Staging a mini BBQ competition at a wedding?

tobyC · 03-15-2011, 01:15 PM

Hi all--

I am newbie so please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong place. I was directed to this site by some of your brothers who also post on chowhound.com because I have kind of an odd proposition for all of you competitive teams out on Long Island.

You can see the original chowhound thread and the evolution of this idea here:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/769289

I would like to hire two friendly rival teams and stage a mini-bbq competition as the "catering" portion of my casual backyard bbq wedding on Sept 24 2011 in Long Island. We are counting on 125-150 ppl total and it will be in the evening for a dinner reception. You and your rival would come out with your trucks fired up and show us your best stuff--and if you can do a mean Texas style brisket, the fiance will worship you for the rest of eternity (he would eat brisket three meals a day if I let him). The "judges" will be our guests and they will vote for the winner at the end of the evening. We are also trying to think of what might be a desirable prize for the winning team. I don't know much about what a competitive team would drool over, so any suggestions are welcome. And of course we will supply all the beer you can drink.

In the end, hopefully you will get some fun practice beating out your rival before the next real competition and we will get some amazing world-class BBQ and fixings and a fun wedding experience that the local caterers have not been able to offer us so far (the BBQ is always coming in secondary to the china, linens and decor with these guys--they are just not getting it!! We are not eating BBQ off of fancy china!!!)

I don't know if any teams (and their rivals) would be up for this, but if so please contact me and let me know! Or if i can't get two teams to compete, I will also be thrilled with just one competitive BBQ team catering my wedding!

smokeyw · 03-15-2011, 01:19 PM

Is the bride onboard with this?? Make sure!!!

tobyC · 03-15-2011, 01:26 PM

I AM the bride!!!

And I am totally on board with this. In fact, it was my idea!

Red Valley BBQ · 03-15-2011, 01:37 PM

Toby, you ROCK!!!! Marry me....oh wait, never mind.

swamprb · 03-15-2011, 03:27 PM

This sounds like a job for backyardchef!

Jorge · 03-15-2011, 03:30 PM

I was thinking WillieB, Fred, and Chris.

smokeyw · 03-15-2011, 03:38 PM

Ohhhh, OK. I must say I am impressed. Most brides would not have any part of such an idea. And congratulations

Quote:

Originally Posted by tobyC

I AM the bride!!!

And I am totally on board with this. In fact, it was my idea!

Jeff Hughes · 03-15-2011, 03:39 PM

The cooks will get paid, right?

timzcardz · 03-15-2011, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jorge

I was thinking WillieB, Fred, and Chris.

Yep!

toby,

Contact Willie B.

http://www.williebsbbq.com/

He's the man.

tobyC · 03-15-2011, 05:15 PM

Thanks guys!!! You're the best! (I assume most of you are guys--wonder why...

)

To clarify, it IS a paying gig, not some kind of sneaky scheme to get free work. Catering a wedding, even a casual one like ours, is no joke, and I totally get that--fiance and I both worked in the food biz ourselves in our younger years. I would be paying both teams their fair rate for catering such an event. But I do hope that even with two competition teams catering one party, it will still be affordable and WAY more fun and the food WAY better than some of these stuffy vendors we've been interviewing so far!

Finally, I did get in touch with Willie and spoke to him today. He was awesome to talk to and I think he will be able to help us make this happen. We will be up at Williepallooza this April to meet him and try out his BBQ. We are also happy to meet any other teams there who might be interested in our Wedding BBQ Battle.

And definitely if you have any other questions but don't necessarily want to post publicly, please get in touch with me at [email protected]

TooSaucedToPork · 03-15-2011, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tobyC

Thanks guys!!! You're the best! (I assume most of you are guys--wonder why...

)

To clarify, it IS a paying gig, not some kind of sneaky scheme to get free work. Catering a wedding, even a casual one like ours, is no joke, and I totally get that--fiance and I both worked in the food biz ourselves in our younger years. I would be paying both teams their fair rate for catering such an event. But I do hope that even with two competition teams catering one party, it will still be affordable and WAY more fun and the food WAY better than some of these stuffy vendors we've been interviewing so far!

Finally, I did get in touch with Willie and spoke to him today. He was awesome to talk to and I think he will be able to help us make this happen. We will be up at Williepallooza this April to meet him and try out his BBQ. We are also happy to meet any other teams there who might be interested in our Wedding BBQ Battle.

And definitely if you have any other questions but don't necessarily want to post publicly, please get in touch with me at [email protected]

Glad to see you made it on here Toby :-) Good luck with the BBQ Battle...and of course the wedding!

Neil Gallagher
Pitmaster - Too Sauced To Pork BBQ

Pigs on Fire · 03-15-2011, 07:36 PM

I'd just like to say thank you for looking at doing this sort of thing. BBQ at a wedding up north...who'da thunk...

We did something off-beat as well at ours. We hired a friend of mine to grill steaks, chicken and fish and I and a lot of friends prepared the side dishes (mostly the day before and morning of).

I trimmed up 7 beef tenderloins and sliced them up. I let my friend do the rest. I had people telling me for 4 months that they had the best steak of their life there. We also had a killer venue. We rented a house on the brow of Lookout Mountain. Here's a couple of shots... Not meaning to hijack your thread

tobyC · 03-15-2011, 08:28 PM

Pigs on Fire--those photos are so AMAZING!!! Thanks for sharing!

It is actually our dream to move to the Catskills someday and build a house--we have been scouring properties mostly in the Andes/Bovina area. In fact, my first choice for a wedding venue would have been to buy and fix up a property there in time to have the wedding in our own backyard (with the fiance having built his own smoker), but that didn't happen as quickly as we would have liked with the recession and all.

Luckily a very kind friend offered us the use of his house in L.I. for the event, which is why we are doing it there. But hey, go w/ the flow, right?

Stoke&Smoke · 03-16-2011, 01:14 PM

Sounds like the groom is a lucky man! Congrats! And I hope all goes well

comfrank · 03-16-2011, 01:24 PM

tobyC, please post back with a report after the wedding. We'd all love to hear about it.

--frank in Wilson, NY

03-15-2011, 01:15 PM	#1
tobyC Found some matches. Join Date: 03-14-11 Location: Washington, DC	Staging a mini BBQ competition at a wedding? Hi all-- I am newbie so please forgive me if I am posting in the wrong place. I was directed to this site by some of your brothers who also post on chowhound.com because I have kind of an odd proposition for all of you competitive teams out on Long Island. You can see the original chowhound thread and the evolution of this idea here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/769289 I would like to hire two friendly rival teams and stage a mini-bbq competition as the "catering" portion of my casual backyard bbq wedding on Sept 24 2011 in Long Island. We are counting on 125-150 ppl total and it will be in the evening for a dinner reception. You and your rival would come out with your trucks fired up and show us your best stuff--and if you can do a mean Texas style brisket, the fiance will worship you for the rest of eternity (he would eat brisket three meals a day if I let him). The "judges" will be our guests and they will vote for the winner at the end of the evening. We are also trying to think of what might be a desirable prize for the winning team. I don't know much about what a competitive team would drool over, so any suggestions are welcome. And of course we will supply all the beer you can drink. In the end, hopefully you will get some fun practice beating out your rival before the next real competition and we will get some amazing world-class BBQ and fixings and a fun wedding experience that the local caterers have not been able to offer us so far (the BBQ is always coming in secondary to the china, linens and decor with these guys--they are just not getting it!! We are not eating BBQ off of fancy china!!!) I don't know if any teams (and their rivals) would be up for this, but if so please contact me and let me know! Or if i can't get two teams to compete, I will also be thrilled with just one competitive BBQ team catering my wedding!

03-15-2011, 01:19 PM	#2
smokeyw is One Chatty Farker Join Date: 01-03-11 Location: Smithfield, North Carolina	Is the bride onboard with this?? Make sure!!! __________________ Fired Up Smokers KCBS Team, Smokey W's Pit Que NCPC Team / 2011 NCPC Whole Hog State Champion

03-15-2011, 03:27 PM	#5
swamprb somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 10-27-06 Location: Bothell WA	This sounds like a job for backyardchef! __________________ Brian - Left Hand Smoke BBQ PNWBA 2010 Team of the Year BGE's/WSM's/Pellet Pro WSM/BWS Gater/BDS Clones/Cookshack 008/Weber Performer w EZ-Que/Cajun Bandit/Rib-O-Lator Test Pilot/La Caja China/BBQ Guru/Weber 1000 RK Drum Coffee Roaster Follow Left Hand Smoke on Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Left-H...462391?sk=wall KCBS CBJ/PNWBA CBJ www.pnwba.com

03-15-2011, 03:30 PM	#6
Jorge somebody shut me the fark up. Join Date: 01-23-04 Location: DFW, San AntonioTx	I was thinking WillieB, Fred, and Chris. __________________ You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. --Frank Zappa Keeping Valspar in BBQ, one cook at a time. Recipient of a Huggies box! Shut up, and cook!!!!

03-15-2011, 03:39 PM	#8
Jeff Hughes is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 02-03-06 Location: tulsa oklahoma	The cooks will get paid, right? __________________ Klose 72" Mobile Medium BGE HastyBake Legacy 22" Weber Kettle(10 bucks@garage sale)

03-15-2011, 01:26 PM	#3
tobyC Found some matches. Join Date: 03-14-11 Location: Washington, DC	I AM the bride!!! And I am totally on board with this. In fact, it was my idea!

03-15-2011, 01:37 PM	#4
Red Valley BBQ is one Smokin' Farker Join Date: 09-28-09 Location: Oil City, PA Name/Nickname : Sean	Toby, you ROCK!!!! Marry me....oh wait, never mind.

03-15-2011, 05:15 PM	#10
tobyC Found some matches. Join Date: 03-14-11 Location: Washington, DC	Thanks guys!!! You're the best! (I assume most of you are guys--wonder why...) To clarify, it IS a paying gig, not some kind of sneaky scheme to get free work. Catering a wedding, even a casual one like ours, is no joke, and I totally get that--fiance and I both worked in the food biz ourselves in our younger years. I would be paying both teams their fair rate for catering such an event. But I do hope that even with two competition teams catering one party, it will still be affordable and WAY more fun and the food WAY better than some of these stuffy vendors we've been interviewing so far! Finally, I did get in touch with Willie and spoke to him today. He was awesome to talk to and I think he will be able to help us make this happen. We will be up at Williepallooza this April to meet him and try out his BBQ. We are also happy to meet any other teams there who might be interested in our Wedding BBQ Battle. And definitely if you have any other questions but don't necessarily want to post publicly, please get in touch with me at [email protected]

03-15-2011, 07:36 PM	#12
Pigs on Fire Full Fledged Farker Join Date: 08-20-10 Location: Marietta, GA	I'd just like to say thank you for looking at doing this sort of thing. BBQ at a wedding up north...who'da thunk... We did something off-beat as well at ours. We hired a friend of mine to grill steaks, chicken and fish and I and a lot of friends prepared the side dishes (mostly the day before and morning of). I trimmed up 7 beef tenderloins and sliced them up. I let my friend do the rest. I had people telling me for 4 months that they had the best steak of their life there. We also had a killer venue. We rented a house on the brow of Lookout Mountain. Here's a couple of shots... Not meaning to hijack your thread

03-15-2011, 08:28 PM	#13
tobyC Found some matches. Join Date: 03-14-11 Location: Washington, DC	Pigs on Fire--those photos are so AMAZING!!! Thanks for sharing! It is actually our dream to move to the Catskills someday and build a house--we have been scouring properties mostly in the Andes/Bovina area. In fact, my first choice for a wedding venue would have been to buy and fix up a property there in time to have the wedding in our own backyard (with the fiance having built his own smoker), but that didn't happen as quickly as we would have liked with the recession and all. Luckily a very kind friend offered us the use of his house in L.I. for the event, which is why we are doing it there. But hey, go w/ the flow, right?

03-16-2011, 01:14 PM	#14
Stoke&Smoke Babbling Farker Join Date: 12-18-07 Location: Western burbs of Chicago, IL	Sounds like the groom is a lucky man! Congrats! And I hope all goes well __________________ 2 Skinny Cooks Competition Team [URL]http://2SkinnyCooks.blogspot.com[/URL] KCBS CJ/TC #17139 Member ILBBQS Too many cookers to list :crazy:

03-16-2011, 01:24 PM	#15
comfrank On the road to being a farker Join Date: 01-29-08 Location: Wilson, NY	tobyC, please post back with a report after the wedding. We'd all love to hear about it. --frank in Wilson, NY __________________ OK Joe Bandera style smoker; WSM 22"; blue DigiQ II

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