This year we attended the American Royal Barbecue to do a little filming and partake of the festivities of the annual event. Tom Bass, an African American was the originator of the first horse show, in 1892 from which the American Royal was conceived. Tom Bass was the greatest horse trainer worldwide in his day. If he was still alive today, he would not believe how much this show has grown.
There were well over 500 teams and over 100,000 people in attendance. There were teams of people from all over the country competing for the honor of having the best barbecue. Kansas City is one of the best places for barbecue in the country and we have several signature well renowned restaurants to show for it. The person who won this year was a man by the name of Mark Hyman owner of Great Grills O’ Fire from Jefferson City. The top prize was $10,000.00 which he won for best of show barbeque. This was his first time participating and he was astonished that he had won. We walked around interviewing several people and the questioned came up from some of the folks who were familiar with the show, is where is UAO’s special barbeque recipe.
I love barbeque but I have not perfected my own sauce, because I am spoiled with the great variety of selection in KC. I do however, have family members and friends with some down home specialities, that will make you wanna slap somebody. So many times when we go out of town, people will mention Kansas City’s Bar B Q. They will say once you have KC’s barbeque you gain a whole new understanding of what it si all about. Some have complained about their hometown so called equivalent, that should never grace the name, but according to George Gates of Gates Bar-B-Q, he described barbeque as regional, each having its own distinct personality. “Bar-B-Q is personality “ I have never heard it put so passionately but it make so much sense and I can feel that. He also stated that the three main areas for the best barbeque are KC, Memphis and Texas. “It all has to do with individual taste”. I may be a little bias but my favorite is Kansas City and fortunate for people across US they can go online and have some shipped to them.
People visiting KC still say its nothing like stepping into the place of choice and receive that special greeting and smell that mouth watering aroma. I love to barbeque my pork ribs, chicken, brisket, but I also love to barbeque my wild game meat. Now that is some real good eating. The definition of barbequing is cooking meat in the pit, in the ground directly over fire. I will take some boar ribs and put a hurting on them. Last year at this time I harvested that 600 lb boar and had him processed and had plenty to go around. I took those ribs and seasoned them up and barbequed them babies up to 2 or more hours. I would keep them moist and turn them several times on both sides. I later applied my sauce of choice for the day and cooked them some more. They were so tender and juicy with just the right flavor. My friends that sampled were so impressed with these ribs that they said to make sure to call them when I make some more…they said they can’t wait. Maybe next year I might have to enter that American Royal Barbeque Contest and give a little honor to Tom Bass…. Urban American Style!.
