And you can bet that Santa Maria Style Barbecue will have a presence at this year’s 70th Annual Santa Maria Elks Rodeo happening Thursday, May 30 through Sunday, June 2. Indeed, an array of dining events, fundraisers, dances, contests, exhibitions, performances and even a parade and golf tournament dot the calendar throughout this four day extravaganza held at the Elks Unocal Event Center in Santa Maria.

Each day, a three hour rodeo performance treats spectators to six adrenaline-rushing events, including bull riding, bronc riding, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, bareback riding, barrel racing, local team roping and mutton bustin’, all garnished with rodeo’s top announcers, bull fighters, barrelmen and stock contractors. Then, on Sunday, the top cowboys compete for the championship.

Two additional events new to this year’s lineup are Camp Buckaroo ‘n’ Lil’ Rodeo for kids, plus the Vino & Vittles Wine Tasting Tent for those a bit more mature. Open the entire four days, Camp Buckaroo ‘n’ Lil’ Rodeo invites kids to enter and compete in mock-rodeo events. This is a chance to rope, ride a bull and run in the Stick Horse Gauntlet for a chance to bring home a buckle! Meanwhile, a new play area and educational zone lets children tackle a rock wall, run the obstacle course or soar in the bounce house.

Vintners will be pouring the fine wines of Santa Maria Valley at the new Vino & Vittles Wine Tasting Tent. Located adjacent to the rodeo’s Main Arena, this is the perfect spot for attendees to begin their festivities while enjoying live music and appetizers. Click here to plan your rodeo adventure.

But that’s not where the Hitching Post story ends. There’s a related restaurant, the Hitching Post II, in the nearby Santa Ynez Valley that has been thriving for nearly 30 years (which sounds like a long time, until you learn that the original Hitching Post opened 60 years ago!).

Both locations are renowned for their epic barbecue fare, but the Hitching Post II has another claim to fame, as it was featured prominently in the hit movie Sideways.

Jeanette Trompeter of KSBY recently featured the Hitching Post II in her No Place Like Home series, which features experiences that are unique to the Central Coast. Click here to watch the segment and learn more about the unlikely Hollywood story of the Hitching Post II.

Santa Maria Strawberries

When it comes to local flavors, you might say that the Santa Maria Valley is famed for both its savory and its sweet offerings. Yep. Some regions have all the luck.

Indeed, Santa Maria Valley’s reputation for mouthwatering barbecue shares the spotlight with its top crop: strawberries.

According to a new report, strawberries remain the top moneymaking crop in Santa Barbara County, with the vast majority of the strawberry acreage being in the Santa Maria Valley.

The latest Santa Barbara County Crop Report shows strawberries valued at $441.4 million in 2012—three times the value of broccoli, which occupies second place. Officials say that strawberries are in greater demand on a global scale, and that new varieties and better shipping methods are making it easier to meet the demand.

Perhaps the best news is that strawberries pair beautifully with barbecue, and strawberry pie continues to be the dessert of choice for a classic Santa Maria Style Barbecue meal.

Be sure to visit one of Santa Maria Valley’s popular roadside strawberry stands, or check out the annual Santa Maria Valley Strawberry Festival, which happens each April. And don’t forget that many interesting strawberry facts may be found at the www.santamaria.com under “Visitor Information.” Sweet!

In the piece, Ecker highlights the top regional barbecues, a list that includes Texas, Memphis, St. Louis, Kansas City, the Carolinas and, of course, Santa Maria Style Barbecue. He writes, “Always using indigenous red oak for fuel, the meat was top sirloin or “tri-tip,” a triangular cut of bottom sirloin made popular in the Santa Maria area. (This appetizing cut of beef is still unknown to many people outside of California.) In fact, Santa Maria Style tri-tip has become synonymous with California barbecue. Another differentiating factor from other styles is that this type of barbecue is often served with a good Santa Barbara red wine like Zaca Mesa Syrah, as a complement.”

Kudos to Mr. Ecker for recognizing that Santa Maria Style Barbecue has earned a rightful place in the pantheon of American regional barbecue styles!

A perfect example is the third annual “Mine for Gold” barbecue dinner, live auction and concert in honor of Royal Family KIDS, a program that mentors foster children ages six to 12 during what is a critical developmental stage. The really good news is that the program’s research shows that at-risk children make progress in every area (academic, social, and family life) after just one year of a positive mentoring experience.

The community has really come together for this event happening on Saturday, April 20 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Santa Maria Fairpark. The evening’s big draw is a show by acclaimed cowboy singer-songwriter, Dave Stamey. However, another highlight is, of course, related to barbecue. One tenacious bidder will come away from the live auction with the promise of a genuine Santa Maria Style Barbecue catered for 20 of his or her friends!

For tickets ($50), visit Eventbrite.com and type in “Dave Stamey” or call (805)264-0731.

How did you come to specialize in Santa Maria BBQ out in North Carolina?
I was born and raised in Santa Maria, California, and this style of BBQ is part of our family tradition. My father taught me how to barbecue tri-tip, and we had a built-in pit in our backyard. We would basically find any reason to BBQ and get the family together: holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, baptisms, etc. I have been doing this style of barbecue for 30-plus years. In 1995, I moved to Florida. When I met my wife in Florida, we would do barbecue on a little Weber grill with red oak chips that my sister sent me from California. Whenever I had the opportunity, I would grill up for friends — who absolutely loved it! Upon moving to North Carolina in 2006, I continued to share this style of barbecue with my neighbors and friends here. For my birthday last year, I special ordered a Santa Maria BBQ pit from Costco in Bakersfield (since they didn’t have one here in Greensboro). The first “official” barbecue was actually for our wine club member picnic at McRitchie Winery in Elkin, NC. I had contacted the owners and offered to bring my pit and BBQ for the picnic. People raved about it so much — I thought to myself, I could actually turn this love, and hobby for fellowship and food into a business.

How do you obtain your Santa Maria BBQ ingredients—are they hard to find?
At first it was very difficult to find the ingredients for this style of BBQ. It took a lot of research online and getting in touch with local vendors here in Greensboro to find most of the ingredients. The Greensboro area here in North Carolina, is very similar to Santa Maria in terms of offering local, fresh ingredients, so I source from our local Farmers Markets whenever possible for the chicken and veggies. We have found vendors for the artichokes, linguica and untrimmed tri-tip in Greensboro. North Carolina also has red oak trees, and I’ve been able to locate wood, but still have my sister send out some bark from California when she can. The Pinquito beans have still eluded my search here, so my mom and best friend ship them out to me from Santa Maria.

North Carolina is famous for its own regional barbecue style. What’s the typical reaction from folks out there when they try Santa Maria BBQ for the first time?
People are blown away! Much like a book or movie, this style of BBQ is its own genre, so people don’t tend to compare it to North Carolina BBQ. They are impressed with how succulent and flavorful the food is — even being cooked over open flame — and they love the flavor the oak wood imparts. Burnin’ Wood BBQ is as much about the fellowship and friendship as it is about the food. I’m very glad to share my family tradition with others. As I say on my business cards, “It’s BBQ’d Love!” Here’s a testimony from someone whose lived in NC for 30 years (and who I had the opportunity to BBQ for their celebration).

Thanks, Mark! Note that Mark can be reached at www.facebook.com/burninwoodBBQ or via email at bwBBQco@gmail.com.

The Magic Dust seasoning has been a staple in the restaurant for 15 years, and has also been a popular retail item. However, proprietor Frank Ostini recently learned that another restaurant in Indiana had been using its own seasoning called Magic Dust for 20 years. Ostini befriended the owners of that restaurant at national barbecue events, and has decided to re-name his own Magic Dust seasoning out of deference to them.

This is where you come in, dear Santa Maria BBQ enthusiast, because the Hitching Post II is running a re-naming contest on its Facebook page over the next two weeks. A panel of judges will select the winners who will be announced at the Hitching Post II Open House on April 21, 2013 in celebration of the Santa Barbara Vintners’ Festival Weekend. The 1st place winner will receive a $200 gift certificate with six more prizes available.

So fire up the barbecue, grab a glass of Santa Maria Valley wine and get those creative juices flowing. You might end up with a big meal or two, not to mention bragging rights in the land of Santa Maria Style Barbecue!

On that note, we’d like to return a shout-out to the new barbecue editor for the prestigious Texas Monthly magazine, Daniel Vaughn. According to this story, “Vaughn’s new job at Texas Monthly begins April 15. He previously helped Texas Monthly with its barbecue app and served on the tasting team for the Texas Monthly Top 50, but never full time…Vaughn will continue to live in Dallas and will explore barbecue in Texas, across the U.S., and even internationally.”

The story notes that Vaughn has a new book coming out on May 14 called The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue.

It also includes an interview with Vaughn, and our collective ears perked up when it ended on this note:

Is there an area of the country that’s unexplored for you when it comes to barbecue?

Yeah. Actually, I’m going to be going to the Carolinas in two weeks. It’s going to be my first trip to the Carolinas. I hope the book tour takes me to Santa Maria, California to try the Santa Maria style.

Consider the invitation open, Daniel! And congrats on the dream job.

What perplexes them is the fact that Santa Maria BBQ is prepared over hot open coals of local red oak, whereas traditional barbecue favors “slow cooking over a smoldering fire for a long period of time.”

But that doesn’t mean that Santa Maria barbecue isn’t barbecue, it’s just a different approach. Here’s how an article in the Wine Enthusiast puts it: “Let’s pause to acknowledge that definitions of BBQ for all but the purists are fluid and forgiving. Grilling vs. barbecue, direct heat vs. indirect, slow vs. fast, smoke vs. fire. All I will say is, the Santa Maria tradition is long and well respected: it’s a form of grill cooking that has been called (in Sunset Magazine) “the best barbecue in the world.” Even the web site, TexasBarbecue.com (and needless to say, Texas prides itself on its BBQ), hails it as “legendary…There really is no argument anywhere that Santa Maria Barbecue is Tri-Tip Beef Barbecue at its best.”

Chef John of the popular Food Wishes blog adds this perspective in response to a skeptic: This style’s been called barbecue in California’s Central Coast since the early Spanish settlers. The common denominator being a wood fire… if they were cooking the legs or head it would be long and slow (like your precious definition), however if they were cooking a slab of top sirloin or rib steak (the original Santa Maria BBQ), they did it more quickly over the hottest part of the fire…because it was better that way. Regardless of which cut, or how long it took, this was all just called BBQ…Besides, “barbacoa” from which you get your barbecue term is technically steaming anyway. The animal was wrapped in wet leaves and steamed over the fire. So, if wet leaves aren’t used is it still BBQ? For these reasons, my personal definition (and that’s all it is, and to each his own), is “anything cooked over or near a wood fire is barbecue.”

In other words, there’s no upside to arguing about it. Let’s just all get along and simply enjoy Santa Maria Style Barbecue for its unique heritage and wondrous flavors!

The latest comes from the forum over at True West Magazine, where one contributor offers his personal method for preparing perfect tri-tip: “The secret is the 10-10-20-20, 10 minutes on a hot fire then flip for another 10, finish at 20 minutes on each side then pull off the grill and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing across the grain in 1/2 inch slices. I have bought some huge tri-tips where the times have to be upped but cook enough of them and you’ll figure it out.”

Now, we recently delved into the meat-cooking topic here at the Official Santa Maria Valley Barbecue Site, talking about how Santa Maria BBQ experts sear the meat first, then raise it up using a Santa Maria Style Grill. 

But not everyone has access to such a grill. In which case, this gentleman’s method may be something to consider for getting the meat just right on a traditional grill. Judging by his photos, his method is sound!