International Chicken-Rib Cook-Off June 20-24 [General]

2007 Jun 18
It's almost here! I know where I'll be eating lunch on Wednesday.

But I'm usually overwhelmed by the chaos and find it difficult to choose a vendor. Does anyone have a favourite to recommend? Do any serve a beef brisket? As much as I love BBQ, I'm not much of a ribs fan.

Here's a list of last year's winners:

www.sparksstreetmall.com



2007 Jun 18
I can't recall seeing any beef brisket but I can recommend the pulled pork. The chicken is also good. I have been going to the ribfest since I started working on Sparks Street in 2001 and haven't really been paying attention to the names of the vendors - I just follow the smell and pick whatever smells best - and most days it all smells good! I think this year I will have to go with my notepad and start getting to know the vendors. Also, if you enjoy the ribfest you might want to check out the events tag in the wiki section (am I using the right terms here?...) since I made up a list alreay of some foodie related festivals in Ottawa this summer. I will continue adding to it as I hear about things.

2007 Jun 18
Yeah, I don't recall beef brisket either... but the pulled pork is amazing! I usually just go where the line is of a medium length... I don't have any favourites yet! I'll be there tomorrow night mmmmm

2007 Jun 18
You know what we've found from going for a couple years, it's usually really hot out and you don't want to stand in a long line, so you figure, 'hey why don't we go to that one, there's no line-up', and it ends up being pretty bad ribs, I guess the people during the last couple days, have already figured out which ones are good and are lining up for them...so seriously the best thing is to go to the longest line...if it's not the first day... we will never go to the short line again, it's just not worth it.... and we find it's gotten pretty expensive.

2007 Jun 19
Hi all,
We would like to go to the cookoff tomorrow evening. Does anyone know what time they open until? Also, do you buy tickets or do you pay at each stall? About how much cash should we have on us?

Thanks!

2007 Jun 19
ksw the hours haven't been posted on the Sparks st. website yet if they will be posting them at all... But it usually opens around 11:00 am or so and they seem to be open as late as 9:00 pm or so. I live and work downtown and usually go twice - once for lunch with my colleagues at work then I pick up something for dinner one night. It is just as crowded in the evening as it is during the day but is certainly worth it. The food is a little on the pricey side - I would budget $20 per person tops depending on what you order. I think I paid $11 for the pulled pork I bought last year and just got the pork - no sides or anything. But I bought it for dinner to take home and I had the asparagus and corn I already had in the fridge. If you decide to get the pulled pork by the way you will get a generous serving - I actually got two meals out of the meal I bought but I guess it depends how hungry you are. I think the chicken costs the same and the ribs a little more. If you want to order chicken or ribs or whatever with something on the side the price will probably be in the $15 to $20 range. If memory serves me right they usually offer baked beans or coleslaw on the side. Can't remember if they offer any other sides. And I would follow luvgoodfood's advice and pick the one with the long line ups cuz if the lineup is that long their food must be good. Also no tickets are required - you pay at each stall.

2007 Jun 19
Thanks for the info Pasta lover - let's hope the weather hold out because I am booked up every other night this week/weekend so it's my only chance!!

2007 Jun 19
No problem! Actually I just came back from my lunchtime walk and the vendors are already setting up. There is mostly equipment all over the place but the booth directly in front of the Thomas Darcy building at 90 Sparks already has their menu up and they have beef brisket listed. I also saw a truck for a place called "Gator runner" - I hate to think if they will really be using gator meat. I think I will just stick to ribs...

2007 Jun 19
"...the booth directly in front of the Thomas Darcy building at 90 Sparks already has their menu up and they have beef brisket listed."

Thanks for the tip! :)

Mmm, gator meat.



2007 Jun 19
I just find the lunchtime line-ups to be unbearable so I'll go later in the afternoon for some pulled pork.

I’ve never seen brisket at the ribfest so it’s nice to see that it is offered. Here’s a picture of one of my briskets after 14 hours in the smoker. The pink colour is referred to as the smoke ring and is an indicator that the food was smoked low and slow.

2007 Jun 20
What kind of smoker do you have, ed?

2007 Jun 20
I had a beef brisket sandwich with slaw and baked beans from Texas Outlaws, the second one in from Elgin street. Meat was good although it had been sitting for a while and was a little dried out. The sauce and sides were great though! All for $8 and I couldn't finish everything.

I think I'll be back there for a grilled chicken sandwich tomorrow.

Anyone else go today?



2007 Jun 20
What vendor was that ollie?
Only 8 bucks, eh? That's pretty good.
May have to take the family down this evening ...

2007 Jun 20
Texas Outlaws.

If memory serves me right some other prices were:

Half-rack ribs $12 (add $2 for coleslaw and beans)
Ribs/chicken combo w/slaw and beans $15
All sandwiches $6 (add $2 for coleslaw and beans)

They also had sauce for sale.

I think this is pretty typical of most vendors.



2007 Jun 20
The prices are not that bad.

zymurgist, I just started a catering company specializing in Authentic Southern Style BBQ so I had my smoker custom built a few months ago. It has six racks for a total cooking surface of 5,000 sq in. If you are in the Kanata/Stittsville area, you won’t be able to miss me if I drive by.

My first smoker was a Brinkmann water smoker which I used for four years. I still like using it for turkey but if the weather is not just right, it requires some babysitting.

I’ll have to drop by your next beer and BBQ get together. So how much smoking do you do?

2007 Jun 20
I've got one of those Brinkman's that a friend gave to me and am just loving it! I am doing a fair bit of smoking this summer though I'm quite the amateur so far. I've figured a few things out so far but have a lot more to figure out :-)

2007 Jun 21
The Brinkmann is a great starter smoker. It’s inexpensive and makes some tasty food.

Here’s a link to help you make some modifications to your smoker:

www.randyq.addr.com

2007 Jun 21
Aha, I'd already thought that it would be a good idea to put some holes in the bottom of the firepan! Gonna do that right away (then read the rest)

2007 Jun 21
We went by last night and decided to try Blazing BBQ since they won first prize for their ribs last year, 3rd prize for their chicken and first prize for their sauce.

We got: Chicken and Rib Combo (comes with beans and coleslaw)($17) and one full rack of ribs ($20).

Honestly? I wasn't impressed. There was alot more "other stuff" on the bone(fat, cartilage) and I had a hard time finding any meat, and as ollie mentioned, some of the end pieces of the ribs were so dried out, I couldn't get a tooth into them. The chicken on the other hand was very juicy and tender. We also really like the sauce, it has a nice peppery taste.

Perhaps we just got a bad rack or something, but hubby makes ribs at least once a month in the summer and I have to say his are WAY better. He has amended his recipe each time in order to make the perfect ribs. I tried to convince him to set up a small booth next year but he was not interested - too bad :(

If we had another free night, I would go back and try the ribs from a few other places as well just to compare. Oh well - next year!

2007 Jun 21
OK, so we have Texas Outlaws (2 in from Elgin) for Beef Briskets and Blazing BBQ (where is this?). There are ten from Elgin down to Lyon.

And which one for the best ribs?

I also noticed that the 2nd or third one in from Elgin.. and it may have been Texas Outlaws, which had a half rib for $12 instead of $13 everywhere else; and a 'tasting'size for $6!

2007 Jun 21
I had a grilled chicken sandwich today from Texas Outlaws (and yes, they are the vendor with the $6 taster size). Sandwich was good but again the filling was nothing special -- pre-formed looking chicken breast that had been sitting for a while.

But I'll be back tomorrow. Half the fun is the novelty really.



2007 Jun 21
Blazing BBQ is between Metcalfe and O'Connor and it's the first one closest to Metcalfe (unless more booths were added since last night)

2007 Jun 21
Well it looks like I will be making a field trip to the ribfest for dinner tomorrow night since it's my only available time slot this week... But after speaking with one of my colleagues, who eats lunch and dinner there every day during the festival (and weighs about 90 lbs.!) she suggested going to any of the stands west of Metcalfe. Apparently alot of the vendors down that way are from the southern US and they are really good. She suggested looking for Billy Boy near Zellers (Sparks and O'Connor). Apparently they have some tasty meaty ribs. "The stands just off Elgin are Canadian and not very good" she says so I guess I will find out tomorrow night...

2007 Jun 21
Texas Outlaws claims to be from Kentucky, as strange as that is in the first place, and it's one of the ones near Elgin. Are they just getting locals to front their brand name?

Some other lore I heard is that all the vendors get the same supply of meat, from Maple Leaf. Anyone hear that one?



2007 Jun 22
I've heard the same, and friends of mine at work have said that they've seen the delivery folks make the shipments out to individual stands, so I think that this legend passes muster.


2007 Jun 22
They definitely all serve the same beans and coleslaw. We walked along behind all the stands on Wed night and every stand had the exact same brand of baked beans in cans and the same brand of plastic tubs of coleslaw......

2007 Jun 22
Hmmmm interesting. I was actually wondering myself who does the voting. I'm not sure if there is a panel of judges and if there are ballots for the customers to fill out I haven't seen anything... I'm not sure if it's me but there seems to be less vendors this year.

2007 Jun 22
if anything, I think there are more vendors this year... I counted at least 11, with two starting at elgin and three blocks of threes coming down. There may even be 4 blocks of threes, which would make it 14 vendors...

in past years there were judges and the prizes were received on the sunday and as a result, you could only tell who was the best on the last day. Also the best last year seems to have little bearing on this year's tastes.

Seems to me the groups of threes have some of last year's winners, one at each of the three sets of threes.

I tried the beef brisket taster with slaw etc... for $6+$2 at Texas Outlaws and the slaw & beans were pretty good/interesting, but the brisket was dry, as someone had suggested.

If the ribs are all the same, then the only secret is in the sauce? or am I missing something. And the sauce tastes pretty much the same from stall to stall.

2007 Jun 22
Google “ribfest” and “ribbers” and you’ll see that there are lots of these types of events throughout Canada and the United States.

There are two types of BBQers. The ones that participate in the Ribfest circuit and the ones that participate in the competition circuit.

The Ribfest people travel from city to city, sometimes as a group, to sell food. Judging is usually made up of local celebrities. If you look at the smokers they are using, they are all commercial cookers that are made for volume. These events are intended to be money making ventures and usually associate themselves with a local charity.

The competition BBQer cook for the judges and not for the public. In the United States, the competitions can be serious as the prize money can be pretty big. There are different governing bodies that sanction events so there are standards to judging. The pits used in competition can be very large trailer mounted smokers to backyard smokers. Most competition ‘Qers operate a catering business on the side to supplement the cost of their hobby (the cost of equipment, entry fees, transportation and meats add up quickly).

I’m not knocking the Ottawa Ribfest as this helped developed my passion for Low ‘N Slow cooking. Unfortunately when they’re cooking such volumes, the taste suffers. If you want to try some real ‘Q in Ottawa, you’ll have to wait until next year’s Gloucester Fair. Due to Health Regulations, the competitors were not allowed to offer samples to the general public but my invited friends and family that came by left satisfied!

There’s a BBQ competition next weekend at Lake Placid that is sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. At this competition, you can taste some true competition ribs (buck a rib).

Sorry for the long reply but I get excited about BBQ.

2007 Jun 22
Thanks Ed.... In short it's probably not worth making an effort to have ribs at the rib fest....

Where can one get regularly great BBQ ribs in Ottawa...with doing it at home, the Gloucester fair, KC BBQ society, or eating at a home cooked expert's place?

Like is there a RB Barn type place like in Montreal?

2007 Jun 23
Have fun and enjoy the Ribfest. Admire the smokers, inhale the aromas and taste some food. This is one of the few times that BBQ is available in Ottawa.

I wish I knew of a good BBQ restaurant in Ottawa but I gave up looking a while ago. It was my rib obsession that got me started in smoking. If you’re a patient person, you can try smoking at home- six hours later; you’ll never go out for ribs again! My first smoker only cost me $US50 and I was more than happy with the results.

As for ribs at the Barn, it’s been a while. When I’m in Montreal, I have to satisfy my Schwartz’s Smoked Meat craving first!

If you’re looking for more information on smokers or smoking, I’m more than happy to answer any questions.

2007 Jun 23
As ed suggests, it isn't that hard to produce decent ribs at home. I posted a photo of some I did here: Ribs. I just used my Weber natural gas grill, some mesquite chips wrapped in foil, very low indirect heat, and 5.5 hours of a sunny afternoon. Meat prep was quite straightforward, requiring only light trimming and removal of the tough skin thing (the technical term eludes me ATM). The sauce was also simple, and I applied it in the last 20 minutes of cooking.

Results were better than all restaurants I've tried. Not quite as juicy as Baton Rouge, but I found them more tasty. Probably because I used the cheaper side ribs. It's easy to experiment with this at home so go for it!

2007 Jun 23
Princess Auto has a bullet water smoker for about 60$ right now.

2007 Jun 26
I was in line on Friday to get ribs to take to my father (lives 3 hours away) for his birthday. I ended up randomly choosing Camp31, and Silver Bullet Texas ribs. Although both were ok, I liked the Silver Bullet a little better as they were sweeter. Neither of them had the sort of 'kick' that I expected/wanted. My dad however was quite happy with them

2007 Aug 2
Couldn't help but overhear the rib fest conversation...

The traveling band of ribbers will be setting it up in Burlington on Labor Day Weekend...

www.canadaslargestribfest.com ( they have a $3.00 off coupon )


2009 Jun 25
bump

Ribfest is on June 24-June 28 this year

we got 3 racks today, 1 each from Billy Bones, Gators, and Bibbs.

Billy Bones is my fav (never tried Camp 31). went early at 11am and there was hardly a line up - a nice change!

2009 Jun 25
I quite like Texas Outlaws

smoked hours using fruitwoods and glazed over lump charcoal using a not too sweet sauce hits the spot for me

the man's awesome, knowledgable and friendly
and his daughter's smoking hot lol

always gives me a full rack instead of a half
ribs are pretty meaty and it falls off the bone as I lift them to my salivating lips

2009 Jun 26
damn it's busy

had a 1/2 rack today from Camp 31. they all taste the same to me now lol

2009 Jun 26
Does anyone know what time they wrap up on Sunday? I've been meaning to attend this event for the past several years but I don't think I'll have the chance until Sunday evening.

2009 Jun 26
I'm not much of a meat eater (apart from wussy boneless chicken) but some friends were going here so I thought it would be fun to go too. The atmosphere is great fun - all meaty smoke, crowds and camaraderie.

I had a 1/3 rib which cost $9. I got a paltry 4 ribs with a few shreds of meat on them and fatty bits on the end. I don't like coleslaw so I didn't bother getting the 'slaw n' beans side. The meat was tasty, but I had to go and buy a plate of rice and stirfry for my *real* lunch.

I wonder why they don't serve french fries - I think they did a few years ago. If I'd had some fries I would have felt filled up. Instead, my 4 ribs just seemed like a snack.

2009 Jun 26
The Cook-off ends Sunday at 6 p.m., see the link from Metro News: www.metronews.ca

I like Camp 31's, it's between O'Connor & Bank this year, in front of Radio-Canada. Has the smoked taste, with the fall off the bones meat. Silver Bullet's ribs still were clinging on to the bones and wasn't as succulent.

Does anyone know if Billy Bones is still there? I couldn't see it.

2009 Jun 26
Thanks Mustang!

2009 Jun 26
there is someone offering billy bones sauce
they are in front of jazz-who cares

2009 Jun 27
Here is what I've had so far:

Ribs at Gator BBQ: the meat was almost falling off the bone, and the ribs themselves were fairly tasty, though the sauce on them wasn't quite as good as on the other ribs I've had so far.

Ribs at Camp 31: tasty sauce, and the ribs themselves were tasty, but the meat was still clinging to the bone.

Ribs at Crabby's BBQ Shack: the sauce was about as tasty as the ones at Camp 31, but the ribs themselves didn't have much flavour from the smoke, and the meat wasn't falling off the bone.

Pulled Pork at Silver Bullet BBQ: absolutely delicious, with lots of sauce.

Pulled Pork at Camp 31: the sandwich I had was decent, but not as good as the one at silver bullet, though it looked like it was the tail end of that batch, which might be part of why it wasn't as good along with not having as much sauce.



2009 Jun 27
Chef Obi - Lol, "Jazz-who cares". Very funny.


2009 Jun 27

Went first thing to do some sampling (Saturday Monrings)- line ups were small, but getting busy by the time we left.

My SO went to Camp 31 & Billy Bones and we each got the 3 meat samplings.

CAMP 31
Ribs - the meat itself was on the bone but tender, but the sauce was very mild - could barely taste any flavouring in it

Chicken - sauce had more flavour, but the chicken itself had no taste -

Pulled Pork - little sauce and again, the flavour was really weak.

BILLY BONES
Ribs - meat was tender. Sauce had a peppery taste with a hint of sweetness

Chicken - mild flavoured sauce, and again, chicken had no taste

Pulled Pork - a little sweet, a little spicy. Very wet and was definetely the highlight to the event.

The chicken was a big dissapointment being baked instead of smoked. They just had no flavour at all. The ribs were ok, but I've had the ribs from Boss Hogg's & Gator BBQ @ the London Ribfest in the past and they are much better contenders I think. Its always interesting that there will be big line ups at some and yet other places with equally or better goods are avoided.

2009 Jun 27
My fav so far have been from Bibbs, wanted to try the Texas Outlaws... maybe tomorrow. Didn't enjoy Camp31 so much...

2009 Jun 27
This is their "Tree Hugger's Special"

2009 Jun 27
They call their's the "Big Daddy Combo"

2009 Jun 27
see Billy Bones has a nice smoke ring going. out of all the vendors they get the meat right IMO. definitely my personal favourite (tried 4 vendors this year and have had Billy Bones in previous years)

2009 Jun 28
Had half a rack from Boss Hog's last night. It was surprisingly good! I had pretty low expectations given the hit or miss nature of this competition.


2009 Jun 28
Missed another one... unfortunately this dang thing always happens on a weekend I have alternate plans... Oh well, maybe next year.

2009 Jun 29
Monty - this one's for you: failblog.org

2009 Jun 30
i lol'd

was definitely sweating BBQ sauce last week (i work at o'connor/sparks!)

2009 Jul 3
The Winners are announced:

Chicken: Boss Hogs

Ribs & Sauce: Camp 31

www.sparksstreetmall.com