Thursday, August 18, 2011

We are team #2 in the Chile Pepper Magazine "Quest for the Perfect Ribs"!

How cool is this!?! REALLY!
So when the mail came today, we got something we've been waiting on for for almost 3 months! Why, you might ask? Well, because 2 Skinny Cooks is Chile Pepper Magazines 2nd entry in their "Quest For The Perfect Ribs"! Chile Pepper, for those unfamiliar, is a bi-monthly national publication dealing primarily all things hot and spicy.

This all came about in an odd sort of way. Back in late May, we were thumbing the June/July issue, and noticed a recipe that said it applied, ingredients, and cooking time, to back ribs, spare ribs, and country ribs. I balked a bit at that statement, and emailed the editor, explaining that since they were very dissimilar cuts, they all cooked in different times, and not long after, he contacted me and asked if we wanted to be team #2 in their challenge! At first, I balked, thinking "We're Not Worthy!" There are a long list of teams out there who've certainly won more than we have, especially when it comes to ribs (we did reletively well our second season, but have struggled lately). But when I ran it by the wife, she said "are you kidding?" national exposure? Of COURSE we want to do it!

So what happened next was possibly the most hectic 2 1/2 weeks I've had in a long time!

This all transpired right before the Memorial Day weekend comp in Westmont, IL. (One that I shall forever remember as Woodstock III)

The next weekend, we had Willowbrook, IL, and a 25th anniversary party to cater, and a few weeks down the road was Iron Mountain. The transformer in our pop up failed in Westmont, leaving us scrambling for power distribution, then at Willowbrook, we snapped a support cable for the roof, leaving us with one corner that wouldn't raise (we jerry-rigged it with a length of PVC for Willowbrook and Iron Mountain) Thanks to our good buddies Nick and Beth of Moose's BBQ for the assist!  And also, had to do my normal, "real job". In between, we had to cook at least 2 slabs of at least 2 types of pork ribs, and send them, the recipes, and recipes for at least 3 sides by 6/08! No pressure! Oh, and they wanted me to hire a professional photographer, to ensure the pics were publication ready. Oh yeah, forgot, they needed pics for the magazine Well, I was able to impress them enough with my shots that they didn't require a pro, but it was still a lot to get done!

When all was said and done, we finished everything, did two phone interviews with the editor/publisher, and sent off two slabs each baby backs and spares which they said they loved! In fact, one of the quotes they featured was " Only four years on the circuit? I don't believe that for a second!"

Seeing the actual magazine was sort of the final "pinch me I'm dreaming" moment! We have been keeping this mostly to ourselves for going on three months, because we didn't want to look like dopes if for some reason it didn't happen!

So, pick up a copy at your local newsstand! We're on pages 56-61!
Here are some of the pics...

Update: 9/02 - The online version is posted on Chile Pepper's site. In that version our piece starts on page 59   http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/cd3fc76e#/cd3fc76e/59