The Connoisseurs BBQ Showdown
June 16th brought the four of us together for one reason alone: Victory.
The challenge had been issued the previous month by Connoisseur Tom and the stipulations laid forth by Connoisseur Javier as follows:
- All sauces are from Scratch. In other words no A-1, no bottled rubs, no
BBQ sauces.
- All meats start raw, but can be cooked ahead of time if required. No
ham steaks, no pre packaged hotdogs, no Stop & Shop rotisserie
chicken.
- One non-meat side is encouraged, but will not affect the scoring
unless everyone provides one or it is integral for enjoying the entry.
With that agreed, and with the date at hand, the battle was underway.
Over the next few hours the four of us worked at a fevered pace;
grilling,
chopping,
roasting,
smoking,
marinating,
frying,
stewing,
and doing whatever else we needed to get our submissions ready.
The food was plated, eaten and judged. What follows is the order from fourth place to first, with commentary from Javier.
Fourth Place, Connoisseur Tom, Grilltop Chili and Cheesy Cornbread:
This dish would be best called a cowboy chili, made from grilled steak, portugese chorizo, italian sausage, and kielbasa. As is, served at the time of the competition, the flavors had not yet melded and each piece of sausage was an orphan, their flavors (be it fennel or red pepper) stood out too much to be part of the chili but the chunks where too big to eat with a chunk of something else. On the other hand the chunks of grilled steak where perfectly tender and flavorful, bringing the most to the dish.
The cornbread was a little mealy and crumbly, but the flavor was just about spot on. Combined with the chili they made up for some of each others shortcomings but ended up homogenizing the product as a whole. This dish would have been a stronger contender if it had been given the four hours or so that the flavors needed to fully combine.
One thing that goes a long way in these competitions is personal effort. Take Michael's excellent caesar salad for example. It had toasted pumpkin seeds, a from-scratch dressing, fresh garlic croutons, and roasted cherry tomatoes. In my opinion the Caesar dressing was off-balance, simply too tart for its own good. While that went great with the smoky pumpkin seeds, it did less justice to the subtler elements of the dish. The shrimps themselves where cooked to the point of perfection in a handmade bbq sauce. While it was supposed to be a chipotle BBQ, I think the smoke and spice eluded me, leaving mostly sweetness on my tounge. Still, while it was all served as one dish it had many elements with bridges between them, such as the roasted tomatoes bridging the salad with the BBQ shrimp.
The texture of the jerk sausages was excellent, maybe a little drier than most store-bought sausages, but otherwise held their integrity well on the grill despite lacking casings. The applewood smoke mixed with a brushing of brown sugar to make a natural barbeque sauce. Its spice was bold and lasting, if a little overpowering without a side or two to quench the flames.
The first such side was pinapple rubbed in brown sugar and then grilled. The fact that the core had not been removed made certain bites texturally unappealing but all-in-all it was well recieved. Gluten-free mac and cheese was made with brown rice noodles, and thickened with a single egg yolk. It was not perfectly homogenized, but the flavors survived intact. Chunks of smoked asparagus provided an occasional firm crunch, but mostly shared their smoky flavor with the surrounding cheese and noodles.
Connoisseur Tom's Note: The above pictured was the plate served to Connoisseur Jon's gluten-intolerant wife, Liz. While I feel that we at The Connoisseurs shouldn't embrace intolerance, Jon wouldn't hear any arguments to the contrary.
Sliders four ways, a perfect approach to a BBQ challenge. While the four diminutive hamburger patties were nearly identical (one was smoked) the toppings for the buns where distinct and well-conceptualized. In order there was the American classic, which reveled in its simplicity and added cute touches such as slices of cherry tomato. The Greek burger brought some welcome salt and brine from feta and olives but lacked a little oil or condiments to moisten it. Jon did spritz these burgers with balsamic vinegar, but it wasn't noticable. Another burger featured a cranberry garnish, sliced pears and gorgonzola, all three comonly found side-by-side in salads but failing to mesh entirely with the hamburger. Lastly we had a smoked burger with habanero mayonaise, Johnnie Walker caramelized onions and yellow peppers. It was sweet, smoky, and very spicy, three elements I love together. Unfortunately, some elements got lost in the shuffle, such as his maple in the sauce, but honestly I wasn't looking for any maple taste in that burger.
As a late side we where served sweet potato fries, sprinkled with salt. Even though I was too full to eat another bite, and I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes, I had a few and they where excellent, very crispy and not too sweet.
Thanks Connoisseur Javier. Your opinionated reviews keep us going.
After the success and overall euphoria that accompanied this epic event, the four of us decided that we shouldn't wait another 6 months to do this again. With that said, be on the lookout for a new Connoisseurs Showdown coming sometime in September!