Simple Is Good

One of the things that has attracted me to BBQ as a style of cuisine is that it is simple. I've talked with folks about this off and on over the years. The most recent discussion along these lines I had was with my Dad when he and my Mom and youngest brother were in town a couple of weeks ago. We had my inlaws over as well to celebrate my daughter's birthday and her requests for birthday dinner were hot dogs and pulled pork.

So as I was getting the pork shoulder ready to go in the smoker my Dad and I were talking about food (one of his favorite topics along with stocks, gas prices and the weather) and he made an off handed comment about people overly complicating food. I that is one of the things I loved about barbecue. It's simple and really just requires patience and time.

This got me to thinking a bit more about food in general. Most of the things I REALLY like are not too high up on the food complexity scale. I'll usually take spaghetti and meatballs over scampi, fried chicken over coq au vin or scrambled eggs over Eggs Benedict. It's not that I don't like or appreciate the latter dishes in each pairing, but generally speaking I prefer the simpler dishes. I think this is mostly driven by the joy I find in preparing food for myself and others. The chances of me ever making anything that involves things like wine reduction or truffle oil are close to zero. Meanwhile every piece of fried chicken I ingest I not only get to enjoy, but I get to figure out what parts I really like and apply them to my own preparation. I guess it's a delicious bonus that keeps on giving!

Sometimes I even wonder if the people that say they want and like the fancy, exotic, off-the-wall stuff are being honest, or if they are trying to show off in some way by telling the world what an exquisite palate they have. I have seen this behavior most consistently when we order pizza as a group at any job I've been at. I'm a big fan of the cheese pizza, or something with one or two toppings, like pepperoni, or sausage, or maybe some feta or mushrooms. Pretty simple, straightforward, tasty stuff. And with just one or two items I get to enjoy the flavors I'm in the mood for without having a cacophony in my mouth.

Meanwhile a lot of my co-workers head straight for the specialty or gourmet section of the pizza menu. So we usually end up with 1 or at most 2 of the more mundane run of the mill pizzas and 3 or 4 or more or the fancy pants foo-foo pizza.

Now, and I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but this wouldn't bug me so much if the people that ordered the fancy crap actually ate the fancy crap. But NOOOOOOOOOOO, the pretentious cocksuckers head right for the pepperoni pizza and all grab a couple of slices of that and, maybe, grab one piece of the stuff off the gourmet side of the menu. So by the time the folks that wanted a nice, simple, tasty pizza get to the table, the chances of them getting what they asked for are right around zero. However, there seems to be plenty of the pizza left that is topped with wilted yak penis sauteed in a white wine reduction and a hint of snail entrails.

Somewhere along the way eating, like almost everything else we as a society do, has become as much about image and advertising what a wonderful, complex, complete and fully functioning individual you are as it is about fueling your body and enjoying something delicious with people you care about. If you really like the yak penis and snail entrails, by all means order them and enjoy them. But for all you folks that say you like the exotic stuff but look like a kid taking cough medicine while you eat it, take a good look at what you really like. It's OK to like simple food. Really.

Simple is good.

Doing Ribs

I was shopping yesterday and saw some instructions on cooking ribs that started with 'heat your gas grill'. I wanted to cry. Here's the right way to approach ribs.

For those of you that live or work around Ann Arbor, MI and haven't yet tried it, get out to Satchel's. For those that have been, it's probably been too long. You should go back :-)

Fair Food

This is a bit later than I thought I would get it up, but here are some photos of the food we had at the fair. Everybody was happy with everything. Not only did I feed the folks that showed up for the parade but I also set some aside for dinner for the people parking cars at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Chelsea. From all accounts it was a record breaking year parking cars. Nice job.

A note on the hot dogs. Some people were surprised I threw these on the smoker. While I wouldn't go out of my way to smoke hot dogs, if the smoker is going anyway, put them on there! I highly recommend it. The color and taste is a lot different. Judging from the responses different was very good indeed :-)

The Cooking Has Begun!

Just after 6:30 am the turkey drumsticks went on. The ribs will go on at around 8:30 and the hot dogs probably around 11-ish. The rack will be full of food. Here's hoping it all comes out well and the guests are happy. When it is all said and done I'm guessing I'll have about 24 pounds of meat on the smoker today.

After sitting in a brine for about 36 hours they turkey got hit with a salt and pepper rub, about 2 parts kosher salt to one part pepper. Everything thing else is as seasoned as it is going to get. Just need to apply heat, wait and eat.

WOOHOO!!!

The Fair Is Upon Us Once Again

The Chelsea Summer Fair is once again going on. The parade is tomorrow and preparations for tomorrow's gathering have already begun. 2 racks of St Louis ribs are in the fridge covered with some rub and 6 turkey drumsticks are brining in a mixture of salt, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano, rubbed sage, Gulden's mustard, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. The measurements on the brine are far from exact. I just threw a bit (maybe 1/4 cup of each?) of each in a bowl and whisked with some water, poured over the meat and then added enough water to cover. The drumsticks are sitting in two large bowls in the fridge. I originally had them in a bag, but alas the bag started leaking. I've had mixed results with brining large hunks of meat in ziploc bags. They seem to spring a leak on me half the time, even though it always appears to work fine for people on cooking shows. You would think by now I would just give up on the bags.

In somewhat related news, I was feeling lazy a few weeks ago and just bought a can of the local store brand's version of what they call Kansas City Steak Rub. It turns out that this is fantastic on ribs. It also turns out that the provider of the spice rub is The Nutmeg Spice Company. They are located in CT (The Nutmeg State for those of you that don't know) so in some bizarre way worlds are colliding as I get a taste of home preparing a southern style cuisine while living in the Midwest. I'm tempted to try some of their other preparations based on how much I like the Kansas City rub. The site has a store locator so if you're not into making your own rubs all the time, see if there is a store in your area that sells the stuff. It doesn't have Emeril's face on it, but it is still damn tasty.

Pork Shoulder Leftovers

If you're like me, it is almost impossible to make barbecue in small portions, especially pork shoulder. There are quite a few things you can do with leftover pork shoulder, other than make yet another sandwich. Not that there is anything wrong with yet another sandwich. Piles of succulent smokey goodness piled high on a fluffy white bun and smothered in the sauce of your choice. MMmmmmm.....

Anyway, some other things you can do with pork shoulder leftovers

• Egg rolls. Especially if you have some leftover cole slaw. Drain the slaw if you need to, stuff the egg roll wrappers with a mix of shredded pork and slaw, wrap up and pan fry in a bit of oil.
• Pork fried rice. Culinary worlds will be colliding here in one of the tastiest ways imaginable.
• Put it in scrambled eggs.
• Top a pizza with it. Personally I kind of hate the 'BBQ Pizza' some places offer that has barbecue sauce for the pizza sauce and has bits of chicken on it. By 'kind of hate' I mean that I think it is vile, gross, disgusting, vomit inducing swill. But put some pork shoulder on the pizza in place of sausage or pepperoni? Hell Yes!!
• Make a cheese steak with it. Grab a pile of pork, heat it up on a non stick pan smothered with cheddar and pile that on some french bread.
• Make a hash with potatoes, bell peppers and onions. Throw some pork in it. Plate is optional. I've been known to just grab a spoon and eat it out of the pan.
• Tacos

Just a few ideas. Almost every culture on the planet uses pork in one way or another (I know some abstain. More for me!) so if you are working on ideas for dinner, and you just happen to have some leftover pork in the fridge, see how you can work it into tonight's dinner. Chances are you will be glad you did.

Some More Thoughts About Gear

One of my earliest posts here was some thoughts on gear. While my general thoughts on that have not changed (You can prepare great tasting BBQ with some simple tools and a bit of creativity), I have definitely come to appreciate having good tools. Two things made me realize this.

We took a great vacation a few weeks ago with my brother in law and his family and my sister in law and her step daughter. I brought a pair of our good spring loaded tongs along, knowing that I'm always searching for spring loaded tongs in any cottage I'm in. Turns out they got left there and I couldn't find either of our other two pair. I still have no idea where they are. The day before I was going to suck it up and buy another pair (I figured as soon as I bought another pair the others would magically appear), my sister in law sent us another pair, simply because I whined a little I suppose. Whatever the reason, I'm eternally grateful. Good tongs are a must. This was recent incident number one that made me appreciate good gear.

The second event that made me really appreciate good gear was tasting the ribs I pulled off the smoker not too long ago. They were delicious. I thought I made pretty good ribs before. I probably did if I'm going to  believe my friends, neighbors and family, but this latest batch is just amazing. It's the first batch I did in the smoker. I'll of course have to do others just to make sure it is not a fluke, but these are just great. They are tender, juicy and are just starting to pull away from the bone. They come off clean but aren't done to the point where they are falling off the bone at the slightest touch. The other food I've done on it has been really good, but these are just so much better than any other ribs I've cooked, ever. I now regret not having an honest to goodness smoker sooner.

Generally speaking when people get interested in a craft they tend to get the best tools they can. I've been slowly collecting gear and books for years now. I strongly suggest doing this if you are serious about your Q. One thing I will not change my opinion about, however, is that the equipment needs to be expensive or top of the line. It just isn't true. People win awards on drum smokers. I built mine for about 100 bucks. As far as cost goes for a smoker, that is dirt cheap. You can spend several hundred or even thousands on a commercial rig if you like. I won't stop you.

Tips abound for preparation techniques, which cuts of meat to use, how to spice things up, the temperature you should cook at, the fuel you should use and just about every aspect of preparing barbecue (or any other food, in my experience) but good advice and tips on good gear are relatively hard to come by. And they can make a very big difference. So get good gear. Take care of it and it will keep you well fed for a long time to come.