Ed Mitchell, BBQ Maestro

The mission of the James Beard Foundation is the promotion of American cuisine in all its varied forms. When people hear cuisine, they immediately think white table cloths, fine china and wine lists the size of phonebooks. But American cuisine encompasses myriad choices such as fine dining in San Francisco, lobster shacks in New England, and the smoky barbecue of the South.

Ed Mitchell is a legend among the BBQ cognoscenti. With numerous TV appearances, including beating Bobby Flay in a ribs throw down, he is getting noticed outside of his usual area. Judging by the lines for his food at the Big Apple BBQ, the message is being received.

I was very excited to hear that Ed had accepted an invitation to cook at the James Beard House and was packing up his pork for a trip up North. A sold out crowd was greeted with moonshine mojitos and some very tasty appetizers. I don't know what it is with pork liver, but like the "Swine and Wine" dinner a few weeks ago, a liver dish was the standout. In this case, it was liver pudding served on a ginger snap. A very strange sounding combination, but it really worked well. The zestiness of the ginger snap melded well with the richness of the liver pudding. The other appetizers were also well received, especially the bacon wrapped figs with goat cheese and the North Carolina mountain trout mousse with cracklin's.

In a break in the usual routine, we were invited to head out back and get our own pork for the first course. Both chopped pork and pulled pork were on offer for the diners to grab to make their own sandwiches with. Back at the table, cole slaw and bread were waiting to enhance the pork. Of course, it really did not need any enhancement. This is the dish that Ed is rightfully known for.

Fried green tomatoes were served with an arugula salad dressed with a bacon-sherry vinaigrette as a second course. All the components of this dish worked really well together. The zippy acidity of the Fire Road sauvignon blanc from New Zealand proved to be the perfect foil to this dish.

A grilled pork loin with beautiful grill marks was the next dish to grace our plates. While the pork was excellent, it was upstaged a bit by the sweet potato hash.

Next up were the Flay felling ribs with macaroni and cheese. They were indeed ribs worthy of accolades, they were simply falling off the bone mounds of goodness. A banana pudding rounded out the dinner that was over all too soon.

Ed Mitchell came out after dinner bringing with him the other chefs that helped him prepare this wonderful dinner. Lauren Thompson, Executive Chef of The Pit, Corey Palakovich, Executive Chef of Empire Eats and Matt Scofield, Chef at Sitti all received well deserved kudos from the crowd. As the Q and A session was going on, a huge storm was raging outside. This provoked a few more questions to be asked as no one wanted to venture out in the tempest.

It's going to be a long wait till the next Big Apple BBQ after getting this extended taste of Ed's food. A road trip to NC may have to be planned.

Big Apple BBQ

Much like the swallows returning to Capistrano, early each June the Pitmasters return to Madison Square Park. I look forward to this event with an enthusiasm on the level of an 8 year old waiting for Santa.

As the hordes exit the subway(hordes is the only way to describe the amount of people here), they walk following their noses, sniffing the sweet smell of hard wood and pork, till they reach Madison Square Park. There they are greeted by the sight of nearly 20 elaborate barbeque cooking rigs. These things bear about as much resemblence to your backyard grill as a rubber ducky to an ocean liner, they both kind of do the same thing, just one does it on a much grander scale. They are also greeted by great throngs of people. The Big Apple BBQ attracts around 100,000 ravenous carnivores each year.

I arrived just after the 11AM opening time and got right to business. My first stop was Jim 'N' Nicks to taste their sausage and pimento cheese. The sausage was a definite hit, a charred outside crust lead to a wonderfly juicy inside. The pimento cheese rocked. They should have sold this in pint containers like ice cream. Just give me the pint and a spoon then carefully back away please.

My next stop was my perennial favorite Ed Mithcell's The Pitt. Ed always does whole hog and he always does it well. Add a classic North Carolina vinegar based sauce and you have the recipe for porcine Nirvana.

I took a break from scarfing down these wonderful offering and was just wandering around to take a few pictures. I ran into some of the folks from the AOL food page. I met these fun and knowledable foodies the night before at the Craig Claiborne celebration. When a passing shower had us looking for shelter, they deputized me as media and let me hide with them in Mike Mill's area. Mike makes some of the best barbeque there is, and you can't argue with a man that has a fountain that spouts bbq sauce!

Along with all the wonderful eats, the Big Apple BBQ also offers a full slate of cooking demos and seminars. This offer a needed respite from all the required eating. They also have live bands performing. The music certainly adds an even more festive mood to the wood smoke athmosphere.

Now, for pure theater, there was no comparison to Martins from Tennesee. They elevated the act of extracting a whole hog from a cooker into art. Weddings have the ceremonial throwing of the boquet, Martins has the tossing of a pigs foot. That's hard to top.

All too soon my day at the Big Apple BBQ was over. As I headed uptown to a friend's home, smelling of hickory and pecan, I was already dreaming of next year.