Memphis in May

For those of you who don't know me very well, I love meat. And when it comes to meat, pork is easily my favorite. When it comes to pork, I don't think there is a better way of preparing it than BBQ. Earlier this year my girlfriend and I got a personal invitation to come to Memphis in May, the World BBQ Championship. Memphis in May works like this: You get together a cooking team, decide if you are going to compete in either pork shoulder, ribs, or whole hog, set up a tent, invite your friends, and have an incredible time.



We were with the team Sweet-Sine-O-Mine, who won first place in shoulder in 2005. It goes without saying that these people were serious about Cue. They even had SSOM '05 tattoos.





Obviously, the food was incredible and the bottle of Makers that my dad and I polished off certainly made the evening even more enjoyable. While we were there I met one of the greatest innovations in pork rib preparations. Deep-fried Buffalo pork ribs. The ribs are smoked, separated into one-rib segments, and then deep-fried in hot oil, and tossed in wing sauce. I was in Pork Heaven. (Pork Heaven also manifests itself in places like Bavaria, where almost every meal involved pork)

And as much as I know you love to read about all the mouthwatering pork that you didn't get to eat, this trip was not without delicious beer either, (although at MIM you're lucky to find someone with a cooler that isn't filled with cans of Light this, or Light that.) Bosco's in midtown Memphis, is one of the best brewpubs in the country, as far as I'm concerned, and they didn't disappoint on this trip either.



I sampled a Hefe-weizen, Scottish ale, Vienna lager, brown, and an Alt that were all above par. Jimmy, their more than capable brewer, even came out to say "hi" and shoot the breeze for a while, (on a Saturday no less!) If you are in Memphis, Little Rock, or Nashville, and you don't go out of your way to visit a Bosco's location you are doing yourself a great disservice. And the beer isn't the only reason to check them out either, they have one of the best brewpub menus of any place I have ever been to.



All of my Memphis pictures are here.