Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, Aaron Franklin, and Jeff Savell
Note: Davey Griffin, Ray Riley, and Jeff Savell, Meat Science Section, Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, are participating in this event.
Hayden Walker, Editor in Chief of Austin Food Magazine and the Director and Creator of Texas Food Crawlers
Guests to experience world class research & development, exploring how science innovation and data can influence the future taste of BBQ
Why Is GE Breaking Out the Science of BBQ? For more than 100 years, GE Global Research has been the cornerstone of innovation for GE. It was the first industrial research lab established in the United States, and today, it is a global enterprise inventing the future in world-class research facilities. Nearly 4,000 scientists and engineers develop essential technologies at GE’s Global Research Centers to transform factories and critical infrastructure such as jet engines, power mechanisms and medical diagnostics into products that build, move, power and cure the world. Since the days of founder Thomas Edison, GE has united the best minds from around the globe who all share in one relentless curiosity to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. This SXSW, GE will bring these scientists to Austin to uncover the sensory world of science innovation through barbecue.
GE @ SXSW: Opening Saturday, March 14th and running through Monday, March 16th, GE will host the first BBQ Research Center at SXSWi, Austin’s premier technology conference. Reinforcing awareness around GE’s world-class R&D footprint, the GE BBQ Research Center will highlight hard-science through the lense of Texas food culture and showcase cutting edge research capabilities within chemistry, biology, neuroscience, physics, material science and analytics leveraging barbecue as the medium of discovery and imagination.
What’s Inside the GE BBQ Research Center? For three days, SXSW attendees will endlessly see… smell… and taste barbecue starting with an exhibit of the Brilliant Super Smoker. As a real R&D center, this GE facility will draw data from the smoker and additional scientific experiments over all three days to analyze the science behind cooking and eating.
Interactive installations, live experiments and hands-on activities will include:
● See the Brilliant Super Smoker: The focal point of the GE BBQ Research Center will be a 12-foot tall custom-built interactive barbecue smoker, pit-mastered by GE’s chemical and robotics scientist Lynn DeRose. Part traditional smoker and part experimental laboratory, the Brilliant Super Smoker will be constructed of both steel and unconventional tubular laboratory glassware. It will feature a myriad of sensors and microcontrollers, which will constantly monitor all internal functions of both the smoker and the ingredients inside, and display real-time data visualizations on Predix-inspired GE software.
● Dine at GE’s Your Brain On BBQ Dinner Party: Making good barbecue takes good headwork, and so does eating it. Step inside this interactive exhibit to watch your brain react as you experience differentflavors and barbecue sensations by sampling your favorite dishes while connected to EEG head gear programmed to read various neuroscience brain waves.
● Play With Your Food in GE’s Science of BBQ Lab: Don’t just watch science. Do it! In our interactive chemistry labs, join Serious Eats’ Josh Bousel as he shows you how a little science knowledge can go a long way into transforming store bought sauces into the best barbecue sauces chemistry can offer. Also, be sure not to miss Austin’s Spun Ice Cream as creators Christina and Ashley Cheng guide you through making liquid nitrogen ice cream with barbecue-inspired toppings including brisket powder and edible jalapeno glass.
● Hearthe “CueNote”: Each afternoon, GE will be joined by experts from the food and science worlds to unpack how science and data may influence the future taste of BBQ. Guests will include Aaron Franklin of Franklin BBQ, Scott Heimendinger of Modernist Cuisine, culinary entrepreneur and musician Questlove, executive chef ofCúrate and Nightbell, chemical engineer and host of the National Geographic’s “World’s Best Chefs”Katie Button, GE scientists Jim Vartuli and Lynn DeRose, GE Chief Experience Officer Greg Petroff and BBQ editor of Texas Monthly Magazine Daniel Vaughn.
● Touch the BBQ Research Interactive Gallery: Check out the latest discoveries of food science R&D in this self-guided visual installation. Break down the physics and biology elements in how barbecue is prepared and served.
● Learn at BBQ University: Attend daily workshops and lectures held by Dr. Jeff Savell, University Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University Meat Science Department – a unique university program dedicated to the pursuit of better BBQ.
● Taste How the best BBQ in Texas Gets Made: Join us for Show, Tell & Eat — evening tasting experiences that go inside the science that produces Texas’ most sought after dishes from Black’s Barbecue, Stiles Switch BBQ & Brew and Louie Mueller Barbecue.
GE’s BBQ Research Center will take place Saturday, March 14 through Monday, March 16 from1pm-6pm at 95 Red River Street. RSVP at GEBBQLab.Eventbrite.com.
About GENERAL ELECTRICGE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. www.ge.com.
via GE BBQ Research Center Heats Up SXSW with the World’s Smartest Super Smoker | Austin Food Magazine.
