BBQ Life: 5 Days to Go

5 days to go until the Hudson Valley Ribfest.

When we last met, I posted my then current state of mind about the contest and it wasn't good. Since then the team's talked quite a bit and it things are looking much more positive. We've all come to agreements on the visitors, attitudes and levels of commitment. This contest will be a lot of fun and the team is beginning to gel.

Today, I thought I'd play around with Tilapia. I'd cooked this firm white fish before, but this is the first time I cooked it on the grill. We still haven't decided what fish we're cooking on Saturday, so I was combing the cookbooks for a new idea.

I settled on the recipe for Beer-Brined Smoked Catfish by Hill Country's Elizabeth Karmel that was published in Mike Mills' Peace, Love and Barbecue on page 234. Elizabeth has a great reputation and her food at Hill Country is fantastic. I was really looking forward to trying this fish. I didn't have catfish but I've substituted tilapia for catfish successfully before, so I didn't think it would be an issue here.

Boy was I wrong. This was the worst fish meal I've ever had. The brine took all the flavor out of the fish and left it a salty, albeit flaky, slab. UGH. No one, including me could eat more than one bite. I'd put up the recipe, but I don't want you to suffer like we did. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this one. This is the first time I've thrown away something I cooked since I was 18. Someone owes me $14.

BBQ Recipes: Deviled Eggs

This appeared in The Washington Post and is written by Hill Country's own Elizabeth Karmel. Enjoy.

Smoky Chipotle Deviled Eggs
Elizabeth Karmel

Makes 24 deviled eggs

INGREDIENTS

• 1 dozen large eggs
• 1/3 cup Hellmann’s mayonnaise
• 1-2 canned chipotle chilies with clinging adobo sauce
• 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon natural rice vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground Ancho Chile
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• Zest of 1/2 lime
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• Tabasco
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt or more to taste
• Ground Ancho chile for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Place the eggs in a large stockpot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. Let sit 20 minutes. Drain and run under cold water until eggs are cool to the touch. Let sit another ten minutes.

Peel eggs carefully, keeping whites in tact. Cut in half lengthwise and remove yolks. Set whites aside on a platter or egg plate. Break yolks up and mash with a fork until all large pieces are broken up and smooth.

Puree mayonnaise, chipotle(s), butter and vinegar in a small food processor. Taste and add another chipotle if the flavor is too faint, add more mayo if it is too strong. Add ancho chile powder, lime juice and zest, garlic powder and Tabasco. Stir well. Taste and season with sea salt. Note: If yolks are not smooth, run entire mixture through the food processor and place in a pastry bag in the refrigerator until cool.

Place in a pastry bag or use a small spoon to fill egg white “boats” with “deviled” egg yolk mixture. Sprinkle with ancho chile powder
TIPS

You may need to cut a thin sliver off the bottom of the egg whites to make sure that they "sit” level.

BBQ Camp

I found this today in my RSS feeds. It's a very interesting story about Elizabeth Karmel and BBQ summer camps. I've known about these camps for years, and from what I hear, they are worth every penny.

But, buried deep in the story I found a very surprising tid-bit of information;Ms. Karmel is executive chef at Hill Country. Hill Country is NYC's new BBQ restaurant that will soon be opening on 26th street. Hill Country, your pitt-master is very good at keeping secrets.

High-brow meets low-brow on BBQ tour

When it comes to camping, Greensboro native Elizabeth Karmel has come a long way from her summers at Camp Seafarer in Pamlico County.

The latest project from the cooking instructor, cookbook author and creator of www.girlsatthegrill.com is a series of summer "camps" focused on barbecue in North Carolina (April 22-26), Memphis (Sept. 18-23) and Texas (Nov. 4-8). The trips cost $3,750 per person, excluding airfare. And there's not a pup tent in sight.

"With the luxury accommodations, it combines the highbrow and the lowbrow," said Karmel, author of "Taming the Flame." "That way you get the best of what the area has to offer."

To add to the atmosphere, the trips include such camp staples as making s'mores and giving out prizes to the campers.

"Everybody loves camp, right?" Karmel said.

The Camp BBQ tours are glorified field trips that grew out of Karmel's monthly Southern barbecue class at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City -- so popular that it has a year-long waiting list. Participation in each trip is limited to 20 campers.

First on the agenda, and in Karmel's heart, is the trip here to introduce campers to the glory of pulled pork. Based in the luxurious Fearrington House south of Chapel Hill, the campers will make forays east to Wilson, where pitmaster Ed Mitchell will serve up whole hog barbecue with a vinegar-based sauce, and west to Greensboro and Lexington for pulled pork with ketchup-based sauce at Stamey's and Lexington No. 1. In between, they'll dine at such local institutions as Allen & Sons, Crook's Corner, Mama Dip's and Magnolia Grill.

"People are always asking me, 'What's your favorite place?' so I thought it would be fun to take people down there to introduce them to my barbecue buddies," she said.

But over the years and the miles, Karmel said she has become an "equal opportunity barbecuer." Her second trip focuses on the ribs of Memphis, Tenn., and Murphysboro, Ill. As an added bonus, her campers will form a team with barbecue expert Mike Mills (co-author of "Peace, Love and Barbecue") to compete in the 20th annual Murphysboro Barbecue Contest.

The year's last stop is in central Texas and the Hill Country for beef, brisket and sausage. The area in and around Austin is known for barbecue that has been influenced by immigrants from Mexico and Germany, Karmel said, bringing together jalapeños and sausage.

"I love that sort of cultural mesh," she said.

Hill Country is also the name of the new Texas-style barbecue restaurant where Karmel is developing dishes as executive chef. The restaurant, on 26th Street in New York, will open in May.

Eventually, Karmel would like to add even more regions to Camp BBQ. "I would love to do Kansas City or California during the wine harvest."