Popular YouTube Star BeardMeatsFood Attempts Southern Indiana BBQ Challenge

While we may not get the recognition Memphis, Kansas City, Texas, or North Carolina gets for our barbecue here in southern Indiana, we have several restaurants around the area that are pretty darn good at smoking up beef, pork, and chicken, and slathering it in sweet and smoky sauces. One of those is Hawg 'N' Sauce BBQ in Mt. Vernon (about 15 to 20 miles west of Evansville) which offers customers the chance to try and put down a massive amount of their pulled pork along with three different styles of potatoes with what they call, "The Trough Challenge." A challenge many have tried, some have conquered, but most have failed. Recently, a competitive eater from England, known as Beard Meats Food on YouTube, made his way across the pond to see if he could add his name to the list of those who have conquered it.

What Exactly is "The Trough Challenge?"

The Trough Challenge is three pounds, 13 ounces of the restaurant's signature potato dishes on one tray; a full Chip-A-Hog, a full Ida-Fry, and the Idahawg. The Chip-A-Hog is a pile of "natural cut potato chips covered with BBQ pulled pork, cheddar jack cheese blend, sour cream, chives, and bacon," while the Ida-Fry features "a heaping pile of French fries topped with BBQ pulled pork, cheddar jack cheese blend, sour cream, chives and bacon," and the Idahawg is described as "the granddaddy of all our potatoes. Smothered with BBQ pulled pork, bacon, cheddar jack cheese blend, butter, sour cream, and chives topped with BBQ sauce." It's a carb-lovers dream.

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Like most food challenges, The Trough Challenge does have a few rules:

1. You have one hour to attempt to clean your plate. No more, no less.
2. If you eat everything, you must keep everything down for five additional minutes in order to successfully complete the challenge.
3. You may not go to the restroom at any point during the hour or the five-minute window.
4. If you don't keep everything down, it's your responsibility to clean up after yourself.

If you're successful, your picture will go on the Wall of Fame and you'll win both a Hawg 'N' Sauce t-shirt and can koozie. Fail, and a picture of your sorry face goes on the Wall of Shame.

Who is BeardMeatsFood?

Known by his over 2.62 million YouTube subscribers as "BeardMeatsFood," is Adam Moran, a competitive eater from England who travels around the world attempting to conquer popular restaurant food challenges. Think of it like the Travel Channel show, Man vs. Food, with a big, bushy beard and a British accent.

Adam stopped by Hawg 'N' Sauce to attempt The Trough Challenge back on January 11th, based on a post on the restaurant's Facebook page but released the finished video of his attempt earlier this week. Let's see how he did.

That's pretty impressive. I like to eat, and I can put down my fair share of food in one sitting, but there's no way I could put all of that down in 15 minutes like Adam did. I doubt I could even do it before the hour ran out. Even if I did, I'm afraid it would ruin barbecue for me for a while, and I don't want to take that risk.

You can check out some of the other challenges Mr. BeardMeatsFood has tried, including his most recent attempt, the Schwatzer's Schnitzel Challenge at Schwatzer's German Restaurant in Seymour, Indiana.

[Sources: BeardMeatsFood on YouTube / Wikipedia / Hawg 'N' Sauce on Facebook]