Saturday, April 28, 2012

You lose some, you lose some, you gain plenty.


So you've seen the setting of Serenbe in my last post, where I joined a group of food bloggers and Char-Broil execs to talk about the science of infrared grills, and to have fun cooking on them. After our more formal meeting, they teamed us up for a "Chopped-esc" grilling competition. Did my teammate Kurt and I win? No. Did I win two years ago at the Char-Broil Barbecue Smackdown at Memphis in May? No.

And I'm OK with that. Cooking under pressure with unknown ingredients is not my strength. That's Eric. He's like a piece of coal. The more pressure you put on him, the more tasty barbecue diamonds he churns out. Figuring out how much to cook for 50 or 2000 people, how to make the event a success, and how much it's all going to cost, this is where I shine. Still, everyone likes to win, right?

I consoled myself that the judges at least loved our Grilled Fennel Salad with Bacon & Bleu Cheese. It was really good. But afterward, when I went to have a taste of our grilled chicken roll, and saw that it was a little on the rare side, I wondered if they weren't just being nice.

I intend to repeat the same salad at home, under pressure-free conditions, and let my biggest critics, my family, give it a shot. They'll shoot straight with me. They won't sugar coat it one little bit. Sometimes I wish they might give me just a little sugar, but alas that is simply not how we roll at the Reinhardt residence.

Still, it wasn't about winning, it was about building relationships. Hangin' with fellow BBQ peeps was a blast. It was especially great to see my gal Danielle of Diva Q. We've been friends for years, virtually. I interviewed her in the book, and we tweet/facebook/e-mail, but this was our very first face to face meeting.

My other "roomie" was Catherine Mayhew, of The South In My Mouth. She simply rocks.

The boys were awesome too - Christo, David, Curt and Scott, as were our friends at Char-Broil.


So even though I lost...again, I came out ahead.


2 comments:

  1. I guess from the photo of me that there's no doubt we had a good time in our luxury accommodations!

    ReplyDelete
  2. you guys did have some nice digs - it was fun all around!

    ReplyDelete