Taste N Trip: BBQ Boot Camp at The Alisal Guest Ranch

BBQ BOOT CAMP, DAY 1
Sunday, October 20

Devon and I arrived at The Alisal Guest Ranch on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the Smoked and Grilled seminar with pitmaster Burt Bakman.

Valerie Gordon, Chef and owner of Valerie Confections Boutique, introduced the seminar.

Valerie Gordon

After a successful run with Trudy’s Underground Barbecue, a mobile business based in Sudio City, Burt and business partner Brian Toll started a Texas barbecue-style restaurant called SLAB BBQ in Los Angeles.

Burt Bakman

Burt's demonstration was entertaining and covered how to prepare and smoke brisket - low and slow ... like forever!

The brisket and other BBQ meats he and Alisal Executive Chef Anthony Endy prepared were served at dinner.

Anthony Endy with Burt

I don't think I've ever had so many different types of meat in one day, let alone one meal!

BIG Tomahawk Ribeye Steaks One Way and the Other

Tomahawk Ribeye Steaks on a Santa Maria BBQ Grill Pit


Tomahawk Ribeye Steaks on a Cowboy Cauldron Fire Pit

In addition to the fabulous brisket and tomahawk ribeye steaks, the other meats cooked and smoked over red oak wood fires included sirloin steak, NY strip steak, spare ribs and turkey. I had to try them all, plus most of the great side dishes.

Valerie Gordon

The BBQ Desserts session with Chef Valerie Gordon was interesting. I really liked the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Smoked Dates dessert! Good to see other types of food on the BBQ.

The dessert recipe is in THANK YOU FOR SMOKING by Paula Disbrowe. Paula is shown helping out below.

Anthony Endy, Valerie Gordon, Woman in Red, Paula Disbrowe

Drinks!
WhistlePig Rye Whiskey

Blaine Adams

I didn't try any WhistlePig the first day, but had a few tastes the second. Powerful stuff!

PiggyBack Rye, 6 yr, 100% Rye 96.56 Proof
WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey, 15 yr, Vermont Estate Oak, 92 Proof
WhistlePig Old World Rye, 12 yr, 86 Proof
WhistlePig Farmstock Rye [Bottled in Barn] Blend of Rye Whiskeys, 86 Proof
WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey, 10 yr, 100 Proof

Kaena Wine Company
Winemaker and owner Mikael Sigouin poured some great wines that complimented the BBQ. Especially enjoyed these:

2017 Albariño La Presa Vineyard

2017 Sauvignon Blanc, La Presa Vineyard

2016 Grenache, Santa Ynez Valley
2016 Grenache, Tierra Alta Vineyard, Ballard Canyon (seemed bigger than the SYV).

Mikael Sigouin

Figueroa Mountain Brewing Company

Kim Peterson

These three seemed like a good sampling of Fig Mountain brews:

Summerland Citrus summer blonde ale
Figtoberfest Oktoberfest Lager
Point Conception IPA

Other than Hoppy Poppy IPA or Lizard's Mouth IIPA my new favorite was the Point Conception IPA.

BBQ BOOT CAMP, DAY 2
Monday, October 21 

Spice Blending Workshop with Joy Culley, Owner of Solvang Spice Merchant.

Joy gave a good overview of each spice and helped us blend our own spices for a BBQ rub or whatever. I'm thinking of using my spice blend in a Bloody Mary.

It was a great session after I got acclimated to the spice and herb fumes filling the room.

It was really fun to have an interactive session and make something that we could take home with us.

Devon - The Creative Blender


Demonstrating My Pouring Form (Pic by Devon)

Paula Disbrowe (Pic by Devon)

Chef and Author of THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, Paula Disbrowe, and her team grilled a lunch of vegetables, chicken and steelhead trout. It was a nice break from all of the BBQ meat served the night before.

Pic by Devon

Tricia, Doug, Paula, Devon, Gary (Pic from Unknown Passerby)

Valerie Gordon made some fantastic Burnt Marshmallow Crisps for dessert. Burnt marshmallow, who knew? Too good to take a picture of though - just ate one.

More Drinks!
Wine tasting with Hitching Post Winery, by Gray Hartley and Frank Ostini. I was surprised when Gray said, "Watch me pour this Pinot while I show the label and smile directly at the camera!" Cool guy.

Gray Hartley

What a happy coincidence! I liked the 2016 HIGHLINER PINOT NOIR, Santa Barbara County and they had a lot of it. The other wines were very good as well.

Beer tasting with Firestone Walker Brewery


Firestone Walker

Firestone Walker was pouring the Luponic Distortion, IPA Series, Release No. 14. I enjoyed two of the fruity IPAs and didn't try the lager.

Owner of Hitching Post II, Chef Frank Ostini, and Chef Anthony Endy showed us some preparations for a Santa Maria Style BBQ.

Frank Ostini

Anthony Endy

Making everything but eggs on the BBQ...

Bob's Well Bread Bakery

Bob Oswaks & Scott Smith with Valerie Gordon

Bob Oswaks, owner of Bob’s Well Bread, and Scott Smith, Head Baker, demonstrated the fundamentals of bread baking with live fire and how to put a cool logo on bread.

I have never heard two people speak about bread at this level before!

They know everything about bread. And the samples were great!

Pic by Devon

More than Meat (not Beyond though) ...

Lobstahh for everyone!

The session about Lighting the Fire Santa Maria Style looked interesting.

Not sure I could have a fire that big without buying a very large BBQ pit first. Many chefs talked about the quality of the fire and I was amazed at the number of good looking BBQ fires. Here are a few additional fire shots that I liked.

I see faces...

The BBQ after-party was a wild and crazy time dancing at the Oak Room with Patrick Montgomery singing and playing a great line-up of hits. Through the miracle of effects he sounded like a whole group performing. When he's teamed up with his partner Michael Dougherty they are a formidable duo.

BBQ BOOT CAMP, DAY3
Tuesday, October 22

A brisk early morning horse ride or a shorter hay ride were the fun options for going to breakfast at the Adobe.

Pic by Devon

The early morning riders were more than ready to eat a hearty breakfast!

Pic by Devon

Anthony Endy was happy to manage the breakfast activities. Our horse riding friends, Tricia & Doug, are enjoying the breakfast grub.

Everything you could want for an outdoor breakfast! I thought the bacon pancakes were clever, but the pulled pork pancakes were fantastic according to others that were brave enough to eat them.

Maybe the crew ate the gigantic Alisal logo pancake...

Pic by Devon

OK, I do suffer from clean plate syndrome, but it was all really good!

One of the most popular breakfast dishes was the Savory Bread Pudding made from some of the great BBQ leftovers, like brisket.

We were lucky to get the recipe from Valerie Gordon and watch her demonstration on how she mixes it up. I had never seen bacon fried in a skillet with butter before; now I have, yikes!