If you like the way the smell of good barbecue lingers on your person after spending all day basting meat on the smoker, then boy do we have the thing for you! Our friends at Pork Barrel BBQ recently debuted the world’s first-ever “barbecue-scented” fragrance. And what did they name it? Well, Que of course. Actually, the full name of the fragrance is Que: A Bouquet of Barbeque Aromas. The smelly goodness is available in 2-ounce bottles that retail for $25. While we’re not sure exactly who would wear Que, it’s a great gift idea for any griller’s stocking or a Father’s Day gift.

We actually got the chance to meet Pork Barrel BBQ founders Heath Hall and Brett Thompson at last year’s American Royal BBQ event. These guys were brave enough to go on the television show Shark Tank and pitch their company idea of selling BBQ sauces. They got an investor and man, they’re killing it!

According to the company, Que is an “intoxicating bouquet of spices, smoke, meat, and sweet summer sweat.”

“With Que, anyone can smell like a summer barbeque and share that experience and the wonderful aromas that come with it,” says Hall.

“Celebrity fragrances like those from P. Diddy, J. Lo, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Justin Bieber have never captured the spirit of America,” says Thompson. “We expect Que will set a new standard for the fragrance and fashion industry throughout the United States and the world. Lady Gaga will no longer have to wear a meat dress to the next big awards ceremony — she can simply wear Que.”

Pork Barrel BBQ worked with a team of craftsmen and fine perfumers to create the perfect barbeque aroma.

This is our favorite comment: “Our new fragrance could be particularly attractive to vegetarians who won’t eat barbeque but still appreciate the aromas of barbeque and for those who might be nostalgic for the days when meat was still a part of their diet,” Hall said. Now that’s brilliant.

To promote the new product, Pork Barrel BBQ has launched a series of commercials for Que. Viewers can vote for their favorite atwww.PorkBarrelBBQ.com/que.

The Big Breakfast from Mario’s Cafe in Warren Street, is a 5,000-calorie gut buster featuring 10 eggs, 10 pieces of bacon, 10 sausages, 10 slices of toast, 5 black puddings, tomatoes, beans and mushrooms. This breakfast of champions will set you back just that will set you back just £10 (~$15) — or nothing at all if you manage to clean your plate in 20 minutes with no drink to wash it down. The challenge has been around for a few years now, but just recently, a few of Jens’ buddies decided to loosen their belts and dig in.

We’ve concealed their identities in case these chaps don’t want to leave their meat hanging out for all the world to see. But we just had to recognize these three brave souls — and their stomachs — for stepping up to the plate. Or actually, the tray, since no mere plate could hold that amount of meat.

And from the looks of it, there aren’t too many mere mortals who can handle it either. Though big props to the gent on the left. Looks like you’re up by 10 pounds – perhaps in more ways than one.

The participants in the Cap Cana Billfish Shootout proved that not only can they catch the largest fish in the ocean, they can cook it up in the galley of the boat as well! When not chasing the white and blue marlin that roam the waters off of Cap Cana Marina and Resort, located on beautiful eastern coast of the Dominican Republic, several teams cooked up a favorite dish and entered it into the first-annual Cap Cana Cookoff.

Sponsored by your beloved food blog, YourMeatTooth.com the Cookoff saw a wide range of dishes prepared for the competition. While we’ve always stuck to meat recipes, this contest was opened up a bit more. As it takes place during a fishing tournament, there was a seafood category, as well as a meat category and a chicken category. Three winners were selected based on the originality of their dish, presentation and of course taste.

Despite some drizzly conditions, teams showed up with fantastic food for judging and to share with the other competitors and observers in the tournament. Hans Mangual and Carlos Garcia received top honors for their team’s version of the Cuban dish “gallinita rellera.” They wowed the judges with a beautiful snapper served whole and stuffed with squid risotto. It did not last long as everyone dove in for seconds and thirds. Marlin Chaser’s “not-so-chili chili” finished in second place and Team Teke won third for their smoked dorado and smoked wahoo.

All of the winners received custom-made aprons from YourMeatTooth.com that featured an insulated drink holder, retractable bottle opener, oven mitt, dish rag and a place for your tongs and tools. These custom aprons were a big hit at the cookoff and will be available for sale on the site very soon.

We’d like to thank the staff at Cap Cana for all of their help setting up the competition, as well as Rick Alvarez from the Billfish Shootout. Hopefully next year we’ll get to taste even more dishes.

Ordinarily, we refrain from political coverage, but this story is just too meaty to ignore — and this clip too funny not to share. After all, just as we’re quick to celebrate the many wondrous uses of meat in our world, so must we shine the light on those guilty of mishandling meat . Especially when their name is Weiner.

Some of Miami’s best Cuban sandwiches are served up in what I would affectionately call “dives.” Many of the best pressed media noche or roasted pork creations are handed through small to-go windows, wrapped in tin foil and stacked in brown paper bags. I love them. But the in-and-out lunch counters are not exactly the place you’d want to go for a business lunch.

On the other end of the spectrum is La Esquina del Lechón (which translates to “the corner of the pig,” according to Google translator – please excuse my whiteness). This Cuban restaurant and “pork and steak house” serves up the authentic flavors I love in a comfortable, clean, sit-down atmosphere, and is the perfect backdrop for grabbing a bite with a business associate or even a date.

I rode to La Esquina with Ariel Pared after he gave me a tour of his Miami-based boatbuilding company, Sea Vee. Being of Cuban descent himself, Ariel was happy to hear that I love the food of his homeland and immediately mentioned La Esquina, located right around the corner from Sea Vee. He talked up the restaurant so much that by the time we finally left for lunch, I knew what to order before I sat down. Based on Ariel’s suggestion I ordered the Lechón Asado, a slow-roasted, boneless pork marinated with the restaurant’s special tropical house sauce and served with sauteed onions. Ariel ordered a shredded beef, and we snacked on pork cracklins as we waited for our food.

When my lunch showed up, I couldn’t wait to dig in. The plate was beautiful with a good portion of rice and beans and my all-time favorite, fried tostones (plantains). It smelled amazing. The marinade is what really made the pork so spectacular. Similar to a “mojo” sauce with a combination of the acidic, the house sauce had a bitter taste of citrus fruit with a tangy vinegar-like flavor and a mix of Latin seasonings. The pork was tender, delicious and filling. The sides were perfect and the chimichurri sauce they brought to the table was the best I have ever had. I put it on everything!

Ariel says he eats at La Esquina three times a week, and based on the other patrons I saw, the way they joked around and interacted with the folks working there, I’d guess that he is not the only regular. Not by a long shot. With the extensive menu of sandwiches, salads, Cuban barbecue, ribs, pork and steak options, you could eat here several weeks in a row and never order the same thing twice. They also have catering menus, take-out menus and special holiday menus.

I loved everything about this neighborhood restaurant. The food, the atmosphere and the server (she winked at me when I placed my order, a sign of affirmation that I had made a good choice). I’d go back in a heartbeat.

We recently celebrated Charlie’s birthday with a trip to brand new corner of burger heaven: Pine 22 in downtown Orlando.

According to their website, over 300,000  burger combinations are possible at this DIY-style burger joint. But whether you wind up with combo #3 or #299,999, you all start the same way: with the Pine 22 checklist. The categories are simple: Burger, bun, cheese, sauce, toppings. But the options are anything but.

The burgers come in beef, black bean, turkey, chicken or pork form – 5 oz. or 8 oz. Once you’ve picked your patty (8 oz. beef if you’re a fan of this site), you literally tell them where to shove it. And the choice of cheeses, sauces and toppings ranges from the classic applewood bacon and American cheese to exotic mango chutney and ginger soy glaze to creamy horseradish mayo and garlic aioli to ummmm, sprouts.

The eclectic menu comes as no surprise considering that the culinary mastermind behind Pine 22 is Chef Kathleen Blake, of Primo fame. Even more impressive than the variety is the fact that all the ingredients are “humanely handled, hand-formed, zero hormones, zero antibiotics, sourced products from local farms where and when possible.”

Charlie opted to create his own masterpiece, choosing an English muffin for the bread (you’d be surprised how perfectly the English muffin goes with a burger — the exact dimensions and it won’t fill you up like a monster bun), gruyere cheese, pickles, tomatoes, smoked bacon and Russian dressing. He was wiping his chin with every bite as the awesomeness dripped from his smiling lips.

Well, I chose The Burginator (pictured above). At first, I was hesitant to cop out and order one of the pre-made options, but with applewood smoked bacon, garlic aioli, fontina cheese, grilled onions and a fried egg, it was pretty much what I would have ordered if left to my own devices. And I’m glad I listened to my gut, because The Burginator was so damn good I felt like it was my birthday, too. Who knows, maybe the fact that the egg came from a “happy hen” had something to do with it.

Then again, maybe not. Because while we all ordered wildly different burger creations, I could see that everyone was chomping away with delight. With every chew, I swear I could almost hear their thoughts.

Who knew chutney made so much sense with avocado?

I’m glad I took a chance on the Texas toast!

How could these chili fries be so… damn… good!?!

I can’t believe she took the biggest onion ring.

Pepperoncinos, you complete me.

Be warned — a full-service restaurant this is not, so be ready to walk your burger-loving ass over to the bar a couple of times. Think of it as earning those fried pickle chips (which were wonderful, as were all the sides). All in all, Pine 22 won raves all around. And knowing that I’ve barely scratched the surface of their  options has me hankering for a return visit. This time, I’m putting the fried pickle chips ON my burger. Hello burger creation 300,001!

]]> http://yourmeattooth.com/2011/05/celebrating-birthdays-and-burgers-at-pine-22/feed/ 0 http://yourmeattooth.com/2011/05/announcing-the-cap-cana-cookoff/ http://yourmeattooth.com/2011/05/announcing-the-cap-cana-cookoff/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 22:37:42 +0000 Meat Tooth http://yourmeattooth.com/?p=2879

YourMeatTooth.com is proud to announce that it is sponsoring the Cap Cana Cookoff. This cookoff will take place during the lay-day of the International Cap Cana Billfish Shootout. The tournament is scheduled for May 31-June 5 at the amazing Cap Cana marina, resort and golf course on the eastern coast of the Dominican Republic. With easy access to some of the Caribbean’s most productive billfish waters, Cap Cana is known to attract the best fishing teams in the sport.  

Fishing and food go hand in hand. Everyone enjoys a hearty snack in between the fishing action and the best cook on the team (usually a wife or a crewman), can whip up some amazing lunches on the boat with virtually nothing in the cupboard. So, with that in mind, the founder of the tournament, Rick Alvarez figured it’s high time we find out which fishing team has the best cook on the dock!

There is a mandatory lay-day scheduled for the tournament, where all teams must take the day off. This is when the cooks will get to rummaging and concocting their favorite dishes hoping to win the grand prize in the YourMeatTooth.com Cap Cana Cookoff. The cookoff is open to all teams fishing in the tournament at no extra charge. Teams can cook from the galley on the boat, off of a portable grill, a deep fryer or any other device you can get down to the docks in the Dominican Republic. We’re expecting to see a range of dishes as the Shootout attracts an international field from all over the Caribbean and beyond. Show some home pride and cook up your favorite local dish.

The Cap Cana Cookoff will feature three categories: 1) Seafood 2) Meat and 3) Chicken. Each entry will be assigned an anonymous number and judged by a panel of food enthusiasts, including a couple of celebrity judges. Each dish will be judged on taste, presentation and originality. To keep it fair, all entrants will be given the same to-go boxes to present their food. All of the food must be assembled and placed in these boxes and turned in by the deadline (time to be announced). Any dishes that are not turned in by the deadline will not count.

Each team is encouraged to bring any extra food to the turn-in area so they can share samples of their dish with other teams. All of the extra food will be placed on a “grazing table” for all to enjoy.  It promises to be a fun-filled (and filling) event.

A winner will be chosen in each category and a best overall dish will be announced at the Award’s Dinner. All winning dishes will receive a handsome array of prizes, and the team that serves up the best overall dish will win a set of six custom-designed aprons featuring a beer holder, beer opener, tongs and more. If you want to be the best looking chef on the dock, you better get down the to D.R. and cook up some award-winning grub.

Sorry for the delay of game carnivores, but 2011 started off extremely busy for us. However, things are getting back to normal and we’ve vowed to get back in the game and start posting about our favorite food… RED MEAT.

Thanks to a new job (hence one of the reasons why our frequent posts slowed to a crawl) I’ve been spending a fair bit of time out in San Diego, California, recently, and I’m happy to report that the meaty revolution is alive and well in So Cal. One of my colleagues is good friends with the owner of Bub’s Dive Bar, and it has become a sort of tradition for us to head down to Bub’s after a long day in the office, imbibe in a few tall beers and devour some delectable bar food.

Bub’s is my kind of place: peanut shells on the floor, tacky decor on the walls, tater tots on the menu, and a steady supply of interesting people to gawk at (especially at the Pacific Beach location). The menu is loaded with unique bar food that goes down easy and tastes great. Todd, the owner, drew on his Pittsburgh, PA roots when devising this menu and it shows. You’ll find a long list of tasty comfort food, but it’s all prepared in an easy-to-eat format. Let me explain: Rather than drowning yourself in a foot-long corndog, get the table an order of “Brownies.” These miniature corndogs are perfectly fried to a crispy golden brown and served on a bed of one my absolute favorite sides… Tater tots! I can’t say enough about tots. Every restaurant should have them. You will probably need two orders of Brownies cause they don’t last long.

Another one of our favorite menu items on the appetizer page are the Steaky Steakums. These mouth-sized chunks of steak are actually cooked to order (unlike many steak tips that are only served well done), and come with garlic toast and an awesome chipotle dipping sauce. There are even mushrooms and onions on the plate to give you a full dining experience. For a sandwich, I usually go with the Pittsburgh, another homage to Todd’s hometown. This thinly sliced steak sandwich is super gooey with cheese and utterly delicious. Philly ain’t got nothing on this Pittsburgh!

Bub’s also has a downtown location with the same menu, and a wide range of cold beer on tap. It’s a great place to get a bite, watch a game and drown yourself in some cold beer. But, if Pittsburgh is playing on the TV, be careful not to root too loud for the opposing team.

You often find newspapers, blogs and magazines ranking their favorite burgers around the country. We have done the same, such as our post on our favorite burgers found around Orlando. This post, however, is a bit different — we’re about to set ourselves apart and pinpoint the nastiest burger we’ve ever tasted.

Flying the friendly skies is anything but friendly these days. You’re lucky to get a cup of water and a bag of pretzels, let alone a real meal. Unless you’re a high roller and only book tickets in front of the first-class curtain, odds are you’re back there with the rest of us, stomachs growling.

Because of the odd times I usually find myself traveling, typically first thing in the morning or super late at night, I might not always be hungry when I’m in the airport. I often force myself to eat something so I don’t starve on the plane. But, thanks to a short layover between Houston and Orlando, my buddy Derek and I found ourselves buckled in and starving. A quick rummage through the carry-on revealed nothing… No snacks. Guess we’d have to cough up some big bucks for one of the prepackaged “menu items.”

I scoped out the menu and played it safe, opting for a fruit-and-cheese plate. Derek gave me some grief for passing over the burger option, and went ahead and ordered it in the name of research. That was mistake number one. The burger came in a to-go box with some limp lettuce, a tomato slice and a chunk of raw onion. The burger was packaged separately and piping hot. As I pecked away at my grapes and gouda, Derek doused the burger in condiments and slapped on the lettuce. He took a bite and he didn’t need to say a word, his face did the talking for him. His nose scrunched up as he chewed and I could tell he was not happy. The bun was rock hard, the burger was oddly spongey and the cheese appeared to be a substance created by a chemical engineer (it was the color orange you might expect to see on a hunter’s vest).

But when you’re locked into a seat some 40,000 feet above the surface of the Earth, you take what you can get. Derek ate most of the sky burger. I was impressed. Thanks, man, for taking one for the team. Next time, grab something before you find yourself stuck in seat 26 A.