Burning Beast!

I've been to carnivore foodie heaven. Twice. Burning Beast has been running four years. Jessica has been to the last 3, I to the last 2. Each year at the non-profit creative Smoke Farm, just over an hour north of Seattle but off the grid enough that nobody can successfully use their hand-held toy of choice while there, a handful of the area's top chefs is each assigned an animal and tasked with creating something without electricity or running water. They show up a day or 2 ahead of time and create their space. Most dig a hole and create a makeshift BBQ pit, others get more "out of the box" based on what they're cooking.

There's a covered area with beer and wine. It's okay to bring a tent and camp for the night. There are a couple bands, this year a bluegrass band that's played Highway 99 Blues Club a few times called the Half Brothers, and a band of local theater actors called
"Awesome" (yep, the quotes are part of the name) who decided to start making albums after doing a number of live scores. They are aptly named, so back off! There's also a DJ playing all vinyl. I'm a DJ myself, stupidly critical of DJs as a result, and I must say: Dude has superlative taste in tunes. And a bonfire at the end. The organizers construct an animal of choice - this year a moose, with balls (last year, a pig, no balls that I recall) which is burned after the chefs are all out of food, everyone is chilling, and the aforementioned DJ plays a nice soundtrack.

What'd we eat?
Duck. Goat. Rabbit. Ram. Sheep. Pheasant. Salmon. Beef. Chicken. Water Buffalo. Elk.

Veggies?
Tons of fresh grilled Northwest produce, the best you'll have, but seriously...

What'd we drink?
Bathtub Gin - a bar had a stand with (standing by the meat motif) chorizo-infused sidecars and a prosciutto-infused gin lemonade.
* I had one sip of the sidecar and elected to stick with water.
** in related news, next year I will not make the same decision.
*** in even more related news, next year we'll be camping overnight.

This event is all kinds of crazy good. If you're a meat lover and/or a foodie, it is paradise. They sell roughly 200 tickets, everyone here paid a hundo and most drove an hour or so to get here, so the Knucklehead Factor is virtually (if not, per my experience) non-existent or dare I say, "priced out." Yeah, homepeeps, I said it. $100 is a lotta dough. It sounds like a lot because it IS a lot. As we all save and pinch for the important things, if you've dined at 4-5 star spots and then come here... Burning Beast ia a steal, the kind of unique gut-busting, free-for-all tasting menu you will not experience anywhere else. You can bring your own snacks, beverages, booze, just no pets (service dogs allowed). This is the Lollapalooza of food, only better.

Arrive anytime from 3pm, some chefs are serving tastes while preparing, the DJ is spinning records, official dinner bell rings around 6, bands play before and after, then around dusk (9?) the bonfire begins.




goat w/ polenta, ram slider


the oysters are gone, baby


duck w/ feta crumbles & cucumber, pheasant & waffle w/ pickled peach


oysters are cooked here


salmon is smoked here


peaches, cherries, and such are pickled here




gas heat in the bottom. dough in the middle. outer cylinder is sand and rock. they're making bread.


a serving station






this guy means business. the guy in the "bacon is a vegetable" t-shirt was not less approachable, he just moved faster.




rabbit salad w/ papaya slaw, pig on flat bread w/ a thin-sliced pickle


elk sausage, smoked kielbasa-style in the wood shed, some beer-braised & grilled


water buffalo chili (left), 2 styles of elk (right)


fun & games


(ram or sheep) blood sausage






to the above, add smoked salmon w/ cucumber yogurt to the left


When all is said, done, and eaten... they burn the beast!