BBQ Openings: Barbecoa

My friend Adam Perry Lang has been playing with Jamie Oliver in merry ol' England as of late and the fruit of their labor is about to be revealed. Meet Barbecoa!

BBQ Events: Grill 'em All - The "Victory Lap"

RUB BBQ Presents

Grill 'Em All - The "Victory Lap"

Burgers Brought to you from the winners of the Great Food Truck Race

Saturday October 23, 2010

at RUB BBQ Restaurant

208 w. 23rd Street NY, NY 10011

1:00pm to 3:00pm

Showcasing some of what made them the best in the food truck biz:

• The Molly Hatchet - $10.00
• The Waste 'em All - $9.00
• The Behemoth - $15.00 The Blue Cheer - $9.00
• The Witte - $9.50
• The Hannah Montana - $8.00

Featuring The Pantera Combo

(Exclusively for RUB BBQ and ONLY 25 will be made)

Limited Edition - $20.95

A Blended Beef and Pulled Pork Patty with deep fried mac' & cheese, house cured bacon and Grill 'Em All garlic aioli. Comes with a Beer Milkshake

Call For Reservations

Royal Barbecue

One can't call barbecue plebeian any longer. Barbecue has arrived! It's now good enough to line the pockets of the British Royal Family. According to The Mirror.....

The Queen is holding a £30-a-head BBQ to raise funds for Balmoral. But bangers and burgers won't be on the menu next Saturday as posh diners will be eating venison shot on the Scottish estate.

It costs the Queen, who yesterday agreed to cut Royal Household spending, more than £1million-a-year to maintain the 50,000acre estate. It is increasingly being forced to pay its way and already holds tours and safaris.

The sold-out event, held in Pipers Hall, will include a ceilidh. Balmoral's Gary Marsden said: "Venison is a good healthy meat so we're glad to see it's getting some recognition."

New York City's Best Barbeque. Says You!

City's Best has just launched a new poll to find New York City's best barbecue restaurant. Here's the list of nominations in no particular order. You can vote for you favorite by clicking on the restaurant name. Be sure to check out my thoughts about each establishment. Of course your thoughts may vary.

• Three Brother's Butchers (My review is here)
• Plataforma (Brazilian BBQ? What are they doing on this list?)
• Virgil's Barbecue (My last visit is here)
• Blue Smoke (By this time you should know the drill)
• Daisy May's BBQ (Here)
• Pies and Thighs (Sorry, I haven't been here yet.)
• Dinosaur BBQ (My visit)
• Brother Jimmy's (My last visit)
• Bone Lick Park (My take)
• Hill Country BBQ (Not a full review - but some comments.)

I'm really disappointed with this list. Where's RUB? Where's Wildwood? Rack and Soul? The hipster darling Fette Sau? The Smoke Joint? Where's another media darling Fatty Cue?

I wonder if this is a real poll or just an advertorial. You know - an advertisement that is disguised as an actual article. Hey, it happens.

Wordless Wednesday

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Wordless Wednesday

Grilling Recipes: Pork Paillards with Romesco Sauce

Here at WhiteTrash BBQ Romesco sauce is one of those sauces that I never make on the spur of the moment. It's almost a forgotten sauce. I've never grilled a piece of chicken and thought, "Oh, this needs some Romesco sauce!" And that's a shame. Every time I eat something with Romesco sauce I'm reminded how much I like it.

Jamie Jamie Purviance recipe from Weber's Way to Grill™ served up that reminder to me this week. Try it out!

Pork Paillards with Romesco Sauce

Ingredients:
4 boneless center-cut pork chops, each 6 to 7 ounces and
about 1 inch thick
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
8 small leeks, no wider than 1 inch in diameter (optional)

Sauce:
3/4 cup roughly chopped roasted red bell pepper
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon roughly chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

1. Butterfly each chop from the fat side and trim them of excess fat. One at a time, place each chop between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound to an even 1/4-inch thickness. Lightly brush or spray the paillards with oil and season all sides with salt and pepper.

2. Remove the dark green tops off of each leek, cutting about 2 inches above the point where the leaves begin to darken. Trim just enough of each root end to remove the stringy parts, but leave enough of each root end so the layers remain attached. Cut each leek in half lengthwise. Remove the tough outer leaves on each leek. Rinse the leeks under water, opening up the layers to remove any dirt. Pat dry. Lightly coat the leeks with oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over low heat (250° to 350°F).

4. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the leeks over direct low heat, with the lid closed as much as possible, until softened and slightly charred on all sides, 15 to 20 minutes, turning every couple of minutes for even cooking, and moving over indirect heat if the leeks become too dark before they are tender.

5. In a food processor combine the sauce ingredients. Pulse until you get a semi-smooth consistency. Season to taste with salt.

6. Increase the temperature of the grill to high heat (450° to 550°F). Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the paillards over direct high heat for about 3 minutes on the first side, turning when the meat is nicely marked. The second side will need only a minute to finish cooking.

7. Transfer the paillards, with the first grilled side facing up, to a serving platter or individual plates. Divide the sauce evenly and spoon over the meat. Arrange two leeks on top of each paillard. Garnish with some parsley over the top.

Best BBQ in New York City?

The Zagat survey is out for 2011 and as usual it has some surprising conclusions. Brooklyn's restaurants have stepped up in a big way, but none so surprising, is that Fette Sau has been crowned the best barbecue in NYC. I am shocked. It's been awhile since I've been out to Fette Sau, but to me, it barely squeaked in to the top ten. Looks like a road trip is due.

Some other interesting items from this year's Zagat...

• The Health Department’s new letter-grading system is popular, with 83% of our surveyors approving of it. (New York recently switched to a letter graded system for the cleanliness of restaurants instead of the old numbers based ratings)
• 42% of surveyors think that the government should require restaurants to reduce the amount of salt in their dishes, but 49% oppose a tax on sugary drinks. (the Bloomberg administration has toyed with requiring restaurants to lower the amount of salt in their food and the Governor's office floated a tax on sugary drinks this year.)
• 81% of surveyors feel it’s acceptable to take pictures of their food, but 64% say it’s “rude and inappropriate” to text, e-mail, tweet or talk on a mobile phone at a restaurant. (FANTASTIC NEWS! I always feel uncomfortable taking pictures of food in restaurants. Now I know it's OK and I'm not bothering the other diners. Whew!)
• Surveyors rated overall hospitality in the dining scene a 17, up from 15 during pre-recession times.
• The average cost of a meal in New York is $41.76, a marginal decrease from $41.81 last year. That’s the first decrease since the post–September 11 slump in 2002. (I don't see this at all. Maybe food costs are down in the upper echelon, but in the restaurants I visit prices have been creeping up steadily.)

Photograph of a Fette Sau platter courtesy of Pig Trip - Your guide to BBQ joints in Boston New York and everywhere in between. Not used with permission but I hope Pig Trip won't mind.

Wood: The Soul of Barbecue

"My granddaddy would say, 'I can put enough sauce on a napkin till somebody'll eat it,'"

Samuel Jones, pit master at the Skylight Inn,

"Barbecue isn't the sauce. It's the meat, the wood-smoked meat."

I couldn't agree more. This is the true heart and soul of barbeque. You can read more about it in Wood: The Soul of Barbecue By Jim Shahin and published by The Washington Post

CAPITOL Q from Joe York on Vimeo.

Barbecue Nonesuch

It's just a video about a BBQ joint in Brooklyn called Uncle Jimmy's. Review to come, but I need a return visit before posting. Enjoy. BBQ doesn't have to make sense.

First Look: Hill Country Chicken

So, what's the story behind Hill Country Chicken? Well, I got my first taste at about 8:30 pm on Friday night. What you're looking at are four pieces of fried chicken; a breast and thigh cooked Hill Country Classic style (skin on, breaded and seasoned with Hill Country Chicken Shake)and a leg and a thigh Mamma El Style (skinless, cracker crumb crust and seasoned with a special family recipe,) Picnic Stix (celery and carrot sticks,) Fire-n-Ice Pickles and Pimento Cheese. I also purchased a Mint Tea for me and a Creme Brulee for the wife at home.

So how's the food? I received four perfectly cooked, and I mean PERFECTLY cooked pieces of some of the most tender and juicy fried chicken I've ever had. Flavor wise, however, it was a mixed bag. The Hill Country Classic Chicken tasted as if it were rolled in Shake and Bake and then coated with another thick layer of salt. The Mamma El style - here they have something. A little sweet, a little salty, it's a perfectly balanced very tasty soft cracker coating. Beautiful. The Fire-n-Ice Pickles were sweet and spicy and a good complement to the chicken. The Pimento Cheese was a sweet, creamy orange cheese with just enough punch from the pimentos to make it interesting. Do yourself a favor and let it sit awhile before you eat it as the flavors improve as the cheese warms.

The mint tea was self-served warm with a barely noticeable hint of mint and the Creme Brulee, bruleed to order, was creamy smooth and delicious with a solid sugar crust.

Now how much does all this cost you ask? Well, frankly a lot more than I expected. A single chicken breast: $5.50, a thigh: $3,50, a leg: $2.25 and a wing (which I didn't get - they were out) is $1.75. The Picnic Stix are only $2.00 but is a complete rip off as I received one celery stalk cut into four pieces and 2 small sticks of carrot. The Pimento Cheese was an additional $1.00 with the purchase of the Stix and easily worth the cost. And finally, the Fire-n-Ice pickles were only 50 cents, but frankly I think they should have been included gratis with the meal.

The large mint tea was $2.50 and the "3 inch pie cup" Creme Brulee was $3.00.

What's the place look like? Think 50's retro dinner. Hill Country Chicken could be right at home on the set of The Andy Griffith Show. There are a couple of problems with the layout. The drinks are dispensed from a nook located off to the side. It's a small counter behind the condiment stand and really much to small to service the restaurant efficiently. The other issue I have is that the counters that line the windows are much too high for the chairs. Not a big deal, but eating at the counter was not very comfortable.

So will I be back? Probably. Hill Country Chicken has something great in Mamma El's bird and the sides I had were all very good, but the prices ($27 for 8 pieces of chicken with four biscuits, c'mon) will make me reconsider.

Smoked Pig

How the Pig Gets Smoked at Fatty 'Cue from Gregory Stefano on Vimeo.

Here's an extremely condensed, time wise that is, video of how the pig is prepared at Fatty Cue via Gothamist. Watch How the Pig Gets Smoked at Fatty 'Cue from Gregory Stefano on Vimeo. Nice job guys!