Home Of Hoss's BBQ & Catering Co.

Hoss's Does Charity Event In Wisconsin

This past February Hoss and his team traveled to Solon Springs Wisconsin.

The team consisting of Adam Sydenstricker, Stephen Gustard, Scott Schuyler and Hoss made the 1200 mile trip to Wisconsin.  Cooking for three local churches during the first ever Winter Festival.  Almost 400 meals were served during the event.  The meal helped to bring a taste of the South to the frozen lands of the North.  For many of the diners the meal was their first taste of true Southern BBQ.  The town came together in many ways for this event, with the help of many volunteers.  In need of a a desperate cleaning of the salt encrusted smoker, the local fire department came to the rescue!!  The dinner was a great success!!  

Waldorf Eggfest 2007

On May 5th I traveled to Waldorf Md for the 2007 Eggfest.  An Eggfest is a festival put on by a distributor of Big Green Eggs to help spread the awareness of the Egg. 

The Eggfest in Waldorf is sponsored by Seasonal Distributors.  Many different people cook on demo Eggs throughout the day, and then the demo eggs are sold at a discounted price.  I was able to see many friends of mine that I have met over the years on the BBQ circuit.  It was also a great time to meet some of the Big Green Egg forum users face to face. 

My Dad, Mike Hess also made the trip down to the Eggfest, with my little brother and sister.  Dad enjoyed seeing all the new ways he could use his Egg.  He also found the solution to cooking multiple racks of ribs on his Egg.

The competition rig of the Wimer's was also really cool to see in person.  The way all four of the XL models look inside their trailer is amazing.  There were also other teams represented such as Dizzy Pig, BBQ Guru, and Free Range BBQ to name a few.  Also Ray Lampe AKA Dr. BBQ was set up next to Dizzy Pig cooking on one of the demo Eggs.  It was a pleasure to meet Dr. BBQ and get both my book and Dad's book signed by Ray.

The Eggfest was a great time and experience to see how many different uses there are for the Egg.  It was nice to be an observer this year and I will hopefully cook for the next Eggfest. 

Book Review:Smokestack Lightning

Smokestack Lightning Adventures In The Heart Of Barbecue Country was written by Lolis Eric Elie and photos were taken by Frank Stewart. Published originally in 1996.

This book is the result of two men and their journey to find the best Barbecue in the country. Their journey took them through the country from the Carolinas, St Louis, Kansas City Texas and up to Chicago.  Lolis and Frank ate at many of the famous BBQ shacks in every stop they made.  Often traveling way off the beaten path to find the ultimate BBQ.  The stories that they are told by many of the legends such Ollie Gates of Gates& Sons Bar-B-Q, in Kansas City. 

The pictures in the book are all in black and white and many of are different pitt masters and their pitts. I love the quality and agelessness that the black and white photos produce.    The stories that are told about how the BBQ changes from one region to the next are awesome.  The book also has a few recipes in the back of the book from many of the different restaurants they visited on their trip.  This book was part of the inspiration for Drew and I during our travels this winter. As we traveled across the country to see friends and family with  my Big Green Egg we often stopped at different BBQ Joints where ever we were.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is intrested in the history of BBQ.  Here is the link to the book on Amazon.com.  http://www.amazon.com/Smokestack-Lightning-Adventures-Barbecue-Country/dp/1580086608'

Hoss's Favorite Websites

We have created a list of BBQ related websites for easy access to other sites we find valuable.  We hope that if you are looking for information, or BBQ products you will visit these sites.  Many of the sites are from friends that Hoss has met on the competition trail, others are ones he found doing research.  The links list is located in the about section of the site.