Saturday, September 08, 2007

Lexington Barbecue Festival




If you love barbecue, then be sure to check out the Lexington, NC Barbecue Festival on Saturday, October 27, 2007. This is the 24th year, and this festival just gets better every time.

Lexington BBQ is a chopped pork que served on a bun with a vinegar based sauce. It seems to be an acquired taste, but once you're hooked you will drive miles for this stuff. YUM!

The Festival has been named one of the top 10 festivals in the United States by Travel & Leisure magazine. I'm not surprised. It is fabulous.

In addition to the barbecue tents, there all kinds of food vendors and craft booths. Be sure to try out a fried apple pie. Get one early, since the line for those gets really long.

I do some of my Christmas shopping at the festival every year. There is a guy who has ties, and I get my boss Christmas themed ties which are hard to find. He is a public speaker and does Christmas programs, so he enjoys having new holiday ties. Last year I bought a really neat snake made out of a chain and an airplance made out of beer cans. I also pick up new barbecue sauces. There are always loads of those, and most offer samples.

Cyndi Allison

Monday, September 03, 2007

Grilled Chicken and Grilled Garlic Toast

Cole's Garlic Bread on the grill - indirect heat.

Chicken brushed with cooking oil before adding barbecue sauce the last 10 minutes.

YUM!. Some great eating at our house tonight.

After getting the power bill for the month at $189 (and this is a small brack ranch house), we definately grilled tonight. No problem. We love to grill anyway. And, it does help to do the food outdoors instead of heating up the kitchen.
We decided to grill chicken tonight and use Carolina Pride Barbecue sauce which is kind of a blast from the past. My family used Carolina Pride when I was growing up. It's been years since I've bought any. In fact, I've not even noticed it on the shelves at the big grocery stores, but the little IGA in town has only a few choices - Carolina Pride BBQ was one of them.
Chicken can be kind of tricky on the grill especially if you're cooking large pieces like breasts. The key to getting it done without burning it is to use an indirect heating method. You'll see above in the bread picture how our coals were set up for indirect heat. The lid is then put on for most of the cooking time on the chicken - not for the bread though which cooks in minutes.
To keep the chicken from sticking, brush it with a little cooking oil before putting it on the grill. Then add the barbeque sauce during the last few minutes - 5 to 10. Anything tomato based is going to be bad about burning though not as much so with indirect grilling. We still wait and do the sauce near the end.
I've mentioned Texas Toast on the grill. This time I tried another brand - Cole's - since it was on sale. It was terrific. I think I like it even better than the Texas Toast brand. Either is great though.
We rounded out the meal with cheese potatoes in the crock pot (which doesn't heat the kitchen up) and asparagus in the new Glad Simply Cooking microwave cooking bags - just zip and cook a couple of minutes. Very easy. And another dish that keeps the cool going in the kitchen.





Cyndi Allison