Pimping My Life Away.....

Every once in a blue moon, which seems to have been shining brightly this July, a vendor, manufacturer, or publisher will offer me an item to review. My standard response is to thank them for the offer and tell them that I'll accept it and write about it, but my opinion will be my opinion. If I like it, I'll say it. If I don't, well that goes up too. Most vendors are OK with that, but there's been a few who shied away.

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from the American Lamb Board offering me a package of lamb to try out. I accepted and the results were posted here. Well, it seems that Tana Butler over at I Heart Farms has some issues with the American Lamb Board and all the bloggers who accepted their offer.

Ms Butler's blog is dedicated to the small farmer and "people who are smart support sustainable agriculture, and do not support the pinheads and reptiles who make policies that hasten the destruction of our fragile environment."

So what's the problem with The American Lamb Board?

1. Ms Butler is appalled that the American Lamb Board is in it for the money. From her blog, "Remember that ".org" in the web address? How disingenuous is that? From Wikipedia:

   In the US and the UK, the .org TLD is mostly associated with non-profit organizations (in the latter '.uk' is usually but not always added after the '.org'). In addition to its wide use in the charitable field, it is often used by the open-source movement, as opposed to the .com domains used mostly by companies.

   This isn't NPR we're talking about, folks. The American Lamb Board folks are all about the profit: they have an advertising budget that is nearly $1.5 million! Non-profit, my ass." - Gee it's a trade organization. What a surprise. Just because they have a large advertising budget doesn't make them non-profit. I wonder what that advertising budget of PBS or The Red Cross is.
   
2. That the lamb was not produced "cleanly, humanely, and sustainably." I don't remember seeing anything in the package claiming it was. One blogger (Stephencooks) stated that his lamb came from Superior Farms who's website states, "Superior Farms lamb is raised naturally, which means it is minimally processed with no artificial ingredients. They now raise Pure lamb, which is grown with no antibiotics or hormones. The company also supports many small farmers who are excellent stewards for the environment." Sounds good to me. Mine wasn't labeled, but I'm not sure who produced the meat. The only claim I saw was that the lamb was American.
   
3. And finally the true crux of the matter - Ms Butler doesn't like lamb. Again, from her blog, "I'm not saying what these people cooked and wrote about on their various blogs wasn't very tasty indeed. (As for me, with rare exceptions, lamb tastes very dead to me. I've only had it a few times that it was good, and that was because it was very fresh, very clean, pastured lamb. But eat lamb, if that's what you like!)".

I support Ms Butler in her effort to promote the small farmer and meat that is produced "cleanly, humanely, and sustainably," but it's wrong to condemn the bloggers and the American Lamb Board for shilling their product.

Hampton Smoker - Take a bow

This just came across my email. It's a story from USA Today about the Charbroil TEC grills and my buddy Matt Fisher aka The Hampton Smoker is interviewed for his opions. Take it away USA Today....

Infrared burners are ready to barbecue

By Elliott Minor, Associated Press

ALBANY, Ga. — For a quarter century, chefs at pricey steakhouses have been searing meat on burners that cook with infrared energy. Now the high-temperature technology may be coming to a backyard barbecue near you.

With the expiration of a key patent, major gas grill manufacturers, including market leader Char-Broil, have scrambled to bring infrared cooking to the masses with models in the $500 to $1,000 range. Previously, such grills cost as much as $5,000.

"Infrared is really hot," said Leslie Wheeler, a spokeswoman for the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association, an industry group in Arlington, Va. "They're great for searing and then either you turn it down or move over to another burner for cooking."

The grills are still powered by propane and have traditional gas burners that heat mostly by convection — or hot air. But they also can cook foods with radiant heat generated by one or more infrared burners. (Infrared falls between visible light and microwave energy on the electromagnetic spectrum.)

Char-Broil says its advanced burners operate at 450 to 900 degrees, hotter than the 450 to 750 degrees of standard gas burners. And unlike charcoal, which can require 20 to 30 minutes to reach its 700-degree cooking temperature, heat from the infrared burners can be adjusted quickly.

Most leading grill makers, including Solaire, Weber and Whirlpool's Jenn-Air, also offer grills that use infrared.

"It's terrific," said Wheeler, who owns an infrared grill. "Grills nowadays give you many options."

Cooks can sear steaks or hamburgers, steam vegetables and give their meats a smoky taste by tossing a few wood chips onto the burner, said Rob Schwing, a Char-Broil vice president.

"Infrared has done to the grill business what the microwave did to the indoor kitchen," he said. "It's presenting consumers with a whole new way of cooking."

Bill Best, founder of Thermal Electric of Columbia, S.C., developed the technology in the 1960s, primarily to give automakers a faster way to dry the paint on cars. That led to high-end grills for professional cooks and wealthy consumers.

When his patent expired in 2000, grill companies saw a future in America's backyards.

But original infrared burners — and some offered currently to consumers — contained ceramic material that was hard to clean, prone to flare-ups and fragile, Schwing said.

Char-Broil formed a strategic alliance with Best's company to develop a new generation of burners known as the Char-Broil TEC series. The fragile ceramics have been eliminated. They have a layer of glass to shield the burners from drippings and provide even heat distribution.

Seven years after Best's patent expired, those improvements are available at a price more affordable to weekend grillers.

"I think it's significant," said Matt Fisher, who tested one of Char-Broil's grills. "It really brings a whole new technology to the market for most people."

Fisher, who lives in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., maintains the The Cook's Kitchen website and a blog devoted to barbecue.

Fisher said gas grills are convenient, but he still prefers wood and charcoal.

Barbecue and barbecue accessories are a $4 billion industry in the U.S., with 17 million grills shipped to retailers last year, a 15% increase over 2005, said the industry association's Wheeler.

Pomona, Calif.-based Cal Spas has been selling high-end grills with infrared burners since 2003. Nicole Lasorda, a spokeswoman for the company, said the faster and more predictable way the burners cook allows people to spend more time relaxing and less time cooking.

"More and more people are barbecuing now and they don't necessarily want to stand in front of the barbecue all the time," she said.

Associated Press writer Doug Gross in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A little bragging

Sauce Magazine just ran an article about the best food blogs out there.

Under BBQ, here's what was listed...

Barbecue Bloggers
MeatHenge
Bucky's Barbecue Blog
WhiteTrashBBQ

I'm honored to be included in such auspicious company. If you haven't checked out MeatHenge or Bucky's Blog you're really missing out.

It's interesting to point out that the authors contribute to Get Your Grill On. Maybe you should check it out too. You'll never know what you'll learn.