image description
George Rinaldi with his smokers. Rinaldi, of Hinsdale, is a regular on the BBQ competition circuit. He will be competing at the Harpoon BBQ Festival in Windsor, Vt., next week.

Hinsdale Man To Compete In Professional BBQ Competition

Community SubmissionPrint Story | Email Story

Rinaldi with Myron Mixon, celebrity chef and four-time barbecue World Champion.
HINSDALE, Mass. — Professional barbecue teams from all over New England will compete at the Harpoon BBQ Festival in Windsor, Vt., on July 27-28, with hopes of being crowned the grand champion and earning a ticket to the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue. 
 
And Berkshire County's own George Rinaldi will be among them.
 
Rinaldi, 54, of Hinsdale, has been competing on the professional Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned circuit for eight years. He and his family travel to six or seven competitions annually. They've been all over New England, as well as in New Jersey, Georgia, Alabama and Arkansas. At a typical event, competitors must deliver their entries in four categories (chicken, ribs, pork and brisket) to the master judges by pre-specified times — and not a second later.
 
Rinaldi's skills have earned many trophies, including a first-place prize for his Ribs Division win at a recent competition in New Jersey. 
 
"There are usually anywhere from 35 to 60 teams at each competition," Rinaldi said. "I try to stay in the top 10."
 
As his reputation has grown locally, he's begun taking on small weekend catering jobs to supplement his full-time work in the Facilities Department at Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America's Pittsfield office. 
 
For Rinaldi, it all started several years ago when he was walking to a friend's house and smelled what he what he said was a heavenly scent. 
 
"My friend said, 'I'm smoking sausage,' and then he showed me the smoker he was using," Rinaldi remembered. "Since that day, I've known what I wanted to do. I've been fortunate to have been trained by Myron Mixon, to have a strong mentor in Daryl Strickland and several good friends, including Kenny Nadeau, who are committed to my success."
 
Before embarking on the professional barbecue circuit, Rinaldi took two professional classes — one in Maryland and one in Alabama. He now owns two smokers — a Lang 84-inch Reverse Flow Smoker and a Myron Mixon G33 Gravity-Feed Smoker — and must choose between them when traveling to a competition based on what he'll be preparing.
 
"I have excellent support this year, with sponsorships from Market 32, North Elm Butcher Block and Uncle Kenny's BBQ Sauce," he said.
 
More information on BBQ tournaments can be found at www.smokerisingbbq.com.

 


Tags: BBQ,   food contest,   good news,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Letter: Carsell Running in Dalton Special Election

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

My name is Patrick Carsell, and I'm a candidate for the Dalton Select Board in Monday's Feb. 3 special election. For over 30 years, I've lived in Dalton with my wife, Laurel, and our two children, running a dental practice in town. In my retirement, I recently determined that now is the right time for me to give back to the community that's supported me for so long.

In preparing for this campaign, I've spent a lot of time listening to residents' concerns, using the information gathered to form solutions that I hope to implement when elected. Throughout these conversations, the integrity of town infrastructure has been a primary issue, particularly with respect to roads and sidewalks as well as the fire station and police station.

In researching the issue of a new police station, I'm the only candidate to publicly ask the Select Board to look closely at the experience of Melrose, a city awarded $3 million in federal funding to support the construction of a new net-zero police station, an energy-efficient and cost-saving LEED-certified building.

Though I respect the recommendation of the citizens committee that recently called for building a wing onto an old church to create a new police station, I urged the Board to take a closer look at building an energy-efficient station on a lot that the town already owns. In my experience, rehabbing older buildings often results in excessive costs and time-consuming snags as builders attempt to meet modern building standards.

If elected, I intend to continue the conversations that I've begun with residents, promising to remain accessible to all. I also commit to working with state and federal officials to secure funding for projects and to respect the recommendations of Dalton's Climate Plan as we work toward maintaining the beauty and affordability of our town.

I'll end by humbly requesting the vote of Dalton voters this Monday when I plan on meeting them when the polls open at 11 a.m.

Patrick Carsell
Dalton, Mass.

 

 

 

 

View Full Story

More Pittsfield Stories