The Great Titan Meat Up
Over the last couple of weeks Nissan took its Smokin’ Titan pickup truck, the world’s first fully integrated mobile kitchen and in-vehicle bed meat smoker, on a four-city road trip. It came to an end in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, at “The Great Titan Meat Up,” where five media teams and one Nissan employee team challenged a team of Nissan executives in what was deemed “the most unique cooking contest you’ll ever witness.”
To match the unique manner of the event at hand, the Premier Communications Group team set out to brand it accordingly—keeping its location and overall barbecue theme in mind while doing so. This led to the creation of the event’s official logo, which was then applied to a variety of custom Meat Up necessities, including aprons, spice rub blends, barbecue sets, cutting boards and more.
Champions of the Great TITAN Meat Up, Team Nissan took home 5 of the six category awards (turkey, brisket, ribs, chicken and pork) and the title of champion with their Chupacabra Chicken with Sanguinista’s Revenge. Team Nissan members include engineers and executives from the company’s TITAN truck group including: Kevin Yeoh, Ari Schiftan, leader Billy Hayes and Tiago Castro. Photo courtesy of Nissan.
If you’ve ever watched an episode of Hell’s Kitchen or similar televised cooking competitions, you can only imagine what it’s like to withstand the heat of world-renowned chefs judging your every move. Between the preparation, presentation and—arguably the most important—taste, everything has to be just right.
Chefs David Rose of the Food Network and Chopped champion Cory Bahr, two people who know their way around a kitchen and would never let their friendly demeanor get in the way of judging good food, moderated the event.
The cooking hobbyists were each tasked with preparing a handful of proteins: chicken, ribs, lamb, pork shoulder, turkey and brisket. Chopping, marinating, grilling and smoking the meat took the teams well over 12 hours, as they each vied for the title of “Titan Meat Up Champion.”
After being judged on presentation and creativity, preparation and craftsmanship and flavor, taste, and texture, Team Nissan won five of the six individual awards and best original dish, with Team Truck Trend winning for best lamb—each getting to proudly wear our “Titan Meat Up Champion” cooking hats.
