Now that Hogs is a couple of weeks removed, I'm as pork sober as possible. *wipes rib glaze on tie* Let's roll the footage...
Hogs for the Cause is a BBQ festival that has been raising money for families dealing with pediatric brain cancer since 2009. So when you find yourself a sweet sticky mess and have bacon sweats by 2 pm on a Saturday afternoon, it's easy to power through knowing it's for a great cause and with great people. Sunday morning is for wondering if that fourth pound of pork belly poppers was a wise choice and did I get a tattoo of Plopper from The Simpsons on my ass.
Hogs this year was back in New Orleans at the Lakefront Arena which happens to be around the corner from Snacktion News HQs. I've labeled each room of my house with a studio number and am writing off my mortgage as an operating expense. So there was no excuse for Snacktion News not to drift through Hogs for the Cause.
A group of pigs is called a drift which makes that so devastatingly clever.
Before we get snacking, I'd like to give a shout out to my BBQ home base, Blue Oak. It's the best BBQ in New Orleans. I'll fight you. Seriously, I'll be there Monday through Friday between 3-6 and we'll see how happy your hour is. Sorry, viewer, that got aggressive quickly. Come by for happy hour and I'll buy you nachos and a margarita. Ask for Mandy. Great job by Blue Oak raising $250K.
Let's get to the Q.
I started at River Pork Pirates.
They won "Just Wingin It" presented by Tabasco. Snacktion Correspondent, Thomas Ridgely, helped out at this booth and posed as piggy one in the opening graphic.
I went with fried corn, fried bacon bread pudding and peanut butter belly time.
The fried corn was a let down. Not that it wasn't good but I imagined like almost popcorn on a stick because my brain works in cartoon format. Cracklins have crack built right in to the name. They aren't even trying to fool you. These were peanut butter and jelly flavored after being fried and tossed in crack. Now I'm anxious and paranoid but greasy and full of energy. Fry me some bread pudding.
This is my favorite thing of the day. I'm not even a big bread pudding guy but this makes for a perfect bite. Or two.
Thomas, stop stalking me eating. I'm a professional. Haha, let's get a pallet cleanser.
Bulleit Rye whiskey and filler over ice with garnish. Mmm.
The ladies at Sweet Swine O' Mine were selling pork nachos in bags of Zapps chips.
After a heated debate, I was convinced to have the Voodoo flavor Zapps because they sold out of Crawtators.
This is pulled pork nachos in a bag of chips with a plastic fork. Finally, somebody understands my commuting needs. No more.. and I immediately got it on my shirt. Nachos are slippery on a fork. If somebody could make like a fork-spoon combo. A foon? A spor.. Oh, right.
Swine and Dine had bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers.
Look at that amazing photo. Our camera crew is winning an Emmy for that work. Anyway, the jalapeno popper is the real star.
This is my second favorite dish. It's better than a fried jalapeno popper for a variety of reasons but the one that stands out is the roof of my mouth remained intact. I have my mouth guy on retainer in case somebody invites me to a TGI Fridays. I have no self discipline, I will need a skin graft.
Mrs. Pigglesworth
I don't include them in my favorites. Favorite doesn't do it justice. It's my go to for every Hogs.
That, my friend, is the Fireball whiskey pork belly popper. It's just, can we cut to a commercial? I must have rubbed sauce in both my eyes.
The rest of the event is usually country music and pork puns. My favorite pun this year goes to...
Celebrity sighting...
Argentine futbol extraordinaire, Lionel Messi. There's a solid chance that guy BBQed Messi and ate him and is bragging about it in jersey form. So, there were no follow up questions.
Thanks to everybody involved with Hogs for the Cause, see you next year.
This is what it looks like by the end of the tour.
I call that "sauce bewilderment."
