Ding, Ding, Ding… Round 5!
By now I hope on Thursday evenings you’re wondering which Pensacola Eggfest cook team you’re going to learn more about. If this were a series on your favorite streaming channel, I have no doubt you’d be refreshing all day to see if the new episode is loaded yet.
So rest easy, it’s time to announce our cook team of the week…Chris Phillips with Hot Spot Charters from right here in our beautiful hometown. Chris has been cooking at Pensacola Eggfest since the early years and is always a crowd favorite.
Chris and his crew at Hot Spot Charters provides inshore, nearshore, and offshore fishing adventures for locals and vacationers throughout the year.
While Chris isn’t on the water, he’s running multiple other businesses across our great city including our very own Local Pulse. So I’ll try hard not to be partial to this Pensacola Eggfest award-winning cook team. Good news, I’m not a judge.
Throwback to 2014So what you may not know about Chris:
Their secret ingredient: “It’s definitely our access and knowledge of seafood. Unfortunately, we live in a world where “fresh” and “local” seafood is rarely available at a local seafood market or restaurant anymore. It’s common for a fish to have been on ice for 10 days before being sold and cooked and that just doesn’t compare to a snapper or triggerfish caught yesterday. We have a boat that can fish for snapper, triggerfish, and grouper year around, we have an oyster farm in Pensacola Bay, and if I’m going to use shrimp, I get them off of a day boat out of Bayou La Batre, not a shrimp boat that just spent 30 days offshore.”
If they could only cook with one ingredient: “Butter and garlic. You can do a lot with butter and garlic cooking seafood. If I had to add a seasoning it would be Prudhomme’s Blackening Seasoning, and I don’t like any of the other blackening seasoning like I do his.”
The most unexpected dish you’ve cooked on the Big Green Egg: “I’m probably not the most adventurous, but one thing I cook on the Big Green Egg that does well is Shrimp and Corn Chowder. The charcoal gives it just a hint of smoky taste. I use one of the cast iron dutch ovens and let it slowly cook.”
Their best BBQ fail or mishap: “I’ve burnt my fair share of things for sure, but a couple weeks ago I got one of the Thor Wood Fire pizza ovens. I made the perfect pizza, fire started and it cooked great, then I dropped the whole pizza on the ground taking it out. My first time using a pizza peel didn’t go so well!”
If Chris could have one famous person (current or historical) on his cook team it would be: “I’m not much into famous people. I would take Frank Taylor, the owner of Global Grill, on my team hands down! I think he’s the best chef around and I’ve learned a lot about cooking just watching how he does things. He might not be famous, but he’s better than any chef on TV!”
The Smack Talk: “I don’t care as much about winning at Eggfest as I use to, but I do not want Stephen Clarke on the Hanto & Clarke team to beat me.”
Ladies and gentlemen, we are exactly ONE MONTH away from the main event.
Pensacola Eggfest will take place at Noon (or earlier if you snag a VIP ticket), Sunday November 10th, 2024, at Hadji Temple, 800 W 9 Mile Rd, Pensacola, FL 32534 . The event hosts BBQ teams and backyard cooks from all over the United States who share two things: a love of cooking and the joy of giving back to their communities. Since 2013, over $780,000 has been donated to local charities from this little BBQ party.
Come join them to taste all the good food. (Click here for Tickets!) Better yet, grab some friends and join us as a cook team. (Click here to learn more and register your team.)
Peace, Love, and BBQ!
Karen Jolly
