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 

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.

BBQ Ingredients: Salt

Salt. What can I say about salt? Humans and other animals have an inherent taste for this essential nutrient. Salt is the world's oldest known food additive. Wars have been fought over salt. It's said that Napoleon's army was defeated over a lack of salt. In the American civil war, in the Confederacy, you were exempt from fighting if you produced salt. It's that important.

But what does this have to do with barbeque? Not much except barbecue wouldn't be bbq without salt. Take a minute and give a quick read to the relationship between salt and food. (Thanks to our friends at Saltworks for the great info)

Salt serves many purposes in relation to food. People use many types of sodium chloride in food processing, cooking or at the table, both at home or in restaurants. Besides contributing a basic "salty" taste, salt brings out natural flavors and makes foods acceptable, protects food safety by retarding the growth of spoilage microorganisms, gives proper texture to processed foods, serves as a control agent to regulate the rate of fermentation in food processing strengthens gluten in bread, provides the color, aroma and appearance consumers expect and is used to create the gel necessary to process meats and sausages. As a result, more heavily processed foods usually contain more sodium and salt. Many countries' food labeling regulations include sodium. The world's great chefs appreciate salt's many culinary benefits, including surprising applications like salt in desserts. Salt should be part of every family's food storage program.

Beyond nutrition, people use sodium chloride for several necessary functions in food processing and cooking, including:

PRESERVATIVE
Salt preserves foods by creating a hostile environment for certain microorganisms. Within foods, salt brine dehydrates bacterial cells, alters osmotic pressure and inhibits bacterial growth and subsequent spoilage. Salting fish made long-range explorations possible in the age of sailing ships.

TEXTURE AID
Salt strengthens gluten in bread dough, providing uniform grain, texture and dough strength. With salt present, gluten holds more water and carbon dioxide, allowing the dough to expand without tearing. Salt improves the tenderness in cured meats such as ham by promoting the binding of water by protein. It also gives a smooth, firm texture to processed meats. Salt develops the characteristic rind hardness in cheese and helps produce the desirable, even consistency in cheese and other foods such as sauerkraut.

BINDER
Salt helps extract the proteins in processed and formed meats, providing binding strength between adjacent pieces of meat. Water binding properties are increased and, as a result, cooking losses are reduced. Salt increases the solubility of muscle proteins in water. In sausage making, stable emulsions are formed when the salt-soluble protein solutions coat the finely-formed globules of fat, providing a binding gel consisting of meat, fat and moisture.

FERMENTATION CONTROL
In baked products, salt controls fermentation by retarding and controlling the rate of fermentation, important in making a uniform product. During pickle making, salt brine is gradually increased in concentration, reducing the fermentation rate as the process proceeds to completion. Salt is also used to control fermentation in making cheese, sauerkraut and summer sausage.

COLOR DEVELOPER
Salt promotes the development of color in ham, bacon, hotdogs and sauerkraut. Used with sugar and nitrate or nitrite, salt produces a color in processed meats which consumers find appealing. Salt enhances the golden color in bread crust by reducing sugar destruction in the dough and increasing carmelization.

BBQ Ingredients: Worcestershire Sauce

I haven't done a post on barbecue ingredients in a long long time but playing around with a new slather for ribs on July 3rd made me stop and think about one of my favorite ingredients: Worcestershire Sauce.

I was first introduced to this magic mop during my teen years. It was at my friend Dan's house and his father was in the kitchen preparing to grill some steaks. He took this huge slab of London Broil and began to smother it with Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. He then took a fork and stabbed the steak repeatedly, working the elixir deeper and deeper in to the muscle fiber of the meat. I asked John why he was desiccating the meat and he told me that his method produces "the best steaks in the world." Suspicious, I stepped back as he went upstairs to grill the meat. Yes, upstairs. The grill was on a roof deck accessed through my friend Dan's bedroom. Oh, if that deck could talk. But, I digress.

Dan's dad was right. Those were some outstanding steaks. I liked the flavor so much that to this day whenever I grill a London Broil you will find me dousing it with Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce before it hits the fire. I've also learned to add it to soups, stews and sauces. Worcestershire Sauce has many uses and I keep finding new places to add it.

But what is so amazing about Worcestershire Sauce? Well, it's simply magical. According to the Lea and Perrins website, the invention of Worcestershire Sauce was almost an accident. "The story of Lea & Perrins® famous Worcestershire Sauce begins in the early 1800s, in the county of Worcester. Returning home from his travels in Bengal, Lord Sandys, a nobleman of the area, was eager to duplicate a recipe he'd acquired. On Lord Sandys's request, two chemists—John Lea and William Perrins made up the first batch of the sauce.

Lea and Perrins were not impressed with their initial results. The pair found the taste unpalatable, and simply left the jars in their cellar to gather dust. A few years later, they stumbled across them and decided to taste the contents again. To their delight, the aging process had turned it into a delicious, savory sauce."

And the rest they say is history. Now how does this relate to BBQ you may ask? Well, Worcestershire Sauce is rich and meaty tasting with a strong sense of umami. What is umami you may ask? Well, umami is a pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don’t recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role making food taste delicious. And Worcestershire Sauce does just that.

My latest rib experiments involve using Worcestershire Sauce as a base for a rib slather. It adds a strong sense of "porkiness" to the final product. I can't' give you the recipe for the slather just yet, but try replacing any of your usual slathers with Worcestershire Sauce. Trust me, you'll be happy you did.

And no, this is not a paid endorsement. I just really like the stuff!

BBQ Ingredients: Lea & Perrins - Thick

I usually hate it when a classic food reinvents itself. Anybody else out there remember New Coke or Coke 2? We all know how well that turned out. If it ain't broke why fix it huh?

So you can understand that I was a bit skeptical when I heard about the new Lea & Perrins - Thick. Why would they want to play with the classic and best Worcestershire sauce on the market? What the hell did they do to it to make it thick? Did they fill it with thickeners and other unnatural glop?

I checked with their marketing folks and was told that "The new Lea & Perrins Thick Classic was inspired by the original Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce, which is made using a 170-year old recipe. By blending the original Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce with ingredients such as tomato puree made from tomatoes grown from Heinz Seeds, roasted garlic and onion, we’ve achieved the thick texture and bold, yet balanced flavor, which makes the new Lea & Perrins Thick Classic perfect for dipping and topping."

So with some apprehension, I gave it a try. And I was glad I did. The new Thick Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, tastes exactly the same as the original, but is thick like ketchup. No more thinning out your sauces!

Try it - you'll like it.

And if you're looking for a quick buck - the folks at Lea & Perrins are hosting ThatsawRAP Contest. Lea & Perrins® is searching for the ultimate “wRAP” video that compliments its new Thick Classic® Worcestershire Sauce, while paying tribute to the signature paper wrap that has graced its distinctive bottles for more than 170 years.

The winner, selected by America out of the Top 10 videos, will receive $5000 PLUS a premium prize package of Certified Angus Beef. Additional prizes include $1,000 for each of the 4-runners-up. Check it out here.

Clint - you listening?

Wood - An Essential Ingredient