In case you forgot this Sunday is Father’s Day. If that’s the case, this is your official reminder to run out and buy a card.
Since the inception of Father’s Day in 1908, followed by the official federal holiday proclamation in 1966, Father’s Day has meant two things – 1) a few dozen truckloads of money for Hallmark each year and 2) a fantastic Sunday of summer leisure, hopefully filled with some tasty suds and delicious BBQ in the company of dear old Dad and the rest of your family.
I already mentioned how BBQ has been on the brain lately because a few new Atlanta BBQ joints have emerged, but nothing beats firing up the grill at home and hanging out with family and friends.
In the spirit of Father’s Day and the wonderful charred meat season that is upon us, The MUG Root Beer team sent me a sample of their Father’s day gift – The Southern Specialty Brew-B-Q Sauce.
The MUG team came up with a BBQ sauce recipe that they think claim to be pretty good, but the cool part is that the gift pack doesn’t just include some manufactured sauce they’ve created. They have actually included the raw ingredients with instructions on how to make the sauce from scratch, along with a cooler (for root beer I presume) and an apron (for when you inevitably splash BBQ sauce on yourself).
I must admit, the sauce does sound good, with a wide variety of ingredients. They are: orange juice, MUG Root Beer, liquid smoke, ketchup, Worchestire sauce, lemon juice, granulated ginger, garlic powder, molasses, and onion powder.
I plan on giving this a shot tonight and will post my results. Feeling left out??? Good news – MUG has generously offered to provide 5 of these Father’s Day gift packs to Eat It, Atlanta readers.
All you have to do is leave a comment and nominate your Father for the gift pack. There are plenty of good reasons to nominate a few dads out there, and I want to hear them. Bonus points if you can offer up some BBQ related info about your Dad – is he the commander in chief when it comes to the grill? What’s his favorite thing to BBQ, his super secret ingredient, or his grill specialty that he does better than anyone else?
I will post a few reminders this week and select the winners at random this Father’s Day and the MUG BBQ sauce pack will get sent to you directly.
So let’s get some nominations, and if you can, I hope you will enjoy this Sunday with your Dad and family. If not, at least send a card and call, and don’t forget to nominate for the chance to send a free gift.
June 16th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
I nominate my step-dad Pete! He loves to grill and does it well! He is one of those dads that will feed all your friends and be happy about it! There’s always plenty of meat in the freezer for those moments! He is a great man and deserves a great sauce! :-)
June 16th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Cool giveaway. I nominate my dad for letting my brother and I have free reign to experiment. For him, summer means getting some sweet NJ corn, grilled, buttered, salted.
Great work Jimmy.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:10 am
My dad, Bob, is the ultimate grillmaster. He dominates everything from steaks to chicken to fish to pork to veggies. He laughs at me when I offer to sear something in the pan like tuna or a tenderloin because he feels that it should only be done on a grill.
Grilling for him is the ultimate in peace and happiness. There is nothing like a scotch and a spatula to him. It gives him the chance to sit down and relax after a long day on his feet at the office. He is always accompanied by his three dogs that continually drop a tennis ball at his feet for him to toss while he grills.
When my dad grills something that requires a sauce, he likes to make his from scratch. I think another sauce made from scratch in his arsenal would be the perfect add on to the gift of the grill that my brother and I got him for father’s day.
Side note: To anyone that wins, that Liquid Smoke stuff is strong. Be careful that you follow the recipe exactly and don’t include too much of that stuff. Your taste buds will be ripped off of your tongue.
June 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Rochelle, Ankur, and Ghost –
great nominations! thanks for taking the time to comment,
Jimmy
June 17th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I’d like to nominate my dad, Jim, for the Southern Specialty Brew-B-Q kit from Mug. Ever since I was kid my dad has tought me how to use a grill and a smoker. When I was a kid I remember him coming home and starting the grill and cooking either hamburgers, chicken breasts or pork chops several nights a week. On big holidays he would fire up the smoker and smoke turkeys, beef ribs, pork ribs even sausage. He still has that smoker and he’s been smoking meat on for atleast 25 years now, you can’t buy flavor like that at the hardware store!
He’s a great dad and I thank him for showing me the way around a grill and smoker, I’m 25 now and carry on the traditions that he set forth when I was a kid.
June 18th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I’m nominating my Dad, Robert. He’s not much of a griller, but he raised my sister and I as a single dad, which required basic cooking (and food planning) skills that are usually the responsibility of the mother. His specialties were beanie-weenies, spaghetti, Kid Cuisines, sandwiches, soup, mac-n-cheese, and (the infamous) mac-n-peas.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the time in 2003 that Tricia and I were helping him clean out his cupboard and we found a tub of Crisco shortening. We were shocked that he owned a product used commonly by serious bakers. We asked where, and when, it came from. We looked for an expiration date, but could not find one (possibly because it was sold before expiration dates were widely used?). The shortening looked fine and perfectly usable…but we were about to throw it away when we saw a contest on the label. The deadline for entry into the contest was January 1, 1984.
If my Dad does win, I will make the sauce and use it to make a meal for him…he always appreciates someone else cooking for him! Love you Dad!
June 19th, 2009 at 8:53 am
I nominate my pops for the Southern Specialty Brew-B-Q Sauce. He won’t be the one preparing the barbeque, but he would be eating the sauce. As a matter of fact, I’ll be traveling up to see him this weekend with three racks of ribs smoked and ready to be finished on his electric grill.
His domain is on the grill where he prepares a perfectly cooked steak everytime. He does it all by eye, and he taught me what I know. I’m trying to pay him back by feeding him good eats off my Egg.