27
Oct
Australian BBQ Team Full Metal Kettle take out a big win at the Warracknabeal comp in Victoria.
Imagine BBQing for 24 hours straight, then with lack of sleep, surrounded by the most amazing flavours of the finest BBQ meat and rich sauces; the meal you’ve spent a year to create and 24 hours to prepare is about to be assessed by some 30 judges.
Not the best way to spend a weekend? Or is it? For one of Australia’s BBQ Competition Teams, Full Metal Kettle, this IS the stuff weekends are made of.
The three BBQ boys who make up the team, Jon, Al and Matt are mad.
Ooops, I mean mad keen and passionate about the low and slow. Direct and Indirect heat. Global wood chips from disused barrels. And of course meat. Anything you can think of salting, smoking and curing, it is likely they have done it before and have done it beautifully.
I had the pleasure of meeting Jon Bell, through a very good friend Emily. Jon, an American Import for the Victorian State Baseball team could not get enough of Australia. But he needed to get BBQing. He then collaborated with Al and Mat, both Aussies who have mastered the Webber Kettle US Style.
Until you’ve seen how it works, words aren’t enough to describe it.
So I couldn’t help myself to take a leisurely 3.5 hours drive to Warracknabeal, a small town outside of Horsham in Victoria on a Sunday. There were about 30 teams and I reckon I could smell the 24 hour cooked meat and woodchips from kilometres away.
The boys were certainly in sleep deprived pain when I found them. But when The Full Metal Team received a FIRST PLACE in the long held (by the opposition team) PORK RIBS category, and then placing overall in the TOP TEN, maybe it was worth it. These boys are the ones to watch in the 2016/2017 BBQ Competitions.
24 hours, 5 dishes and 30 judges, no sleep? That IS the stuff weekends are made of.