Last Saturday saw the inaugural BBQ Festival in Sydney sponsored by the world’s largest BBQ enthusiast club, with the Feros Group’s head chef’s team taking top honours.
The Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) is a near cult institution in the land of superbly slow-cooked meats, the American South.
Riding the wave of popularity for this artisanal all-day cooking style, the KCBS has now sponsored Festival Cook-offs in Sydney and Melbourne, alongside craft brewer Yak Ales.
Heading up the Feros Group menus, including the all-new Huxley’s, Mitch Davis is a long-time fan of the American smoker and “low-and-slow” method.
“We do a lot with the smoker at Huxley’s,” said Davis. “We specialise in smoked ribs – proper St Louis-cuts, smoked over live fire gidgee lump charcoal and ironbark.”
The American-style sports bar is tucked away behind a secret entrance at the back of the new Ugly Pizza business.
Forming his ‘Bad-Ass BBQ’ team with fellow aficionados, on a commercial-grade Pro-Q cooker, Davis competed against five other finalist teams to win the Yak Ales Sydney Barbecue Festival Cook-off.
Competitors were vying for vying for $20,000 cash and prizes, and the right to represent Australia in the prestigious KCBS Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue, in Tennessee.
Opting to bring his pastime to work at Huxley’s, Davis hosted a massive barbeque love-fest at the Chris Feros’ foodie haven, the Terrey Hills Tavern. Nearly 200 mouth-watering portions later he won the right to bring the joy to the new Caringbah venue, where they chose to specialise in authentic ribs and home-made specialty sauces.
“It’s a really cool venue, with a great vibe and tasty burgers and American-style dishes,” says Davis.
“I’m having a lot of fun here.”
Other finalists up against Bad-Ass BBQ were:
- Natural Born Grillers
- Aussie Pitmasters
- Yoder Smokers
- Butt Rub – BBQer and owner of the successful Butt Rub seasoning sauce, and
- Eureka Smoke – Winners of the inaugural Yaks Melbourne Barbecue Festival, 2015