JACK DANIEL'S INTERNATIONAL BBQ CONTEST

Historic  25th Global Gathering this Weekend


By Doc Lawrence

LYNCHBURG, TN-It’s October in Dixie and that means the annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue. The best and most prestigious of them all is now celebrating 25 years of the global gathering of the champs from the U.S. and other countries. Here, Belgium meets Canada head on while Australia takes on Germany among others. Florida, Kentucky and Massachusetts compete with teams from Georgia, Texas and North Carolina. The list is very long and the accents are many.

Serving as a judge here on the most hallowed ground of America’s spirits industry is second to nothing. Other thrill-seekers jump off cliffs and parachute hoping to survive. Some run from bulls in a cheap imitation of Pamplona. My idea of a thrill is a rush with meaning: Jack Daniel’s with friends and good things to eat. Here in beautiful Lynchburg.

The evening before Saturday’s competition, I’ll be joining Jeff Arnett, Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller and Buttermilk Road’s Chef Lisa Donavan at the historic Bethel House beside the landmark distillery for some Southern fare paired with Jack Daniel’s hot new product, Sinatra Select.

Frank Sinatra really enjoyed Jack Daniel's. Great whiskey has a long memory.

Jack Daniel’s has honored the man who was such a loyal fan. Sinatra Select at 90 proof come in a one-liter bottle and a gift box. The whiskey is made from barrels that are hand-selected by Arnett for, according to a Jack Daniel’s spokesperson, “a fuller flavor and darker color, then mingled with classic Old No. 7 to result in a drink with a smooth, bold character.”

Meet me at the Judge’s Pavilion this Saturday. I’ll introduce you to some of the legends in sports, radio and television, tourism, journalism, famous restaurants and friends from other nations who love this spectacular event.

NOTE: The Florida trip you’ll never forget: http://mycookingmagazine.com/gourmet-highway-walking-with-wolves-the-waterways-of-northwest-florida/

FSU & CLEMSON-TAILGATING DOWN SOUTH

Barbecue, Wine and Fun In South Carolina

By Steve Cannon and Doc Lawrence

“And he shook it like a chorus girl
And he shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rambler,
baby,
Like you never seen.”
                     Gillian Welch- “Elvis Presley Blues”


CLEMSON, SC—The song was thumping on the satellite radio early in the morning, the end of a nice drive from Atlanta to Clemson. Tailgating on this perhaps the biggest football weekend here had me greeting FSU and Clemson fans along the way, leading to a guess that many lived in the Atlanta area.

The return to this college town, my second visit in two months, was even more opportune. The South Carolina Barbecue Trail is a designated series of restaurant stops that traces a major part of the state’s important culinary heritage. It has a magnetic pull that intensified on this tailgating football Saturday.

The South Carolina peach season is long gone but the fall leaf season just started and glimpses of emerging blazing colors of orange, garnet and gold added to the enjoyment of traveling along the byways. The picturesque towns include Anderson, a pleasant place that merits a stop for all visitors. The Palmetto state’s Barbecue Trail seems to begin here. One of the great restaurants includes Creekside Bar-be-Que in Anderson. The most visual barbecue business anywhere has to be Henry’s Hog Hauler, convincing proof that good barbecue travels well.

Creekside does barbecue old fashioned way. Kurt Wickiser learned his technique from the traditions of his great grandfather who, according to Kurt, loved to invite the whole town over to his house to eat. Treasured recipes have been passed down through the generations. Everything is slow cooked with hickory and pecan wood.

Tailgating Down South is open-ended, proudly embracing the old and the new. Barbecue is always changing, but the best still has connections to tradition. New dishes based on venerable but revised recipes emerge in the stadium parking lots during this time of the year. Thousands gather to eat and drink before kickoff this can often become a food journey like no other. Few leave hungry.

Crane Creek, the acclaimed vineyard near Young Harris, Georgia is an easy drive to Clemson and this day was made for its delightful Traminette A cross between a French American hybrid Seyval and Gewürztraminer, it’s medium bodied with zippy acidity, bright spice flavors and mouth watering minerality. Perfect for Chef Lara Lyn Carter’s tasty tailgating treasure for this day.

Chef Lara Lyn Carter

Upcountry Sweet Corn and Bacon Bruschetta
I6 slices French bread - slightly grilled
Sage butter (recipe follows)
4 ears sweet corn - kernels removed
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes - finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
16 slices bacon - cooked and crumbled
In a large skillet, melt 1 and 1/2 tbsp. of sage butter over medium-high heat. Add the corn to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cream, salt and pepper to the corn and cook for an additional 4 minutes stirring often. Spread the sage butter onto the grilled bread slices. Top the bread with a tbsp. of the corn and sprinkle with the bacon.
Sage Butter
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sage roughly chopped
1 tsp. coarse salt
Melt butter over medium heat until bubbly. Reduce heat and add sage. Allow sage and butter to simmer for 3-4 minutes. Remove the butter from heat and stir in the salt. Allow the butter to cool slightly, remove the sage and pour into a small bowl.

Finish off the tailgating feast with Lecia Duke’s whiskey-filled chocolates. The Chocolate Diva’s precess is unique and helps make any Saturday gameday gathering loaded with memories of delicious food and wonderful people.












NOTE: Join Doc and barbecue enthusiasts from all over the world at the 25th annual Jack Daniel’s International Barbecue Competition in lovely Lynchburg, Tennessee this Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26. It’s not only the most prestigious barbecue event on the planet but one of the most popular festivals that is truly family friendly. Doc will be in the judge’s tent and would love to say hello.
Steve will be at Crane Creek Vineyards this Saturday and many fans of the acclaimed winery will be present. It's a wonderful time to meet and greet. When there's a chill in the air, a glass of wine warms the body and soul.

TAILGATING DOWN SOUTH IN BLACKSBURG

VIRGINIA TECH GAME DAY 

By Doc Lawrence

BLACKSBURG, VA- The mountains are just approaching fall leaf season grandeur. The region is genuine heartland where some of the earliest pioneers settled, entertaining themselves with music and dance that gave birth to Bluegrass music traditions. Locals produce country ham, a culinary descendant of Native American pemmican that will give Italian prosciutto a run for taste excellence any day and the Virginia food enthusiasts claim that their state, not Georgia, first produced Brunswick Stew.

Today, the Panthers of Pittsburgh visited Virginia Tech’s Hokies at Lane Stadium and the food and beverages served at the tailgating soiree mirrored all the joy and optimism of the moment. Smoke, laughter and music attracts a hungry visitor and there is more than enough to keep the palate stimulated.

Hokies party passionately. The name is etched into my memories that fondly recall endless glasses of fine Virginia wine with grilled meats, chicken, duck and turkey. For the uninitiated, Virginia’s wineries produce heralded wines with Norton and Viognier garnering praise for decades.

Virginia Tech's lovely campus features buildings mostly built of “Hokie” stone in a style known as military gothic. The centerpiece of the campus is the Drill field, a large oval-shaped lawn surrounded by academic buildings on one side and dormitories on the other.

Nearby Smithfield Plantation is one of the first large farms established in Southwestern Virginia. The plantation house is now a museum owned by a non-profit organization and open every day, but check times. Blacksburg is a launch pad for touring Virginia’s stunning landscape and no trip here is complete without enjoying Marion, Abington, Roanoke and charming Saltville, where, if you are lucky, you’ll meet Virginia’s accomplished storyteller, Charlie Bill Totten, whose enthusiasm for his city makes visitors eager to return.

The cooking traditions of the Deep South often have ancestral connections to Virginia. Few dishes incorporate all the taste adventures of Southern recipes like this amazing duck creation from Lara Lyn Carter’s family favorites:


Barbecued Duck Breast with Mustard Sauce
                  By Chef Lara Lyn Carter
Four 8 oz. duck breast

Chef Lara Lyn Carter

MARINADE
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1/2 cup unsalted butter - melted
Place the duck breast in a 9x13 baking dish. Combine the soy sauce, lemon pepper and butter and pour over the breast. Allow the duck to marinate for 30 minutes. Grill the duck over low heat for 1 and 1/2 hours basting every 20 minutes with the marinade.

Tangy Mustard Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1 cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Juice and zest of 1 orange
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often. Serve the sauce drizzled over the duck breast.

Enjoy this with Château Morrisette's Liberty Service Dog Red, a dry red wine blended from some of Virginia's finest grape varieties including Chambourcin, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. The wine pays tribute to service dogs and their dedication to enhancing the lives of people with disabilities. Bursting with deep flavors and aromas of blackberry, blueberry, black cherry, and plum,

Peanuts, ne of Virginia's signature crops, blend well with chocolate. And a perfect finish for tailgating in Blacksburg is this original chocolate created by Chocolate Diva Lecia Duke.

THE DALAI LAMA IN ATLANTA

Peace Reigns at Emory University

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA. Compassion and understanding might work well in Washington according to the Dalai Lama who spoke to a packed house at Gwinnett Center just outside Atlanta where he advised the audience to focus on love and to be grateful for all that they have.

The Dalai Lama, enormously popular in the Atlanta region, returned as part of a continuing partnership between the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and highly influential Emory University.

The Dalai Lama holds the title of presidential distinguished professor at Emory, a position established in 2007 and has visited Emory's campus five times, lecturing, teaching and interacting with students.
"Secular ethics," was the focus of his presentation which he described as a system of shared principles that go beyond religious differences while still respecting and valuing the significance of religion in the lives of others.

His Holiness Brings in the Masses

The Dalai Lama’s participation in a series of lectures and panel discussions extends through much of the week. Emory University’s generosity in assuring public access to a global figure who exemplifies world and personal peace remains a remarkable cultural and spiritual milestone.

Atlanta was the home of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose church, Ebenezer Baptist near the Civil Right’s leader’s grave, is an active and influential congregation. The Carter Presidential Center and the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library are both a short distance from Emory’s campus.

The Dalai Lama, who has dined at Mary Mac’s, a noted Atlanta restaurant, always seems right at home here in this progressive city, the unofficial spiritual and cultural capital of the Southeast.

TAILGATING DOWN SOUTH IN TENNESSEE

Autumn Fun In Knoxville

Coach Johnny Majors

“Wish that I was on ole rocky top,
Down in the Tennessee hills.
Ain't no smoggy smoke on rocky top,
Ain't no telephone bills.”
  “Rocky Top” by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE—The university on the banks of the Tennessee River produced genuine sports legends like Johnny Majors and Peyton Manning. A respected institution of higher learning, the fans gather for home games in Neyland Stadium clad in bright orange just after finishing one of the South’s finest tailgating feasts. After all, Tennessee is home to tailgating essentials like Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey, George Dickel and Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Ham.

Few products anywhere are connected more  to culinary heritage.

Bluegrass music abounds and during football games refrains of “Rocky Top,” the Volunteer’s anthem penned by Boudleaux and Felice Bryant never cease..

Bluegrass in Downtown Knoxville

Knoxville is a modern city, a center for the arts that showcases some of the best restaurants this side of Nashville. The culture is quintessentially East Tennessee, a mixture of Appalachian and Deep South. New folks who move here for the high quality of life. Like most college towns, Knoxville has the luxury of an educated population making it an attractive place for relocation and retirement.

Roaming the tailgaters is only after touring Knoxville’s outdoor Farmer’s Market where on Saturday’s, the streets display vegetables, canned goods like jellies, jams and salsas, along with Tennessee sausages and artisan baked products. Barbecue is omnipresent with pork and chicken dominant.

These are wine-savvy tailgaters and finding a group serving Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah wasn’t surprising. The remarkable red wine paired beautifully with Chef Lara Lyn Carter’s Tennessee Bruchetta and smoked meats with homemade biscuits.

Bistro By The Tracks is just one of several top rated local gourmet dining destinations.
Executive Chef Christopher Stallard marries a wealth of regional and worldly culinary knowledge to create a menu that is distinctly original. The wine program is backed by one of the state’s top cellars offering an extensive wine list featuring carefully selected whites and reds from the acclaimed wineries

The Tennessee Theatre compares with Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre and you don’t want to miss a concert featuring the magnificent Wurlitzer organ.

Knoxville is a launching pad to Smoky Mountain adventures and is in proximity to the great fishing and water sports of TVA lakes. The area is rich in mountain heritage and the accommodations are first rate.





Benton’s Bacon Bruschetta 
      By Chef Laura Lyn Carter
I6 slices French bread - slightly grilled
Sage butter (recipe follows)
4 ears sweet corn - kernels removed
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes - finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
16 slices Benton's bacon - cooked and crumbled

Chef Lara Lyn Carter

In a large skillet, melt 1 and 1/2 tbsp. of sage butter over medium-high heat. Add the corn to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, cream, salt and pepper to the corn and cook for an additional 4 minutes stirring often. Spread the sage butter onto the grilled bread slices. Top the bread with a tbsp. of the corn and sprinkle with the bacon.
Sage Butter
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup sage roughly chopped
1 tsp. coarse salt
Melt butter over medium heat until bubbly. Reduce heat and add sage. Allow sage and butter to simmer f
or 3-4 minutes. Remove the butter from heat and stir in the salt. Allow the butter to cool slightly, remove the sage and pour into a small bowl.