I head off tomorrow to compete in a BBQ contest at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. That’s Southern California’s biggest country musicpalooza featuring country music’s megastars. Makes me wish I appreciate country music a little more than I do. My team’s one of forty something competing for $30,000 in prize money.

We’re not in it for the music. We’re gold digging. Wish us luck!

There’s also a People’s Choice award at this contest, where the general public can vote for their favorite team. My team, Four Q BBQ, has a solid track record of winning People’s Choice in past contests that featured them, so we have high expectations of doing well in this category.

Here’s a bizarre little tidbit: The US State Department is sending a video crew to tape my team for a documentary for the america.gov website. Exactly why they picked us is a bit of a mystery, but they’re featuring us as a bunch of regular American folks doing typical American stuff: cooking barbecue, at a contest, drinking beers, country music blasting in the background. Doesn’t get more American than that. More details on this project when they’re available.

Hello from the Fancy Food Show, the trade show for the gourmet foods industry! The annual West coast show has moved from San Francisco to San Diego this year, well within driving range for this So Cal reporter. Here’s a few colorful photos from the first day of the convention.

The alchemists at Sweetfields turn organic flowers into edible candy creations made to adorn wedding cakes, pastries, and even drinks! These are coated with edible 24 karat gold dust. Their bright colors and luminescence are even more vivid in person.

Sweetfields even makes waterproof candied flowers that float in water!

Tsar Nicoulai Caviar produces fine caviar from American farm raised fish. Their sample bowl contains caviar from white sturgeon, salmon, whitefish, and trout. The orange jars of trout caviar in the foreground are designed by Chef Roland Passot. They burst in the mouth with subtle flavors of vanilla bean, kaffir lime, and brandy (from left to right).

If you showed up at a barbecue contest, you might expect that you can eat some of the barbecue being submitted for judging. At many contests in California, that’s simply not the case, because vendors that sell to the public must pass Health Department inspection, and clear hurdles that most non-professional teams aren’t prepared to muster. The public disappointment in the lack of contest quality samples contributes to the demise of otherwise terrific events like the highly hyped BBQ’n at the Autry, which won’t return in 2008.

The organizers of the inaugural Blues, Brews and BBQ contest in the desert resort city of La Quinta, California chose to structure their event so the public can sample contest grade barbecue. Against a small assembly of our friends and fellow competitors, we scrapped our way to a second place overall (called the Reserve Grand Champion in BBQ contest jargon). During the vending session, Four Q also earned the coveted People’s Choice Award. Perhaps they liked the friendly trash-talking show between our team and our neighbors. Perhaps they liked our generous sample portions. Or maybe they just liked our meat and sauces.

We aim for consistently high placing in each of four meat categories, and this time, we actually managed to pull it off. It’s nice to take a first place in any one category, but it’s better to take a top five in all of them and place higher on the overall ranking.

Congratulations to the organizers of this first time event, which exceeded this competitor’s expectations for organizational skill, media coverage, and public attendance. With any luck, La Quinta will have us back next year.  And next time, we’ll be prepared to cook more food for Four Q’s fans.

Results 2007 Blues, Brews and BBQ - La Quinta, CA
Overall
1 Kyle Emery, Kyles Bubba Q
2 Neil Strawder, Four Q
3 Bill Emery, Brother Bills BBQ
4 Dan Powers, BBQ2DI4
5 Steph Franklin, Simply Marvelous
6 Mike Reimann, AZ Barbeque/Whiskey Ranch
7 Brian Kriesler, Blast Off BBQ
8 James Emery,  J and L Smokin BBQ
9 John Scott, Papas Smokhouse
10 Dale Ginos, When Pigs Fly

Brisket
1 Kyles Bubba Q
2 AZ Barbeque/Whiskey Ranch
3 Four Q
4 Brother Bills BBQ
5 Simply Marvelous
6 J and L Smokin BBQ
7 When Pigs Fly
8 Blast Off
9 Papas Smkehouse
10 BBQ 2DI4

Chicken
1 BBQ2DI4
2 J and L Smokin
3 Kyles Bubba Q
4 Blast Off
5  FourQ BBQ
6 Papa Smokhouse
7 Brother Bills
8 Simply Marvelous
9 AZ Barbeque/Whiskey Ranch
10 When Pigs Fly

Ribs
1 Kyles Bubba Q
2 Brother Bills BBQ
3 FourQ
4 Blast Off
5 BBQ 2DI4
6 Papa Smoke House
7 When Pigs
8 Simply marvelous
9 AZ Barbeque/Whiskey Ranch
10 J and L Smoking

Pork
1 Simply Marvelous
2 FourQ
3 AZ Barbeque/ Whiskey Ranch
4 When Pigs Fly
5 BBQ 2DI4
6 Kyles Bubba Q
7 Brother Bills
8 Papas Smokhouse
9 Blast Off
10 J and L Smokin

The third annual Smokin in the Park BBQ contest is a biggie (for California, anyway), with forty teams committed thus far. Big prize money always draws more teams, which makes my team’s aim of winning the overall that much harder. One never knows, though. We took first place in brisket at the last contest, and first place in ribs the time before that. If you happen to be in the San Diego area, come out and root for Four Q!

The contest will be held in the Viejas Outlet Center. Teams start cooking on the night of Friday October 19, 2007 and judging begins at noon on Saturday.

Viejas Outlet Center
5005 Willows Road, Alpine, CA 91901