NH’s Best BBQ Recipes Winners Announced

BEDFORD, NH – Last month, The Wine’ing Butcher and Chef Scott Ouellette teamed up to sponsor a callout for the best BBQ recipes in the Granite State. The contest was posted online, to celebrate National BBQ Month.

Here are the winners:

First place went to Cynthia Whelpley of Hooksett for her Orange Brandy Barbecue recipe.

This recipe took an ordinary orange marmalade and added some brandy that creates a barbecue sauce with a real wow factor. Whelpley received a $450 prize pack, and her recipe will also be featured in Chef Ouellette’s Canoe and O Restaurants during the month of July.

“I was really excited to see Cynthia’s recipe that used some old school techniques combining the marmalade and brandy. We will have fun using her recipe on a variety of meat selections,” Ouellette said in a statement.

Whelpley said she got her passion for cooking from her father, a Maine farmer. She joined her father in the kitchen on Sunday mornings where they made homemade spaghetti sauce. Whelpley also grows an extensive garden of her own, and gets inspiration for recipes from history books. She treats her family every night to a large dinner and always creates new dishes.

“You made my day,” Whelpley said, after hearing that she won.

Runner-ups went to Gary Sigai of Gilford who submitted his Gary’s Asian Chicken recipe, and Melissa Torressen of Moultonborough who submitted her Liberty Sandwich Burger recipe. They each received a $150 prize pack for their tasty entries.

Sigai, a chemist, said he loved experimenting with food and developed his recipe during the last two decades.

Torressen decided to submit her family’s burger recipe with a bit of history behind it: In WWII, hamburgers were also known as Liberty Sandwiches, and her recipe has become a summertime tradition in for more than 20 years.

“We had so much fun reviewing all the recipes that were submitted,” Wine’ing Butcher General Manager David Moulton said in a statement. “The point was to for enthusiasts all over New Hampshire to be able to share their favorite dishes.”

The Wine’ing Butcher has assembled the top recipes and created a recipe book that anyone can share and download online at wineingbutchernh.com/bbq-book. The chain has locations in Bedford, Pembroke, Meredith, and Gilford.