Are you an all-knowing,all-encompassing guru in the world of ham, bacon, and sausage? If your not, that’s ok there’s always Google.

Starting today, Edwards Virginia Traditions is kicking off their “Ham’r Time” trivia contest. Once every week, Edwards will post a trivia question based on anything pork, and the first person to answer correctly will get a “tasty prize.” Today’s question has already been posted, but has the correct answer been posted yet? Only time will tell, but in the meantime head on over to the Edwards Facebook page and see if you can answer this week’s question!

This is a great dinner party treat. Best of all, it can be made early in the day to be heated just before guests arrive. Butter a long casserole dish. Partially cook and drain thouroghly, then place in buttered dish:

3 (10-oz.) pkgs. frozen broccoli spears (fresh broccoli can be substitued).

Place on top of Broccoli:

6 cooked chicken breasts pulled in slivers, removing from the bone.

Cover chicken with 8 thin slices of cooked Edwards’ Virginia Ham. Mix and spread over the cassorole:

2 (10-oz.) cans cream of chicken soup

1 c. mayonnaise

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. Worcestershire sauce 1/2 tsp. sage

Top with:

1 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 c. seasoned bread crumbs

Bake at 350 degrees until casserole bubbles, approximately 20 minutes.

Every year during the 3rd weekend of July, the small county of Surry,Virginia likes to throw a big party.

The name says it all. The Pork Peanut and Pine Festival is a celebration that started in 1976, commemorating the three major agricultural products of Surry County….pork, peanuts, and pine.

The festival is full of vendors and non-profit organizations who set up exhibits showcasing aspects of Virginia culture such as demonstrations on sawmills and peanut-growing. Garden art, hand-woven baskets, wooden bird sculptures and pop-guns for kids are just few of the things on display at the PPP.

At this year’s cultural bonanza, the festival will include:

- BBQ Cookoff.
- Petting Zoo
- A parade of antique cars.
- Ton’s of live country/bluegrass music
- Lil’ Mr. and Ms. Peanut Contest.
- …and so much more!

The event begins Saturday, July 17th – 18th 10:00AM until 5:00PM at Chippokes State Park in Surry,Va.

Saturday
10 a.m. — Opening ceremonies
10:15 a.m. — Gospel Country Messengers
11:15 a.m. — guest speaker
11:30 a.m. Ell – Oh – Ell
12:30 p.m. — parade
1 p.m. — 2:30 F. A. B. (formally Fat Ammons Band)
2:30 p.m. — guest speaker
3 p.m. — Southern Heartland
4:15 p.m. Courtney Haywood

Sunday
10 a.m. — The Galileans
11:30 a.m. — Country Roads Express
1 p.m. — Thunder Creek
2:30 p.m. — Heather Edwards
3:45 p.m. — BBQ contest winners announced
4 p.m. — Flatland Bluegrass Band

* In recent years, the PPP has spawned an unofficial “James River Mardi Gras” where hundreds of boats drop anchor near the shore of the festival. While the festival itself is all good clean fun, the waterside isn’t exactly for the kids.

Expect to see yachts blasting the latest country music, party-barges jam packed with college kids, beads being “handed out” and not to mention a fair share coast guard officers who keep an eye on the mayhem.

Due to the recent economic climate, the PPP festival has been struggling to find sponsors all well as drum up the money to attract live entertainment. I think if they were to somehow tap in the James River Mardi Gras crowd they could make a little more profit to support the family-oriented side of the festival.

Leave some suggestions below if you have any ideas how they could pull it off.

It could be called the largest convention of free food samples of all time. The Fancy Food Show is a gathering of hundreds, if not thousands, of food companies from all over the world. Their goal is to meet with other companies and distributors to make deals that’ll send their foods from the beds of their delivery trucks to the kitchens of 5 star restaurants.

The Virginia section, put together by Virginia’s Finest, showcased a number booths from all over the state. Check out the video below to learn more.

Here are the links of some of the foods in the video.

Virginia Chutney Co.
Edwards Virginia Ham
Belmont Peanuts
Virginia Diner
Montebello Kitchens
Route 11 Chips
Best-of-Luck

Greetings fellow foodies, South lovers and anything in between. Welcome to The Smokehouse! Everyone knows food and Southern lifestyle go hand-in-hand, so that’s why I’ve decided to put together a blog that showcases the best Southern culture has to offer.

This won’t be your run-of-the-mill recipe site. Sure we’ll have plenty of delicious recipes for you to test your kitchen skills on, but here we’ll also discuss topics from the latest in the Slow Food Movement to current events involving anything food.

I do have a confession to make: I am a little biased to any news that concerns Virginia (YES, VIRGINIA IS PART OF THE SOUTH). That being said, expect to see quite a few articles that talks about the latest in Virginia foods, festivals, and quite possibly Virginia food festivals.

Stop by later to see articles and videos posted real soon!

Sam4