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 25 - The Winners

Hey folks. Sorry for the delay, but here's the awards program for my last contest "Cooking With Your Father."

The winners are:

1. Christopher for his outstanding story of boiled ribs.
2. Dave and his iron stomach
3. Chris for his story of his non-cooking but hard working father.

Thanks for playing guys. Drop me an email at BrooklynQ@gmail.com and I'll get the books to you ASAP

Contest: Cooking With Your Father

Adam Perry Lang has a new cookbook out - BBQ 25 - and I'm giving it away! I've got three copies of BBQ 25: The world's most flavorful recipes now made foolproof for 3 lucky readers. And one could be yours, or your dad's, just in time for Father's Day.

To honor all our fathers, much in the fashion of Adam who uses both his father's and step father's last names, I want to hear stories about cooking with your dad, your grandfather or your step dad or a father figure. It doesn't have to be a cooking story per se, but it must involve food being prepared and/or served.

I'll give out one book to the best story in the dad, granddad and step dad or father figure categories. But here's a twist, my son the vegetarian will choose the winners.

So come on folks, let's hear how dad taught you to grill, or that story of sitting on the river bed cooking up the day's catch with your grandfather, or how your step dad would always prepare a special dish whenever he was going to drop some heavy news, or how your scout master would always insist on cooking but burn the food and serve bologna sandwiches instead for every meal.

Be creative! Have fun! Post your stories below in the comments section. Stories must be posted by Wednesday June 9, 2010. Winners will be announced on Friday, June 11.

Smoked Eggs

Smoked Eggs. "Why?" asked my wife. "Why not?" says I. Apologies to Robert F. Kennedy, but when it comes to putting things into the smoker, I share his optimism about the world. I'll try to smoke anything at least once. Maybe I should be apologizing to Cheech and Chong!

So I boiled my eggs, cooled them and cracked them as per Adam Perry Lang's directions. But I didn't have the egg carton, I put them directly on the grill. I don't think the egg carton really matters as after 12 minutes in boiling water these eggs were already well cooked. Would they still benefit from time in the smoker? We'll see.

My fire was running at 225 and the maple and apple smoke really smelled wonderful on this fall afternoon. There's an old saying in barbecue, "If you're looking, you're not cooking." So I resisted the urge and kept the smoker covered for the full hour Adam recommends.

And what did I find when I opened the cooker? Well, see for yourself....

I was disappointed that they didn't look as pretty as the eggs in Adam's cookbook, but then again, I'm not a food stylist. Many times real food looks nothing like the pictures used to sell it. Have you ever had a McDonald's hamburger look like one in the ads? I haven't. For a real interesting site that deals with just this situation, take a look at Fast Foods: Ads vs. Reality.

The brown eggs suffered more in the cooking, but I assume it was due to the fact that they were about one week older then the white eggs. I was still curious to see how they'd taste.

Peeling these eggs were darn near impossible. The egg whites held on to the shell and only the yolks were salvageable. I did get to taste small portions of the whites and frankly, they had no discernible smoked flavor. So what do you do with 6 eggs yolks? I made Remoulade Sauce, which in turn made a very tasty shrimp salad. And it the sauce spiced up some cold cut sandwhiches the next day.

So even with the disappointing eggs, all in all the day was a success! Smoke on!

REMOULADE SAUCE

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

2 hard cooked egg yolks, sieved
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp. prepared mustard
1 1/2 c. mayonnaise (not salad dressing)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
1 tbsp. paprika
1 1/2 tbsp. horseradish
Dash of Tabasco
2 tbsp. vinegar
1/4 c. finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Blend ingredients and chill. Go easy on salt and pepper.

Makes about 2 cups.

Shrimp Salad: For shrimp salad, blend 1 quart cooked, chopped shrimp, 1/2 cup chopped celery, 1/4 cup chopped onion, 2 boiled eggs and enough Remoulade sauce to hold the mixture together.

Smoked Eggs and Chili

A couple of years ago, my buddy the Blue Mule over at Howling Hog BBQ posted about smoked eggs. I was intrigued and have always wanted to try them. I actually did get to try one at the Harpoon BBQ Contest when I finally met the Blue Mule in the flesh. I enjoyed the eggs and the company, but now curiosity satisfied, the idea of making them got buried deep in the back of my feeble head.

But then, Adam Perry Lang publishes Serious Barbecue, and looky here, there is a recipe for Smoked Eggs. Suddenly a fire that died down long ago was rekindled. I was making chili and there was plenty of room on the smoker for another item. It was time for me to make smoked eggs!

I'll publish my experiences in another post, but here's Adam's recipe for Hard Smoke Eggs (copied from Oprah's website)

Hard Smoked Eggs

Recipe created by Adam Perry Lang

When I worked in French kitchens, we used to infuse eggs with all kinds of fancy stuff, like cheese and truffles, but before my friend Marc Farris, BBQ TV, clued me in to this cool way to cook eggs, I had never infused them with smoke. It's insanely easy: Boil them a bit and then throw them in the smoker for about 45 minutes. Believe me, nothing makes a better egg salad than these babies.

Ingredients:

Makes 12 eggs

• 1 dozen large eggs in a cardboard carton (save the carton)
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 2 Tbsp. finely chopped chives
• 2 Tbsp. thinly sliced scallions, white and green portions
• 1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp. celery salt
• 1/4 cup to 6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1. Preheat an indirect barbecue with a drip pan and hardwood (preferably hickory or oak), a ceramic cooker with deflector plate and hardwood (preferably hickory or oak), or a charcoal or gas grill with a box or packet of hardwood (preferably hickory or oak) to 225°F.

2. Place the eggs in a saucepan that will hold them in an even layer. Pour in just enough water to cover and stir in the salt. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Cover and remove from the heat. Let sit, covered, for 12 minutes. Remove the lid and put the eggs under cold running water for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the eggs from the water. Roll each egg on the table to crack the shell. The shell should remain intact, but be cracked. Set the eggs back in the carton.

4. Place the carton of eggs with the top open in the cooker for 1 hour.

5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl toss the chives and scallions with the lemon juice, followed by the celery salt.

6. Remove the eggs from the cooker.

When cool enough to handle, but still warm, peel the eggs.

Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and arrange on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the chive mixture.

From Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang. Copyright © 2009. Published by Hyperion. Available wherever books are sold. All rights reserved. Photo: by David Loftus

Adam's Chili ala WhiteTrash BBQ

So, I cooked today. I actually cooked today! I lit a fire! I broke out the Weber Smokey Mountain and put on a pot of chili. I don't know if I mentioned it but I live on a corner lot, on a busy street that sees a large amount of foot traffic of people coming and going to the subway. Cooking barbecue on the Weber usually causes stares, as the WSM is a bit unusual for this neighborhood, but lifting the lid and stirring a pot of chili on the Weber caused people to stop in their tracks and ask questions!

As I mentioned I followed Adam Perry Lang's recipe from his book Serious Barbecue as closely as I possibly could. Below is a close up of the chili after about 1 hour on the smoker, after the first stir. Adam doesn't mention stirring the chili in the cookbook, but as the chili cooked I noticed that the top "skin" of the chili took on a much darker hue, so I stirred it into the pot every hour or so.


So, how did it taste? Did it live up to the chili Adam serves at Daisy May's? I have to say no. It wasn't as good, but it was still some of the better chilies I've had in a long long time. There was almost no heat up front, but a good amount after and in the throat. It definitely needed some more heat and a strong shot of Tabasco helped immensely.

So what was wrong with it you ask? Well, it may have been my choice of peppers. The Chili Mulato has a strong "chocolaty" taste that came through in the bowl of red which changed the taste from a bowl of Texas Chili to more of a bowl of Mexican Mole. Here's a look at the final product served with some "popcorn" brown rice.


Next time, I'll order the New Mexican Chili that Adam recommends!

Lighting the fire, feeling the heat and smelling the wood smoke has made me restless. I'm feeling very antsy tonight. The wander lust has been awoken. Watch out, now. Beware of Maya.

A Bowl of Red

Tonight, I'm making Chili. No, that's not right. Tonight, I'm beginning to make Chili. To be more precise, I'm making Texas-Style Chili aka Bowl of Red. And I'm using a cook book for the recipe.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you will know how much I love the Chili that Adam Perry Lang makes at his restaurant Daisy May's BBQ. You can always rely on the chili at Daisy May's. It's always fantastic. Rich, spicy, thick and savory. Everything a bowl of red can be.

So what does Adam and Daisy have to do with my making Chili? Well, in the beginning of the summer, Adam published the cook book Serious Barbecue. Let me tell you it's a seriously good cookbook and highly recommended, and on page 193 he lists his recipe for Texas-Style Chili aka Bowl of Red. Since I bought the book, way back in June, I've been dying to try out this recipe. If this chili is half as good as the chili he serves, it will make an outstanding meal.

I'm not going to give you the recipe. You'll have to buy the book for that, but I'm following the recipe as closely as possible. I can't tell you how rarely I follow a recipe. Usually I use recipes as inspiration and adjust them to what I have on hand or to what flavors I like. Adam's chili is so good that I'm following his recipe as closely as I possibly can.

So far, I've only made two small modifications. Adam call's for 1 (one) lb of whole pod dried chilies, preferably New Mexican. Now I thought I could buy those in one of my local markets, but all they had were Mexican chilies, so I bought 2 oz of Chile Guajillo, 4 oz of Chile Mulato and 10 oz of Chile Ancho all produced by Central Chilera de Puebla. I've never used the Guajillo or Mulato Chilies before but Ancho and I are old friends. I hope these chilies aren't too hot!

So far, this has been a complex process. I had to seed and stem all the dried chilies, soak and steam them and puree them with some more ingredients as per the recipe. I would say it took about 45 minutes to prepare it to this point. Right now, the meat and chili mixture is marinating in my refrigerator. That's a picture of the meat mixture above. I don't have any plastic bags large enough to hold the 4 lbs of chuck, cut into 1 (one) inch cubes, so I used a baking dish. The meat is thoroughly coated with the chili mixture, thinly sliced sweet onions and micro-planed garlic.

More tomorrow after it hits the smoker.

Oh, if you decide to make this. Buy some disposable rubber gloves before you begin. Chili oil on your hands leads to chili oil in places chili oil doesn't belong. Trust me. It's not pretty.

You Say It's Your Birthday....

...Happy Birthday To You!

Today is Adam Perry Lang's birthday. Happy Birthday buddy! Many more to you.

To you who haven't paid attention, Adam is one of the icons of competition barbecue. He's a classically trained chef who worked in some of the top restaurants in the world, but discovered barbecue when he watched some cowboys in New Mexico barbecue some meat. Adam is the proprietor of the highly successful Daisy May's BBQ in New York City and occasionally competes in the KCBS competition circuit. He's also a friend.

Adam's also written a fantastic book, Serious Barbecue. It's a serious book which deserves a serious review, but until then here's a teaser recipe. Enjoy.

Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste & Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking

by Adam Perry Lang (Hyperion)

Grilled Shrimp Cocktail from Serious Barbecue

Serves 8

After these plump up from a quick brine, and cook in their shells, they'll eat more like peel-and-eat lobster tails than plain old shrimp. Serve this alongside grilled steak, and it'll be not only a great respite from the meat's richness, but it'll give you a surf-and-turf experience, which for me was one of the most exciting things to get at a restaurant when I was little.

Brine
8 cups water
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 lemons
4 garlic cloves, peeled, and grated on a Microplane grater
3 cups ice

Twenty-four 8 to 12 count unpeeled shrimp (this means shrimp that come 8 to 12 to a pound)
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup minced chives
Kosher salt
Freshly ground coarse black pepper
Cocktail Sauce

2 lemons, each cut into 4 wedges

1. Combine all of the brine ingredients in a large bowl and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. Cut the lemons in half, squeeze the juice into the brine, and add the whole lemons as well. Stir in the garlic, followed by the ice.

For each of the shrimp, using a paring knife, cut along the curve of the back of the shrimp, and remove the vein, keeping the shells intact. Clip the feet off with a small pair of scissors.

Place the shrimp in the brine and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Preheat all grates of a well--oiled charcoal or gas grill to medium.

3. Remove the shrimp from the brine and lightly pat dry with paper towels.

In a bowl, toss the shrimp in the canola oil.

In a separate bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, and chives. Set aside.

4. Place the shrimp on the grate, close the lid, and grill for 4 minutes. Flip to the second side and grill for 4 minutes.

5. Remove from the grill and immediately place in the bowl with the olive oil mixture, tossing to coat. Season with salt and pepper and serve with cocktail sauce and lemon wedges on the side.

From Serious Barbecue by Adam Perry Lang. Copyright © 2009. Published by Hyperion. All Rights Reserved. Photograph courtesy of Hyperion.

Going Down on Daisy

Yesterday I picked up a copy of Adam Perry Lang's new cookbook Serious Barbecue. This is an outstanding book and a review will be coming toot sweet, but not today. Today I have a different story to tell.

After leaving the book store, I high tailed it down to Daisy May's (Adam Perry Lang's NYC BBQ joint) with the hope that Adam would be there and I could get him to autograph it for me. I knew it was a long shot, but I figured what the hell. The least I'd get out of it was a good meal.

Daisy May's is probably the barbecue restaurant I frequent most. The place is a glorified take out joint which works very well for me in my life as a consultant. I can usually find a parking spot right in front, get my food and get on my way. Going to Daisy May's doesn't require the same time commitment a visit to a sit down joint. It suits me just fine.

When I arrived last night, at about 7 pm, I ordered my food, paid and asked the cashier if Adam was there explaining that I wanted to get his autograph. The cashier asked if I had called first. I told her no, but was hoping to catch Adam. She laughed and said "Adam's never here."

As I was waiting for my food, I started to think about the last time I saw Adam at the restaurant. I consider Adam a friend and every time I'm at Daisy May's I ask for him. About a year ago, I was told by the cashier that "Adam is never here after 5:00pm." OK, makes sense. He's a family guy with two young children. He needs to be home.

About 6 months ago I was told Adam was only there "occasionally." I started hearing rumors that Adam was no longer involved in Daisy May's, but Adam reassured me that he was still at the helm and at Daisy May's "all the time." I still wondered as more stories appeared about Adam working with Mario Batali in Vegas, working with Jamie Oliver in London and working on his book. Had Adam lost interest in Daisy May's?

About 4 months ago, I noticed that the place had become inconsistent in its food. Some visits were outstanding, others, well not so much. Unfortunately, this isn't too uncommon when it comes to barbecue places, but it appeared that Daisy May's was slipping. A couple of months ago, I brought my wife, daughter and two of her friends to Daisy Mays for lunch. Something was definitely off; cold food, burnt ribs, everything over salted. About the same time, I sent a friend and his wife there for dinner. They weren't happy.

Last night, since I had time to sit down, I ordered the brisket plate with baked beans and macaroni and cheese, (8oz of chopped brisket and two sides for $14.) and a quart of sweet tea ($4). The tea as always was fantastic, minty with just the right sweetness. The brisket was horrendous, overly sweet and mostly chunks of fat. The beans which claim to be made with burnt ends, were also studded with these same chunks of fat. The macaroni and cheese was so over cooked that it could have easily passed for mush. Diners on both sides of me were complaining to each other that they hadn't gotten what was ordered.

I'm glad that this wasn't my first visit to Daisy May's because it would have been my last.

It pains me to write this review, as I mentioned, I consider Adam a friend. But when I started this blog I told myself I'd report the good and bad and let the chips fall where they may. Adam agreed with that philosophy back then, I hope he still does.

C'mon home Adam. Daisy needs her man.



Photgraph of Daisy May's BBQ courtesy of Pig Trip and used with permission. Use of this photograph does not imply that Pig Trip shares my opinions of Daisy May's. For their review of Daisy May's please click here.

Adam Perry Lang

Frequent readers of this blog will know Adam Perry Lang. It's always good to see him on the competition trail or at his restaurant Daisy May's BBQ. I was real surprised to get this in my email today.

Here's Adam with a quick primer on how to cook California stone fruit, that's peaches, plumbs and nectarines to you and me. Enjoy.

Tuesday Two

Well, it didn't work. My head says I'm fine, but my body has other ideas.

March Madness continues. Dinner tonight: grilled London broil, corn and pasta for the swimmer.

Be sure to check out this month's Food and Wine magazine. This month features a great article on Passover dinner with a modern twist as presented by my buddy Adam Perry Lang of Daisy May's Barbecue. The article also drops some great news; Adam's releasing a cookbook called Daisy May's Barbecue. Personally, I can't wait.

Picture of Adam Perry Lang's Short Ribs courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine.