Meet the Hog Heaven: A 5-Pound Cornbread Bowl Stuffed with Your Favorite BBQ and Mac & Cheese
Updated: Jan. 09, 2024
The Hog Heaven is a cornbread bowl filled to the brim with three-cheese macaroni and cheese, barbecue beans, creamy coleslaw, Ember BBQ sauce and cheese sauce.
To say that I love barbecue would be like saying Andre the Giant was kinda tall. An understatement as huge as the man himself. Any chance I get, I talk to pit masters from all over and try to experience as much regional barbecue from across the United States as I can.
One of my first opportunities to try Kansas City BBQ led me to Ember Barbecue where I discovered the Hog Heaven, right in my own backyard of Santa Ana, CA.
Owned by pit master Derick Foster, a former marine who studied at the Culinary Institute of America, Foster grew up in Kansas City where he wanted to bring the city’s famous and beloved style of BBQ to California. With his wife Kylie, another graduate of the CIA, the two run Ember together inside Downtown Santa Ana’s Native Son Alehouse.
What is the ‘Hog Heaven’?
The Hog Heaven is a cornbread bowl that’s filled to the brim with a three-cheese macaroni and cheese, layered with sweet barbecue beans, creamy coleslaw, and slathered with both Ember BBQ sauce and cheese sauce. Pitmaster Foster then stacks on a handful of pulled pork, St. Louis ribs, chicharron fresh from the fryer, beef brisket, and jalapeno cheddar sausage so juicy you’ll need to lay out a “Caution” sign on the floor. Finally, as a signature to his slow-cooked masterpiece, Foster finishes the Hog Heaven with more mac and cheese, cheese sauce, and Ember’s BBQ sauce.
Overall, it weighs in at over five pounds.
While the Hog Heaven is intended to be enjoyed with friends and barbecue aficionados, ambitious individuals can try to conquer this sweet and savory beast on their own. In our case, we made it last a week!
Get Your BBQ Fix Now!
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