The Bovine Bonanza Challenge at Pepper and Salt Barbecue: A Food Adventure in Vero Beach, Florida

It’s butter. I’m eating butter. Today I’m at pepper and Salt Barbecue in Vero Beach, Florida, where I am super stoked slash nervous to be helping kick off the Bow Vine Banana Challenge. So in front of me, I have a whole lot of bovine, and I’m. I’m nervous about it, clearly. I have a whole rack of their beef ribs, which look like Dinosaur bones. I have a half pound of their sausage, which looks really scrumptious, a half pound of their brisket, and then I have a full pound of their smash patties as my sides. I have a half pound each of their coleslaw, their potato salad, and their Mac and cheese. And then for dessert, because they know I love me some dessert, I do have some banana pudding, which basically makes a barbecue. So one hour to do this. If I’m successful, I get the 150 dollar meal for free, a groovy T-shirt and the first spot up on the wall of Fame here. I’m about to have a win. Harry Met Sally moment. Hmm. Haha. Not the most appropriate reference for the kiddos, but parents, you all know exactly what I’m talking about. When you get a good meal like this, you want to have that reaction. I like this because it’s like a dry seasoning on the outside, so it’s kind of almost like a for ends. But it’s ribs. Pepper and salt only. Yeah, pepper and salt only. That’s really cool. It doesn’t Need sauce. And I also had an oh! Moment when I was eating these as well. And I realized why this place is called pepper and salt barbecue and not salt and pepper barbecue. There was tons and tons of pepper coating these things, and it wasn’t overpowering. I really think that, like, the smoker probably cooked out some of the heat from the pepper, but, man, there was a lot of it that was phenomenal. Oh, let me finish these pickles up and then we’ll move on to this burger. In fact, on to the burger. One pound of smash patties. That thing looks wild. Which is basically a double smash burger because they normally have two patties and I have four. Oh, sorry, I need to clean up. I look like I’m covered in, I don’t know, pepper. Can I pick it up? Will it burger? It will. Here we go. And boy, was this thing hearty. These patties certainly were not lean. There was loads of cheese as well. Uh, I was getting overloaded on fats. This is basically sauteed onions, cheese, burger, and sauce. I love everything about it. I don’t know if my arteries would agree with that, but, yeah, this really was a delicious burger, but, man, it took me some time to get through. It was just a lot of dense meat. Alright, final bite of the actual burger going in. 음 oh, I’m about to not be able to bend over to Get those paper towels so on the table. Excuse me. All right, so I do need to switch things up a little bit. Get a little sweet treat going. So I’m gonna try some of this banana pudding. Oh, oh, There’s like little whoppers in there. Oh. With heavy whipping cream. Oh, um, praise. Okay, I gotta. I gotta save a little for the end though. Um. Glorious. Okay, let’s do this Mac and cheese, because I want to eat this while it’s hot. I’ve just Learned it is made with Velveeta, which, you know, is fine. It’s fine. Choices are choices. It looks good, so let’s give it the benefit of the doubt. You know, I’m not mad at it. That’s really good. Alright, okay. I’m not upset they want you over. Hmm. Look at them. Heather can make me Mac and cheese anytime. Listen, y’all, I know this is controversial, but typically I’m a purist. I want real cheese in my Mac and cheese. But this Velveeta Mac and cheese was solid. I was happy. Final bite of Mac and cheese. Alright, coleslaw. We got this. Oh, don’t forget we still have some of the sausage. I need a burp. There it was. Coleslaw is notoriously tricky to eat, cause you have to chew it really thoroughly for a little cabbage strips. Good. Stuck. Not fun. I have done my fair share of barbecue challenges and I will say that coleslaw, oddly enough, is the trickiest. Thing to eat because you have to chew it so thoroughly, it’s a bit time consuming. Alright. Ugh. Final bite of post. I. Thank goodness. Here we go. Oh yeah, there we go. I’m not feeling cute right now. I should have been a lawyer like my grandma wanted. This moment right here was when all of the fats, all of the sodium I just consumed started to hit me. I was in trouble. You good? I don’t know. You got it? I got it. I got it. 31 minutes. 31 minutes. Oh, plenty of time. Okay. The only thing that can help me rally right now is banana pudding. So here we go. It really does go into a second stomach. It’s like, there’s tons of room for this. Hmm. That is love. The banana pudding was truly revitalizing. But I was still having some questionable things going on in my gut at this moment and I was really nervous. But anyways, the banana pudding was fantastic while we were talking about that. But. Oh, thank you all. Here’s a try. And because we’re. She needs kilos. You’ve got 25 minutes. She’s got it. You can do it. Oh, there you go. No, I don’t know. You need another banana pudding? No. Haha. Hmm. We. We got this. Yeah, totally. You got it, babe. Uh huh. I don’t know. This is really good potato salad, though. They say fake it till you make it, but y’all, this was such. A rich challenge, and I didn’t know what was going on inside my tum tum, but I knew that it was going rough. My stomach is doing some fashionable things. Ah! Oh, thank you. We’re doing it. You got this. Thank you. Down to 1.4 pounds, huh? Why don’t you take it out and put it on a plate? No, that doesn’t help. I just have a lot of food. Then you’re gonna know how many bites you have left. Oh, I might have to call it. Well, things are happening. Uh, no, I won’t let it go that far. Well, we’re just contemplating right now. I’m letting my stomach settle down for just a minute. Got 20 minutes to go. Woo! Trying to let my stomach settle down a bit, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Guys, I’m gonna have to call it here. Uh, the Bovine Bonanza did defeat me today. A big thank you to the folks here at pepper and Salt Barbecue. Oh, we love you! We love you. Thank you.