Pitmasters - Day 1

The Pitmasters crew kicked off the week with a busy day learning about the history of regional barbecue, the elements of smoking, and the processes of making dry rubs and sauces. A blind taste test, a delicious lunch expedition, and an informative visit to a %100 grass fed cattle farm made for an exciting first day!

Mr. Sampson's pork shoulder dry rub taste test

For the first day, we met in the Memorial Classroom in the morning. We started off with some videos about BBQ from different shows like The Chef Show and Ugly Delicious. Later on, we had chef Dan showing us all the ingredients that are needed to make a dry rub such as a little bit of sugar, black pepper, and spices. Mr. Sampson also gave us a chance to try different ingredients and how pork tastes when applied with different sauces and dry rubs. After that, we headed out for lunch at Smoke Shack BBQ.

Chef Dan's dry rub and barbecue sauce workshop ingredients

Arriving at Smoke Shack Southern Barbecue in Boscawen, NH

A 1/2 rack from Smoke Shack

         Finally, we arrived at Smoke Shack. I was amazed when looking at the menu because there are so many options and I could not decide what to choose. After a while, I went with Teriyaki Smoked Chicken Wings because I love chicken wings. I would definitely buy more to bring home, but I thought I get to save money for the restaurants that we will be going to in the next few days. It turns out that I could not even finish my meal because there were too many chicken wings, about 12 as I remembered, so I decided to bring the rest to my friends when I come back. When everyone finished, we then went to a farm which is about 35 minutes away from campus. We met Ed and Cindy who are the owners of the farm; they are so friendly, they told us different things about those cattle that they are taking care of.

Ed and Cindy's pet horses

Some of the cattle from Cascade Brook Farm

%100 grass fed Angus cattle at Cascade Brook Farm

We had a chance to learn about the lives and personalities of the cattle as Ed described. The cattle are so friendly; they came towards us as we came closer to the fences. We learned about how to take care of the cattle humanely such as by exercising and giving them enough nutrients. And that is our first day. -Tony

At the end of a great visit to Cascade Brook Farm in North Cutton, NH

Today we started off talking about different regional styles of barbecue before trying a few different dry rubs and sauces prepared by Mr. Sampson. We also met with Chef Dan who taught us to make a simple dry rub and sauce. After that we went out to Smoke Shack BBQ in Boscawen. We all tried different things and it was a good start to the week. After lunch we went to Cascade Brook Farm in South Sutton to learn about how cattle is raised and treated at small farms. -Gillian