This is BBQ

A friend shared this and it was too good not to share.

Review: The Kickin' Pig

Name: The Kickin' Pig
Location: Rock Hill, SC
Hours: Tuesday - Saturday 11am - Until
Price range: $4-$10 (Pig Out Combo @$35)

This morning my wife and I were driving to the tax office to pay our car taxes and passed by a little brick building with a cooker smoking away outside. I said to my wife, "That looks promising." After all it was about 8:45 am and the cooker was going.

We got our errands done and decided to give it a try. We pulled up and parked on the side of the building, which is painted with a large friendly "Bar-B-Q" sign on the side.





We went in and talked for a little to the friendly waitress, and found we were the first ones there for lunch. She greeted us and informed us that there would be no fried foods today as the fryer broke this morning. No worries, we weren't after fries we were after BBQ.

The building is an old grocery store that has been converted into a restaurant. It's a neat building and the inside has that old school BBQ shack feel.





We got ready to order only to find out they didn't have any ribs either. It was not looking good. The fryer was down and no ribs, but they did have pork, beans and slaw. We both ordered a large plate which is 1/2lb of pork and two sides. My wife got the BBQ slaw and the mayonnaise based slaw as her sides and I ordered the beans and BBQ slaw.

Side note: BBQ slaw is a vinegar/BBQ sauce based slaw. I usually prefer it to mayonnaise based slaw.





The food arrived. Simple styrofoam plate, paper bowl for the beans, and plasticware, except for the spoon. No frills. The pork was served unsauced, the way it should be. It had good flavor and not too smokey. It was good and smoked perfectly, not mushy and not tough.

The Kickin' Pig has two vinegar based sauces a mild and a spicy. I like spicy but I think the mild had better flavor. When the sauce was put on the pork it only enhanced the overall flavors making it a great plate of pork.

As I said before, I prefer BBQ slaw. I didn't care for this one though. I think they used ketchup in it and used too much. Their mayonnaise slaw, on the other hand, was good. I should have ordered that. Good flavor and good texture.

The beans were good. Nice hint of smoke and BBQ sauce with enough spice to satisfy my need for heat.





Would I eat there again? Definitely. My wife and I plan to go back to try their ribs. They also have a pig out combo that is 2 lbs of ribs, 1/2 lb of pork and all the sides. If you eat it all in 30 minutes you get your picture on their wall of fame.

On the Gibbs Ribs scale* I will give it a solid 3/4 rack of ribs (for now), due to the issues with the fryer and no ribs. After we try the ribs I will update this rating. If you're in or near Rock Hill I would recommend giving it a try.

*When I do reviews, books or otherwise, I rate the items with ribs (they are my favorite BBQ dish). A full rack is great and a single rib is poor. I will tend to stick to a full rack, half rack or one rib.

 

"Prayer-dogs" and Ribs

The last two weekends were spent at BBQ competitions. The first in North Augusta, SC and the second in Linconton, NC. I really don’t know how teams can go out every weekend and enter a competition. It would be crazy!!!

The North Augusta competition was the First Annual Banjo-B-Que. It was a pretty big event with some pretty big names. I got to meet both Tuffy Stone of Cool Smoke and Johnny Trigg of Smoking Triggers. both are great guys and fun to talk too.

Our team got to North Augusta and got set up. that night we cooked steaks for part of the cook off, supper and for the sponsors of the contest to eat. They were great. We got everything cooking and were settling in for the night but our neighbors were partying like it was 1999 and we had to ask them to turn down their music.

We were vending at this event but had decided to do “Prayer-dogs.” We gave away hotdogs and prayed with the people we gave them to. It was amazing all the things people had and have going on their lives. Some had friends missing, cancer, broken homes. All had something they needed prayer for. We gave out 130 “prayer-dogs” that day.

There was a chance of rain all day but it held off until we were packing up. Then we had to make a mad dash to get everything in the trailer.

Over all we didn’t do to well in the competition, though our ribs placed 10th, we had lots of fun and were able to encourage many people.

Last weekend we were at the Hog Happenin’ in Lincolnton, NC. We were there just to compete, have a good time and meet some new people.

The bikes at the rally were really cool and lots of interesting people went by. We had a little rain around 9:30 Friday night and it shut down all the festivities. It was a nice quite night.

Freedom Church in Lincolnton have a youth center on the square where the competition is held and they have opened it up the past few years for the BBQers to use. they have water, clean restrooms and fresh coffee. It was great to be able to get a little break in AC and talk with some really good guys.

Our ribs this time took first place and or chicken 14th. We need to work n our brisket and pork some more but we are getting there.

Things to remember:

• Lots of water for summer competitions
• Get packed before the awards ceremony
• Meet new people
• Have fun

Welcome

Welcome to Q 4 Fun.

I live in South Carolina, the land flowing with vinegar and mustard. About two years ago I started smoking meat for fun. I loved it and am now on Catchafire For Q team and regularly smoke pork, chicken and turkey.

I don't promise regular updates to this blog, but will try to keep it up-to-date with what our team is doing and what I am experimenting with at home.

It should be a fun and interesting year as I am becoming a certified KCBS judge, attending a BBQ cooking class and competing in 10 cook offs in North Carolina, South Carolina and Gerogia.

I look forward to your comments and input on what we are doing and hopefully meeting some of you at various competitions.

May your smoke always be blue and your fire constant.