Low and Slow BBQ Festival

Overview

If you've been gorging yourself silly on American-style beef, ribs and pulled pork over the last year or so, then you've firmly jumped on the bandwagon of the latest food trend — and you might not even know it. We're not talking about US-themed eateries, though they're endlessly en vogue at the moment. We're talking about meats cooked over long periods of time at a low temperature.

Without anyone really realising it, low and slow barbecuing has become Brisbane's favourite style of food preparation, and now there's a festival to prove it. Come July, South Brisbane will be engulfed in the kind of smoky, spicy taste sensations that can only come from taking your time to lock in as much goodness as possible.

At Brisbane's first Low and Slow BBQ Festival, as supported by the Australasian Barbecue Alliance (it's a thing), a convoy of food trucks will converge on Wandering Cooks to prove their culinary patience. They'll be starting up their ovens long before their doors open, and you'll get to devour the long-simmering rewards.

Between sampling from the likes of Joe's Texan BBQ, Bella BBQ and Char Baby, sipping frosty bevs at pop-up bars and learning up at masterclasses and workshops, you'll also watch teams of professionals battle it out to be crowned the low and slow champions — while scoring free samples of their creations. Look what happened in Port Macquarie:

If your own gastronomic itches need scratching, you can then browse the boutique marketplace for barbecue-related products to help you whip up a storm at home.

The sounds of DJ Cutloose will provide your ultimate barbecue soundtrack, including his inventive ‘Cut and Cook’ project — which hopefully tastes as good as it sounds. If that seems like too much fun for just one day, that's because it is. Expanding due to popular demand, the festival kick things off on Saturday and keep things cooking on Sunday . Now that's a party that's low and slow by name and by nature.

The Low & Slow BBQ Festival takes place on July 18 and 19 at Wandering Cooks, 1 Fish Lane, South Brisbane. Visit their website for more information.

Image: Brent Hofacker.