Tailgate Recipe Contest...Winner!!!

Well Anthony, with a little help from Bruce, has made his decision. I don’t have much time to write, so I’ll be brief. I’ve got a Boston Butt and Brisket on the smoker and am battling the temperature. The snow is wreaking havoc on my fire. Anyway, the winner of the first annual Eat Ugly Tailgate Recipe Contest in Dom from East Boston Massachusetts. Congratulations! I'll let you know what is in his prize package of BBQ goodies tomorrow. The winning recipe is below, enjoy...

Dom’s Grandmother’s Root Beer & Bourbon Baby Back Ribs...

Glaze:

• 2 cans or root beer
• 2 tablespoons hot pepper jelly
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons of the steak sauce of your choice
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1 orange juiced
• 1 cup bourbon
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons of bitters
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Put all of the contents into a large pot and cook to a boil. Make sure it is stirred frequently to get all sugar dissolved. This is done at a medium to high heat. After it has boiled let it cook for 30 min a medium heat. Once this is done remove and strain through a fine strainer. Then put it away, but keep warm until needed.

Ribs:

• 2 full slabs of baby back ribs
• 2 tablespoons of salt (kosher)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (granulated)
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder (granulated)
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1/2-1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup of chicken stock

Preheat oven to 275

Place ribs on a large enough baking sheet. Put the salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, black and cayenne pepper into a bowl. Rub one table spoon of mixture into each rack of ribs. Let it sit for 20 min.

Pour the chicken stock into the sheet pan and cover it tightly with aluminum foil. Put in oven and cook until ribs become tender (1 1/2 - 2 hours).

Take ribs from oven and let them cool (15-20 min). Preheat grill to medium.

Coat ribs as much as desired with glaze. Put ribs right onto the grill and cook until brown and the glaze starts to caramelize. This should not be more than 10 min...watch for burning.

Take ribs off....use rest of glaze as desired and feast.

First Ever Eat Ugly Tailgate Recipe Contest

The Judging Team!

Here’s the deal.

• The contest officially began yesterday (1-22-07) and will run until Friday, February 2^nd 2007.

• We will accept entries as late as possible that evening and post the winning recipe at or before midnight on February 3^rd 2007.

• Recipes can be emailed to me at jonathan@uglygourmet.com or left as a comment on this or any post referring to the contest.
  

• All entries must include contact information. You know, tell me where to send your prize! We also would love to know a little about you and your recipe, so feel free to tell us about yourself or include a story. This is not required, but it is always fun to know where a recipe came from.

• The sole contest judge will be Anthony. He will pick the winner based on a secret criterion only known to him and Bruce.

• All of the recipes submitted will be entered into a tailgate recipe index for all to enjoy. I will post every entry as quickly as I can.

Ok, here’s the important part. THE PRIZE! There will be one grand prize winner (selected by Anthony our sole judge). That person will receive an Ugly Pug t-shirt and a collection of specially selected BBQ sauces, hot sauces, salsas and anything else I can fit in the box from UglyGourmet.com. Have fun and get cooking!

Football Food Tailgate Recipe Contest!

Ok, yesterday I was going to gloat about New England Patriot’s football. I was going to send out dozens of “I Told You So” emails. I was going to dream about winning the season ticket holder’s lottery for Super Bowl tickets. I was going to dig out my “Bury the Bears” t-shirt. I was going to put off my diet for another two weeks. I was going to do a lot of things and none of them involved eating crow.

Anyway, I really can say noting to defend my beloved Patriots. Some die hard New England fans are crying conspiracy. Convinced that the NFL did not want the Pats in another championship and instructed the officials to make sure they lost. I am not quite ready to go that far. For one thing if is true...I really don’t know what to say if it is true. That’s just silly. I’ll stick to complaining about bad calls and poor receivers. Regardless of any blame they lost. And all I can do now is hope the pretty boy pony chokes on bear meat.

Even though my Patriots finished their season early, Super Bowl Sunday is still one of the greatest days of the year. I am, however, still waiting for congress to declare Super Bowl Monday a national day of rest and give tired fans a day off from work. No matter what teams are lucky enough to travel to Miami this year, Super Bowl Sunday is a fantastic excuse cook up some tasty BBQ and tailgate treats. I have a pretty good menu planned for game day, but I need some new recipes to try. I figure we still have a couple of weeks left before the game and maybe someone out there (my two of devoted readers-- thanks mom & dad) might have some new tailgate recipes for me to try.

So here is my call for football food recipes. If anyone wants to enter a family favorite into my little contest just email (jonathan@uglygourmet.com) to me or contact me here by Friday February 2^nd and I will post your recipes by Saturday night. If it’s a short easy one feel free to leave it as a comment. Images are welcome; just make sure they are a reasonable size. The idea is to make a fun collection of tailgate recipes for all to enjoy. I’ll even make it interesting and offer a prize from UglyGourmet.com to the person with the best or most creative tailgate recipe. I’ll let you know what the prize will be in the next few days. As for picking the winner, well I think I will leave that up to Anthony. He will act the sole judge for this contest.

Prizes are shipped via UPS ground and only to addresses in the continental United States. UPS will not deliver to a post office box, so physical addresses only please.

P.S. Comments about any of the NFL playoff games are encouraged and welcome.