Team Profile – Gurmee Gala

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Jon Finch

First in a series of profiles on the teams competing in the 2012 King of the Grill we’re introducing ‘Team Gurmee Gala’ who will be travelling over from their home in Estonia to compete. Looking at their track record, they’ll be one hot contender ……

HISTORY
Our team members started with BBQ already long time ago, but our current team started in 2008. Same year we went to World BBQ Championships in Belgium. We were hoping to get first place of course, but didn’t went so well :)) We got third place overall and we are World Champions of BBQ Beef Entree 2008. Our team name that time was “Barbecue College”.

Since 2010 we are using team name “Gurmee Gala” (English: Gourmet Gala).

WHO IS WHO?
Team members: Aare Purk, Urmas Murumäe, Toomas Leedu, Raivo Lutter, Reigo Lutter, Viljar Liiva.
NB! In fact Urmas and Toomas only have got background as a Chefs.

HIGHLIGHT WINS:

2008
- Grillfest Estonia first place
- Garlic Festival Estonia first place in grilling competition
- Estonian Hunters Grilling Competition first place
- First place in several other BBQ competitions in Estonia
- Third place in Belgium on the World Championship of BBQ, first place in Beef Entree

2009
- Estonian BBQ Championships first place

2010
- Grillfest Estonia RIB entree first place, special award also with presentation
- Estonian BBQ Championship 2-nd place

2011
- BBQ & Grill World Championships in Germany second place in Mystery Box entree.
- Grillfest Estonia first place overall and first in all entrees.
- Estonian BBQ Championship first place.

Team e-mail: gurmeegala@grillfest.ee

Introducing The Blaze Brothers

Posted on May 19, 2011 by benm

The Blaze Brothers were a very late entrant to last year’s inaugural King of the Grill, but took to the spirit of the event wholeheartedly and jumped in with both feet. Their general lack of preparation, combined with their complete lack of experience in competition BBQ’ing, left them as rank outsiders in the event. However their underdog status and a natural flair for entertaining the crowd, quickly installed them as the People’s Champions and a clear talent and passion for BBQ produced some excellent results, which surprised everyone including themselves. Having thoroughly enjoyed last year’s competition, they’re returning to Grillstock 2011 with the added benefit of knowing what to expect, hoping they can take a few people by surprise again.

Bob
Age 33. Mancunian now residing in London with his American girlfriend. Director and founder of a Lloyd’s broker. Outdoor sports enthusiast. Philosophy degree from University College London. Travels a lot (has been to all 7 continents). Loves motorbikes, Man City, red wine, BBQ

Phil
Age 34. Australian. In house counsel for a large publicly traded IT firm. Lives in London with his Latvian girlfriend. Accomplished tennis player and cricketer. Loves sport, travel, red wine, BBQ

Ryan
Age 33. Grew up in Essex, now living in London. 6’ 7” tall. Solicitor. Life-long and long-sufferring West Ham fan. Loves to BBQ.

blaze bros grillstock

King of the Grill – 2011 Rules

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Jon Finch

Following on from our little April Fools prank last week claiming Grillstock was going vegan this year, we’re pleased to publish the REAL rules for the 2011 Grillstock ‘King of the Grill’ Competition.

We’re made a few changes to last year including..

removal the mystery box rounds
addition in ‘Brisket’ as a heat
swapping the BBQ Sauce for a BBQ Beans round
entries will be submitted on standard plates that we’ll supply

The overall winning team will walk away with a cash prize of £1000.

Our rules are loosely based on the American KCBS (Kanses City BBQ Society) rules, but we’ve made several changes to allow for more creativity with presentation making it more enjoyable for festval visitors and those without in -depth knowledge of BBQ Competition rules.

2010 Teams are offered first refusal on a place in the 2011 competiton. Whilst there are plenty of places still available for new teams to enter as we are doubling the size of the competition this year, space is limited and we may be in a position where we are over-subscribed. If this is the case we will need to make a decision on which teams go through to the competition. You may wish to write a couple of lines on your application about you and your team to help us make that decision.

To read the rules in full and see the turn-in-times, please click here

New BBQ show sets Bristol alight

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Jonathan Adjei

THIS weekend’s biggest ever barbecue party proved a real fire-starter for visitors, exhibitors and competitors alike and saw Bristol restaurant The Cowshed Bar and Grill take the crown in the ‘Napoleon King of the Grill’ competition.

Over 6,000 people visited Grillstock for the two-day festival of food, fire, music and meat in Bristol’s Harbourside. More than 240 kilos of quality British meat was smoked, basted, grilled and sampled by the public and two-tonnes of charcoal and wood was burnt by the ten barbecue teams and exhibitors. The appreciative audience consumed a total of 12,000 pints of English ale and cider while 23 fearless competitors downed a total of 652 chillies in the Fiery Foods chilli-eating contest!

Cowshed were worthy winners beating off weighty competition from the UK’s top pro and semi-pre BBQ teams including: UK champ Andy Annat aka Blazing Barbecues; Dr Sweetsmoke, who hails from California and now lives in Swindon; and Bodean’s – the top London BBQ restaurant. The team won a place in the BBQ World Championships in Memphis next May to represent the UK where the top prize is $100,000 and the all expenses trip for the whole team.

Ian Wheatley, MD of Napoleon Grills congratulating the BBQ team from The Cowshed Bar and Grill - Catherine Andersson, Mikael Georgelin, head chef Jethro Lawrence and owner Adam Denton

Adam Denton, owner was delighted:

We are absolutely thrilled to win – it came as a big surprise but just proves that by sticking to The Cowshed way – sourcing everything locally from the West Country, keeping it simple and being guided by taste – is a winning formula. We do all of these dishes in our restaurant (except the kangaroo – which was in the Mystery Round box) and the team know how to deliver great results every time.

Grillstock founder, Jon Finch said:

It was a fantastic weekend and proved a big hit with all our visitors. There was something for everyone but the real spectacle was the Grill Pit where the teams competed all weekend long cooking up some absolutely superb dishes, which were tasted and scrutinised by our professional team of judges headed by Ray Lampe aka Dr BBQ, the State’s top BBQ chef and TV personality.

“It was very close but The Cowshed Bar and Grill took the crown. Adam and his team delivered consistently great dishes in every round – they really demonstrated creativity, quality and flavour from the BBQ wowing our judges and visitors who enjoyed the chance to sample all of the teams dishes and vote for themselves.

Sponsors and exhibitors were already booking up for next year so Bristol can expect an even bigger Grillstock festival next year. Check the website www.grillstock.co.uk for a taste of Grillstock and view hundreds of pictures from the weekend – you can almost smell the smoke.