A few weeks ago, I mentioned in a post that I had never slathered on mustard before applying the dry rub on the meat. I wanted to know if there was going to be any difference in taste or texture. Well, the simple and expected answer is no. Honestly, the outside of the brisket tasted exactly the same versus the time I did not use a mustard rub. Safe to say, after so many hours of smoking, any flavors of the mustard just "vaporized" away. Next time, I'm going to try a more potent rub. How about a Siracha hot sauce rub...
OC BBQ Bonanza
BBQ meat sweats is apparently sweeping the entire county of Orange. Well, one festival at a time, at least. Most likely taking a cue from the surprisingly successful (12k attendees, they say) OC BBQ Festival, there is now going to be a OC BBQ Bonanza event which will take place August 18-21 in Fountain Valley, CA.
The format is familiar -- you pay admission to get in, then you buy tickets to sample different BBQ from various cooking teams. Admission is $5 (includes $2 rib coupon), compared to $10 for admission alone at the OC BBQ Festival. For $100, you can stuff yourself silly with all-you-can-eat ribs and drinks. You definitely need to eat a lot to get your money's worth.
Volt Likes ALL BBQ
Michael Voltaggio of Top Chef fame will be doing a cooking demo today at 1:30 pm at the OC Fair. In this interview, he said that he tried a fried peanut butter sandwich somewhere in Studio City. Okay, that sounds pretty delicious. I'm always a fan when peanut butter is added to the equation. Someone needs to put that on the menu for next year's OC Fair... I'm talking to you, the makers of the fried kool-aid!
Several months ago, he and his brother Bryan did a BBQ tour for William Sonoma, visiting legendary BBQ restaurants from each of the 4 regions. Some day, I hope to check out each city and do the same:
Texas -- Smitty's
Kansas City -- Danny Edwards BLVD
Memphis -- Rendezvous
North Carolina -- Wilber's
When I tweeted Voltaggio and asked him which was his favorite BBQ spot, he took the high road:
"I can't answer that, favorite things about each spot!"
