What It’s Like to Attend a BBQ Event Now
What It's Like to Attend a Real BBQ Event Now
This past weekend, I attended Pig Island NYC, one of my favorite annual food events in the Northeast. Held this year at Staten Island’s 83-acre Snug Harbor Cultural Center for the first time, Pig Island attracted several hundred guests and featured numerous barbecue pitmasters serving incredible inventive food.
Notably, Pig Island featured a stark contrast to what’s been happening around the country, where the vast majority of barbecue and food events have been canceled or postponed to 2021. Frankly, it was the first time in a long time where I felt like I was living back in the reality I’d known prior to a pandemic that still looks far from over.
Everyone, including me, spread out at Snug Harbor for the Pig Island 2020 barbecue event. (Photo by Stephanie Tackach)
First and foremost, to make the event work, there were much stronger safety guidelines. Guests were required to socially distance, masks were required when you weren’t eating and drinking, hand sanitizing stations were set up throughout the space, and food tents were spread out over an enormous outdoor space. Additionally, no live music was performed to prevent congregating.
All of these measures worked well and the vast majority of attendees were compliant, minus a few moments here and there that featured too many people crowding to get a particularly good bite. But overall the event worked well mostly because everything was so spaced out outside, forcing people to walk around to try things and letting families set up blankets that were far away from tents.
The whole hog from South Carolina's Holy City Hogs was one of the best items at the event. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
As for the food, there were a ton of delicious bites to be had. If you didn’t catch it from the name, Pig Island is all about pork, so whole hog, spare ribs, pulled pork, and pork belly took center stage. Several local breweries were also on hand to provide beer and cider to wash down the delicious pork bites.
Some of the best dishes included the tender whole hog from Holy City Hogs of South Carolina; Laphroaig-glazed pork belly burnt ends from pitmaster Matt Fisher of New York; spare ribs and mac and cheese from Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue of New York; and the Puerto Rican slow-roasted marinated pork (pernil) from Que Chevere of New York. It was a relief that so many of the food and drink options were available just like there would be any other year.
The Cuban-style Lechón sandwich was stunningly delicious and won Best In Show. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
Several awards were given out at Pig Island, but the winner of “Best In Show” was awarded to Mario Chape of New Jersey’s Big Papa Smoke’m, who made an incredible Cuban-style Lechón sandwich with chimichurri. Chape pulled out several pork butts in front of a small crowd and pulled the pork in front of everyone. Then he stuffed the sandwich with fresh pork, chimichurri, and a sprinkle of his “The What” BBQ rub. It was quite a show and the sandwich bite that I had was incredibly flavorful.
“It felt amazing to win, and it felt like a great thing to happen after a crazy 2020,” Chape said. “Looking ahead, we are not out of the woods yet but I do think this is a great time for entrepreneurs to plant themselves. I’m always going to do barbecue and Cuban food and I just launched a line of spice rubs so people can make Latino-style barbecue at home too. I think that’s the new world. Let’s let people cook with their hearts.”
An NYPD firefighter cooks up Asian-style ribs, representing the great nonprofit Friends of Firefighters. (Photo by Sean Ludwig)
A big part of this event being allowed in the first place had to do with New York’s relatively small number of COVID-19 cases. If other regions and states begin to see broader reopenings and COVID cases stay under control, I expect outdoor events to come back in other places soon as well.
Personally, I don’t imagine attending many other events like Pig Island until 2021, but here’s hoping that the pandemic finally gets under control enough so we can all start partying together again. But if other event organizers hope to host food events in the next several months, they should take notes from Pig Island.
Sean Ludwig (NYC BBQ)
Co-Founder, The Smoke Sheet
—The Q in the Lou St. Louis BBQ Festival will take place on Oct. 3 as a virtual event.—
HOT OFF THE PRESS
St. Louis-based barbecue festival Q in the Lou will adopt a virtual format this year rather than canceling altogether. The event will take place as a live stream on October 3 and will feature barbecue demos with some of your favorite pitmasters, fireside chats with local barbecue joints like Pappy’s and Sugarfire Smokehouse, music, and even a virtual rib eating contest.
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A staple of the Charlotte community, Bill Spoon’s Barbecue is closing permanently after 57 years in business. Kathleen Purvis writes “If all the hard lessons of 2020’s season of terrible teaches us anything, it’s that: Those places don’t last, can’t last, if we don’t make sure of it.”
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Texas Monthly’s Daniel Vaughn pens a sentimental farewell to Peggy Sue BBQ, the Dallas restaurant where he first fell in love with Texas BBQ. The University Park spot, which closed for good last month, had been the location of a barbecue restaurant for over 75 years.
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Jesse Davis dives deep into the world of barbecue in a two part series for Memphis Magazine. In part one of the series entitled “The Barbecue Belt” he highlights Houston’s Gatlin’s BBQ along with The Bar-B-Q Shop, a classic Memphis barbecue favorite, and with Blake’s BBQ, whose pitmaster Blake Stoker is a rising star on the Tennessee scene. In part two of the series, he writes about College Barbecue and Red Bridges Lodge, two joints located in North Carolina.
The Houston Chronicle’s J.C. Reid writes about how in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been no shortage of barbecue in 2020 during a historic barbecue boom in Houston. "As someone whose job it is to keep up with the comings-and-goings in the barbecue business, I can say with confidence that 2020 has been one of the busiest times ever in Houston barbecue," Reid writes. "Just in the past year, at least eight brick-and-mortar barbecue joints have opened."
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ADDITIONAL READS
Sean Ludwig of The Smoke Sheet shares a strong defense of New York Barbecue
Rodney Scott’s BBQ in downtown Charleston sets sales record following ‘Chef’s Table’ release
Rivals bond on Netflix show The American Barbecue Showdown, an eight-part reality show series that debuts on September 18
Pitmaster John Brotherton serves traditional Texas barbecue and innovative smoked meats at Liberty Barbecue in downtown Round Rock
John Mueller has a new barbecue operation opening in Central Texas
A new beer collaboration from Pitmaster Aaron Franklin and Chef Chris Shepherd will benefit workers from the service industry
Best friends Leonard Aberman and Jeff Cohen show how Baseball and Barbecue go hand-in-hand
Taste of Home shares easy ways to make the most of your BBQ leftovers
—Billy Durney of Hometown Bar-B-Que in New York talks about his restaurant.—
WATCH
Why Hometown Bar-B-Que Is The Most Legendary Barbecue Restaurant In NYC — Legendary Eats
Hometown Bar-B-Que is arguably the most famous barbecue restaurant in New York City. Customers from all over the world flock to this restaurant and can wait up to two hours to try the food. INSIDER’s Herrine Ro and Sydney Kramer visit the restaurant and learn about Billy Durney’s story about how he fell in love with his craft and what makes his barbecue unique. WATCH HERE
LISTEN
Jess Pryles of Hardcore Carnivore and Brian Schaaf of Certified Angus Beef — The BBQ Central Show
Host Greg Rempe was joined by the creator of the Hardcore Carnivore brand and esteemed and accomplished live-fire cook, Jess Pryles. They talk about the re-emergence of the “Just Keep Flipping” method that she has championed over the past several months. They discuss why she loves this way to cook steaks and talk about when she would opt for a different method of cooking. They also chat about her “student status” at Iowa State University and the Master’s certificate Meat Science program she is enrolled in. Later, Greg is joined by Bryan Schaaf from Certified Angus Beef and learns what CAB is and why you might want to look for it the next time you buy beef. LISTEN HERE
READ
Jay Ducote’s Louisiana Outdoor Cooking — Jay Ducote
Jay Ducote is a popular Baton Rouge–based chef reality cooking show contender, radio host, caterer, and restaurant owner. In this book, Ducote provides readers with a wealth of surefire recipes for dishes and drinks to enjoy at a tailgate, a family get-together, or whenever the weather feels right for cooking outside. Celebrating the world of barbecue pits and cast-iron cauldrons, Jay Ducote’s Louisiana Outdoor Cooking conveys a passion for the cultures, foods, and flavors of south Louisiana. From Venison Grillades to Coconut Chili-Chocolate Tarts and much in between, Jay Ducote’s Louisiana Outdoor Cooking features more than 150 recipes fun and easy enough to make in the backyard. BUY IT HERE
—Jim Elser shows how to make a simple and delicious recipe for Smoked & Spatchcocked Buffalo Chicken Sliders.—
Smoked & Spatchcocked Buffalo Chicken Sliders
By Green Mountain Grills
For this week’s Recipe of the Week, we chose this video for Smoked & Spatchcocked Buffalo Chicken Sliders from Green Mountain Grills. Jim Elser of Sweet Smoke Q spatchcocks and smokes a whole chicken to create the ideal appetizer or meal. Using buffalo sauce, blue cheese, celery, and freshly pulled chicken, this recipe hits all the notes you'd expect from buffalo chicken, conveniently packaged between two buns.
—Many of the largest barbecue events of 2020 have been canceled or postponed.—
In light of the constantly changing coronavirus crisis, we are leaving our events section blank for some time. Many events in 2020 have been canceled or postponed thus far. We’ll be updating our events section on our website with the most up-to-date information as we have it.
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