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Competitors flashed their big meats at the Bell House on Sunday. As in, beef jerky! Naughty you.
Matt Timms introduced a new chapter to his Takedown series on Sunday at The Bell House with a cook-off dedicated to everyone's favorite road-trip snack: jerky. Twenty competitors tested their dehydrating skills—and, in a couple of cases, their hunting skills! Although there was beef and heritage pork aplenty, a few competitors actually killed their own beasts. City-slicker dermatologist Bobby Buka went on an urban safari and bagged himself a boar, which he dried and served rubbed with chocolate. (Buka tied for second in the People's Choice Award, and he won Honorable Mention for his hawk-eyed tracking skills.)
And soft-spoken Amy Stonionis hunted her own deer for her Stoney's Venison jerky, but took home nothing. "I was robbed!" she said with a twinkle and a good-natured laugh."Did you sit freezing in a tree stand in Pennsylvania for six hours? Or did you go to Costco?"
Cathy Erway served a jerked pork jerky that won the judges' third-place spot. Gordon Lingley made a classic beef jerky that was good enough for runner-up. (His drying secret? A box fan on high for about 8 to 12 hours.) But judges' top award went to Kevin Avanzato for his "Drunk-n-Jerk" lamb jerky with bourbon and ginger. The People's Choice Award was nabbed by Fred Raphael, whose spiced up his beef jerky with hot sesame oil and maple syrup.
We asked Timms, Why jerky? "I wanted to see what it was like to have 20 people in a room 'jerk off,'" he cracked. Hardy har har. See you at the next one!
