Where's There Smoke - There's Flavor

A cute little video from Alton Brown about using smoke for flavor when cooking.

This is also posted at the NEW - WhiteTrash Barbecue - Check it out!

Real Cheap Eats

Hey folks. It's been a long time since I've been here.In the words of the immortal, indomitable Dolly...

I went away from my the lights of 14th Street
And into my personal haze
But now that I'm back in the lights of 14th Street
Tomorrow will be brighter than the good old days

Well, I don't know about the lights of 14th Street, but I do know about the lights of a barbecue fire. I've been away, but the flames are slowly drawing me back. I'm not there yet, at least not in a way I can share with all of you, but I haven't been too far removed from the food world. I'm always out there.

Read more »

Barbecue Ingredients: Ketchup

Ketchup. Yes, ketchup is probably one of the most common ingredients on the barbecue circuit. You wouldn't know it from looking around the competition tents, but it is. It forms the basis of many home made and even many store bought barbeque sauces.

Nowadays, most Americans think of ketchup as a tomato based product, but that wasn't always the case. Hundreds of years ago, the Chinese and Malaysians used the brine from pickled fish as dipping sauces. Known as kachiap, the sauce had a savory taste, flavored by the brine spices and fish. Europe in the 1600s, cooks began experimenting with different ingredients—besides anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, oysters, and even lemons appeared in various ketchup recipes over the next couple of centuries. Throughout the ages, the only ingredient that remained constant was salt.

In the New World, tomatoes were known to be used in ketchup as early as the 1780s, though the first published recipe for tomato ketchup—created by James Mease, a physician and horticulturist from Philadelphia—dates only from 1812.

It wasn't until the late 1800's when a Pennsylvania food producer took tomatoes, added vinegar, sugar, onion and some secret spices and bottled it did tomato ketchup take hold. Now, pretty much all ketchup in America is made the same way. Sure, the seasonings vary from brand brand, but to Americans, ketchup is a thick tomato based sauce.

Now when it comes to barbecue sauce and ketchup, well some would say that's a marriage made in heaven. Do a Google search for "ketchup and barbecue sauce" and you'll get 1,770,000 hits. Thanks to our friends at Kraft Foods, a thick tomato based sauce, aka Kansas City style, has become the definition of barbecue sauce in the US. Even in Texas, when they do use sauce, ketchup is often the first ingredient.

So, the next time you reach for a bottle of barbeque sauce, remember, you're just putting doctored up ketchup on your ribs! Enjoy.

Photo of ketchup courtesy http://www.instructables.com 

Ternera a la Llanera -- Wherefore Art Thou?

Photo courtesy of http://blog.shankbone.org/

The above photo was taken at a Lower East Side of Manhattan street fair, sometime in the past. I don't know which fair. I don't know when. All I know is I want to be at that fair and I want one of those grills.

According to Wikipedia the guy in the picture is preparing "Ternera a la Llanera," a dish from the Colombian marshlands. From what I've found on the web, thank you Chrome's instant translation service, Ternera a la Llanera is the cooking of an entire veal. Now, it they're cooking an entire veal on the streets of NYC - I NEED to be there!

Here's the process....

Preparation of Veal llanera or "Mammon" is itself a party, this will kill a calf of approximately one year. The most important preparation are the cuts. There are four classics that are the bear, the eels, rays and the heron.

The bear is the part that covers the neck, throat, jaw and tongue, cut from top to bottom, so that will be taking down the dam.

The Shakers are breast meat, which are extruded in long strips.

The line includes the hindquarters, which, cut from the top (legs), including the tail, and part of the thighs. Cut trying to maintain a round shape with the tail like a bay.

The Heron is only the udder.

The cuts were made by cutting the extra skin, wrap the meat with it are exposed. Strips are sewn with the same skin, so that the meat is completely covered in the oven. Once LSTA and only seasoned with salt (including the head) is roasted in clay and brick oven at medium temperature (250 ° C) for 8 to 12 hours.

One way to know when the beef is ready, when the lips, head, shrink, giving it a cheerful expression.

Where this at? Someone, please tell me!

Wordless Wednesday

Barbecue Basics: Fire

Fire. It's an amazing thing. It's so amazing that the ancient Greeks considered it one of the major elements. Water, air, earth and fire. The four building blocks that make up the world. Even today, people refer to fire as a living, breathing thing. Fire is probably the most destructive force in nature. But fire, when harnessed correctly can also be one of the most beneficial. In the world of barbecue, it's probably the most important element.

Unlike water, air and earth, fire isn't matter. It's a chemical reaction. A side effect if you will, of changing form. Fire is caused by a reaction of oxygen with some sort of fuel. In the case of a barbecue, that fuel is ideally wood. Now just having wood and oxygen together doesn't automatically create fire. If it did, we'd all be in pretty bad shape. Something must heat the wood, and that can be anything from a match to lightening to friction. Oh, I remember my Boy Scout days of starting fires by rubbing two sticks together. What a pain in the ass that was!

Once the wood reaches 300 degrees Fahrenheit, the cellulose in the wood begins to break down. This decomposed cellulose releases volatile gases, aka smoke. Smoke is made up of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. Once all that is burned off, we're left with - char; the nonburnable remnants of the wood. The char is nearly pure carbon, and ash, which is the minerals in the wood (calcium, potassium, and so on). On the store shelves, this char is known as charcoal. Charcoal is wood that has been heated to remove all the volatile gases, leaving behind only carbon. This is why pure charcoal doesn't produce smoke when it burns.

Now the actual burning of wood takes two stages. First up, when the wood reaches 500 degrees Fahrenheit, the atoms in the wood break apart. They combine with the oxygen forming water, carbon dioxide and all sorts of other compounds. In other words - it burns. Once the gases burn off, the char ignites. The pure carbon of the char burns much more slowly and creates most of the heat of a wood fire.

As the atoms heat up, they produce light. This process is called incandescence. Flame colors will vary depending on the temperature of the fire, and the fuel source. Variations in the flame are caused by uneven temperatures. Blue flame is the hottest. Yellow the coolest.

How many nights have I sat transfixed watching the flames shoot up? Their little point dancing between the wood - or teasing the underside of a steak without ever stopping to think why fire is pointed. Well, it's due to gravity. All the hot gases in the flame are much hotter (and less dense) than the surrounding air, so they move upward toward lower pressure. If we were in space, without gravity, the fire would burn in a sphere. Great balls of fire anyone?

Fire is self perpetuating. It keeps the fuel at ignition temperature, so it continues to burn as long as there is fuel and oxygen around it. The flame heats any surrounding fuel so it releases gases as well. When the flame ignites the gases, the fire spreads. Sometimes you want this, sometimes you don't.

Your job as a pitmaster is to control that flame. And once you have mastered fire control, you will have mastered the first step to outstanding barbecue.

Best Barbecue Pork Ribs in Manhattan

Photograph: Jessica Leibowitz at Serious Eats

OK. I'll wait.

Done yet?

C'mon. Really?

OK, children settle down now. Stop the laughing. Yes - the title of this post is the "Best Barbecue Pork Ribs in Manhattan," as in New York City. Yes, we do have multiple true barbecue restaurants in Manhattan and even more in Brooklyn. And today, we'll talk about the "best" pork barbecue ribs in Manhattan. Are they the best in the nation? No one said that, so you Southerners. Relax. We're not taking the crown just yet.

James Boo, Seriouseats.com NY's budding barbecue expert invited me, my buddy Ned Berke of Sheepsheadbites.com, Edible Queens blogger and 'cue enthusiast Joe DiStefano (known in certain circles as "Joey Deckle"), barbecue ambassador Amy Mills to join the staff and judge Manhattan's best pork barbecue ribs and the results are surprising.

Here's what happened, as James tells on Serious Eats...

This tasting focused on smoked pork ribs available for dine-in or take-out in Manhattan. Choices were based on our informal poll on SENY and the Barbecue Bureau's top choices. We purchased half-racks of spare ribs to-go from each restaurant, with the exception of Rack and Soul, which only serves baby back ribs:

• Blue Smoke: Kansas City Spareribs
• Daisy May's BBQ: Kansas City Sweet and Sticky Pork Ribs
• Daisy May's BBQ: Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs
• Dinosaur Barbeque Harlem: St. Louis Bar-B-Que Spare Ribs
• Hill Country New York: Pork spare ribs
• Rack and Soul: BBQ: Baby Back Ribs
• RUB: St. Louis-Style Long End"

I'll pick it up from here. We were led into the Serious Eats office and spread out before us was a large conference table with 7 plates of ribs lined up on one side. The only identifiable marking was a purple post-it tag with the numbers of 1 to 7 written on them. We stood around a while discussing how the judging was to take place and finally dove in.

When we sat down I thought I recognized a couple of the ribs, but as I was eating them I honestly lost my preconceived notions. I knew RUB was there. So was Daisy May, Blue Smoke and Hill Country. I saw them on the plates lined up for tasting, but by the time a rib got to my plate I had no idea which restaurant produced it. Joey Deckle was distributing the ribs to the plate and we were all sharing ribs. Trying to figure out where 1/2 a rib came from was a useless pursuit. So my dear readers, this was true blind judging. 

I'm not going to re-write James's post about the whole experience. You should read it over on Serious Eats, but here's the winners from the panel's perspective.

1. Rack and Soul's BBQ Baby Back Ribs (7.8/10)
2. Daisy May's BBQ's Kansas City Sweet and Sticky Pork Ribs (7.3/10)
3. Daisy May's BBQ's Memphis Dry Rub Pork Ribs(6.8/10)
4. Hill Country New York's Pork Spare Ribs (6.3/10)
5. Dinosaur Barbeque Harlem's St. Louis Bar-B-Que Spare Ribs (6.1/10)
6. Blue Smoke's Kansas City Spare Ribs (5.5/10)
7. RUB's St. Louis-Style Long End (4.5/10)

Frankly, I'm a bit surprised by these results. We all discussed our winners and losers and I didn't leave thinking this was how it would play out. James still had to tally our written votes, with the exception of Rack and Soul being the hands down winner, every other position was still in flux.

My feelings -- To me, the top two were Daisy May's. My winner was the dry rub ribs, followed by Daisy's sweet and sticky ribs. This really surprised me as my last visits to Daisy May's proved so disappointing that I wrote a post pleading with Adam Perry Lang to abandon his London restaurants and take care of Daisy. Maybe he listened, but whomever is handling the cookers at Daisy May's now is doing a great job. I need to get back there and update my comments. 

My least favorite in the bunch was Blue Smoke's Kansas City Style Spare Ribs. They were completely untrimmed, fatty and tasteless. To me, it appeared that the chef  had completely given up. There were no discernible spices, nor bark or smoke on these ribs. Huge chunks of fat dominated them and easily over powered the meat. I wouldn't have been surprised to be given these ribs from some newlywed's first attempt at cooking ribs in oven.

Hill Country's ribs didn't fare much better. While these ribs were cooked well, the salt, pepper, paprika seasoning just doesn't cut it for pork. "Hammy" was the most frequently heard comment here. Stick with the beef boys. 

As for the others, well it was a mixed bag as under cooking seemed to be the most common mistake.

I can't wait to do it again!

Tuesday's Tips

Photo courtesy of  http://www.barbecue-party.com

Today's Tuesday - so here's a tip for you. Keep your grill clean. Nothing messes up a good grilling session than a dirty grill. Burnt on food can turn rancid, and scrapping it into your new fire causes an acrid smoke flavor. It can get even worse on a low slow cook of barbecue. Ever bite into a succulent juicy rib, only to be immediately repulsed by the flavor of dirty smoke?  Keep it clean Joe.

PS. I was part of a team of elite foodies and a barbecue legendess (She's like a princess with her pedigree!) who took part in a super secret pork rib-off of Manhattan's barbecue restaurants yesterday ins a super secret location.. The very surprising results will be posted soon.

PPS - To all my loyal Jewish friends and readers - Happy Pasach! And sorry for the post about pork. My bad.

Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boy

Photo: Daily News

You may have recently seen your favorite blogger written up in the The New York Daily News with his Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boy Recipe. The article rightly focused on Grillin' On The Bay, New York's only sanctioned BBQ Contest, but they wanted a recipe from your's truly to give the piece a more human touch. They wanted something simple and not very complex. So on the morning of the photo shoot, I came up with a quick recipe for Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boys.

I thought my recipe was very straight forward and simple, but the powers that be at the Daily News proclaimed the original recipe far too complex for the average reader. They then claimed it was much too long for the allocated space in the paper. "You're giving me 6 inches. I can only handle 2." said Ben Chapman, the uncredited author of the news article. Leaving all sexual innuendo aside, we chopped up the recipe, changed ingredients and removed enough steps so that Ben could handle it. It didn't change the final product too much but the original is much better.

Since you're all barbecue cooks or aspiring barbecue cooks, I assume you can handle the true unedited, full of obscure and hard to find ingredients, uncensored recipe. Here's the real deal.

Photo of the original recipe courtesy of the New York Daily News.

Grilled Shrimp and Sausage Po' Boys (Serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 1lb sweet luganiga (Portuguese sausage) or your favorite link sausage
• 1lb jumbo shrimp, cleaned and de-veined
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
• 1 cup limeaide
• 2 cloves garlic diced
• 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning
• Baby Lettuce
• Mayonaise
• Chopped sundried tomatoes in oil.
• 6 - 6" crusty Italian rolls
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Cooking Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil and limeaide. When emulsified, whisk in the garlic, Old Bay, salt and pepper. Add shrimp. Marinate shrimp for one to two hours. Do not marinate for more than 2 hours or the acid in the limeaide will begin to cook the shrimp.

Prepare a charcoal fire. When the fire is hot, grill the sausage until cooked through, approximately 15 minutes. Set aside. Drain shrimp from marinade. Do not dry them. Grill shrimp until pink and opaque for approximately 3 minutes per side. Do not over cook.Set shrimp aside. Slice bread to open, grill bread approximately one minute.

To assemble the sandwich. Put mayo on one side of the roll. Top with baby lettuce. Cut sausage into slices. Alternatively place sausage and shrimp on the lettuce. Top with chopped sun dried tomatoes. Serve.

Barbecue - The Basics

Back in 1968 with The Beatles dissolving slowly and beginning the low and winding road to disbanding, Paul McCartney came up with the idea of the band reaching back to its roots. The plan was for the band to abandon the studio trickery and return to playing as a four man rock band, get back on the road and capture that magic feeling of sweet dreams that fueled their rise to stardom in the first place. Get back to where they once belonged.

 It didn't work for The Beatles, at least not as a band, but it did work for the four men as individuals.

But, I believe it's going to work for me, barbecue and this blog. I'm going back to where I once belonged. I'm going to take you with me. I'm not letting the lack of redesign stop me from posting anymore. I'm not going to let an old topic stop me from writing about it again. Looking back, some of the posts are over 6 years old. So even if I wrote about it in the past, I might cover it again. I must have learned something in all those years.

I'm going back to working on this blog when I'm in the mood to write and when I'm not. I've found in the past that the routine of writing is work at first, then discipline, then routine. The trick is to keep the routine from becoming banal, boring and tedious. But hell, I'm going to give it a shot. 

So, starting Monday, we're going back to basics. Wood. Fire. Meat. Spices. Sauce.Brines. Equipment. My witty jocular and droll writing. My attempts at video and photography. Maybe even some music when I'm in the mood. I bet you all can't wait. I know you like me. You really like me. 

New Year - New Barbecue in New York City

Things must be looking up in the economy. Seems like there's a slew of new barbecue joints opening up in New York City. I know of a few that aren't mentioned here, but according to Zagat, here's a couple that are confirmed and some to look forward to...

Danny Meyer’s Battery Park City Spots: The restaurateur behind the Union Square Hospitality Group plans to open three new restaurants at the lower tip of Manhattan. The offerings include a branch of Blue Smoke, another Shake Shack and a unnamed fine-dining restaurant (Fall; 102 N. End Ave.).

Neely’s Barbecue Parlor: This Southern-style joint from Pat and Gina Neely of The Food Network was originally scheduled for November, but now you can expect the beer, bourbon and barbecue to start rolling in March (1125 First Ave.)

And - maybe, just maybe, a barbecue joint will rise quietly in the far reaches of Brooklyn. Stranger things have been known to happen.

Photo of Pat Neely courtesy of Soul of America. Photo of Blue Smoke courtesy of ifood.tv

Mad Dog BBQ Sauce

Below is a press release. I don't usually post press releases, but this is about the company that makes my absolutely favorite barbecue sauce, Mad Dog. Now I love the original, and I love the spicy. The judges at competition - well they sure as hell don't. Enjoy.

BBQ Spells Success for MA Entrepreneur

Twenty years in business and 28 sauces later, Ashley Food Company, Inc. continues to beat the odds. The secret to success for entrepreneur David “Mad Dog” Ashley lies in giving customers a reason to come back for more. The original Mad Dog all natural bbq sauce kicked the company into high gear 20 year ago. Its popularity spawned the expansion into a whole family of Mad Dog sauces over the next 5, 10 and 15 year milestones. Now the #1 rated BBQ sauce by America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Magazine comes in three varieties, Original, Chipotle and Ultra Hot. Dun & Bradstreet reports, "Businesses with fewer than 20 employees have only a 9% chance of surviving 10 years." Ashley Food Company, Inc. is an exception to the rule.

Sudbury, MA (Vocus/PRWEB) December 20, 2010

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Ashley Food Company, Inc., founder David “Mad Dog” Ashley just introduced a family of three barbecue sauces featuring the ever popular, Mad Dog Original all natural bbq sauce. The original has the same, rich flavor that ranked it #1 by America's test Kitchen and Cook's Magazine. The new Chipotle Mad Dog barbecue sauce has the same heat as the original, award-winning recipe and has a distinctive, new smoky flavor. The Ultra Hot Mad Dog barbecue sauce has been enhanced with added Ghost Peppers making it one of hottest BBQ sauces ever made.

What gives Chipotle Mad Dog bbq sauce its smooth, smoky flavor are large, red ripe, dried jalapeños that are called chipotle peppers. These peppers are the last ones to be harvested so they are brown in color. They are smoked slowly over an open fire for an unmistakable taste. There are many different grades of chipotle peppers. Ashley Food Company, Inc. uses only high-grade chipotle, the finest money can buy.

When customers asked for an even hotter BBQ sauce, Ashley Food Company, Inc. delivered one of the hottest bbq sauces ever sold. To intensify the heat of Ultra Hot Mad Dog bbq sauce, the company added Bhut Jolokia otherwise known as ghost pepper. This pepper comes from India and is 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. Ghost peppers are certified by Guinness World RecordsTM as the world's hottest peppers.

All three varieties of Mad Dog bbq are dedicated to Ashley's good friend, Bear, the chocolate lab who appears on the new label of this family of barbecue sauces. To lock in freshness, Mad Dog bbq comes in a new, 12-ounce bottle with an unmistakable new logo.

Texas musician Lyle Lovett once compared barbecue sauce to a beautiful woman. He said “If it's too sweet, it's bound to be hiding something.” (The Texas Monthly, June 2008) David Ashley explains why Mad Dog barbecue sauces have nothing to hide. “For 20 years, our hallmark has been to provide all-natural products. We use premium, fresh ingredients and no fillers, no additives and no preservatives. We guarantee this. ”

To order Mad Dog bbq sauces, visit Ashley Food Company, Inc., call 1-800-61-SAUCE or email maddog(at)ashleyfood(dot)com.

For more information about the complete line of Mad Dog bbq and Hot Sauces created by Ashley Food Company, also visit Ashley Food Retail Store and Ashley Food Wholesale Store.

About Ashley Food Company, Inc.

As President and founder of Ashley Food Company, Inc. in Sudbury, Massachusetts, David has been creating all-natural, mouth watering, and award-winning products for two decades come January 2011. All Mad Dog creations are made in hand-measured batches and cooked to perfection. To this day, David ensures that every blend has a fresh-from-the-kettle-taste.

Ashley Food Company produces 28 sauces, from sweet with heat to lethal, including “The world's hottest hot sauce” – 357 EXTREME hot sauce; Mad Dog BBQ sauces, Mad Cat, Teriyaki Hot sauce; industrial extracts, and has recently added Envy, 357 EXTREME Wing sauce and 357 EXTREME Mustard to the line-up. Find the complete line of Mad Dog Hot Sauces and barbeque sauces created by David Ashley at Ashley Food Company, Inc.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/10/12/p714676/bbq-spells-success-for-ma-entrepreneur#ixzz18iMNFLFI

Fatty 'Cue Christmas Day BBQ Feast

This just in from Pig Trip and Facebook. Something to celebrate! I wish I was going to be in town on Christmas, I'd be spending the day in Williamsburgh!

The inimitable Robbie Richter will flex his BBQ muscle on Christmas Day with a regional tour de force of specialties from Texas, Carolina, St Louis and Kentucky. This one night-only event will bring the grit, the grunge and the goods for a special limited edition of the Fatty 'Cue Roadhouse.

REGIONAL BBQ MENU
Available Christmas Day, 12pm - Midnight
91 S. 6th Street, 718.599.3090
Reservations highly recommended
Priced a la carte

Holiday Beverages
Assam Wassel (hot cider) - spike it with your choice of Brandy, Bourbon or Rum
Coconut Egg Nog

BBQ
An homage to Carolina, St Louis, Texas and Kentucky-style BBQ
$ Range (11-21)

Texas Shoulder Clod | pulled with barbecue sauce
St. Louis Style Ribs | barbecue sauce
Chicken Fried Chicken | black pepper gravy
Carolina Pulled Pork | vinegar sauce
Mutton Stew - "burgoo" | cinnamon, nutmeg, chili, beef broth, potato, black eyes or heirloom beans, kale, parsnip, carrot
Beef & Pork Jalapeno Cheese Sausage
Crudite Plate | cheddar cheese, jalapeno, sliced red onion, pickles, Texas toast

Sides
$ Range (6-9)

Rib Tips
Mac and Cheese
Sweet Corn Pudding
Baked Beans and Burnt Ends
Cold Potato Salad
Collard Greens
Cole Slaw
Potato Rolls

Who Do You Trust? - AOL/City Search Names New York City's Best Barbecue

This came into my email today....

City's Best Winners - Barbecue - Restaurants and Nightlife ...
Spanky's BBQ, 6th. Pig'n Out Barbeque, 7th. Bone Lick Park, 8th. Pies-N-Thighs, 9th. Sawa BBQ, 10th. 617 9th Ave,New York ... m.aol.com/citysbest/.../citysbestResults.do?...

OK - I'm always interested in what others think about the New York BBQ scene, but looking over this little email notification, something was clearly amiss. Spanky's came in at number 6? Spanky's has been closed since early 2009 as I reported back on January 28, 2009! Sawa is also closed - and I don't think they ever were a barbecue joint. Bar BQ is also long gone as is Pig'n Out.

WTF is going on here? I've always heard that the "leaders" in the review world could be bought. Is this evidence? Why would AOL/City Search list FOUR closed restaurants as part of the top ten and leave out NYC's current leaders like RUB, Wildwood, Hill Country, The Waterfront Ale House etc? I call shenanigans!

In case you're interested, here's AOL/City Search's top 10 BBQ joints of New York City - for what it's worth. And that ain't much.

1. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
2. Virgil's Barbecue
3. Blue Smoke
4. Bar BQ
5. Daisy May's BBQ
6. Spanky's BBQ
7. Pig'n Out Barbeque
8. Bone Lick Park
9. Pies-N-Thighs
10. Sawa BBQ

PS - That rib picture that leads this post is from the incredible RUB! You need to check them out whenever you're in Manhattan.

Thanksgiving Eve Barbecue

Are you In Bayside tonight? Have I got a deal for you. Check out Three Brothers Butchers on Bell Boulevard. Get some meat in your belly with all that beer!

Known as one of the hottest bar nights on Bell Boulevard, Thanksgiving Eve has been celebrated by the Three Brothers as young college students, as longtime Bayside residents, and now as a local business. Serving Bayside's BEST BBQ for over 5 years, 3BROS will be open all night tonight to accomodate revelers' hunger for:

• Pulled Pork
• Brisket
• Baby Back Ribs
• Smoked Chicken

Stop in for a quick bite on the way to the bar, crawling from one to another, or before you head home.

Thanksgiving Recipes: Smoked Cheddar and Apple Pie with Smoked Glazed Pecans

I found this on the Cookshack website. The directions are for cooking in a Cookshack Smoker, but with a little ingenuity, you could adjust this to your cooker. Have fun!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb. cheddar cheese
• 2 C. pecans
• 6 Tbsp. honey
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese; softened
• 1 C. sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 lbs. Granny Smith apples; peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• Unbaked crust for 1 large deep-dish pie

Directions:
Preheat smoker to 175 degrees with 2 oz. apple wood.

Place the cheese directly on the top rack of the smoker. Place the pecans in a disposable aluminum pan and place on the bottom rack. Fill another disposable pan with ice and place on the bottom rack. When you see smoke coming out the vent hole in a steady stream, turn off the smoker. After 1 hour, taste a pecan to see if it needs more smoke flavor. If so, repeat the cold-smoking process. Thinly slice the cheddar cheese.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the smoked pecans on a baking sheet and toss with the honey and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly toasted. When cool, chop 1 1/2 C. of the pecans and set aside the remaining whole nuts. Leave the oven on.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, 1/2 C. of the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. In another bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 C. of sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, the remaining cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Toss in the apples and chopped nuts and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on the bottom of piecrust. Cover with a layer of sliced smoked cheddar, and top with a layer of the apple mixture. Repeat with layers of the cheddar and apple mixture until the crust is very full (the filling will decrease in height as it bakes.)

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned and the apple mixture is bubbly. Garnish with the whole glazed pecans.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Thanksgiving Ingredients: Wood

I hear you, "WTF? Wood is an ingredient?" You bet your sweet bippie wood is an ingredient. When I started cooking with live fire, way back in my Boy Scout days, I was told not to cook with pine. "It makes food bitter," said my Scoutmaster. I didn't really believe him and thought it was just his way of keeping the kids out of his hair. You see, the campgrounds of Long Island were littered with pine branches and finding hard woods for the fire was a most time consuming job. But, we were kids and trying to earn merit badges, so we sought out the hard wood.

Fast forward a few years and I'm camping with some high school buddies. We were hungry after a day of hiking and I built a fire out of pine and whatever other woods that were easily available in this Long Island campground. I wanted a fire. I wanted to eat. I didn't care about the old Boy Scout advice.

Wally's mom made us a baked ziti for the trip, one of her signature dishes and highly enjoyed whenever we where at her home. I wrapped the pan carefully in foil and placed it on the fire, where it sat until it was hot and bubblely. We un-wrapped the ziti and dove in. 5 hungry teen boys shoved that ziti in our mouthes. 5 hungry boys immediately spat out the ziti!Never in my young life had I tasted a more awful food - bitter, smoky and just plain disgusting. I never experienced that from the boy scout campfires.(I hope Wally's mom isn't reading this - it wasn't her cooking, but mine that ruined her food) But I learned my lesson. Only use hard woods for live fire cooking.

So why am I telling you all this tale of woe? Because I'm expecting you to cook your bird over a live fire this Thanksgiving and I'm going to tell you which wood to use. Each wood listed here reacts with the meat differently and injects its unique flavors. Each wood on this list was specifically chosen because it works well with poultry.

ALDER - Very delicate with a hint of sweetness. Good with fish, pork, poultry, and light-meat game birds.

ALMOND - A sweet smoke flavor, light ash. Good with all meats.

APPLE - Very mild with a subtle fruity flavor, slightly sweet. Good with poultry (turns the skin dark brown) and pork.

BIRCH - Medium-hard wood with a flavor similar to maple. Good with pork and poultry.

CHERRY - Mild and fruity. Good with poultry, pork and beef. Some List members say the cherry wood is the best wood for smoking. Wood from chokecherry trees may produce a bitter flavor. Cherry is my absolute favorite for smoking pork and imparts a beautiful red color to the finished product.

CRABAPPLE - Similar to apple wood.

GRAPEVINES - Tart. Provides a lot of smoke. Rich and fruity. Good with poultry, red meats, game and lamb.

MAPLE - Smoky, mellow and slightly sweet. Good with pork, poultry, cheese, and small game birds.

MULBERRY - The smell is sweet and reminds one of apple. My friend Phil calls this "cotton candy" wood because the smoke smells a lot like cotton candy.

ORANGE, LEMON and GRAPEFRUIT - Produces a nice mild smoky flavor. Excellent with beef, pork, fish and poultry.

PEAR - A nice subtle smoke flavor. Much like apple. Excellent with chicken and pork.

PECAN - Sweet and mild with a flavor similar to hickory. Tasty with a subtle character. Good with poultry, beef, pork and cheese. Pecan is an all-around superior smoking wood.

SWEET FRUIT WOODS - APRICOT, PLUM, PEACH, NECTARINE - Great on most white or pink meats, including chicken, turkey, pork and fish. The flavor is milder and sweeter than hickory.

For a more detailed list of all woods, including hickory, mesquite, oak and others that work best with other foods, and what wood not to use, check out this post from 2004 that dives into the subject more deeply.

Photo of the wood pile courtsey of www.mayang.com/textures Used with permission.

Thanksgiving Recipes: Michael Voltaggio's Turkey Brine

Recently I had the good fortune to stumble upon a Williams-Sonoma technique class for a "Contemporary Thanksgiving." While that class focused on an incredible sous vide then deep fried turkey, it did give up one technique that the outdoor cook can use for this Thanksgiving - brining. If you're going to smoke (like the bird pictured above,) fry or grill your bird it will benefit greatly from a little brine!

Brining is an age old secret technique used to add moisture and flavor to meats. I usually save my brining for poultry, but it can be used on just about any meat. OK, so brining adds moisture and flavor but how does it work? Darned if I know. There's a few theories and you can read about them on The Virtual Weber Bullet. Go ahead, it's a good read. I'll still be here when you get back.

So with all that contridictory information filling your head - are you ready to brine? I'll bet you are. Without further ado, here's Michael Voltaggio's Turkey Brine.

Ingredients:

• 21⁄2 gallons (10 l) water
• 1⁄4 cup (23g) whole cloves
• 1⁄4 cup (32g) peppercorns
• 1⁄4 cup (18g) coriander seeds
• 1⁄4 cup (23g) allspice berries
• 1⁄4 cup (41g) yellow mustard seeds
• 21⁄2 cups (625g) kosher salt
• 21⁄2 cups (545g) firmly packedlight brown sugar
• 2 each grapefruits, oranges,lemons and limes, halved and juiced, rinds reserved

Method:
In a large stockpot over high heat, combine the water, spices, salt and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the citrus juices and rinds. Refrigerate the brine until thoroughly chilled. Place the turkey into the cold brine and refrigerate for 24 hours. Make sure the turkey is full submerged in the brine.

This recipe makes enough brine for a 10 to 12lb turkey. Need more brine - increase the ingredients proportionately, based on the size of your bird. Don't just up the water content.

One last note: Don't try this on a Butterball or any other enhanced turkey. Use a natural "no added ingredients" bird. Check the label - the only ingredient should read TURKEY

Thanksgiving Is Coming!

Yes, Thanksgiving is just down the road, so from now until the big day, I'll be focusing on recipes for your Thanksgiving feast that can be cooked on a grill, smoker, fryer or other outdoor cooking device. Live fire cooking is what it's all about here!

Today we'll start with an appetizer; Marinated Portabello Mushrooms with Asiago Cheese. This recipe comes to us from the fine folks at Weber, was created by the talented Jamie Purviance and is published in Weber's Way to Grill. Portabello Mushrooms are so large and "meaty", they could serve as a first course to your crazy vegetarian friends and relations! You've been warned son.

Marinated Portabello Mushrooms with Asiago Cheese

Marinade:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper

Main Ingredients:

• 6 large portabello mushrooms, each 5 to 6 inches in diameter
• 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
• 1-1/2 cups grated Asiago cheese

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk the marinade ingredients, including 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

2. Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp cloth or paper towel.
Remove and discard the stems. With a teaspoon, carefully scrape out and discard the black gills from the mushroom caps. Place the mushrooms, cap sides up, on a rimmed plate and brush them with the marinade. Turn the mushrooms over and brush again with the marinade. Let marinate at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Prepare the grill for direct cooking over medium heat (350° to 450°F).

4. In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs with the parsley.

5. Brush the cooking grates clean. Grill the mushrooms, gill sides down, over direct medium heat, with the lid closed, until the mushrooms begin to soften, 4 to 6 minutes. Brush the cap sides with some of the remaining marinade from the plate, turn them over, add 1/4 cup of cheese on top of each mushroom, close the lid, and cook until tender when pierced with a knife, 4 to 6 minutes. During the last minute of cooking, place the bread crumb mixture evenly on top of each mushroom. Remove from the grill, season with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Serves 6

I Eat With My Hands Man!

Found this on Sizzle on The Grill and over at You Tube. Starts slow but gets real nice - much like traditional barbecue itself. My favorite line - "Barbecue in Austin makes you forget about Boston!" Amen brother. Amen.