Cigar Dinner
One of my favorite BBQ contests of the year is the BarBeQlossal held during the 2007 World Pork Expo in Des Moines, IA. This is our fourth year of competing and it gets better every time.
Day 1 starts on Thursday. The big event for Thursday is a high end, five course cigar dinner for six that we are serving on behalf of the Missouri Pork Association. The Missouri Pork Association is a sponsor of our competition BBQ team: Pork Pullin Plowboys.
This was labeled as the 1st Annual Cigar Dinner for the Missouri Pork Association at the World Pork Expo. The six guests from Ohio bid on and won the dinner at a National Pork Board function earlier in the year. Comments from the group were that it was the highlight of their week at the World Pork Expo and that they would love to come back the following year. The meal was provided by Plowboys BBQ with wine from the Missouri Wine & Grape Board.
Antipasto
Premium Smoked Sausages and Fine Cheeses with Accompaniments
Wine: 2002 Blanc de Blancs (Stone Hill Winery)
Cigar: Punch
First Course
Spring Greens
Wine: 2005 Chardonel (Les Bourgeois Winery)
Intermezzo
Rasberry Sorbet
Entree
Bacon Wrapped Double Cut Grilled Pork Tenderloins paired with lobster tails
accompanied by Backed Potatoes and a Seasonal Garden Selection
Wine: 2003 Norton (Adam Puchta Winery)
Cigar: Partagas 1845
Dessert
New York Cheesecake
Wine: Ice Wine (Augusta Winery)
Digestif
Wine: 2003 Fine Old Ruby Port (Crown Valley Winery)
Cigar: La Perla Habana Black Label
The pork tenderloins, lobster and potatoes were grilled on a Traeger 075 pellet grill. The pork tenderloins were cooked until an internal temperature of 150 degrees was reached. The lobster tails were cooked until opaque and basted with clarified butter throughout the cooking process. Despite never having grilled or otherwise cooked lobster, I thought everything turned out fantastic. The guests voted with their plates… no lobster or pork was to be found at the end of the meal.
