Smoking and Joking

Memorial Day weekend is the official kickoff for the summer grilling season. For those of us that are lucky enough to live in a moderate climate, every weekend is grilling time. I am that crazy neighbor who is out back in the dark and drizzle wearing a bright red North Face hooded rain parka. Strapped to my forehead is a LED high intensity light. Who says you can’t Barbeque in December? I have four BBQ’s, each with a different purpose. A 22” Weber Kettle grill for everything from prime rib to pizza. A Brinkman Sportsman Smoker for pork butt, ribs, beer can chicken, and anything that likes smoke. A Barbecues Galore gas grill for quick weekday dinners. Finally, a Portable Weber Q for picnics.

In theory there are two types of cooking: grilling and barbecue. Lots of variations and debates exist. My adventure on the long weekend is barbecue or smoking. Low and slow. Heat around 225 degrees for long periods of time. The Brinkman is a tubular shape, with several levels inside. The bottom layer is for charcoal and wood chips. The next level is a water pan. A couple of grills above hold the meat.



There is something primal about tending a fire, almost a genetic urge that draws me to the grill. Why the heck would a correct thinking person, after working a six day week, spent many hours in a hot smoky environment? I could get real technical here with times and recipes. There are many books and web sites that preach the holy grail of barbecue. Let me just plant the seed of experimenting with the BBQ.

Baby back ribs were the object of my attention. I used a homemade spice rub, hardwood charcoal, and a mix of hickory and apple wood chips. The whole process took about five hours. The result was extraordinary, tender, fall off the bone ribs with a sweet bacon style flavor. These ribs taste good without sauce but the commercial sauce I would recommend is Bulls Eye.



Add some side dishes. We had baked beans and potato salad. It’s almost corn season in Brentwood and corn would pair nicely. Happy grilling!

Dirty Water Hot Dog Debate

Baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and blogging? Why not. I can’t think of a better way to spend the holiday weekend. My son, the sports fan, set off the great hot dog debate when he asked for hot dogs made the way you get them at the ballpark. I said “you’re asking for a dirty water dog my son”. Thinking that I had finally gone off the deep end he said “what?”

I don’t really know where the term dirty water dog came from. I reckon New York. All those hot dog carts in the city basically float the dogs in hot water which takes on a dirty look after a bit. I decided to make hot dogs on the grill like normal, then some dirty water dogs to compare.

Sabrett Hot Dogs appear to be the New York staple and can be ordered on line. For our test we chose natural casing Caspers Famous Hot Dog made in San Leandro,Ca. and skinless Sinai 48 Kosher of Chicago. Both brands purchased at Costco.

The results of the debate were mixed. About half the testers liked the grilled and half the dirty water. Natural or skinless came back with a 50/50 result as well. My preference is the grilled Caspers with Dijon mustard, onions, and relish. My son loves the skinless with chili and cheese. I believe the end result is that’s nice to have a choice. Have a great weekend.


Dirty water dogs


Grillin and chillin

Woo Hoo!

On Saturday I was proud to attend the graduation of my daughter from University of California at Berkeley College of Natural Resources. Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management: Conservation and Resource Studies. Wow that's a lot of words! She's got her hard earned degree.

The weather was beautiful. There was only fifty some students graduating so the event was intimate and good time was had by all. The location was beautiful beyond words and a lovely discovery for me. The Blake Garden is located in the East Bay Hills in Kensington. It is owned by the university and is open to the public. What a great location for a picnic.

After the ceremony we retired to the garden pool area in front of Blake House. There were tables laden with glorious displays of the best food one could imagine. Homemade wine vinted by one of the schools professors called to me. The Paso Robles Zinfandel was incredible. My daughter was on the food committee ( the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree) so I'll give her extra credit for that. The only bummer of the day was that I forgot my camera. Other guests took pictures of the graduation so I will have those. I only wish I had pictures of the food.

Raclette Discovery

I do a lot of reading in general and a horrible lot of reading about food. I noticed certain words or descriptors seem to be in vogue. The list in fashion now includes chipotle, ciabatta and panini. Once esoteric they are now mainstream. Jack in the Box and other fast food joints use these words to give their products cache. Sir, may I have chipotle panini on ciabatta?

Some food writers use terms that would do a bodice ripping romance novelist proud. The sun caressed her as she wrapped her lips around the ruby red strawberry. The juices exploded in her mouth as she savored the luscious sweetness. Wow! I don’t know whether to be hungry or hot and bothered.

Even the highbrow writers use fashion words like unctuous, ethereal, and prandial that send me scampering to my dictionary.

Why am I raving on? I never thought that I could us any of these words in context. Well now I can. Ethereal (heavenly) is how I would describe raclette from the Euro Taste tent at the Novato Farmers Market. I was cruising the stalls looking for the best specimens of fruits and vegetables and stumbled across it. Not much to look at. It really could use a little food styling. Just a wedge of cheese held in a contraption that heats the top. I tried to get more information from the vendor but she was busy. Not a talker but she has a quick smile. Her name is Suzie and she is from Austria. The deal is that Suzie peels off the top layer of molten cheese and spreads it on piece of bread. Several topping are offered, I chose mushroom and onion. Heavenly it is!


Suzie and the cheese


Hot Stuff


Ethereal

Good Lord! That's a Lot of Money!

While chatting with several fellow workers the subject of gasoline prices came up. The freaking oil companies are taking it to us again. Let’s revolt because the situation is revolting. We all agree this stinks of greed.

During our conversation I watched my buddy pay $1.99 for a bottle of iced tea. Green tea to be exact, with a cool bottle and a nifty logo. All I could think to say was “Good Lord! That’s a lot of money!” I searched my memory banks for the origin of that quote with no success. Next day I Googled the phrase and found out it came from a Damon Wayans skit, from his old Show “In Living Color”. He played a homeless man who exclaims the phrase each time he hears the price of something. To be technical the phrase was first uttered by Chris Rock in a movie titled I’m Gonna Git You Sucka circa 1998.

How does this relate to a food blog? Somehow through great marketing we have been convinced that we must pay a large price for our little indulgences. Starbucks has made a fortune off this equation. Another buddy has renamed them Fourbucks because each drink that comes with a fancy name costs about $4. What do you suppose the ingredients in these drinks cost wholesale? Probably about forty cents.

I can’t make gasoline at home but I sure can make fancy tea drinks. Here’s how I did it. I dropped four cheap green tea bags into a half gallon of boiled water and let them steep. To sweeten I used simple syrup. Is simple syrup simple? Oh yeah! Mix equal parts sugar and boiling water stir until blended. The beauty of this sweetener is the sugar has already dissolved so there are no solid sugar grains floating around. You could get real fancy and add ginger or cinnamon, but I used a little lemon and mint. My cost for a half gallon was about fifty cents. Now that’s not a lot of money is it?

Put it in a fancy pitcher and charge your guests a fortune.