Axe-Men BBQ has successful debut!

My team, Axe-Men BBQ, just competed in our first KCBS BBQ competition at the Lamb’s Farm Barn Burner event this past weekend. At first we were a little skeptical about how well we would do, since we were competing against former champions and were one of three first-time groups. There was 44 teams competing in this event, and many were doing full BBQ competition tours. All the other teams had huge trailers, larger smokers, and banners with multiple sponsors.  We didn’t have any of that…

It was chilly, windy, and rainy.  We didn’t have walls on our pop-up tent, we didn’t have a fire pit, and we didn’t know you could trim and prep the meats ahead of time (which would have saved us a lot of work during the event). Most of our competitors who would walk by knew we were first-timers just by looking at us, however, I would bet we were having the most fun out of any team. Everyone was nice, but a lot of friendly poking at the noobs was had.

Unlike some of the competitors, we made all of our injections, rubs, and sauces from scratch. We did not have very much area to cook numerous portions of meat, so we had to make sure the limited amount of product we were preparing turned out the way we wanted it to.  We only used a smaller Pit Boss pellet smoker and a 22-1/2 inch Weber grill. This also meant it needed to be constantly monitored, so there was a definite lack of sleep.

We are proud to have received a 9th place call on our ribs and 10th place call on our chicken, along with being 26th place overall. We could not be happier and are looking forward to doing 6 to 10 competitions next season.  We will also being upping our game as far as equipment, sources for meats, and getting a sweet banner with sponsors (if we can!)

 

Mediterranean Farro Salad Recipe – NomNomNom

Mediterranean Farro Salad

2 cups cooked Farro
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup Feta cheese, coarsely crumbled
2/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup toasted walnut halves, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated and thinly sliced

Cook Farro to the package instructions, then let cool to room temperature.
Whisk vinegar, mustard, salt, black pepper, garlic, oregano, zest and red pepper flakes together in a large bowl.  Continue whisking, and slowly add the olive oil until creamy and thoroughly mixed.  Add the Farro and remaining ingredients into the bowl, then toss until evenly coated.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Honey Dijon Farro Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Fontina Cheese, Flat Leaf Parsley

Food Related Careers Other Than A Restaurant Chef

Many people possess a passion for food but don’t necessarily want to spend their nights, weekends, and holidays tucked away in the kitchen for their career choice.  There are a variety of options available for a foodie, not including positions at a traditional restaurant:

• Catering/Food Truck – In some cases the hours can be better, you are more in control of the volume of work, and can plan ahead as opposed to a flurry of tickets and orders coming at you in a hot, sweaty kitchen.
• Personal Chef – Famous people, rich people, and some large corporations like to have their own person on staff to cook what they want, when they want.
• Corporate Chef – Large restaurant chains, food manufacturers, and retail outlets like to have someone at the helm to develop recipes, products, and presentations for the general public or to potential customers.
• Research and Development Chef – Part chef, part product development specialist, an R&D chef is testing and creating foods and products for retail, foodservice, schools, hospitals, and further manufacturers.
• Food Scientist/QC/QA – Understanding functionality of food and beverage, quality control, quality assurance, use of flavors, colors, preservatives, gum and starch systems, and analytical analysis of foodstuff.  Basically a ‘mathlete’ for food.
• Market and Consumer Research/Analysis – Understanding consumer science, food trends, buying practices, and psychology of the food and beverage industry.
• Consultant – Do you know everything but tired of ‘settling down?’ Many companies look to specialists for temporary or short term projects.
• Nutritionist – Focussing on health and wellness, speciality diets, nutrient needs in hospitals for patients, or helping athletes achieve fitness goals.
• Farmer/Forager – Truffles don’t grow on trees…well they do, but you have to find and gather them!  Also, all those fruits, vegetables, and grains don’t just magically appear.
• Butcher/Fishmonger/Cheesemonger/Sommelier – Be a meat, fish, cheese, or wine expert and have lots of fun interesting factoids to talk about at parties!
• Chef Instructor – If you have a passion for teaching and a love for food, this is the job for you.
• Sales – Every industry around the world needs a sales guy to move their products.
• Buyer – Every industry around the world needs a buyer to find products. Kind of repetitive.
• Customer Service – Someone is on the other end of the phone when you call the customer service number printed on the package or on the website.
• Restaurant Designer/Equipment Supply – Build the restaurant, furnish the restaurant, develop and supply the equipment, and know how to use it.
• Manufacturing – The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is $2 trillion strong in the US, plus manufactured products for foodservice and B2B.  LOTS of opportunities.
• Packaging/CPG Professional – Someone needs to design and engineer the box, bag, package, film and seal.
• Food Critic – Fancy trying foods or restaurants, then providing honest (hopefully) opinions? This is a fun position but hard to become ‘THE’ food critic without a following or backing of a publication.
• Food Writer/Marketing – Descriptive writing, tag lines, romance copy, and content development is fun and something I obviously do not possess.
• PR/Publicist  – This is someone who manages the public image of a brand or product. Finding ad sponsors, creating hype, pitching news releases, and working with writers to create content.
• Food Stylist – Making food tasty is one thing, but making food ascetically pleasing for pictures, packaging, and promotions is another.
• Food Photographer – KInd of like Instagram but for real…and better
• Cook Book Author/Blogger – For those who have the knack for writing interesting and creative recipes in book form! Unfortunately the internet has cut down on book sales, so many have turned to blogging instead.
• Entertainment/TV/Celebrity Chef – If you are a character and know how to perform in front of a camera, this could be for you.  In fact, many of the current TV chef personalities can’t even cook that well! (BBUURRRNNNN)

There are dozens of job choices I have missed, so feel free to comment with more ideas!