Return of the Raspberry Social!

Yes, the Raspberry Social is coming back!

 fig. a:  raspberries!

Bigger and badder than ever before, and with a new sense of purpose.

As was the case with last year's blockbuster St-Jean Strawberry Social at Espace Pop, this will be a combination Fruit Social & BBQ Social, featuring the following line-up:

AJ's famous smoky Carolina-style chopped pork sandwich (with all the fixings)

Savouré's wonderful raspberry soda 

AND

Michelle's irresistible trio of raspberries, spongecake, & whipped cream*

 fig. b:  BBQ !

This time, our Fruit Social & BBQ will be taking place at the Marché des Possibles, beginning at noon on Saturday, July 26, until supplies last.

And this time around all proceeds will go to a cause that's particularly close to our hearts:  the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary.

Earlier this month, Montreal lost a phenomenal journalist, an ultra-enthusiastic supporter of the arts (and of Montreal's culture more generally), a true gastronome, and as dynamic personality as you are ever likely to encounter.  Many of us lost a great friend, too.

Both Michelle and I had known Ange-Aimée for years,** and she had always been a fan of "...an endless banquet" and a beloved regular of the Foodlab.  Plus, Ange-Aimée was a devoted member of our Montreal Fruit Socialists community--in fact, just last summer, she brought her CBC mobile equipment to our St-Jean Strawberry & BBQ Social and interviewed Michelle right in front of our location at Espace Pop.  Wouldn't you know it?  Within about 15 minutes, we started getting CBC listeners dropping in to partake in the festivities.  Yet another example of the Power of Radio, and a perfect example of the Ange-Aimée Effect.

Anyway, we miss Ange-Aimée dearly and we're big believers in Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary.  If the bursary reaches $15,000 in donations, it will continue to exist in perpetuity, and it seems fitting that the Ange-Aimée Effect should be allowed to touch the lives of Concordia students (Ange-Aimée's alma mater) for many years to come.

For more information on the Ange-Aimée Woods Memorial Bursary click on this link.

who:  "...an endless banquet" + Mile End/St-Louis BBQ #1
what:  an afternoon of tasty treats and positive action at a market where anything is possible
where:  Marché des Possibles, 5635 rue St-Dominique (corner of Bernard)
when:  Saturday, July 26, 2014, 12:00 noon till supplies last
why:  because you love barbecue and/or raspberries, and this here's a great cause
how:  just drop on by (with an appetite)

aj

* Last year, someone set a new Fruit Social record by eating four servings in quick succession (all for a great cause!).  Will you be the new Fruit Social Champion?

** In my case, I met Ange-Aimée when she took a crazy course of mine on apocalyptic visions in cinema that I taught at the University of British Columbia in the late '90s, on the eve of Y2K.

High, Low, and In Between, pt. 1

If I had to pinpoint it, I'd say our recent Southern mini-odyssey officially started soon after we pulled into that gas station in Petersburg, VA.  Up until then it had just been a road trip.  But by that time it was about 10:00 pm and we'd been driving since early in the morning.  When we got out of the car it was downright balmy.  The guys next to us were pumping gas in t-shirts and shorts and we were the ones who looked out of place--I mean, Michelle was still wearing her winter boots.  But what really cinched it was when we went into the Quickie Mart and saw that hot boiled peanuts counter flanked by two pyramidal stacks of canned boiled peanuts.  That's when we knew we'd arrived.

By 11:00 am the next morning we were in Chapel Hill, NC, it had gotten even warmer, and we were on our way for our BBQ brunch date.

 fig. a:  classic combo

Allen & Son had provided me with one of my favourite chopped pork sandwiches on my North Carolina BBQ mini-odyssey earlier in the year, and I couldn't wait to dig into another one.  I was also excited to share the Allen & Son experience, with all its considerable charms,

 fig. b:  classic interior

with Michelle.

She couldn't have been happier.  After all, this was her very first visit to a true Southern barbecue establishment.  Not that she had too many doubts, but with that bright sun and those warm Southern breezes outside, and the smoky succulence of Allen & Son's barbecue pork sandwich inside, this Southern mini-odyssey was already making a lot of sense.  We left Chapel Hill with a large to-go cup of Allen & Son's champion sweet tea and the very best hickory-smoked flavours lingering on our palates.

A couple of hours later, when we crossed the border into South Carolina, the Southern breezes were even warmer and we started to see a whole lot of palm trees.

And a couple of hours after that, as the sun began to set,

 fig. c:  Southern skies

we arrived at our second barbecue destination of the day:  Scott's Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, SC.

 fig. d:  classic exterior

If Allen & Son is a true barbecue restaurant, with a double dining room out front, an adjoining full-service kitchen, and a sizeable brick barbecue pit area out back, Scott's is a true barbecue joint:  an informal enterprise run out of an aging country store that only serves take-out.  No tables.  No seats.  No fuss.  No muss.  You join the queue, place your order, pick up your goods, and you're off.  You want a bottle of Texas Pete or a loaf of Sunbeam to go with that?  Pick 'em up off their shelves.  Want to dine on premises?  Take your order across the street and you'll find a large open-air shed with some picnic tables underneath.  If it's warm enough--and it certainly was on the evening we were there--you can settle in and enjoy your barbecue right there.  And that's exactly what we did.

What's the attraction?  World-class whole hog barbecue, Scott's famous spicy barbecue sauce, some true Southern hospitality, and a whole lotta love.  And that is no joke.  This joint was jumpin', and with good reason.  If you're a fan of real pork barbecue prepared and served according to the Carolina tradition, this is the BBQ of your dreams:  luscious, smoked to perfection, and resplendent in Scott's signature red sauce.  (Need more proof?  Check out this slideshow.  Or read John T. Edge on Rodney Scott and a whole of other keepers of the flames in Saveur's 2011 "BBQ Nation" issue.)

The very next day Rodney Scott--Scott's current pitmaster, and the heir to the Scott's Bar-B-Que throne--was in Charleston to run a barbecue fundraiser so that he can rebuild a pit that burned to the ground back in November, just two days before Thanksgiving.*  Let's just say that there was something of a mob scene.  Rodney Scott is a legend in these parts, and this was a rare opportunity to score one of his phenomenal barbecue pork sandwiches without having to make the 90-mile trek to Hemingway--and all for a great cause.  How big a crowd are we talking about?  Well, according to Sean Brock, the famed Charleston chef (and a fellow Fatback Collective colleague of Scott's), the scene put "the Cronut line to shame."

We beat Rodney down there.  About two hours after our barbecue feast alongside the Hemingway Highway, we'd reached Charleston, the final destination of our Southern mini-odyssey.

 fig. e: xmas in the Holy City

By that time, with two highly acclaimed Bar-B-Ques under our belts (adjusted accordingly, of course) and a tantalizing city before us, we knew we'd really arrived.

To be continued...

Allen & Son, 6203 Millhouse Rd., Chapel Hill, NC

Scott's Bar-B-Que, 2734 Hemingway Hwy., Hemingway, SC

Note:  If you aren't likely to be passing through Hemingway, SC anytime soon, but you are going to be in the South in late January and early February and you'd like to sample Rodney Scott's barbecue and contribute to the cause of keeping true Southern barbecue alive and smokin', you might want to keep your eyes open for the Scott's Bar-B-Que in Exile Tour.

* Rodney appeared to have taken this setback in stride:  "That's what happens when you cook with fire."

aj

Montreal Cinema & Smokehouse

 fig. a:  hog wild

Yes, ma'am!  Yes, siree!

Tonight (July 17th) there'll be another chapter in an ongoing series of film, dj, and food events at Place de la Paix, right next door to the Société des arts technologiques (SAT) [1201 boulevard St-Laurent].

Our hosts tonight are Film Pop, Pop Montreal, and the SAT.

The 9:00 p.m. screening will be Andrew Bujalski's 2013 film Computer Chess (with a video intro by none other than Wiley Wiggins [of Dazed & Confused fame).

And I'll be serving up smoky chopped pork sandwiches and BBQ tofu sandwiches (?!) from 7:00 - 9:00 (or until supplies last).

Sandwiches:  $5.

Screening:  FREE.

In case of rain:  this event will be moved inside the safety and comfort of the SAT.  In other words, this thing's a go, rain or shine.

Hope to see you there!

In smoke & film we trust.

aj

Return to Smokey Mt.

 fig. a:  the invite

It was that time of year again.  Time to head down the 87 to the Catskills.  Time to fire up the smoker. Time to feed a whole mess of nice people from the City, from the Catskills, and beyond, on a gloriously beautiful midsummer's eve with some true Southern hospitality.

 fig. b:  the bill

Thing is, up until the last minute, for the first time in five years, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to make it--which is why we didn't make the bill.

But by Friday afternoon, by the grace of God (and with a little help from an extra-special friend--TY!) we'd arrived at the Stone House, checked in, and gone for a dip in a nearby swimming hole.  And by evening that Smokey Mountain smoker was all fired up, sending sweet hickory smoke wafting in the air, and slowly, magically turning almost 40 pounds of Fleisher's pork shoulders into hog heaven.

 fig. c:  getting up to temp

By noon the next day those shoulders had been pulled, chopped, and dressed into a towering heap of luscious North Carolina-style smoky chopped pork, and we were busily putting together our sides.

By 3:00 p.m. the guests had started to arrive in full force.  And by 6:00 p.m. dinner was served.

The spread:

3x 12-lb Fleisher's pork shoulders, hickory smoked and chopped 

Martin's potato rolls 

Tidewater coleslaw 

AJ's Down East baked beans 

Smokehouse potato salad 

AJ's Holy Grub BBQ sauce 

AEB Totally Jacked-Up BBQ sauce 

Blackcurrant lemonade 

Michelle's rhubarb & white chocolate petit fours

By about 7:15 the pork had been entirely cleaned out.  People made themselves four or five heaping sandwiches.  It was like a well-mannered, totally relaxed feeding frenzy.

By 9:00 p.m., as Color War took the outdoor stage, hickory smoke wasn't the only smoke in the air.

 fig. d:  up in smoke

And by 10:00, after Color War's set had ended in ecstatic dancing and thunderous applause, there was a whole mess of other smoke shooting into a clear, star- and firefly-filled Catskills night.

 fig. e:  c'mon, baby, light my pyre

I'm not sure if it was all that smoke, or what, but I started to have all kinds of strange and interesting visions.  Like this guy.

 fig. f:  double fantasy

Saw him in a vision not long after the Theme from Twin Peaks played announcing the arrival of Color War onstage.  Had the even stranger experience of seeing him mounted to the wall of a log cabin the very next day.

Didn't get an invite?  Like to try some of my "luscious North Carolina-style smoky chopped pork"?  Well, if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise, you'll get your chance tomorrow.  I'll be selling chopped pork sandwiches at Place de la Paix, right next to the Société des Arts Technologiques and the Foodlab, tomorrow, July 17, from 7:00 p.m. till 9:00 p.m.  What's the occasion?  It's a Pop Montreal/Film Pop presentation of Computer Chess on the outdoor screen.  It's also part of a Film, DJ's, and Chefs series that's going on all summer again this year.

Hope to see you there!

In smoke we trust.

aj

p.s. Many thanks to Patricia for making all of this possible, and to Flannery for invaluable assistance in the kitchen.