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- Hey everybody, I'm Joey with Redmeatlover.com and we're spending the weekend here at Q in the Lou, so follow me and let's turn up the tasty. We're down here at Q in the Lou, which is a three day barbecue festival which goes down right here in downtown St. Louis. You can see the arch right back there. We have pit masters from across the area and across the country cooking up some tremendous barbecue. The smells are incredible and the sights are something else. The cold beer is flowing like water, and the music is on and we're having a great time. Wow look at that. Whole lamb shanks, chicken wings, bibs, by the thousands of pounds, amongst tons of great vendors selling their wares, so follow me and let's check it out. Sugarfire Smokehouse is changing the barbecue game here in the Midwest. They have locations across St. Louis and other states. They're cooking a whole leg of lamb and some mac-and-cheese. Let's go check 'em out. I'm here with Mike Johnson from Sugarfire Smokehouse. Mike, What do we got going on today? - I got, lamb legs and I'm cooking them in this kind of firewall thing I do. And it's really hot over there, it gets like 1000 degrees. So, you just kinda like move 'em over, crisp 'em up. They take a couple hours. And, they got like lemon juice and garlic and olive oil and stuff dripping on 'em. But we do like Pork Bellies on here. - Sure. - I do, whole rib eyes. Like, what's really good is like a whole cow leg. - Yeah. - Up against there. - Man, that sounds absolutely fantastic. - Yeah. - So, can you tell us a little bit more about the setup, I see we have some wire mesh. - That looks like, can you tell us what going on top here? - So, there's banana leaves on top and really this part here is mostly for show. This is kind of like a warming cabinet. If you feel in here it's probably like 140 degrees. - Yeah man you can feel that heat. - And so it's really just keeping it warm for our service, and it looks fun. - Looks fantastic. - Yeah, if I was cooking one or two, I wouldn't have the whole setup. But this is kinda trapping the heat down. - Yep. - And if you just walk in close, I mean it's hot. - Yeah. - Like it gets crazy hot. So, it's mostly just a show piece and you know a warming cabinet. - Absolutely. - Yeah. - So, can you give us some insight about the onion, the lemon, and the garlic that's hanging below? Tell us a little bit more about that. - Mostly for show, usually it's hanging above and the Lemon juice is dripping. So, a couple weeks ago in Kansas City I did like al pastor, ribs, and pork belly. - Oh fantastic. - And so I put the pineapples, I shave the pineapples whole and set 'em on top of of all the meats. So, typically these would be on top of the meats, and it's just kinda dripping down and we're brushing it with garlic and olive oil. - Wow, man. - But with the al pastor, we'll have like pineapple juice spraying, and the pineapples dripping on there, it's fun. - Oh man, this is one sure way to turn up the tasty for sure. - Yeah, it's some good red meat. - It's great, that's great red meat and that's what we're all about here is cooking meat made easy at redmeatlover.com. So, can you give us some tips or tricks for that backyard barbecuer, that backyard smoker who's just starting off, kind of fumbling his way around. What are a couple quick tips or tricks, that will help 'em turn up the tasty at home? - I'd say one thing. I've been cooking on these drum smokers lately. - Yeah. - I got one here actually. Gateway Drum makes 'em locally. I love those and they're so easy, you just put charcoal in, It's really easy to control the temperature. - Yeah. - Which to me, is one of the hardest parts about barbecuing is controlling the temperature. - Absolutely. - But with these Drum Smokers, it's like so easy, you just kind of like open up these little air vents and it'll just coast, it'll hold your temperature the whole time. - Yeah. - And, I'd say the easiest thing is to start with really good meat. - Absolutely. - Good quality meat, light seasoning, good salt. I use a lot of Maldon Sea Salt; which is a flaky salt that I think is delicious. - Absolutely. - And, just good smoke a little fruit wood maybe, nothing too harsh. - Yeah. - Should be easy. - That's one of our sayings, make it either choice of prime or don't waste your time. - Yeah, that's pretty good. - When it come to buying quality meat the prime and the choice, I say friends don't let friends eat select meat. - There's no special secret, there's no big injection. It's just use quality meat, yeah. - Absolutely. Well, hey I really appreciate your time today man - Yeah, anytime, thank you. - It was a real pleasure. - Yeah, appreciate it, thanks. - All right thank you man. - Thanks. - Cool. - Thanks. - Having a blast down here at Q in the Lou. - It's awesome, hey. - We are here with the winner of the Prairie Fresh Rib Eating Contest. Can you share your name? - Kyle The Hammer Hanner. - Oh, The Hammer, wow. Kyle can you tell us, what did you do to prepare for this big event. - It was all liquids today, but yesterday I got a big ol' buffet meal in me over at the Chinese buffet downtown. - So, wait a minute. That seems paradoxical. So, you eat a big meal prior to eating a big meal? - That is correct. You try to clear it out before, and day of you keep it little. Like, you keep the liquids in you, but no solids until game time. - Aw man, so you've done this before? - Yeah, this is my 106th win actually. I've been doing this since 2013. I'm the most competitive eater in town. - So is there a food or protein, that you specialize in or you just take whatever comes your way? - Actually, this is considered a discard foods, since you have the bone to discard. I'm good at discard foods, wings and ribs. So, yeah you get that meat off the bone. It's all technique and speed. - Okay, so how many pounds of Ribs did you eat today, man? - This was a five minute contest, I did 2.8 pounds. - That's incredible, nice job man. So, 106, what's next? What's after this? - I have bratwurst at the Oktoberfest in Milwaukee coming up next Saturday. So, I'm gonna be prepping for that one. That's a big one for me every year. - All right man, well, we wish you the best of luck and keep on winning man. - Appreciate it. - Thanks for spending a few minutes with us. - Yeah, thank you - Awesome, thanks. We have Ubon's Barbecue out of Mississippi. They're serving up some smoked and torched chicken, some turkey tamales and some bloody Mary salad. Not only that, but we're gonna meet with one of the pit masters, Craig Verhage, also known as the Barbecue Ninja, follow me. Craig, can you tell us what you're cooking today, back here? - I'll tell you. We've got an alligator on back here. It's gonna be ready about four o'clock. And, this kinda the style we do it, we're doing it on this rectangle Rec Tec Wyldside. And, we're just kinda rotating it, getting a good char on the outside and then we remove the meat from the alligator. And, I also make a stuffing. - Okay. - It's boudin and cream cheese, bacon bits. And you know all the good stuff. - Turning up the tasty. - Yeah, exactly. And then we chop up the alligator, we put that stuffing on a hot dog bun. And then we put the alligator over the top with a little of our sauce. And it's a redneck rendition of a lobster roll. Is what is it so. - I love it. - Yeah, alligator roll. - Man that is truly turning up the tasty. So, you take the skin off first, I take it for those watching at home, maybe aren't too familiar. You kinda peel off the skin right. - Well this is sourced, this alligator. So, it came do us like this. - Okay. And, but you know, I do hunt alligator. - All right. - We do harvest the alligator, that's what I do. I take the skin off and it's not really skin, it's like a piece of leather almost. Real, real tough hide on it. And then, you know I clean it. And cook it and I eat it. I love alligator. - And you use the skin, you turn 'em into boots, or you . - A wallet yeah, I've done boots yeah. - Okay, all right. - You know belts, things like that, so yeah. - That's totally cool man. Thanks for spending a few minutes with us today. Really appreciate that man. I look forward to trying that gator when it come off the pit. We'll see you soon. - What's your name? - Brittany. - First time at Q in the Lou? - No, this is probably my third year. - Third year, it must be a lot of fun then. You must be having a great time down here. - I keep coming back. - What brings you back? - The barbecue. - The barbecue, all right. So, do you do a lot of cooking yourself? - I don't, but my boyfriend does. - What does he like to cook? - He does ribs, we've got a smoker, we cheat, we do the plug in the wall. - All right. - The electric smoker. But, hey, it turns out good. - Whatever gets the job done right? So, what do you like to drink with your Barbecue? - Whisky, I'll do beer. - We hope you've learned some things, enjoyed our interviews with some of these great and talented pit masters. If you like this video, please give us a thumbs up, like, or even better, subscribe to our channel for future updates. You can find us on the web at redmeatlover.com. I'm gonna get back to trying some ribs, some pork. And bottom line, turn up the tasty. I'll see you next time.
Hey Meat Lovers, for those of you who don’t keep up with us on social media (and you should) we were at Q in the Lou a few weeks ago and had a blast eating meat, talking meat, and eating more meat. We were there for three days straight, so we are going to have to break it down into a few episodes to show you all the great food and the AMAZING cooking tips from the best of the best in the BBQ game.
In today’s episode we are talking to Mike Johnson of Sugarfire Smoke House, the rib inhaling monster that is the “Hammer”, the BBQ Ninja of Ubons Barbeque, and lots of footage from all around Q in the Lou!
So, sit down and put on a bib to collect the drool as we turn up the tasty!
RED MEAT LOVER
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2 Comments on “Q in the Lou: Episode 1”
Awesome narration of an excellent event!
Thank you for the support!!!