What's the top BBQ story of 2015?


 
Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
Looking back on 2015, what do you think was the top barbecue story of the year? Post here and let us know.

I'll get things started...I think that Aaron Franklin was the top BBQ story for 2015. He's been an important player for several years now, but in 2015 he had the #1 Best Selling barbecuing/grilling book on Amazon.com and a NY Times Best Seller. He had his own PBS television series. And he won a prestigious James Beard award. Not a bad year for Aaron and for Central Texas-style barbecue in general.
 
I have to agree with Chris. Although I belive the southeastern BBQ styles are more traditional. There just isn't an effective spokesman for Carolina pulled pork.
 
I have to agree with Chris. Aaron has brought barbecue to the forefront and introduced a lot of people to one of the greatest styles of barbecue, Central Texas. And for a pitmaster to win they James Beard Award is very big.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I think the James Beard award going to Franklin is the biggest. I've been trying to dig for some other good ones. Another interesting story might be:

http://kxan.com/2015/04/02/city-looks-to-regulate-bbq-smoke/

It really fizzled out and wasn't a big deal but it was interesting how the story briefly got politicized.
Click to expand...

Local residents complaining about the smoke from local barbecue joints was big news in Austin (not so much 20 minutes away in Lockhart). For me, it's a matter of culture. If you don't like the smell of urine, don't move to New York City.

Real barbecue requires the sweet smell of hardwood to make it happen. There's no way around it. To be fair to the residents, however, they were there before the barbecue place.

Dustin is on to something. I can foresee a day when cities and suburbs get intrusive about cooking smoke. ("You can use that there stick-burner, but you gotta put a $10,000 scrubber on the stack.") California has instituted charcoal/wood cooking fire bans in some locales at certain times, with air pollution as the driver. There is always somebody wanting to tell you what to do.

Jeff
 
Nationally I have to agree, it's all about Aaron Franklin.

Local to St Louis it seems a new quality bbq joint opens every few months, and I'm way behind in trying most all of them.
Sugarfire Smoke House (3 locations now), Pappy's, and Bogart's are ones I highly recommend.
We don't eat bbq out often, but it might be worth a road trip to the area if you do.
Here's a list of 20+ top rated joints:
http://www.stlmag.com/dining/the-best-BBQ-joints-in-st-louis-in-2015/
(shameless promo by me of course)

Weber Grill is supposed to open here soon, but I couldn't find a time frame.

grillinskyline.jpg
 
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Jim Lampe said:
w0w
that's quite a statement Jeff
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I was born and raised in the shadow of NYC, and there still is something familiar and comforting about the complex scent of the city. (Pee is a small, but significant ingredient in the NYC Perfume.) Here in Central Texas, there seems to always be a slight hint of burning post oak in the air, which is familiar and comforting in a whole other way.

But basically, I was just poking a little fun.
 
The price of beef last year was high, higher than normal and that was supposedly from the drought or mad cow disease ( or type in whatever ):rolleyes:

Tim
 
I'm going to go in a different direction. I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now. I feel that Chris's Fundraiser for Steve Dixon was the top BBQ Story for 2015. Granted it wasn't about BBQ directly, nor was it about awards or achievement. What it was about was the collective hearts of Chris and his band of BBQ enthusiasts across the country and world. Chris personally donated a good chunk of his time to organize, present and deliver a gift to a fellow Griller in need, a Weber Griller at that. The $1,645 raised didn't rock the BBQ world, but I'm sure it did rock the heart of Mr. Dixon and his family. Human interest at its best!
 
X2 Cliff, was glad to donate to the Steve Dixon fundraiser set up by Chris.
It just shows his human compassion for fellow Weber enthusiast....Bravo Chris.
 
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