The Second Illawarra Festival of Southern Barbecue

Preparations for the Second Illawarra Festival of Southern Barbecue are well underway. It's a bit smaller this year -- the inaugural festival fed about 40 people, and the logistics were extraordinarily demanding -- but I'm excited about the menu.

Carnivore items

Smoked pork with Kansas City sauce or experimental mango sauce

Smoked beef with Texas sauce

Baked beans

Vegetarian items

Stewed apples

Saffron rice biryani

Corn muffins

Macaroni and cheese

Rolls

Mini pumpkin pies (It is Thanksgiving weekend, after all -- and many thanks to Kelly and Tim for bringing me the cans of pumpkin! You can't really get the right sort here in Australia.)

Vegan items

Roasted Old Bay sweet potatoes (I use a copycat recipe for the Old Bay, and I blush to say I actually prefer it to the real stuff)

Meatless chili (it gets its heft from walnuts and red beans)

Only a few days until the Big Day. Pretty much all of Friday will be spent smoking the meat. Saturday will be the final setup, baking the cornbread and mini pumpkin pies, buying the soda and beer, and figuring out what to do if Friday's smoking session hasn't gone according to plan....