Quick update from the Big Apple BBQ Block Party from yesterday. It's a two day BBQ fest that takes place in Madison Square Park in Manhattan. It's probably one of the best free food events in New York because admission is free, and each play of food is only $8 dollars. Pit masters come from all over the country to be here to serve up 'cue and support the Madison Square Park Conservancy. It gathers huge crowds and long lines depending on what time you visit. If you do visit though, make sure you stop by The Pit to see the pitmaster Ed Mitchell, and sample some delicious whole hog sandwiches.

The Pit is from Raleigh, NC, and they specialize in the whole hog sandwich. They smoke the whole pig, and then they chop that thing up and put it on a sandwich for ya. It's flavored with a vinegar based sauce, and I think that's the dominant style down there in the Carolinas. If vinegar sauce ain't your thing, you might not be so into it.

For $8 dollars you get a finely chopped sandwich with some cole slaw. I think some people aren't into how fine they chop the meat, but that's just a personal preference. If you prefer more chunks, there's another stand from Tennessee that has a different style of whole hog. I'll cover that tomorrow with some pictures of the piggie.

Ed Mitchell probably could win the award for most friendly to the eaters. He's talking to everyone all the time and posing for pictures. He even hands out cracklings to people who are interested. I got pork skin from The Pit twice. Once, it was a tasty treat. The second time, it was just... dried skin. I think not all skin is created equal... This problem also came up when I sampled skin from Martin's BBQ from Tennessee.

Shooting 50% for skin deliciousness is fine by me, especially since it's free. The other cool thing about The Pit is that they were handing out 'belly ribs'. When they take the whole hog out of the smoker, they take off the meat from the bones. And then there's some leftover ribs with some meat on it. They handed some of this stuff out too. The rib had some crunchy bits on it that made it extra tasty.

If you get a chance to visit the Big Apple BBQ Block Party, I highly suggest taking a look at The Pit and its pitmaster, Ed Mitchell.

Posted by Danny on June 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm

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• The skin from Martin's was like rawhide...even our dog took a while to eat it. Hey, did you notice that the lines moved way faster this than last year?

  Dennis
  June 14, 2009 4:18 pm

• hahaha, yea man... you said it. I could not even chew it... it was just... hard. I guess you have to fire up the skin at a high temp to get that cracklin consistency? This year I asked for a media pass so I kinda cheated the lines... last year I did the regular lines in the heat and it was no fun. This year it was no where near as hot... but it seemed more crowded.

  Danny
  June 14, 2009 11:39 pm

• I spotted a bunch of you media guys skipping the lines! I recognized a couple of bloggers with media tags. How does one score such a pass?

  Damn, I wish I had waited for some cracklings. But Ed was bombarded with people already.

  hungry
  June 16, 2009 12:39 pm

• @hungry,

  I just emailed the organizers and asked politely. Then hoped for the best. They were very kind.

  Danny
  June 16, 2009 8:45 pm