If you want to shop for the best quality grilling product to keep the crowds and the family happy, take the drive to Dizzy Pig.

I’m sitting in a fold out chair and roasting in the sun because I didn’t get a seat underneath the canopy, which provides shade for all the smart people. Eugene, DC Life’s editor, is sitting next to me and overheating while regretting wearing a black shirt on this sun burn of a day. I tell him that I regret having worn my white skin to work for this event, myself.

Of course, I’m being a bit more facetious about this than I should be. I am here covering The Dizzy Pig, a Manassas, VA based barbecue company that specializes in high quality handmade fresh ground BBQ rubs and seasonings produced on site at their facility and distributed throughout 700 grocery and retail locations in the United States, Canada and Europe. A class on how to get started with and use your Big Green Egg, a unique ceramic oven/grill/smoker in which Dizzy Pig owner Chris Capell has had a long-standing relationship with, is now in presentation. Chris is a former graphic designer that felt that there was something missing in the fair priced gourmet seasoning market. Because of this simple thought, he has succeeded in consumer’s desires and demands and changed career paths on into the food world. And here I am as a part of the thirty plus students that are here to learn something new today, all being students that have purchased Big Green Eggs recently, or are seriously considering the investment as their backyard grilling machine. All of those in attendance are looking for some expert advice on how to make it work this summer for those get-togethers where all your friends come by to chow down on flame kissed chicken and ribs and even steal a few brews from your cooler when you aren’t always looking.

Owner Chris Capell, with his eight years of competitive BBQ awards to show, knows a thing or two about how to get a person excited and interested in cooking for friends and family. Keep in mind, he was a self-proclaimed professional pancake maker at age 10 in the first place. As Mr. Capell carried on and readied the pork loin for the class with Dizzy Pig’s “Raging River” seasoning doused and rubbed all over, he informed everyone that this is the spice that is pretty much the perfect complement to pork (and works amazingly on salmon as well). Anxiously hoping for the best, everyone waited for the pork loin to grill on the Big Green Egg. Students asked questions on what it takes to start the initial fire all the way to how to control your grilling temperature. We all enjoyed the fellowship along with Chris’ expert answers, and then after about an hour, the loin was ready. Sliced thinly, we celebrated the mild to moderate explosion of spices on the outer crust and internal tenderness and seeping juices of the meat itself. The pork loin can be served on a plate with typical summer sides or even stacked nicely on a sandwich.

To all of our surprise, Mr. Capell went into the introduction on how to make pizza on the grill/smoker next. After forming the dough, he added pizza sauce and topped it with shredded mozzarella and provolone followed with a dusting of another Dizzy Pig seasoning, “Shakin’ the tree”, which has a versatile and a more mild flavor profile which was sprinkled upon the cheese and crust. Placed on a pizza stone and into the Big Green Egg Grill at a higher temperature, we were soon afterwards very good friends with an extraordinarily different flavor of pizza that captivated all of us and made it easy to realize the possibilities of turning your backyard deck into a Washington DC area pizzeria of sorts. Alas, all of us can pretend to have taught Papa John everything he needed to know when he was a kid.

Take a visit to 8763 Virginia Meadows Drive in Manassas, VA to spend some time and check out their retail store. All thirteen of their spices are available as well as many other products such as flavored woods and charcoal products which are there to help get you this summer for your backyard barbecues. If you want to shop for the best quality grilling product to keep the crowds and the family happy, take the drive to Dizzy Pig. The next class is scheduled for Wednesday, August 7th, 2013. Visit www.dizzyclass.com for information on attending or call 703-273-3580. Also visit www.dizzypigbbq.com. Please also check out www.biggreenegg.com for information about Chris Capell’s high quality grill and smoker of choice.