Classroom Chatter

I can still taste the smoke from the American Royal!!!

Three glorious days of smoking, grilling, and partying at the biggest BBQ bash in the world have given me a whole new perspective on BBQ…  The Midwest BBQ Institute here at The Culinary Center of Kansas City competed in the American Royal BBQ Contest for the very first time on October 1st – 3rd and I was lucky to be able to spend all weekend with the team!!!  It’s true one of the perks to this job is that I get to hang out with the very best BBQ’rs learn, cook, throw parties, and of course… I get to eat the BBQ!!!  We had a killer weekend, but here are the highlights!

On Friday we went to the contest first thing to pitch our tent, put up our pig chef poles (did you see that picture in the Kansas City Star folks???), and get dinner on the fire.  We also welcomed our BBQ Inner Sanctum … four awesome new friends who took the whole weekend as a class!  (Jealous? There’s always next year!)  We all got right to work for our Smokin’ Schoolhouse party… and a smokin’ party it was.  We had fantastic live music provided by none other than the Manager of Merriment herself Maria Dickson and her swingin’ jazz quartet, amazing Sister Mary’s Bloody Knuckle Cracker cocktails at the bar, and dancing and reveling shortly ensued.  The food, have I mentioned the food yet at the party? Well… let’s just say none of the other tents were sporting smoked brie en croute and chocolate chip cookies with bacon!

Now let’s talk about the contest, I’m not sure what I expected… but Saturday and Sunday were amazing!  Saturday morning when I came in, the team was already up, full of breakfast, and working on the competition sides and dessert.  Let me tell you Matt’s squash side dish was INCREDIBLE, and the beans? Well let’s just say I’d take Bruce’s classes just for that recipe alone!  The most exciting bit is the turn in though, a rush to the judges in the tiny time window allowed for turn in, hoping you don’t drop the box, hoping no one knocks you over, hoping the klutz gene stays dormant just for this one day… whew, all turned in without a hitch… that was a rush!

Saturday night was my favorite moment of the entire weekend… we all took an evening to relax. We lit candles, The Main Dish set a beautiful table and made her famous spinach salad, Chef Matt grilled up steaks the Flintstones could have been proud of, and we drained several bottles of very nice wine.  That moment where we all came together, looked around at all of our hard work, our new friends, our old friends, and just enjoyed the evening was the highlight for me.  Those moments are the reason I love cooking.

Sunday was the main event, the meats! Well let me tell you how much I did NOT know about competition BBQ.  The brisket the team turned out was unlike any brisket I’ve ever eaten… seriously, I almost didn’t believe it could possibly be the same cut of beef.  The ribs? Well, the taste of that rib lingered in my mouth for at least an hour… I avoided gum, I avoided getting a glass of water, it was THAT good.  I also watched the MBQI team work like a well oiled BBQ machine. Chef Richard is so very delicate in the kitchen, when he’s there in his element he’s something like a very fine pianist, the kind that makes you want to stare at his fingers in amazement while he plays.

Are you drooling yet? Don’t worry, we’ve got tons of MBQI classes coming up soon you can get in on and I know one thing is for sure… get ready because we’re going back to the American Royal next year!

Smokalicious!

Rachel Ciordas

“Dean of Deliciousness”

Manager of Culinary Curriculum

Message from “The Main Dish” – Our “Smokin’ Schoolhouse” at The American Royal BBQ

School is in session this week!  BBQ School that is!  We’re going for a grade of A+ as our Midwest BBQ Institute competes for the first time in the largest BBQ competition IN THE WORLD – The American Royal BBQ Contest.  What’s really fun is that we have a burnin’ good shot at winning with our fired up team of Chef Richard McPeake (former American Royal Grand Champ) plus his expert team-mate and food guy Bruce Campbell along with our own Exec. Chef Matt Chatfield.   Folks it don’t get no betta than this!  We will be working out of our “Smokin’ Schoolhouse’ booth (#836 – on the corner right across from the judging “turn in” booths).   Isn’t it just like us to push the envelope and explore a whole new culinary adventure?  Just like you at home when you try a new recipe or decide you are going to create your Mom’s famous bread recipe, we challenge ourselves all the time.  This competition by our MBQI program is big stuff for us!  And we LOVE the BBQ folks in general because they are just a little “off-center”….just like us!  (Hey!  Cooking should be fun!)   If you’re interested in joining us at some tasty adult “recess” on Friday night (10/1)  where there won’t be a ”school principal” anywhere around, you can sign up on line (www.kcculinary.com) or we’ll have a limited number of tickets available at our booth.   Remember …  you can’t smell the smoke watching the food channel.  Now get out there and let the smoke get into your bones.  It’s a food lovers paradise!  Repeat after me class —  “SMOK-A-LICIOUS!”

click on our MBQI logo to make it easy

Classroom Chatter

What a weekend! We smoked, we grilled, we compared butts, and in general welcomed summer with a puff of smoke!

The first annual Festival of Smoke on Saturday was a great success and we had such a great time BBQ’n with all of you! The whole Culinary Center of Kansas City crew was here and  threw a smokin’ party.   I have to hand it to Larry our BBQ Dude… he really knows his ‘que!

Our Chef Matt Chatfield, Chef Richard McPeake, Food & Beverage Guy Bruce Campbell,  BBQ Dude Larry Hadley, and Neil Spector (who brought a giant pink pig with him) kept everyone captivated in front of the building with amazing BBQ demonstrations for everything from ribs and chicken to salmon and drunk pineapple.  Chef Greg Oliver was AMAZING showing us how it’s done with a Knife Skills demonstrations inside!

Did you miss the Festival of Smoke? Never fear, it will be back in just a year! In the mean time get smokin’ with The Culinary Center of Kansas City’s Midwest BBQ Institute!

Smoking 101: The “Art of Smokology” 5/16

Join competition champion and accomplished chef, Richard McPeake (a/k/a Educator of “Que”), as he shares his extensive experience in this power-packed 4-hour class that covers all the basics from fuel types to meat selection; “smoke rings” to dry rubs!

Grilling 101: The Thrill of Grilling on 6/13

One of the most popular classes in our Midwest Barbecue Institute Program! We leave no briquette unturned when it comes to home grilling: gas vs. charcoal; proper fire temps; marinating; choosing the right meats and fish; plank grilling.

BBQ’n With Booze on 6/18

Bruce Campbell teaches us barbecue recipes utilizing beer, liquor and wine

“Festival of Smoke”

We’re kicking off National BBQ Month with our

First Annual
“Festival of Smoke”
Saturday – May 1st, 2010
8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

A full-day festival of superlative smoking & glorious grilling education (hey, that’s our job right?) for the Backyard BBQ’r to the Competition BBQ Hound.

The Culinary Center of Kansas City’s

Midwest BBQ Institute

Offering serious educational curriculum dedicated to the art and science of grilling and smoking.

Festival Highlights:

“CCKC PIG-OFF” – A culinary “throw-down” where our own Culinary Center Chefs show off their butts (pork butts that is!) and you get to vote for the best butt.

FREE Culinary Demonstrations throughout the day (with drawings for free MBQI classes)

Tastings of Butts and Other BBQ Delicacies
Live MusicChef-Prepared BBQ Dishes Available for Purchase
“Make Your Own Rub” Interactive StationBoasting
Kansas City BBQ Society Info Booth“The Smokin’ Schoolhouse Bar” featuring BBQ-appropriate beverages
Healthy Debate (Wood, charcoal, pellet or propane? Rub vs. sauce?)
“Ask-a-Chef” StationTomfoolery
Drawings & Give-Aways of Valuable (and not-so-valuable) Prizes

“Share Our Strength’s” Great American Bakesale with proceeds to help end childhood hunger (featuring baked goods from the staff and students of The CCKC)

SMOKALICIOUS!!!

Bring the family and come play with us today.

We promise you’ll learn something new!

“Classroom Chatter”

Hello Culinary Center of Kansas City™ friends!

by Rachel Ciordas, our “Dean of Deliciousness”

We are cooking up all kinds of fantastic culinary happenings over here lately and this one is no exception! We’ve got a great tradition of BBQ here in Kansas City and at the culinary center we’re dedicated to making sure that tradition lives on.  We want to make sure we keep smokin’ and grillin’, saucin’ and rubbin’, and in general having a great BBQ time here in Kansas City.  We even have a BBQ institute here with a great line up of classes dedicated to teaching BBQ from the basics up to competition level called the Midwest BBQ Institute (MBQI for short!)

Just having smokalicious classes isn’t enough for us though… we want to CELEBRATE all things BBQ, and we’ve dreamed up a great (free) event on May 1st to do it! So get your family together and come over to The Culinary Center of Kansas City™ between 8:30am and 2pm and check out our butts! (pork butts that is)

P.S. Stop by the Overland Park farmer’s market this Saturday morning and say hello to the Dean of Deliciousness! I’ll be answering your foodie questions and demonstrating seasonal recipes!!

We’re kicking off National BBQ Month with our

First Annual

“Festival of Smoke”

Saturday – May 1st, 2010

8:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

A full-day festival of superlative smoking & glorious grilling education (hey, that’s our job right?) for the Backyard BBQ’r to the Competition BBQ Hound.

The Culinary Center of Kansas City’s

Midwest BBQ Institute

Offering serious educational curriculum dedicated to the art and science of grilling and smoking.

Festival Highlights:

“CCKC PIG-OFF” – A culinary “throw-down” where our own Culinary Center Chefs show off their butts (pork butts that is!) and you get to vote for the best butt.

FREE Culinary Demonstrations throughout the day (with drawings for free MBQI classes)

Tastings of Butts and Other BBQ Delicacies

Live Music

Chef-Prepared BBQ Dishes Available for Purchase

“Make Your Own Rub” Interactive Station

Boasting

Kansas City BBQ Society Info Booth

“The Smokin’ Schoolhouse Bar” featuring BBQ-appropriate beverages

Healthy Debate (Wood, charcoal, pellet or propane? Rub vs. sauce?)

“Ask-a-Chef” Station

Tomfoolery

Drawings & Give-Aways of Valuable (and not-so-valuable) Prizes

“Share Our Strength’s” Great American Bakesale with proceeds to help end childhood hunger (featuring baked goods from the staff and students of The CCKC)

SMOKALICIOUS!!!

Bring the family and come play with us today.

We promise you’ll learn something new!

Psst! The Overland Park Farmers’ Market is open 7:30 a.m. to sellout on Saturdays!

©2010 The Culinary Center of Kansas City™