Review: The Beast

Name: The Beast
Location: Paris, France
Price: $$$
Hours: Closed Monday and Sunday; Tuesday- Saturday 12:00PM - 2:30PM, 7:00PM - 11:00PM

In May I had the opportunity to go to Paris, France for work. While I was there I took advantage of the opportunity to see if there were any BBQ joints there. I found two and was able to go to one and try it. It was worth the walk.

Review: More BBQ and Grilling for the Big Green Egg & other Kamado-style cookers

More BBQ and Grilling is written by Eric Mitchell an award winning pitmaster who has been cooking on the Big Green Egg since 2000. He and his wife started the team, Yabba Dabba Que!, and compete in competitions throughout the North East. They have competed in both the Jack Daniel
s World Championship Invitational and the American Royal where they earned a perfect score for their crème brûlée.

I don't own a Kamado-style cooker but the recipes are easily adapted to other cookers and grills. If you have a Big Green Egg or similar cooker this cook book is great. Eric gives you the information to set up your your cooker correctly to get the temperatures you want. The last chapter talks about care and set up of your kamado-style cooker from purchase to use. The recipes cover everything from appetizers to desserts.

Wayfair's Simply Summer Cookbook!

A few Months back Wayfair.com contacted me about including one of my recipes in their Simply Summer Cookbook. I was happy to oblige and sent them my recipe for Grilled Bruschetta. You can download the book from Wayfair.com for free and enjoy this recipe (pg 15) and others.

Have a great summer and enjoy some great grilled food.

Review: The Smoking Bacon & Hog Cookbook

The Smoking Bacon & Hog Cookbook – The Whole Pig & Nothing but the Pig BBQ Recipes is written by championship pitmaster Bill Gillespie. He started cooking competitive BBQ in 2005 and won the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue in 2011 and in 2014 he won the American Royal Invitational, probably the two most coveted titles in the world of competitive BBQ. Bill knows what he’s talking about and shares his hog knowledge with us in this book.

Bill Gillespie covers everything in this book. From the rooter to the tooter (ok, not quite but pretty close). The recipes are easy to read and follow. He covers appetizers, snacks, drinks (with bacon in them) main courses, whole hog, and dessert (with bacon). The book is worth it just for the section on whole hog.

Review: Midwood Smokehouse

Name: Midwood Smokehouse 
Location: Charlotte, NC
Price: $$ - $6-$34 (that's for the Pig Out)
Hours: Sun - Wed • 11am - 10pm
Thurs - Sat • 11am - 11pm

Charlotte has a bad rap for BBQ joints. It's located in the center of the Carolina's, so you'd think they would have some great BBQ places. Well, over the last 10 years that has started to change. and it is AWESOME!

Recently my wife and I went to Midwood Smokehouse to try their BBQ. My friend Wayne of Big Wayner recommended it awhile back, but they had one location that I was rarely near it. In the past year they have opened up two other locations and one was much closer to me. I finally had a chance to get over there and try it. I was not disappointed.