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.

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!!

Backyard BBQ Battle - First 6 episodes

Over the past few days, my BBQ friend Bill Pudim and I have been involved in the filming of a brand new grilling-bbq show for Eastlink TV.

Coming soon to a TV set near you is Backyard BBQ Battle.

2 grillmasters

Canada vs USA

New school vs old school

simplicity vs complexity

1 ingredient... cooked in 2 very different ways.

The whole experience this week required a learning curve.  We had a great crew from Eastlink that really pushed us in order to get the best shots under a tight shooting deadline.  

Some of the Eastlink crew : James, Neil, and show host Stewart

During the two days, we were able to shoot 6 episodes and 6 cooking tips.  We will gather again in August to shoot 6 more episodes.  All of these will be edited and will air on Eastlink TV this fall.

Thanks to our meat Sponsor Clancy's Meat Co.  It was an honour to be able to feature their wonderful meat on our show.

Here are a few more pics from the day of shooting including a few money shots of our food creations.

Pork Tenderloin

Our judges table.  Thanks to Jennie Doucet-Leblanc from Uniquely Yours Design for the set design.

Photo by Marc Durocher Photography

Photo by Marc Durocher Photography

Kapuskasing BBQ competition

The Kapuskasing BBQ competition is less than a week away.

It promises to be a great event and will be held on the Circle during the lumberjack festival.

Entry is 75$ and includes your meat, your entry into the Mystery Box competition and prizes.

Here is a list of prizes up for grabs.

Grand Champion:  Muskoka Chair (Prize Value $300)

Reserve Grand Champion:  Yamaha Outdoor Speaker System (Prize Value $200)

1^st Place Chicken:  Wireless Weather Center (Prize Value $50)

1^st Place Ribs: Wireless Weather Center (Prize Value $50)

Mystery box:  Wine/Cheese Cutting Board bag, 4 Stemless Wine Glasses, Picnic Blanket, LCBO gift card (Prize Value $100)

 Plus, an authentic wooden cutting board crafted in Kapuskasing.

Sizes vary for different winners. Large, Medium and Small. 

For more info, you can contact Ashley at welcome@kapuskasing.ca

Eastview RV Northern Amateur BBQ Challenge

3 Northern competitions to get your grill on!

It's going to be a busy summer of BBQ.

3 events are on tap in northern Ontario this summer as part of  the Eastview RV Northern Amateur BBQ Challenge.

First up is Kapuskasing on July 25th.  They will host the Chopped and Fired Up Chicken and Rib Cookoff.  This is a first year event and will be held on the Circle in Kap.

Register here.

The next Northern Event will be the 3rd annual Smoke on the Water Amateur BBQ contest in Cochrane, Ontario.  Event will be held on the Waterfront on August 8th during their Summerfest.

Register here.

The last event of the summer will be Timmins Fall Fair Smokin' and Grillin' BBQ Competition to be held on September 12th at the Mountjoy Arena.

Register here.

Entry fee into each event is 75$ and includes your meat to cook (2 racks of ribs and 2 full chickens).  There are great prizes to be won at each competition and there is a Traeger Lil Tex Elite smoker to be won by the team that scores highest at one of the 3 events thanks to Eastview RV.

For more info, you can get in touch with Rene Gaudreau or Bill Pudim.

If you want to know more about competing in an amateur BBQ competion, you can read my past 2 posts.
So you wanna compete, part I.
So you wanna compete, part II

Looking forward to seeing you at one of these events which are sanctionned by the Canadian Southern BBQ Association.

Great prizes for our Timmins competition

Our Timmins BBQ competition will have some of the best prizes that amateur BBQ has to offer.

First up for Grand Champion is a Broil King Keg, donated by Timbr-Mart/Porcupine Pro Hardware and by Energymizers in Timmins.  This is an outstanding Grill worth over 1000$.

2nd place overall will win a Love and Romance package from Cedar Meadows Resort valued at 400$.

1st place chicken and 1st place ribs will receive a 100$ gift card from Canadian Tire Gas Bar.

Please take time to support these generous sponsors and let them know that you saw their sponsorship here.

Plenty to win... so why not try your luck at competitive BBQ.

Time for some cheap Ebooks

I`m a big fan of Steven Raichlen and his various TV shows, his website Barbecue Bible, and also his books.

He's currently offering a massive sale on 4 of his books in Ebook format.

These are currently discounted to $2.99 each.  That`s 4 massive titles for 12$.

Get this offer before it disappears.

Click here to take advantage of this offer.  

A Summer of Competitive BBQ

It's going to be a busy summer for those who love BBQ competitions.

The Canadian Southern BBQ Association has confirmed that 3 events in Northern Ontario have received sanctioning.

So this is what the summer looks like so far.

Kapuskasing will host it's inaugural and as-yet un-named event on July 25th.  This event will happen in conjuction with their Lumberjack Festival.  The Lumberjack festival is one of the premier events in Canada and will be a fantastic fit for BBQ in Kap!

Cochrane will host it's 3rd year event : Smoke on the Water.  The event is held in conjunction with Summerfest every August.  Team Canada BBQ will also be making the trek to Cochrane to provide goodies for those in attendance.  This event will be held on August 8th.

Timmins will be hosting it`s inaugural event on Sept 12th.  It will be held in conjunction with the fall fair.  You can get more info at all of these event at the website linked above or by getting in touch with me at heartofgoldbbq@gmail.com.

Each of these competitions will also include a mystery box challenge where competitors receive a box of mystery ingredients and must feed a meal to 3 hungry judges.  It's sort of like Chopped on the Food Network.  It's fast paced and plenty of fun.

Entry fee for each of the competitions will be 75$.  It will include your meat (2 racks of ribs and 2 full chickens) for the BBQ component as well as the ingredients for the mystery box challenge.

Beyond the prizes for best ribs and chicken, Eastview RV has come on board as a sponsor in the Eastview RV Northern Ontario BBQ Challenge Series.  Highest scoring team at one of the 3 events will win a Traeger Lil Tex Elite smoker valued at 1000$.

Keep your eyes peeled to this blog for information about all BBQ events in Northern Ontario.  Also, join the Timmins and Area BBQ facebook page.

For those of you who will not be competing but would rather judge, judging courses will be offered in all 3 communities before the event.  You can show your interest by filling out this form.

It`s going to be a busy summer.  We already have 2 other communities in Northern Ontario who are really hoping to host BBQ competitions next summer as well.  Who knows what next summer will bring?

Team Canada BBQ

Bright and early this morning, a bunch of my friends from Team Canada BBQ left Southern Ontario for the 900 mile trek to Memphis, Tenessee in order to attend Memphis in May World Championship BBQ contest, one of the largest Professional BBQ competitions in the World.

Team Canada BBQ is a federal not for profit corporation and is the official Canadian National BBQ Competition Team.  That's right folks.... BBQ is a sport with a national team.  They travel all over North America and recently competed at the World Food Championships in Las Vegas Nevada and placed 1st in Recipe division.  

www.instagram.com/teamcanadabbq

Last year at Memphis in May, they won 1st place BBQ sauce in a field of many hundred competitors.  Yes....  America's favorite BBQ sauce is made by Canadians, using Canadian Whiskey and Maple Syrup!!  :)

http://www.marcdurocher.com/

used with permission...  http://blog.teamcanadabbq.com/

I wish my friends safe travels and best of luck in all their divisions this weekend.  

If you want to get a chance to taste Team Canada BBQ food, you're in luck.  They will be attending Summerfest in Cochrane, Ontario on August 8-10th.  They'll be serving up plenty of goodies.  

For more info on Team Canada BBQ, visit their Blog, Like their Facebook page or their Instagram account.

Gonna be a Food Star... sorta

I received a great bit of news late last week.

Last fall, myself and my BBQ buddy Bill Pudim, pitched a show to Eastlink TV.  We wanted to bring grilling, smoking and BBQ to TV in a format that would be fitting to Northern Ontario.

In the late fall, we shot a screen test.  Here are a few pics of Bill and I with Neil White and Lydia Chubak from Eastlink.

So it looks as though our show format will be filming at some point this summer.  We've actually been throwing around ideas for the better part of a year.  Current format will be a competition format with Bill and I competing to see who can make the better meal.  Format may change somewhat between now and filming.  

I'll keep you up-to-date as things progress.  What would you like to see us cook on this show?  Hit me up in the comments below and give me some suggestions.