The Johnsonville Big Taste Grill gets around, having made appearances at the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the Kentucky Derby, even the Pentagon.
It sure won't fit in your backyard, but it is coming to our area to host what could be the biggest tailgate parties ever.
The world's largest touring grill was built by the Johnsonville Sausage Co. of Wisconsin in 1995 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Now three Godzilla-size grills tour the country, cooking and selling bratwurst to raise money for local and national charities – $3 million so far.
Here is the Big Taste Grill's area schedule:
• May 12-13: The grill will be smokin' at the Roseville Berry Fest, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Placer County Fairgrounds, 800 All American City Blvd.; (916) 786-2023.
• May 15: Safeway supermarket, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., 8640 Sierra College Blvd., Roseville; (916) 783-2225.
• May 17: Food Maxx, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1845 Countryside Drive, Turlock; (209) 632-0825.
• May 19-20: Galt Strawberry Festival, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., respectively, 900 Carolina Ave., Galt; (209) 745-2529.
For more information, go to www.johnsonville.com. While you're there, check out the $10,000 No Ordinary Burger Contest.
$10k and lots of chicken
Your family and friends go wild when you prepare your special chicken dish from your super-secret recipe. If that's a close scenario in your cooking life, maybe you should get in line for the $10,000 grand prize (plus a year's supply of chicken) in the third annual Foster Farms Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest.
The competition is open to "home, amateur and professional chefs in California, Oregon and Washington."
One of the rules: Recipes must reflect the "fresh ingredients grown on the West Coast." Entry deadline is June 3.
After the preliminary rounds, six finalists will compete for the top spot on Sept. 28 at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena.
For the rules: www.fosterfarms.com/ cookingcontest. To see last year's recipes, visit the new virtual pinboard page: http://pinterest.com/ fosterfarmsca.
There are three ways to enter the contest: online at www.fosterfarms.com/ cookingcontest; via email to cookingcontest@fosterfarms.com; and by snail mail to Foster Farms, c/o Cooking Contest, P.O. Box 306, Livingston, CA 95334. For still more info, Foster Farms has Facebook and Twitter accounts.
– Allen Pierleoni
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