (7).

The Seafood Region is just that – seafood.  The top 4 seeds are Lobster (1), Scallops (2), Salmon (3) and Tuna (4).  Like the Pork Region, this region has depth – Crab (6) and Shrimp (5) look like potential first round sleepers, and Clams (8) and Mussels (7) both certainly have their supporters.

Voting on first round match-ups will begin on Wednesday.  Use the comments on this post to predict potential first round upsets, your pick to win the title, or any debates over seeding.  Let the Meat Madness begin!

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Last Saturday I had a friend in town from NYC, and wanted to give her a real taste of the Lone Star State. We went over to a friend’s house for a good old Texas smoked meat fest. By the time we got to my buddy’s house, the preparations were well underway. On the smoker was a nine pound pork shoulder and two birds.

See smoker (a salty veteran on the BBQ circuit):

My buddy cooked the shoulder (aka Boston butt) with mesquite wood between 275 to 300 degrees for close to eight hours. The birds went on for the last three. The night before they went on the smoker, he put his special rub on the meat, and put a bunch of rosemary inside the birds right before smoke-time.

When the meat came off, it smelled heavenly, and was unbelievably tender and moist – in short, delicious. Accompanying this delight was potato salad, cole slaw, plenty of sauce – hot and BBQ, along with sliced pickles, diced onion and plain white bread – all Texas traditions.

Here’s the only shot I could get of the bird and butt. The hungry crowd went after it like piranhas, even the New York folks. I only wish the picture conveyed a smell…

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The world is filled with crazy food combinations. Burgers with Krispy Kreme donuts for buns. Deep fried Mars bars. Cherry Chocolate soda. In this day and age, almost nothing is off limits. If food item A is delicious, and food item B is delicious, someone is going to try combining the two, for better or worse. Which makes it so baffling to me that, as far as I can tell, no one has ever attempted to make or sell a pulled pork cheese steak. A quick Google search confirms this.

We have chicken cheese steaks, so why not a pulled pork cheese steak? Pulled pork is delicious, and melted cheese is delicious, so why not? I know what the haters will say, that putting cheese on pulled pork would ruin an already classic food, that cheese doesn’t go with BBQ etc. etc. Doubters, all of you.

The geniuses of the world are always called crazy until people come to understand the genius of their creations. “Hey look at me, I’m Ben Franklin, and I’m going to fly a kite and capture a magical force called electricity!” Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Turns out? Genius.

Do you not think people said the same thing about deep frying Oreos? Or using donuts as buns for a burger? That must have sounded like INSANITY the first time it was mentioned. It all sounds crazy until you make it work. And I’m telling you right now readers, a pulled pork cheese steak can WORK.

Sure, there are some kinks to work out. Like what kind of cheese? I’m thinking white cheddar, but am open to other ideas. And what else goes on it? I’m thinking just some grilled onions (coleslaw and cheese together does not sound promising). But couldn’t you also order the cheese steak “all the way” which would include baked beans and/or coleslaw ON the sandwich? I haven’t totally pinned it down.

I think one important factor, is that rather than the pulled pork coming out of a pan and being placed on the bread, it would be thrown on the grill with cheese and onions…I think a couple minutes on the grill could give the pulled pork a slight charring and maybe a little extra flavor.

That being said, I think the basic idea is about as awesome as it gets. Pulled pork is delicious. Cheese steaks are delicious…the time has come to create the world’s next great sandwich. Ladies and gentlemen, I submit, for your consideration: The Pulled Pork Cheese Steak.

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Pulled Pork picture via jenyu.net.

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“The story of a fire obsessed guy, living in Brooklyn, with a dream of producing award winning, competition busting, real Barbeque. Come live the dream as I compete around the country in the KCBS Championship Barbecue circuit.”

Check it out, it’s a fun read.

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It was a fun barbecue. The hosts also smoked 8 pounds of beef brisket, and the side dishes were delicious. I brought a pesto pasta salad with cherry tomatos, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, onions and black olives. Other side dishes included sweet potato salad with a chili-lime dressing, potato salad, and chocolate chip bars for dessert.

But back to the point…Turducken, for about 7 or 8 years now, has been on my “must-do-before you die” list, sandwiched right in-between “get married” and “see Europe.”

For those of you unfamiliar with Turducken, it is a de-boned turkey stuffed with a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed with a small de-boned chicken. Usually there is some sort of stuffing between each layer. In the case of the Turducken we had, it was a cornbread stuffing with cajun sausage.

Instead of cooking it in the oven, they cooked it in their outdoor smoker with hickory woodchips for about 6 hours. Needless to say, the Turducken did not disappoint. The turkey was tender and soft, the skin flavorful, the duck and chicken were both as juicy as can be, and the stuffing did a great job absorbing a lot of the smoky flavor.

After recovering from the Turducken, we moved on to the brisket, which had been cooked in the smoker for 8 hours. It was at this moment I realized something: Have you ever heard anyone say, “yeah we cooked it for 7 hours…it ended up tasting terrible”? No. You never have. And I mean NEVER. Unless the food in question is burned, it is inherently understood that anything you cook between 5 and 10 hours is going to be F-ing delicious.

Anyone else have any good labor day weekend barbecue experiences?

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