WhiteTrash BBQ -- Real Pit Barbecue from New York City.
This is the story of a fire obsessed guy, living in Brooklyn, with a dream of producing award winning, competition busting, real Barbeque. Come live the dream as I compete around the country in the KCBS Championship Barbecue circuit.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
New York City's Best Barbeque. Says You!
City's Best has just launched a new poll to find New York City's best barbecue restaurant. Here's the list of nominations in no particular order. You can vote for you favorite by clicking on the restaurant name. Be sure to check out my thoughts about each establishment. Of course your thoughts may vary.
I'm really disappointed with this list. Where's RUB? Where's Wildwood? Rack and Soul? The hipster darling Fette Sau? The Smoke Joint? Where's another media darling Fatty Cue?
I wonder if this is a real poll or just an advertorial. You know - an advertisement that is disguised as an actual article. Hey, it happens.
The Zagat survey is out for 2011 and as usual it has some surprising conclusions. Brooklyn's restaurants have stepped up in a big way, but none so surprising, is that Fette Sau has been crowned the best barbecue in NYC. I am shocked. It's been awhile since I've been out to Fette Sau, but to me, it barely squeaked in to the top ten. Looks like a road trip is due.
Some other interesting items from this year's Zagat...
The Health Department’s new letter-grading system is popular, with 83% of our surveyors approving of it. (New York recently switched to a letter graded system for the cleanliness of restaurants instead of the old numbers based ratings)
42% of surveyors think that the government should require restaurants to reduce the amount of salt in their dishes, but 49% oppose a tax on sugary drinks. (the Bloomberg administration has toyed with requiring restaurants to lower the amount of salt in their food and the Governor's office floated a tax on sugary drinks this year.)
81% of surveyors feel it’s acceptable to take pictures of their food, but 64% say it’s “rude and inappropriate” to text, e-mail, tweet or talk on a mobile phone at a restaurant. (FANTASTIC NEWS! I always feel uncomfortable taking pictures of food in restaurants. Now I know it's OK and I'm not bothering the other diners. Whew!)
Surveyors rated overall hospitality in the dining scene a 17, up from 15 during pre-recession times.
The average cost of a meal in New York is $41.76, a marginal decrease from $41.81 last year. That’s the first decrease since the post–September 11 slump in 2002. (I don't see this at all. Maybe food costs are down in the upper echelon, but in the restaurants I visit prices have been creeping up steadily.)
Photograph of a Fette Sau platter courtesy of Pig Trip - Your guide to BBQ joints in Boston New York and everywhere in between. Not used with permission but I hope Pig Trip won't mind.
So, what's the story behind Hill Country Chicken? Well, I got my first taste at about 8:30 pm on Friday night. What you're looking at are four pieces of fried chicken; a breast and thigh cooked Hill Country Classic style (skin on, breaded and seasoned with Hill Country Chicken Shake)and a leg and a thigh Mamma El Style (skinless, cracker crumb crust and seasoned with a special family recipe,) Picnic Stix (celery and carrot sticks,) Fire-n-Ice Pickles and Pimento Cheese. I also purchased a Mint Tea for me and a Creme Brulee for the wife at home.
So how's the food? I received four perfectly cooked, and I mean PERFECTLY cooked pieces of some of the most tender and juicy fried chicken I've ever had. Flavor wise, however, it was a mixed bag. The Hill Country Classic Chicken tasted as if it were rolled in Shake and Bake and then coated with another thick layer of salt. The Mamma El style - here they have something. A little sweet, a little salty, it's a perfectly balanced very tasty soft cracker coating. Beautiful. The Fire-n-Ice Pickles were sweet and spicy and a good complement to the chicken. The Pimento Cheese was a sweet, creamy orange cheese with just enough punch from the pimentos to make it interesting. Do yourself a favor and let it sit awhile before you eat it as the flavors improve as the cheese warms.
The mint tea was self-served warm with a barely noticeable hint of mint and the Creme Brulee, bruleed to order, was creamy smooth and delicious with a solid sugar crust.
Now how much does all this cost you ask? Well, frankly a lot more than I expected. A single chicken breast: $5.50, a thigh: $3,50, a leg: $2.25 and a wing (which I didn't get - they were out) is $1.75. The Picnic Stix are only $2.00 but is a complete rip off as I received one celery stalk cut into four pieces and 2 small sticks of carrot. The Pimento Cheese was an additional $1.00 with the purchase of the Stix and easily worth the cost. And finally, the Fire-n-Ice pickles were only 50 cents, but frankly I think they should have been included gratis with the meal.
The large mint tea was $2.50 and the "3 inch pie cup" Creme Brulee was $3.00.
What's the place look like? Think 50's retro dinner. Hill Country Chicken could be right at home on the set of The Andy Griffith Show. There are a couple of problems with the layout. The drinks are dispensed from a nook located off to the side. It's a small counter behind the condiment stand and really much to small to service the restaurant efficiently. The other issue I have is that the counters that line the windows are much too high for the chairs. Not a big deal, but eating at the counter was not very comfortable.
So will I be back? Probably. Hill Country Chicken has something great in Mamma El's bird and the sides I had were all very good, but the prices ($27 for 8 pieces of chicken with four biscuits, c'mon) will make me reconsider.
I've been to the restaurant twice, but didn't see any pizza tossing at either visit. Am I missing something? I didn't really care about the show - how is the food?
On my first visit a couple of months ago, a companion and I entered just as Del Corso was closing for the night. They graciously opened up the back dining room and served us a great pizza. Allthou the dough can use some salt, I was intrigued and pleased enough by the tastes to plan a repeat visit.
My wife, daughter and I went there on a recent Saturday night for dinner. We didn't have pizza, as my daughter had pizza for lunch that day, but choose to focus on the main menu by sharing the various appetizers.
We had the Fritto Misto, lightly fried calamari and baby shrimp, which was outstandingly light and grease free allowing the flavor of the fish to shine. This was served with an very garlicky tomato dipping sauce. Lovely.
Then we had the Meatball Al Sugo which was an incredible dish of flavorful lightly seasoned meatballs of multiple sizes in a completely different tomato sauce with large pieces of fresh basil. I don't usually like restaurant meatballs. I find them to be completely under seasoned and tough. Here, they were just like mama used to make except there was no consistency to size. Some meatballs were the size of golf balls, others like dimes.
Next up was an eggplant dish of which I can't remember the name, it's not on the internet menu but is on the regular menu at the restaurant, that consisted of layered slices of un-breaded and un-fried eggplant, tomato sauce and store made mozzarella. I'd love to describe the taste of this dish, but we inhaled it. It was that good.
This was followed by one of the specials of the day - a handmade gnocchi with arugula and an Italian "meat sauce". This was simply outstanding. Tender gnocchi, fall apart meat and mushrooms in a wine enriched gravy. It was rich, thick and surprising light. This needs to be on the menu every night.
The plates went back to the kitchen looking as if we licked them clean.
We finished the meal with a dessert of fresh zeppolies topped with warm nutella and powered sugar. Need I say more?
While the food was outstanding, the front of the house service was a bit lacking. We arrived around 8:30 on Saturday night and the back dining room was almost empty with only two tables occupied. A cute Russian hostess greeted us and told us to sit anywhere. We chose a table in the back which was set with four plates but no silverware.
As we settled in a waiter, who had an accent I couldn't place, came and filled our water glasses and dropped off the menus. I asked if there were any specials and he said, "He's going to tell you," pointing to a man in a stained t-shirt and jeans drinking wine and laughing with a group of friends at the next table.
A few minutes later the man came over and leaned on the wall next us and began to rattle off the specials. He didn't introduce himself or explain why he was telling us the specials instead of the waiter. He returned to the table where he was sitting while we made our choices.
As we were deciding, a basket of warm bread was dropped on the table with a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. In a few minutes, the man returned and took our food order.
The food came very quickly, but I was disappointed to see that none of the dishes included any serving utensils as we made it clear to the man that we sharing every dish. We also had to request our own forks and knifes as none were delivered with the food.
Later while we were eating the hostess asked if everything was alright, I didn't understand her and she was clearly annoyed that I asked her to repeat herself. I then asked for some grated cheese and she returned with a large bowl of cheese, clearly too large for a single person, again without any sort of serving utensil.
At one point in the meal the hostess, the waiter and the until now unseen bus boy came and asked if everything was OK, all within 10 seconds of each other. While I'm glad to see the staff looking out for us, the timing of this made the service appear clumsy and untrained.
As the plates were taken away, the man, who by now I recognized as the chef from his appearance on the video above, came and asked if we enjoyed the food. We told him we did and I asked about the meat in the gnocchi dish. When he revealed it was oxtail my wife was stunned that she loved it. I have eaten oxtail since I was a child, but it was one of those foods, like liver, kidney, tripe, etc that my wife would never try due to some squeamishness on her part. The chef laughed and said that was why he described the dish as having an Italian "meat" sauce. Too many folks are oxtail phobic until they try it.
Pizzeria del Corso easily has some of the best Italian food I've had in a long long time, but it needs to step up on the little things to become great. The front of the house service needs to pay attention to the details that could make Pizzeria del Corso a dining destination. On the tables were small votive candles, which remained unlit, as did the candle in the men's room. There is a tile missing on the men's room floor that was missing on my last visit over a month ago. The chef, needs to introduce himself to the customers and needs either a chefs coat or an apron. The stained t-shirt just doesn't cut it.
And finally, if Nino Coniglio's claim to fame is being a triathlon-winning member of the U.S. Pizza Team, he needs to be attracting customers with his acrobatic dough spinning! Don't loose the focus on the food, but put on the show! An empty dining room on Saturday night is not a good sign.
Even with these growing pains I'll be back and I'm recommending this place to my friends and to all of you here on the blog, because after all, you are all my friends!
A big thanks to Ned Berke over at Sheepshead Bites for the video.
So folks, March is over and I failed miserably to keep up with my March madness pledge of eating and photographing a different dinner every night. I apologize but the madness has not left my soul.
Today I am announcing the first ever April Foolishness held here at WhiteTrash BBQ. The rules are pretty simple. I challenge myself to eat a different dinner each night for the entire month of April. I will photograph it whenever it seems interesting enough to document.
Here's the run down so far...
April 1 - Grilled beef spiedinis with rice pilaf and sugar snap peas. Hey, I lit a fire!
April 2 - Potato gnocchi with basil pesto sauce and grilled Cajun shrimp. Lenten Friday.
April 3 - Perdue Fun Shape Chicken Nuggets, Tater Tots and corn. Not exactly the plan for dinner as I lit a fire that morning. I barbecued a beef brisket, more on that later.
April 4 - Easter dinner! Oven roasted leg of lamb with garlic and rosemary, mashed potatoes, string beans, corn and a new dish for my vegetarian son; barley-spiked winter vegetable casserole from the cookbook The Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson.
I was glad to get the opportunity to review the Vegetarian Slow Cooker for a couple of reasons. We've had a crock pot for years and it has sat unused in the cellar until this book arrived. The pot was one of those things that survives every attempt at clearing out the cellar with the comment, "Oh, we'll use it someday." Finally "someday" arrived. The other reason to be honest was that I've been having a difficult time coming up with new, exciting and interesting meals for my son. Vegetables have always played second fiddle on my table.
The Vegetarian Slow Cooker has really expanded my horizons. I highly recommend it. We, my son and I, have made a few recipes from this book and so far, they've all been winners.
I've been using Twitter for some time now, and I have to say I really haven't figured out how to use it to my advantage. When I first started so many of the tweets were absolutely useless information. Tweets like "I'm at the park" or "Just back from dinner. Yum" seemed to dominate when I first signed up.
Now it seems that the twits are getting focused. About a month ago there was a tweet from Sograte offering free samples of his all natural hickory smoked beef jerky to anyone who responded. I don't know how many others responded, but I know a good offer when I see it. I jumped on it.
About a week later two bags of jerky arrived in my mailbox. I was expecting small sample packages, but Sograte sent two full 3oz bags of jerky! Nice.
My "samples" were a bag of "Black Pepper Beef Jerky" and "Texas Heat." Both were large strips of beef very unlike the commercial processed foods available in all the 7-11's across the US. This beef jerky is dry, but pliable and obviously made from quality meat and spices.
Both were very flavorful and addictive. I first sampled the jerky with a former vegan. She enjoyed it so much that I had to stop her before she consumed both bags. I wanted to take some home for the family! That night the family and I finished it off.
Both jerkys have some heat but oddly, the "Black Pepper Beef Jerky" was spicier than the "Texas Heat." I loved the slight smokiness flavor to the jerky. After eating tons of BBQ in my life, smoke taste is very important to me. I could tell that this smoke was the real deal; no chemcial liquid smoke flavor here. Sograte is one of the few manufacturers that makes its jerky over a live hickory smokehouse fire.
So to Sograte - thanks for the outstanding beef jerky. And to you my faithful readers, go buy some! It's available online here. Trust me, this is good stuff.
I was recently given an exclusive demo of the Auspit and I'm intrigued. What is an Auspit? Well, "AuspitTM is an easily portable stand-alone battery-powered rotisserie system from Australia that can be used from the mountains to the beach to your backyard, serving five-star meals to 1-16 people at a time. The motor runs for over 90 hours on just two D-sized batteries, and the spit can handle up to 18 pounds of mouth-watering meats, vegetables, etc. -- you name it!"
I really like this little rotisserie. Simple, clean, and it works as advertised. It uses very little fuel and cooks like a machine 10 times its size. The Auspit breaks down and packs away into a small duffel bag and cleans up in minutes. The standard version retails for $139 and the all stainless sells for $172. You can check out their website here.
I wonder if I can get my kids to get me one for my birthday?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry. Sorry for the poor quality of the photographs. I forgot to take my camera with me that day.
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.
BBQ Ingredients: Chicken Grillables from Barber Foods
I received a new product in the mail a couple of weeks ago; Chicken Grillables from Barber Foods. I finally got a chance to try them out yesterday between the intense rain storms. I was looking to grill and I was looking for something I could grill quickly because all afternoon it was pouring for 10 minutes, clear for 20 minutes and pouring again for 10. I guess the gods of weather gods were battling it out. Chicken Grillables fit the bill nicely.
Chicken Grillables are seasoned chicken patties designed to be a healthier alternative to beef hamburgers; each chicken patty only has 140 calories. They're shaped like a traditional burger, fit on a bun like a traditional burger and are cooked like a traditional burger. As any prepacked frozen hamburger, they go straight from the freezer on to the grill. Cook on each side for 6 to 7 minutes and they're ready to eat.
So how did they taste? Pretty good. Moist and flavorful, but I've had that flavor before. After some discussion, my wife and I concluded that they taste just like the original Burger King Chicken Sandwich. Very interesting. I wonder if Barber Foods makes the chicken for Burger King's Chicken Sandwich.
Would I buy the Chicken Grilllables? Yup. I like Burger King's Original Chicken Sandwich and I can get all that flavor without the added fat and calories provided by the king.
Chicken Grillables sell in packs of 4 for between $7 and $8 wherever Barber foods are sold.
A couple of posts back, I mentioned that I was reading She-Smoke by Julie Reinhardt. This is a great, cheap ($16.95), educational and fun little book. Julie provides a great introduction to barbecue and grilling for beginners, but adds enough expertise to intrigue the expert.
Ms. Reinhardt goes over just about every type of grill and smoker available on the US market and she provides detailed instructions on how to use them. There are recipes galore from Tuscan Grilled and Smoked Turkey Legs to Burnt Ends to Not Your Mama's Smoked Meatloaf to Smoked Cheese to Polenta Stuffed Cornish Game Hen and Mushroom Gravy.
I recommend this book highly. One caveat, this book is written with women as its target audience and that becomes a tad annoying in the narrative. I get it Julie. Women can cook barbecue.
But I was destined to enjoy this book. It just happened that the supermarket had Cornish game hens on sale for 99 cents a pound and I picked up a roll of polenta on our last trip. These are not on our usual shopping list, but I was/am in the mood to change up some of our standard meals.
When we got home that night and unpacked the groceries, sat down and picked up She-Smoke and the first recipe it opened to was for Polenta Stuffed Cornish Game Hens and Mushroom Gravy. Was someone trying to tell me something? So the next day Polenta Stuffed Cornish Game Hens were on the menu!
Here's Julie's Recipe...
Smoked Cornish Game Hen with Polenta Stuffing and Mushroom Gravy Serves 4
Best Equipment: Any charcoal, electric or gas grill or smoker Preferred Wood: Maple or pecan Step by Step:
Make the polenta stuffing: Bring milk and chicken stock to a low boil and slowly add the polenta while stirring. Stir and cook for 20 minutes. Add salt and savory. Take off heat and put aside.
Rinse hens thoroughly and pat dry. Rub olive oil, salt, pepper and savoy on outside and inside cavity. Spoon in approximately 1 cup of polenta per bird. Set aside while you make you fire.
Make fire for indirect medium heat and "get your smoke on." Place hens breast side down directly on grill and close lid. Leave them for 40 minutes.
Make mushroom gravy: While the hens are cooking, heat 2 cups of chicken stock on low heat in a separate pan. on medium-high heat, saute mushrooms in 4 tablespoons butter until brown. Add flour and stir. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly so as not to burn. Stir in 2 tablespoons additional butter, Slowly pour heated chicken stock while stirring. Reduce the gravy while stirring until it thickens.
When the hens are cooked, remove hens and rest meat for 15 minutes before serving.
This was a good meal, even if my daughter wouldn't eat "baby chickens." Enjoy!
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.
Way back in February, I picked up an Orion Cooker for an amazingly low price of $37 when the list price was $139. I didn't think too much about why the price was so low, it being February and all. I just figured they were clearing out last year's "summer" inventory. Un-boxing the cooker, I discovered that this was a used cooker. It had a dent and some paint stains on the lid. It really wasn't a problem as some manly bending easily fixed the dent and the paint came off with a quick swipe with a Brillo pad. Shame on Lowes of West Islip, New York for passing this off as new.
I assembled the cooker in less than 5 minutes; all you need to do is attach the four legs and set it up in the backyard for its inaugural run. I placed the drip pan in the bottom of the main cooking chamber and added some maple chips and a little mesquite, making sure to keep them out of the drip pan and close to the exterior walls of the cooker to get that smoky flavor I love.
The more I set this up, the more I was reminded of the traditional Dutch Oven cooking I've played with in the past. Orion claims that their cooker is using a unique process, but I've cooked this way for many a years and it wasn't new to me!
I then added some chicken stock to the drip pan, put in the cooking grate and was ready for the bird. You could try all sorts of liquids to flavor the bird, many people use beer, but I prefer the simple flavor of stock.
I rubbed the turkey with seasoned butter both under and over the skin. The bird is impaled on the same type of "throne" you would use when you are deep frying a turkey and lowered into the cooking chamber. It made me wonder why I need the cooking grate at all. The throne, for lack of a better term, held the turkey above the stock.
I put the lid on and built the fire using Matchlight as directed by the manufacturer of the Orion Cooker. You are directed to use an entire 13.5lb bag of charcoal, reserving 10-12 coals for the top. I found that the charcoal ring didn't hold all that and I was left with about two pounds of charcoal after I filled it up.
I lit the fire, using matches taken from my last visit to Duke's BBQ. I can't remember the last time I used Matchlight, but the smell of lighter fluid was overwhelming. I can't believe people actually use this stuff and expose food to these toxic fumes.
Now there was nothing to do but wait. The Orion manual claims "Remember – Fill it, Fire it and Forget it!" I don't think that's very wise advice. All this open fire needs to be watched carefully. I kept my animals and children in the house while this fire was raging.
The instructions claim that a turkey cooks at an astounding rate of 7 minutes a pound and boy were they right. I got caught up in reading She-Smoke by Julie Reinhardt, review coming soon, and let the turkey cook for 80 minutes.
Taking the cover off led to an interesting dilemma. Where do I put the hot lid? I had to walk to the sidewalk as it's the only place near the yard that's not covered in grass. As you can see, the turkey was a bit over cooked. It was a beautiful shade of copper. Getting the cooked turkey off the throne proved to be very difficult. Next time I'll remember to spray it with PAM prior to using.
So how did the turkey taste? It was moist and very flavorful. I've never seen the meat retract so much on a turkey leg before. I expected it to be tough since it was so compact. I don't know if you can see it in the picture of the breast, but it was very tender and moist, which surprised me as the bird was just short of being overcooked. The skin was pure rubber, odd considering how much butter I put on it, usually this causes it to crisp.
Cleanup of this machine was a real pain in the ass. Getting the now grease covered drip pan out was difficult and cleaning the narrow channel of all the ash was time consuming.
Do I recommend this cooker? For the most part. It cooks exactly as advertised and produces moist tender meat. For what I paid, I'm very happy; for full price - ah, not so much. It uses a great deal of fuel which makes it expensive to operate, compared to smoking a turkey in one of my traditional cookers. I'm also not too thrilled with the exposed fire. Fire safety is an important issue to me and my family. We've been down that road before.
America's Best BBQ is the latest offering in the ever expanding canon of The Baron of Barbecue aka Paul Kirk and Remus Powers aka Ardie Davis.
With so many barbecue cookbooks entering the market this summer, the Baron and ol' Remus took a different route by traveling the country and selecting their favorite BBQ places and focusing on what makes them unique. Instead of the standard BBQ recipes, oh they're there too, but in America's Best BBQ you'll find recipes for things like Volcanic Goat Cheese, Beer Battered Cod, BBQ Pig Salad, Red's Barbecued Coon and my favorite, BBQ Pig Snoots.
This book will take you from NYC'sRUB to Chicago's Lem's Bar-B-Q House, to Elgin Texas' Southside Market to Tukwila Washington's Gordon's on the Green and everywhere in between. This is a very enjoyable book filled with the legends, quips and back stories that only two old hands of the BBQ world could tell. Between the two of them, The Baron and Remus have over 100 years of barbeque experience combined.
While I enjoy the narrative of this book, sometimes the recipes leave me scratching my head. Sometimes the recipes are detailed and complete allowing the home cook to recreate the legend's food, other times not so much.
Take this recipe for Smoked Catfish that is attributed to Stevenson Bar-B-Que in Paul's Valley OK; 6 Head-on whole catfish, 1/2 cup canola oil, 2 cups dry barbecue rub. They then explain the technique for smoking the fish. While it is great information on smoking catfish, I would have preferred a recipe that included the make up of that rub so that I could attempt to recreate Stevensons' Smoked Catfish.
I recommend this book with some reservations. The narrative is easily worth the price, but if you're looking for barbecue recipes, you may want to keep on looking.
There's a great new cookbook coming on the market today from 10 time World BBQ Champion Chris Lilly. Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book, Recipes and secrets from a legendary barbecue joint. This is a book I've been waiting for. This is the barbecue cookbook, you've been waiting for even if you already have a dozen. You'll want this book.
If any of you have been reading this blog for a while or have been around competition BBQ for a while or have been watching the barbecue shows on Food TV for a while, you know Chris Lilly.
Chris is the fourth generation of pitmasters at the legendary Big Bob Gibson BBQ in Decatur Alabama and the care taker of its famous Alabama White BBQ Sauce. He'll be on the Today Show on May 12, 2009 to promote the book. I've got my DVR set.
Chris is the great-grandson-in-law of Big Bob himself, now passes on the family secrets in this quintessential guide to barbecue.
From dry rubs to glazes and from sauces to slathers, Lilly gives the lowdown on Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q's award-winning seasonings and combinations. You’ll learn the unique flavors of different woods and you’ll get insider tips on creating the right heat—be it in a charcoal grill, home oven, or backyard ground pit. Then, get the scoop on pulled pork, smoked beef brisket, pit-fired poultry, and, of course, ribs. And so much more. You'll love this book.
I've put up a version of this sauce before that was published in Peace, Love and BBQ that I believed to be authentic, but here's the real deal direct from the horse's mouth.
Big Bob Gibson's Alabama White BBQ Sauce
2 Cups Mayonnaise
1 Cup Distilled White Vinegar
1/2 Cup Apple Juice
2 Teaspoons Prepared Horseradish
2 Teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
2 Teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and blend well. Use as a marniade, baste, or dipping sauce. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
Well, I promised you guys some pictures and I put a couple up over the weekend. I'm sorry I didn't take more photos. They'll come in future cooks.
On Saturday I lit the fire in the Bubba Keg, oiled the grates and the dome's vents, burned off any miscellaneous packing materials and played with the fire. Dinner on Saturday was some chicken legs and grilled asparagus and Sunday was grilled rib eye with homemade potato au gratin.
Man, cooking on the Bubba Keg is intense. Cooking on this is very different from the other cookers I ever used. Here's some random thoughts...
This thing is extremely effiecent with its use of fuel. A very small amount of lump provides a very hot fire. Two handfuls of lump maintained a 500 degree fire for over 2 hours. Three handfuls brought the temp to 800 degrees!
Once this thing gets hot, it's almost impossible to cool it down. Opening the dome didn't seem to have much affect on the interior temperature. I had the cooker at 800 degrees and opened the dome for about 10 minutes. When I closed it, the dome temperature read 275, but returned to 750 degrees within one minute.
I've got to close down the air dampers as soon as the cooker gets anywhere near the temperature I want. So far I haven't been able to get anywhere near the 225-275 degree temps I use for barbecue. I'll get there. I'm learning.
The Bubba Keg is amazingly well insulated. Even with the fire raging at 800 degrees the outside of the cooker was still cool enough to touch. Yes, it was hot, but not hot enough to burn. At 500 degrees, it was completely cool.
This thing is efficient! I lit the fire at 6:30 pm with three handfuls of lump and at 1:00am the interior temperature of the Bubba Keg still held at 250 degrees! Amazing.
Living on a corner property on a well traveled street, the Bubba Keg attracted a lot of attention. I think I made a couple of sales over the weekend. Hmm, maybe I should become a distributor.
So, after playing with this puppy for a couple of days, I have to say I'm loving it! As a grill the Bubba Keg has been amazing. I've never cooked on any thing anywhere near as efficient. But now comes the fun part, mastering fire control on the Keg so that I'll be able to get into some low and slow barbeque. Stay tuned.
BTW - Just so everyone is clear, the people at Bubba Keg provided me and a bunch of other food bloggers with a free Bubba Keg for review, good or bad. I am not in any way affliated with the folks who manufacture, market or distribute the Bubba Keg.
Wow. That was fun. Putting the Bubba Keg together is pretty simple, once I downloaded the assembly instructions. Why aren't they included in the box? Also, I was missing two screws. Not a good sign of quality control boys.
It took about 20 minutes to assemble the beast; almost as long as it does to unpack it! Be warned though, this is a two man job. Putting the keg on the stand is almost impossible for you to do alone. It can be done, but it's not pretty. Trust me.
Here's a picture of the lid opened up. You can see the upper chrome cooking grate and the lower cast iron grate.
The interior of the Bubba Keg is finished in the same enameled steel as the Weber Kettles and Smokey Mountain cookers. This is a great choice as it never wears out and is very easy to clean.
The top grate pivots out to allow access to food on the lower grate. This is a nice feature. When I first saw this in a video I was concerned that the upper cooking grate would bend with any weight on it. I tested it using a brick and the grate remained steady and strong.
The top lid can be closed and secured and latched closed. The latch is a cheap plastic tab that I don't see lasting very long. Poor choice of materials here Bubba Keg.
The top lid also includes a nice easy to read thermometer. Unfortunately, you can't calibrate the thermometer, but it's a nice feature none the less. I've always wondered why the Big Green Egg and the Weber Smokey Mountain or Kettles don't include at thermometer. They should.
At the bottom of the Bubba Keg, there is a screened air vent. It's interesting that they have calibrated the vent opening with numbers from one to five which match the calibration system on the lid. I guess I'm not anal enough but this seems a bit of overkill to me. I don't think I'll be tracking by number how closed or open I keep the bottom vent. Unlike the Weber Smokey Mountain which has three, there is only one vent in the bottom of the Keg. I wonder if this will affect how evenly the fire burns and there's only one way to find out. The screen on the vent slides back to allow cleaning and ash removal.
And finally here's a picture of the top vents. This is made of cast iron and is an interesting choice. I'm a bit surprised as cast iron rusts easily and quickly if it is not seasoned properly. This is going to be a pain to maintain.
Putting this guy together was simple. The packaging efficient and overall the Bubba Keg seems to be a quality product. There's a couple of things I'd like to change. I'd like to be able to fold down the side tables. I'd like a place on the base to store the Bubba Keg multi tool as well as the trailer hitch and associated hardware.
This weekend comes the real test... Cooking!
Monday I'll have some pictures from my first cook on the Bubba Keg. I'm excited to use this beast. Stay tuned.
Back in the day, some of my friends used to lovingly refer to me as a "media whore." Back in the day when WhiteTrash BBQ was one of the few blogs about barbecue I used to get a fair amount of requests for interviews. Some I did, most I didn't.
This week feels like I'm young and new again. Everyone wants me!
I got a new toy yesterday; The Bubba Keg. Great name for what looks like what is a great cooker. I don't call it a grill. I don't call it a smoker. It looks like it can handle both.
The Bubba Keg is the newest cooker to hit the market that is dominated by The Big Green Egg and Kamado. Instead of using ceramics like the Eggs and Kamado do, the Bubba Keg is constructed of fiberglass insulated double steel walls. It's a hefty beast at 235lbs.
This looks like it's gonna be fun. Full review of unpacking, assembling and cooking on the Bubba Keg on Monday.
I'm really looking forward to this weekend! I'm cooking!
Yes folks, a barbecue brush. I know it's a mundane piece of equipment, but every good cook knows that you need clean grills to produce great food. Towards that end I bring to you The Grill Wizard Barbecue Brush.
This brush was sent to me back in the fall for review. The Grill Wizard Barbecue Brush does not use bristles like my current brush, the Brush Hawg by Charbroil, but instead uses a nested scrubber, which is very much like a scouring pad or a Brillo pad. After my review of the Brush Hawg, I received many emails warning me of the dangers of a bristle brush, so I really wanted to check this out.
The Grill Wizard Barbecue Brush sells for $11.98 and is available at Barr Brothers. It's 18" long, and made of a pretty thick and strong handle and is guaranteed for two years not to break. I gave this brush a good workout by cleaning the grill grates of my Weber Smokey Mountain that had been left sitting dirty in an abandoned smoke house for the last couple of months.
I have to say that this brush worked like a charm. It easily cleaned away the cold, baked on grease, sugars and food remnants from my last 24 hour cook. The thick handle didn't bend no matter how much pressure I put on it.
The cleaning pad however took a beating. It clogged fairly quickly and I had to replace it before I finished. I have to admit that this cleaning was not a normal cleaning. This grill was filthy and the grease and gunk were allowed to solidify on the grates.
The manufacturer claims that the scrubbers are dishwasher safe, which would allow a longer life but I don't have a dishwasher to test this theory. Simply rinsing the pads under running water failed to dislodge the grease and gunk.
Thankfully the pads replace easily and you can use the scrubbers available at your local supermarket. The scrubbers that the Barr Brothers sell and supply with the brush are much heavier and stronger than what I can buy locally. You can double up with the cheaper scrubbers, but that defeats the purpose of using cheaper replacements.
So has the Brush Hawg been sent to the junk pile replaced by the Grill Wizard? Sorry, no. I'll take my chances with the bristle brush. The Grill Wizard did a great job cleaning, but the pads clogged quickly. Rather than replacing the pads, I prefer being able to clean the bristles of the Brush Hawg.
Southern Hospitality, Pit Master: Dr. BBQ, part owner: Justin Timeberlake, (Strange, I can't find any pictures of them together? Are they one in the same?) location: frat bar row, Upper Eastside of Manhattan. Sounds like a recipe for disaster doesn't it? Umm, could be.
But it ain't. A recent lunch visit found the good Dr in the kitchen and let's just say the results are pretty damn good. If this is what they're serving at every meal, the place deserves some major respect. A full review will come when I dine there on my own dime, but in the mean time take a look at this food. Hungry yet?
City's Best has just launched a new poll to find New York City's best barbecue restaurant. Here's the list of nominations in no particular order. You can vote for you favorite by clicking on the restaurant name. Be sure to check out my thoughts about each establishment. Of course your thoughts may vary. 
The Kansas City Barbeque Society
The New England BBQ Society
The Mid Atlantic BBQ Association
The Hampton Smoker
Your guide to BBQ joints in Boston, New York and everywhere in between
The Pickled Pig Forums
BBQ-4-U Forums 
National BBQ News Forums 
The Virtual Weber Bullet
HomeBBQ.com
Edible Brooklyn 
BBQTV.com The source for BBQ competition coverage, cooking tips, sauces, rubs, grills, equipment and anything to do with barbecue. 
The BBQ Guy's Blog 
The BBQ Report 
