The Big BBQ!!!

Details of all cooking events,please add details of any events you are aware of that may have been missed

Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby thelawnet » 24 Jun 2012, 00:27

I did think they had advertised BBQ for sale.

And so they did:

"Forget just watching the pro's cooking, after smelling the delights of Pulled Pork, Texas BBQ Ribs and Brisket you're going to want to tuck into some real BBQ food from our stalls."

Complete with this picture:

Image

Also "We have brought together amazing food, drink and stalls from the UK’s best BBQ outlets for you to try across the site while listening to live sets from some of the best UK bands."

Here too:

http://www.heart.co.uk/essex/win/big-bbq/

"of course food stalls serving delicious BBQ food from Burgers to Pulled Pork and Texas Ribs!"

Quite a few complaints on the Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Big- ... 9723062412

Seems like a major oversight not to provide any actual BBQ at a BBQ Festival.
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby keith157 » 24 Jun 2012, 10:50

Hi all, well we managed to get to speak to just about everyone, and tasted most of their offerings. We managed to sample pork, beef & ribs from the same crews as we did at MiM and the improvement in standards was amazing NB this is an increase from A to A+ as the earlier fare was fantastic. I can't speak for the "turn-in" quality (yet ;) ) but the taste and texture of what we had was stunning. We'd also like to thank Alan from Eti Ltd for his patience in answering questions in a non techie way about their new "must-have" :D .
Yet again I must apologise for leaving early, however Bristol is going to be far easier going and a breeze to walk on so we will be able to annoy you all over the whole weekend.
Thanks to all for their hospitality and a special thanks to Ed (Eater of Food) for our pestering him, and Toby & the crew for such a great event.
We got there early anticipating a hoard of people and were very surprised at the poor turnout, and lack of good concession stands (see above for the delicious remedy). Also the music, we heard one group sign off around lunchtime with "Good-Night Canvey" :lol:
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby Toby » 24 Jun 2012, 10:59

unfortunately i have to agree with everything you have said. We started setting up on Thursday and i was genuinely surprised and excited about the event, but since the wind picked up and our setup went flying and for want of a better phrase "buggered up" you may have noticed the very white covers over ready steady q where we had to have new ones couriered down on Friday, I think that put a halt to alot of the big rides venturing out. the stage had to be repaired at 1:30am due to wind damage, there is no way they could have put the screen up. i was disappointed about the BBQ vending side and only found out Saturday morning that there werent any. i am sure a few teams would have been more than happy to sell food, although they were able to give it away after the comp. I imagine they will have had 1,500 people through the gates over the day and from our perspective Ready Steady Q and Kids Q had 40 competitors over the day and a constant crowd, albeit small. The Pitmasters comp went without a hitch and am very pleased for Miss Piggys who won GC and a place at the Jack Daniels.

to be honest I am not sure what else they could have done on the day with the weather (in the run up) and made the most of a bad situation, but they really need to get the numbers up if they are going to be holding it in that space again. I am thankful for the help they gave us when our initial site was battered before being moved.
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby thelawnet » 24 Jun 2012, 11:14

Looks like they are busy deleting all the negative and incriminating comments from their facebook page. E.g., when they said the rides were £1.50 each and they were actually £2-£4, and all the people complaining about the lack of BBQ.

Not delivering what was advertised is one thing, but they shouldn't be (trying to) cover it up as well...

Well done to Toby and Ed for putting on a very professional show. Felt a little sorry for the French's PR girls down in the wrong corner of the field next to the second music stage, that, so far as I can tell, got cancelled, due to lack of anybody watching.
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby thelawnet » 24 Jun 2012, 11:24

Photos here, mainly of the Ready Steady Q, http://www.flickr.com/photos/squadronle ... 261022882/
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby keith157 » 24 Jun 2012, 13:12

I agree with you regarding the French's girls they were trying to compete with the C&W music, what there was, and doing a fine job against the music and wind. Although it was windy and overcast it was warm and dry, so much so I have a white band on my arm where the admittance band was.
Hopefully PATP will be better for all involved, sadly we won't be there so lots more for other visitors to eat ;)
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby thelawnet » 24 Jun 2012, 14:20

keith157 wrote:I agree with you regarding the French's girls they were trying to compete with the C&W music, what there was, and doing a fine job against the music and wind. Although it was windy and overcast it was warm and dry, so much so I have a white band on my arm where the admittance band was.
Hopefully PATP will be better for all involved, sadly we won't be there so lots more for other visitors to eat ;)


I didn't notice that they were there at first. We arrived a 1:30pm, hungry, and in the mood for a few racks of ribs. Saw the food stands near the main stage, and they were just burger places. Bought the kids an effluent burger and a mechanically recovered hot dog, and watched the R-S-Q competition. After doing that found there was a jerk stall in the furthest corner of the field, near French's, so we got two portions there, this was the closest to real BBQ that was on sale, but it was only barely average, with the meat dried out by this point and the mayo on the coleslaw had gone off, and just plain rice, no peas in it.

Quite a few people complaining on the FB page, not sure if they'll get any media attention....
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby eater of food » 24 Jun 2012, 15:50

The event as a whole was obviously a real disappointment for many reasons.

I'm pleased with how Pit Masters and the RSQ and KidsQ events went. We were lucky in that we were the only real barbecue attraction at a barbecue event so were able to fill our spaces with relative ease despite the very short numbers there. I'm happy with the feedback I received from punters on the day as well as since about the competitions we put on.

Also, the finale on the main stage really was fantastic, with fireworks going off behind the main stage just as Bon Giovi (who were bloody brilliant) hit the big key change near the end of Living on a Prayer was a real wow moment despite there being only around 100 spectators left.

From our perspective, Brighton is going to be a very different challenge. Can't wait.
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby Steve » 24 Jun 2012, 16:06

The overall event didnt turn out well thats for sure

I think Toby, Ed, Ryan et al did a great job on the IBQN part of the show. It was well run and as ever we enjoyed the Pit Masters event but it's hard not with the guys who compete. Hoping at Brighton to be next to James, I mean Adam, I mean Colin, no Charlie, that's it :lol:

Got a new phone case today by the way ;)
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Re: The Big BBQ!!!

Postby RobinC » 24 Jun 2012, 16:10

eater of food wrote:I'm pleased with how Pit Masters and the RSQ and KidsQ events went. We were lucky in that we were the only real barbecue attraction at a barbecue event


The were various reasons that I didn't attend but i think the point above pretty much sums it up. Without involvement from IBQN an event billed as the big BBQ wouldn't have had anything BBQ related! The mind boggles!

One of the things that attracted me originally to Grillstock was the list of exhibitors that had some connection with BBQ. There was none of that at this event (or nothing that I could see on the website anyway). Decided to sit this one out and wait for reports back - glad I did.

Congrats to Miss Piggys on the GC and hopefully the other competitors had a good time too
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