BBQ Recipes: Greek Game Hens

From our friends at Weber.

Greek Game Hens with Lemon and Mustard

Prep time: 10 minutes
Marinating time: 2 hours
Grilling time: 45 to 60 minutes

• 36 ounces (3 cans/bottles) light beer
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon Weber® Grill Creations® Zesty Lemon Grill Seasoning, divided
• 4 Cornish game hens, 1-1/2 to 2 pounds each
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1. In a large bowl combine the beer and 1/2 cup of the seasoning. Mix well.

2. Remove and discard the giblets from the hens. Place the hens in the bowl with the beer and seasoning and submerge them as much as possible. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

3. Remove the hens from the bowl. Discard the marinade. Tie the legs of each hen together with kitchen twine. Tuck the tips of the wings behind each hen’s back.

4. In a small bowl mix the oil, lemon juice, mustard, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of seasoning. Using a spoon or brush, lightly coat the surface of each hen with the oil mixture.

5. Grill the hens, breast side up, over indirect medium heat (350°F to 450°F), with the lid closed as much as possible, until the juices run clear and the meat is no longer pink at the bone, 45 to 60 minutes. For darker browning on the breast sides, turn the hens over after 30 minutes of cooking. Remove from the grill and cut off the twine. Serve warm.

Makes 4 servings

BBQ Recipes: Pork BBQ with Cherry Q Sauce

I came across this recipe today, and I think it would make a pretty good barbecue sauce. Just ignore the author's instructions to cook the pork in a slow cooker, go smoke a butt.

Damn, when will the food industry accept that barbecue means low and slow over a wood/charcoal fire? Use of a crock pot does not equal barbecue!

Pork Barbecue with Cherry Q Sauce

Preparation: 10 minutes; cooking time: 8 hours

• 1/3 cup cherry fruit-only spread
• 1 tablespoon dried cherries
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried mustard powder
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 12 ounces amber ale or non-alcoholic beer
• 2-3 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast (pork butt), cut into 2-3 pieces

Combine all ingredients except pork in a small sauce pan and bring to boil; simmer 15 minutes on low. Place pork in a 4-quart or larger slow cooker; pour sauce over. Cover and cook on low 8 hours. Remove pork and shred. Spoon back into slow cooker; mix well and serve.

Makes 8 servings

Each serving contains 221 calories, 22 grams protein, 9 grams fat (3 grams saturated), 9 grams carbohydrates, 70 milligrams cholesterol and 209 milligrams sodium.

-- Cherry Q Sauce from Grilling With Beer by Lucy Saunders; self-published; call 800-760-5998

Brisket Anyone?

This is an edit to the original post. I apologize that I unintentionally insulted Neil with my original posting. It's not the greatest picture, but I'm sure that brisket was outstanding. In my experience, Neil is very good cook.

These are pictures of award winning brisket from La Quinta Brews, Blues and Barbecue contest. That's the 3rd place brisket cooked by the 4 Q BBQ team of California. The 4 Q team has a very interesting history as the only team I know of that originated as bloggers.

Ribs Anyone?

Is this award winning barbecue?

And What To My Wondering Eyes Should Appear?

After a great Thanksgiving, with an almost perfect meal, at which we forgot to serve the home made cranberry sauce, as the evening had reached its zenith and was begging to ebb, me and Trooper, my ever loving and protective companion, left the house for our daily walk.

Every evening, we wonder the streets of Brooklyn. We've made some incredible discoveries in the middle of the night. The swans in the bay, the local make out spot, the strip ping-pong tournaments, the local drunks, the couples who fight late into the evening, the teen agers sneaking a cigarette on the stoop, the awful karaoke bar and the patrons of the local Russian baths. Yes, we've discovered a whole new world as we wander.

But last night held a surprise for us that hit close to home. Last night, parked across the street from our home, rested our trusty car. It has served us well this week as we prepared for the holiday feasts. But last night, someone violated our little red transport. Damn. I'm beginning to think that this car is cursed.

I'm only showing you the front, but the entire driver's side of the car is damaged, along with the front and rear wrap around bumpers. It looks like the Grinch visited us early this holiday season.

Thanksgiving Breakfast: New England Cheddar Cheese Pie

It may be too late for all of you, and I'm sorry for that; I should have posted this earlier, but I'm making this for breakfast this Thanksgiving. This recipe for New England Cheddar Cheese Pie with Green Onions and Walnuts is taken from Jasper White's Cooking From New England Cookbook.

Here's how I'm making it:

Ingredients:

• One nine inch frozen pie shell. (The original recipe calls for making the crust from scratch. It's so much better if you do, but who wants to make pie crust before breakfast?)
• 4 Eggs
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
• 12 Ounces aged Cheddar Cheese (3 cups) grated. Don't skimp on the quality of the cheese. Buy the best you can afford.
• 6 Scallions, thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• hot-sauce to taste (I like Manny's Pit bull)
• 1/2 Cup chopped toasted walnuts.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the pie shell in the oven for 10 minutes or follow label directions.
   
2. Beat the eggs and place in the top of a double boiler along with the cream, cheese and scallions. Heat, stirring constantly, until creamy and hot, but not boiling. Season to taste with the salt, freshly ground pepper and hot sauce.
3. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and place in the preheated oven. After 10 minutes, sprinkle the chopped walnuts over the top and return the pie to the oven. The pie should be almost completely covered with nuts. Cook about 20 minutes more or until the filling is set and the top begins to brown lightly. Allow to cool somewhat, but not completely. Serve warm.

This makes a great breakfast, and if accompanied by a small salad, a fantastic lunch. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone.

BBQ Recipes: Smoked or Oven Roasted Turkey with Browned Garlic Gravy - Your Choice!

This recipe is adapted from The El Paso Chile Company's Texas Border Cookbook by W. Park Kerr and Norma Kerr. This recipe works equally as well in the smoker or in the oven. If you do smoke your bird, be sure to use a light wood such as apple in the fire. If you're not sure what wood to use look here.

This recipe produces a wonderfully moist bird and a complex garlic flavored gravy. It's one of my go to recipes when I don't have the time to brine the bird. While 12 cloves may seem like a lot, the slow roasting or smoking of the garlic mellows its flavor. Don't skimp on the garlic!

For the Turkey:

• 1 - 12 lb turkey, preferably fresh, including the neck and giblets except the liver (If you're not using a fresh turkey, or a turkey that has been "enhanced" use a very light touch on the salt in this recipe.)
  
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 3 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 stalks of celery chopped
  
• 12 un-peeled whole garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 lb thick sliced bacon or fat back. I prefer apple smoked bacon for this.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• 2 Tbs ground poultry seasoning. I prefer Bell's salt free poultry seasoning.
  
• 1/2 cup turkey broth, homemade or canned. Chicken broth can be substituted.
• 1/2 cup dry white wine.

For the Gravy:

• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 6 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• Degreased pan juices from the turkey roasting pan
• 5 cups, more or less, turkey broth, homemade or canned. Chicken broth can be substituted.
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions:
Position a rack in the bottom third of your oven, so that the breast of the turkey will be in the middle of the oven. Preheat your oven or bring your smoker to 325 degrees.

Rinse the turkey inside and out. Pull any visible fat from the cavity and discard. Scatter the vegetables, turkey neck, giblets, garlic in the base of a low sided roasting pan. Lightly sprinkle the vegetable etc, with a little olive oil. Rub one tablespoon of the olive oil into the skin of the turkey. Season the turkey generously, on all sides - including the bottom with the salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Place the turkey on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan. Drape the bacon or fat back over the top of the turkey. Combine the remaining olive oil, chicken broth and wine in a bowl.

Place the turkey in your oven or smoker and roast for 30 to 45 minutes. Baste the turkey with about 1/2 of the olive oil/broth/wine mixture. Baste the turkey again after 15 minutes with the remaining olive oil/broth/wine mixture. After this time, baste the turkey every 20 minutes in the oven or every 30 minutes in the smoker, using the accumulated pan juices. Total roasting time for this bird will vary, but after about 1 1/2 hours, remove the bacon or fat back from the turkey. Crumble it up and place in the roasting pan. Continue to cook until the turkey reads 165 degrees in the thickest part of the breast.

Remove the turkey from the pan, place on a carving board, tent with tinfoil and let it rest.

Run the pan drippings and roasted vegetables through a mesh strainer, placed over a large mixing bowl, saving the juices. Be sure to press hard with the back of a spoon on the vegetables and garlic so that all juices are released into the bowl. Discard the solids. Discard the turkey neck and giblets. (Some people will chop these and add it to the gravy, but my family doesn't like it that way.) Degrease the broth.

For the gravy:
Deglaze the roasting pan over a low flame on the stove top with a little bit of white wine or broth. In the roasting pan, melt the butter. When it foams, whisk in the flour and cook, stirring often with allowing the flour to brown, for about 5 minutes. combine the pan juices with enough of the chicken broth to equal about 6 cups. Slowly whisk the broth mixture into the flour and butter. Bring the gravy to a simmer and cook, partially covered, stirring occasionally for about 20 minutes, or until the gravy is thickened slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This gravy will have some bits of vegetables in it. You may want to strain it one more time before serving, but I personally like it that way. Carve the turkey and serve it accompanied by the gravy. Enjoy.

Knife Skills?

I've been cooking since I was a little kid. The only formal cooking class I've ever taken was when Paul Kirk came to NYC last year. Most of my training has been with my family and friends. I'm no classical cook, but I can hold my own. I'm often surprised on how many "classic" techniques I already incorporate into my cooking, simply because I was taught that was the proper way to do it.

If I do say so myself I'm a pretty good cook, but there's one area of my expertise that bothers me because it is so lacking. That's my knife skills. I'm working on them, but I'm always looking for ways to improve.

So here's something I'm taping up on the back splash in the kitchen. The proper definitions of the various cuts used by chefs. Let's see if it helps.

• Brunoise - This Cut is 1/8 by 1/8 by 1/8 inch square.
• Small Dice - This cut is 1/4 by 1/4 by 1/4 inch square.
• Medium Dice - This cut is 1/2 by 1/2 by 1/2 inch square.
• Large Dice - This cut is 3/4 by 3/4 by 3/4 inch square.
• Julienne - This cut is 1/8 by 1/8 inches by 3 inches long.
• Battonet - This cut is 1/4 by 1/4 by 2 1/2 inches long.
• French Fry - This cut is 1/2 by 1/2 by 3 inches long.

BBQ Recipes: How to Smoke a Turkey

For those of you who heard my Food Talk premier on WOR yesterday, know that I shard the microphone with my friend Josh Ozersky, the editor of Grub Street. Mike Colameco, the host of Food Talk, mentioned that Josh, along with Robbie Richter of Hill Country BBQ, had just posted a quick clip on smoking turkeys. Here it is, copied right off the Grub Street site. Take it away boys....

Mr. Cutlets's Crash Course: Turkey

With Thanksgiving fast approaching, not a few readers have written in to ask for advice about turkeys. Though we would never consider abandoning the big bird, we've had it grilled, boiled, deep-fried, stuffed with a duck, and just about any other way you can name — usually with little improvement to show for it. But smoking seems to be the one technique that brings turkey to the next level, and so we turned to our old pal Robbie Richter, pitmaster at Hill Country BBQ. We grabbed a turkey, a big syringe, a few other supplies, and headed out to Rego Park to Robbie's mother's house to do the backyard turkey thing par excellence. The results are here to see; the list of ingredients is available after the jump.

For the Rub:
1/2 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup black pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

For the Mop:
6 oz. clear apple juice
6. oz lager beer
2 tablespoons infused schmaltz or duck fat

WhiteTrash Takes on the Media - Again

It's raining in Brooklyn today. The temperature has dropped 10 degrees in the past two hours and it's still going down. It's a gray day and I really don't have a lot to say or a lot of time today, but there's a couple of things you should know.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours at the Grand Central Terminal Food Market. Me and a bunch of other bloggers got to try out some caviar, chocolate, bread, cookies, turn overs, pork tartar and the stinky-est cheese available in NYC. I'll give you the run down later, but I want to thank Susan Grazino for inviting me. We had some great food and I met some fantastic food vendors and fellow bloggers that I admire. All in all a great time.

Tomorrow at 11:15 in the morning, I'll be on Food Talk with Michael Colameco on 710 AM WOR Radio in New York City. You can listen in on the web. We'll be talking about my post on the power of bloggers vs. the "legitimate" restaurant reviewers and critics. It should be interesting.

Listen for me on the radio tomorrow. I hope I don't make a fool out of myself; like it'd be the first time! If you want to call in, the number is 800.321.0710. Or you can send an instant message to the studio by clicking here.

Barbecue Sauce By Region

Photo of the various barbeque regions of the United States courtesy of Kraft Food Service.

There's a great book out called Mastering Barbecue by Michael H. Stines. In this very informative book he discusses how different parts of the United States have signature sauces. Funny, he ignores the middle Atlantic states, the west coast and New England completely but he does include Florida and Oriental. Very interesting, but here goes:

• Alabama: Thin, vinegar-based with sugar, salt, pepper and mayonnaise
• Georgia: Thin mustard-based, tomato and vinegar
• Kansas City: Thick tomato and sugar base, sweet, smoky and spicy
• Kentucky: Black sauce with Worcestershire sauce, molasses and vinegar
• Florida: Tomato -based with lemon, lime, vinegar and butter
• Hawaiian: Sweet and sour with fruits and fruit juices
• Oriental: Soy sauce, peanuts and some heat. (Oriental? Isn't that phrase obsolete now-a-days and considered offensive by many? Also with peanuts I'd peg it more as Thai or Vietnamese rather than Oriental. But hey, I didn't write the book)
• North Carolina (Eastern): Thin, vinegar-based with crushed red peppers, salt and pepper
• North Carolina (Western): Thin, similar to Eastern North Carolina, but with tomato and sugar added
• South Carolina: Thin mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper
• Tennessee: Depends on the region. Thin, vinegar-tomato sauce or sweet, somewhat spicy tomato-based with peppers and molasses (Memphis)
• Texas: Very thick, tomato-based, spicy with molasses and Worcestershire sauce, also a thing, hot-pepper-based sauce.
  

It's Only By Giving Do We Receive

Happy Monday folks. I know, it's a stupid phrase, but why the hell not? Let's all have a happy Monday. Maybe if Monday's happy, we'll be happy. Look at all the pretty colors!

No cooking this weekend for this WhiteTrash BBQ boy. On Saturday we spent the afternoon at a private showing of the Big Apple Circus. My cousin always holds his son's birthday parties at the Big Apple Circus. If you've never been, you should go. It's a great show.

Sunday was just filled with errands and family stuff. Nothing really to report. So I'll tell you all about one of my charities. Doesn't that sound philharmonic? Every year, around this time, I get all sorts of solicitations for charitable donations. I'm sure you do too.

Well, let me recommend a good one; The Bowery Mission. The Bowery Mission reaches out to me, women and children providing food and shelter year round. The thing I like about donating to the Bowery Mission, is that they ask for so little, but do so much. For $15.90 they'll feed 10 people this Thanksgiving. That's pretty damn good. I don't know how they do it.

So my barbecue friends, click here and donate. C'mon boys and girls. Show some of that legendary BBQ love and feed some folks that are down on their luck. You'll be glad you did.

It's Friday and I've Nothing to Say

Where can I grill or barbeque in the city of New York?

I get this quesiton on a regular basis. Where can I grill in New York City? Ok folk's here's the definitive list about cooking in NYC's parks. Parks not owned by the city of New York (Federal or state lands, ie: Plumb Beach, Jamaica Bay etc, have completely different sets of rules. I'll work on that for you next.

Where can I have a barbecue in Manhattan? Do I need a permit to do so?

Yes, you need a permit to barbecue. You may barbecue in designated areas within the following parks: Alfred E. Smith Park, East River Park, Highbridge Park, Inwood Hill Park, Marcus Garvey Park, Randall's Island, Riverside Park, St. Nicholas Park, Thomas Jefferson Park, and Wards Island. For more information, please visit the Designated Barbecuing Areas page.

Designated Barbecuing Areas

• Barbecuing is allowed in designated areas only.
• No barbecuing allowed under trees.
• All coals & litter must be disposed in trash receptacles.

Bronx
Crotona Park - Crotona Park East & Charlotte Street (Indian Lake)
Orchard Beach - North & South Lawn
Pelham Bay Park - Arnow Place & Bruckner Boulevard
River Park - 180th Street fence line and along Boston Road entrance side
St. Mary's Park - 146th Street & St. Ann's Avenue
Van Cortlandt Park - Jerome Avenue, South of 233rd Street

Brooklyn
Coffey Park - At Verona, Richards, and Dwight Streets
Kaiser Park - Bayview Avenue (near Neptune Avenue), westernmost part of the park
Manhattan Beach - Northeast of Promenade, Median adjacent to Parking Lot, Oriental Boulevard & Hastings St.
Prospect Park
- Surrounding Picnic House (Park West & 5th Street, East side of Park Drive)
- South of Bandshell, off 9th Street
- Nethermead area: South Lawn at Wollman Rink

Manhattan
Alfred E. Smith Park - Catherine Street at Cherry Street
East River Park - Along FDR Drive at E. 10th and E. 6th Streets
Highbridge Park - At 175th Street and Amsterdam Avenue
Inwood Hill Park - Dyckman Ballfields at Dyckman Street & Hudson River
Marcus Garvey Park - 124th Street at 5th and Madison Avenues
Randall's Island - At the far end of Sunken Meadow ballfields
Riverside Park - Above 145th Street
St. Nicholas Park - St. Nicholas Terrace at St. Nicholas Avenue & West 128th Street, and at 133rd Street
Thomas Jefferson Park - At 112th Street
Wards Island - East River & Hell Gate (near the children's playground)

Queens
Alley Athletic Field - Union Turnpike & Winchester Boulevard
Alley Pond Park -Winchester Boulevard & Grand Central Parkway
Brookville Park - Brookville Boulevard & South Conduit Avenue
Cunningham Park - 193rd Street & Union Turnpike
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park - Jewel Avenue & Van Wyck Expressway (Meadow Lake)
Forest Park - Woodhaven Boulevard & Forest Park Drive
Springfield Playground - 147th Avenue & Springfield Boulevard (Behind Park House)

Staten Island
Clove Lakes Park - Clove Road & Victory Boulevard
Willowbrook Park - Eaton Place Entrance

BBQ Equipment: The Big Easy 2

I promised you guys a review of the Big Easy, Charbroil's new infra-red oil-less turkey fryer. I've already told you that this little guy works as advertised. It produces birds that are moist and tender with a crispy skin, all without the use of oil. (Sorry, we didn't get any pictures.)

How does it work? I'll borrow a piece of my buddy Adam's explanation from his excellent website, Men In Aprons..

“We have to understand two things: thermodynamics and frying.

According to thermodynamics there are three ways of heat transfer: convection, conduction, and radiation. Imagine a piece of meat sitting on a hot grill. Convection is the act of air heating and rising and circulating around the grill. Conduction is the direct transfer of heat from the hot grill grate onto the meat. And radiation is the transfer of electromagnetic waves through the space of the grill from off of the diffusers, sides of the grill, or the grill grates themselves.

This act of radiation is the way that infrared cookers work. They transfer radiant energy from radiant conductors directly to the food you are cooking. Since there is little or no convection in this process, the food does not dry out from the circulation of hot air.

And now on to frying. To understand how The Big Easy works and why it is called a fryer, despite the lack of cooking oil, you must understand the act of frying itself. Deep frying food is a way to cook food fast and at a very high temperature. Immersing food into rocket-hot oil attacks the food on all surface areas. It is one-hundred percent conduction cooking. Heat is transferred directly from the oil onto the surface of the food. And since it cooks fast and hot, juices and flavors are sealed in and a nice golden-brown color is created. Perfect.

If you think about The Big Easy, the method and results are the same. The Big Easy heats the meat in the container by using radiant energy, attacking the food on all surfaces areas at a very high temperature. The result is a nicely cooked piece of meat, with juices sealed in and a golden brown exterior.”

In our first cook, my brother and I experienced just that, “a nicely cooked piece of meat, with juices sealed in and a golden brown exterior.” We did two large chickens in just about one hour.

So what’s it like using this beast? Actually cooking on the Big Easy couldn’t be simpler. You season your bird, drop it in the fryer basket and drop the basket into the cooking chamber. (I recommend spraying the fryer basket with Pam prior to cooking. It makes cleanup so much easier)

Putting the Bib Easy together was another issue. While I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult, the instructions were a bit confusing. The underside of the Big easy contains the gas hoses, the rotating igniter, and a grease trap. It’s a lot to fit in and the pictures were not particularly helpful.

The packaging for shipping was great and the hardware arrived in a great card with all screws and nuts labeled clearly and easy to find. My grease drawer arrived with the flanges bent, even though the box was undamaged. It had to have been packed that way.

So, where is the room for improvement? There’s not much. Charbroil really has done a bang up job here, but there are a few minor things I’d like to see in version 1.1.

1. Improved assembly directions. They’re not bad, but the pictures don’t really help.
2. The grease drawer changed to a food safe metal. As shipped, if you plan on using the drippings in gravy or whatever, you need to line the grease drawer with a food safe aluminum pan.
3. A cookbook or brochure dedicated to the Big Easy. Charbroil ships the Big Easy with their generic recipe brochure that is geared to the grills they make and another pamphlet on how to cook a turkey in the Big Easy. I’m not looking for grilling recipes when I’ve got this cooker out. Show me how to use the Big Easy, not the Tec Grill.
   
4. Charbroil needs to pay more attention to what’s put in the box. This isn’t the first time I’ve received an item from Charbroil with a part damaged or missing.
5. They need to improve the fryer basket. I don't know if they're all like this, or it's just mine, but the horizontal bars are not welded on all the verticals. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to where the spot welds are. Some bars are welded to every vertical and on others only in two spots. Also, the horizontal bars are not always straight. I don't know if this is by design, but it seems a bit like they were a bit lazy putting this together.
   

But, I like this little guy. I will use it often. One of the things that kept me from using my old turkey fryer was the disposal and cost of all that oil. Charbroil has fixed that for me. My old oil based fryer may be finding it’s way to the Salvation Army this year.

Food Contest: Big Easy Thanksgiving

I don't have time to write the review of the Big Easy today, so I thought I'd point out that Charbroil is hosting The Big Easy Thanksgiving contest. You can enter HERE. Good luck.

From their website...


Char-Broil is celebrating the introduction of The Big Easy Infrared Oil-less Turkey Fryer and they want to award one FREE to one lucky winner. To be eligible all you need to do is email your original recipe for the Easiest Thanksgiving Recipe you use to prepare food for your Thanksgiving Dinner. (instructions below) Original recipes for all dishes enjoyed at a Thanksgiving meal will be considered regardless of the style of cooking - just make them easy!

BBQ Equipment: The Big Easy

Ok, I know that The Big Easy is not really a cooker used to produce barbeque.

Ok, I know that this blog is supposed to be about barbecue.

Ok, but I hope you know that this blog is really about me and my adventures in outdoor cooking.

And one of the things I like to cook outside is deep-fried turkey.



I mentioned earlier that the fine folks at Charbroil were sending me a new model of deep-fryer, the Big Easy that cooks with out oil.

So, in those terms, The Big Easy deserves some attention on this blog.

On Sunday my brother and I put together my Big Easy and cooked up two 7 pound chickens in about one hour. I'll write a more detailed review for you all tomorrow, but let me tell you this... The Big Easy works as advertised.

The Green Market - Buy Local

We went to the downtown Brooklyn Green Market, actually the Borough Hall Green Market on Saturday. It's been an amazing year for the farmers. Here it is November and they're still selling vine ripened tomatoes. We picked up a whole bunch of fresh fruits and vegetables including some tomatillos which I've never cooked with before. Of course what visit to the green market would be complete with out some baked goods and organic turkey sausage?

One stand was selling about 15 different varieties of apples. Do you remember what apples look like without that protective layer of wax applied to the supermarket fruit? Do you remember the satisfaction of picking up an apple and polishing it to a brilliant shine on your shirt tail? Have you ever experienced the intoxicating smell of ripe apples in the crisp fall air? Apples are one of God's greatest gifts to man. Hell, they are so tempting, they supposedly caused man's down fall!

This stand offered samples of each variety of apple that they sold. Imagine walking up and down the aisles tasting macoun, golden delicious, red delicious, empire, cortland, crispin, gala, ginger gold and more. I was like a kid in a candy store.

While they were all delicious one apple stood out from the pack. It was the crispin. Sweet, a little tart, incredibly juicy and just bursting with apple flavor. I don't think I've ever had a crispin apple before, but now I will seek them out in the stores. I recommend you do too. They are worth the effort.

BBQ Masters: Matt Fisher

I can finally announce to the world that my buddy and one of my inspirations has decided to follow his dream and enter the world of professional barbeque.

Matt Fisher, aka The Hampton Smoker, is about to kiss corporate America behind and take up the tongs as pit master of B.R. Guest's newest barbeque restaurant; Wildwood BBQ. Wildwood BBQ will be located at 225 Park Avenue South New York City.

Wow. Congratulations Matt! I can't wait to review your food!