A while back we were approached by
one of our dealers in Europe, Haupert Klaus-Dieter, about sending
some of our GrillGrates over for an upcoming grilling competition.
We
gladly obliged and sent them twelve round GrillGrate kits and
banners. These grates were to be distributed to the teams that were
competing and to be used on various charcoal grills. Haupert and his
gang of grillers are big fans of our product and have been using them
for years but these grates were destined for the uninitiated.
A month or so goes by and then one day
we are treated to a few hundred of the most incredible pictures from
the event! Come to find out the event was called “Jack the Iceburger” and it was held high up in the Allgäu
mountains at a ski resort. As the name entails this was a burger
grilling competition with teams coming from all over Europe to give
it their best shot.
GrillGrates were very well represented
at the event. Our banner was everywhere and it seems as if everyone
had a GrateTool in hand at one point. The teams prepared some amazing
renditions of their take on the American classic with a lot of
emphasis on presentation and garnish. These guys were not afraid to
push the envelope and combine some very untraditional and unique
flavors like brie and cranberry. In the end, the winner was a team
named “Smokin BBQ Team” but for us the real winner was the
multitude of amazing photographs. One of the guys in the competition,
Tom Heinzle, recently came out with a book called “WinterGrilling”. He attended with one of his photographer friends in tow.
The resulting images are some of the finest grilling photographs we
have ever seen. We want to share them with you.We here in America are finishing up one of the roughest winters in years but as our Facebook friends will testify- the grill still works in the cold. Many of us have persevered and were not slowed down by snow and sleet, literally digging our grills from the blanket of white stuff to cook our food in the great outdoors -the way it was meant to be. Our friends over in Europe don't seem to have a problem with winter grilling and it was really inspiring to see how they do a competition across the pond. Grilling and BBQ are truly an international language and the smell of smoke and cooking meat is universal in its appeal.
