Sunday 16 August 2015

2 down, one to go!

Well, I've had the chance to compete in 2 BBQ competitions so far.

First up was Kapuskasing.

1st place ribs
3rd place chicken
2nd overall
1st place mystery box

Next up was Smoke on the Water in Cochrane

2nd place chicken
3rd place ribs
2nd place mystery box
3rd overall

Only Timmins event to go.  We'll see how things end up at the end of my season.

Friday 14 August 2015

It's a wrap!

What a whirlwind summer this has been.www.eastlink.ca

I spent two weeks of the summer planning, organising and shooting a brand new TV show for Eastlink TV called Backyard BBQ Battle.  Together with my co-grillmaster Bill Pudim, we filmed a total of 12 episodes.

This was an immense project that had a lot of moving parts.

Many thanks need to go out and these are in no particular order.

This was first and foremost a show about food.  Clancy's Meat Co. provided us with some outstanding meat to work with.  Thanks to Cynthia and her staff for carefully selection nothing but the best cuts of meat for us to showcase on the show.


To Dave Carter and the crew at Eastlink doing video and sound, you guys were amazing.  You pushed us hard but I think we ended up with a show everyone can be proud of.  Thanks Neil, James, Rob, Lydia, Mark, Joey, Paul and Stewart.

To our hosts for the 4 days (plus the 2 extra days of set-up and tear-down) Estelle Proulx Giannunzio and her husband Dino, thank you so much for your hospitality.  We felt so welcome on your beautiful property and the visuals provided will make for some great footage.  Was also nice to have access to your kitchen for prep and dishes and for the odd ingredient that we forgot at home.

Our official photographer, Marc Durocher from Marc Durocher Photography.  Not only did he create a kick-ass Promo Poster, he took many shots during filming as well as shots of our plating.  These will allow us to put together a fantastic Facebook page for people to follow us and a website to follow.

Our set designer, Jennie Doucet-Leblanc of Uniquely Yours Design outdid herself.  She was on location early every morning to make sure everything looked wonderful and ready to be captured by the camera.

We had some wonderful Production Assistants as well.  Jackie Lachance, Karen Collins and Spencer Corbeil.  You did all the grunt work (mostly dishes) and really took a lot of the heat off of us so we could concentrate on prepping and cooking.

A show such as this could also not have happened without some sponsors.  Thanks to Eastview RV for the use of a trailer.  Thanks to Andy Rochon at  Energymizers for the beautiful Napoleon Prestige Grill.




Thanks also to Gary Trotter at Traeger Canada for use of a Lil Tex Elite Pellet Smoker for the shoot.




Thanks to our friends Pascal and Eliz at Muskoka Fire Pits and Blue Ocean Lighthouse in Gravenhurst for the donation of the custom made firepit.  We put it to good use and it will look great on TV.   It became the focal part of our set for these last 6 episodes.





Thanks to the 36 judges who took the time out of their busy schedules to come and eat our food and chose a winner.  We hope our meals met your expectations.

And finally to my co-host Bill Pudim.  You drove me a bit nuts, but in a good way.  We both put out some pretty decent food and elevated BBQ to a whole new level.  What started off a a little pitch to Eastlink for an afternoon project morphed into a heck of a ride.

Keep an eye on our Facebook page for show times.  Should be airing some time in October!!