The BEST Barbeque

Friends,

I have been at perfecting barbecue for many a year. I have eaten barbecue in most every State in this Union. I think I know a bit about it. Here are a few thoughts on barbecue and how to make it great.

First, if you've ever gone to any of these 'cookoffs' -- ribs, pork, barbecue, etc., I rarely find any barbecue or ribs at them that I would call GREAT! The reason? Because almost all of them, maybe all of them, cook their ribs and pork way ahead of time and warm them up at the cook-offs (or at least that's what they serve us customers). Sorry, doesn't work for me. Barbecue is best fresh, and the best barbecue I have ever had, and have ever made, is right off the grill.

Here's what I do.

Most important thing -- you need lots of time. Barbecue is a work of art.

No, you don't have to labor over it hour after hour, but you do have to occasionally tend it.

Second -- I'm a purist and I use charcoal. Just the flavor of the thing.

I also generally make my own rubs and sauces. That's not what this particular blog is about, but maybe I'll share some ideas at a later date.

Your goal? Tender, flavorful meat with a hint of smoke.

How do you get there? Cook it slow.

For ribs:

If you want really juicy barbecue use a full rack of ribs, untrimmed. OR as a second choice, St. Louis-cut rack which is only partially trimmed. Baby-back ribs are best cooked moist because there isn't as much fat to them. You can do them this way, but it takes even more care and time.

Preparation: Start early; we're looking at five hours min. cooking time, ideally twelve to eighteen or more; at 200 myou'll need that much time

About an hour or two before you're going to cook, sprinkle the whole rib rack, both sides, with an equal mixture of salt and sugar. Then just before you grill, rub the rack with your spice mixture. [So far we're doing 'dry ribs'. If you want 'wet' ribs, or ribs with a sauce, the process is the same, except you may not want as powerful a spice mixture or it will take away from the sauce. Sauces are added near the end anyway; otherwise the ribs will char.] Place the meat on the grill when the coals are ready without much overlap. [Treat pork roasts or brisket the same way. NOTE! A pork tenderloin roast has too little fat to do well cooking this way! Use shoulder or butt roasts.]

Depending on the size of your grill you can cook the rack whole or cut it in two or three chunks to arrange to fit. However you do it, you don't really want the pieces covering each other.

I use indirect heat, always. That means the coals go on both sides, the meat in the center. I have heard a variety of techniques (coals to one side or the other, using foil, etc.), this is what works for me.

Cook it slow. You can get the heat up to 300-350 to start, but get it down right away. The slower the better. I shoot for 200 to 250. The best way to accomplish this with a charcoal grill is to place a small single layer of briquets on opposite sides of the grill (7-10 briquets). Start (I use a tower) about twenty or so briquets and then sprinkle them atop the non-lit layers n the sides. Arrange the meat, close the lid, watch the temperature carefully for the first fifteen-twenty minutes. If it gets hot -- over 300 -- close some of your vents a bit. Aim for the ideal -- 200-250. Once it settles in there, leave it. This should last three to four hours or so. Then you will need to add additional briquets. Check it every so often.

The next part of this depends on your circumstances and your time schedule.

Most ideal: add briquets a few at a time on each side for the next ten to twelve hours. Aim at keeping the temperature between 200 and 250. The trick is to add them before the others die, but without raising the temperature. You'll get the hang of it after a few tries. [The higher the temp, the less long they need to cook; keep in mind though, that as far as I'm concerned that slow and low is best. Ribs are almost done when they pull well back from the bone at the ends. Stick a fork in. They should be tender and juicy.]

If you don't have this kind of time, you can get really good tender ribs in four to six hours cooking at 200-275. Slower is better, though. Some of the best ribs I have had cooked for 24 hrs! The bones were even soft! But the meat wasn't dry or tough -- it melted in your mouth.

Alternative: Recently at a barbecue I had I cooked the meat (pork shoulder roasts and beef brisket) for eighteen hours. My technique? The first four to five hours was on the grill the evening before (as above at 200-250). Then I took the roasts and brisket off, put them in pans covered, but not sealed, with foil in a very slow oven: 175, over night -- all night. I let the meat rest about two hours with the oven turned off in the morning, then finished off on the grill (200) for an hour or so.

If you want sauce, add at the end as a condiment OR brush on the last half hour.

The result, dry or wet, your ribs or meat should be VERYtender ribs that fall off the bone. Juicy and mouth-watering. I can taste them now!

Best,

Joe Koob

Southern Fusion Dinner

Salmon-Cucumber-Watermelon Montage with Peach Margaritas


I decided to try an interesting combination of flavors that I thought would go well together.

Smoked Salmon (Lox)

English ‘seedless’ cucumber

1/3 cup Sugar

1/3 cup Berry Vodka

½ a small watermelon

First I am a Glace’ or ‘Ice’ person. I often make these for palate cleansers, but this time I wanted to try using it in an appetizer. I took the watermelon, cut out chunks of flesh to put in food processor, processed; then I put the mash in a food mill (fine) and ran the mash through. The result was several cups of watermelon liquid. [Note: you could use a sieve instead of a food mill.] Mix in sugar until dissolved, mix in berry vodka.

If you’re thinking that adding sugar to watermelon is a bit over-the-top, the truth is the added sugar helps keep the liquids from freezing into a solid block. You could add more vodka and create the same effect.

When all is well combined, I placed the mixture in a flat rectangular storage tray so that the liquid was about ¾ inches thick, and then popped it in the freezer. It froze to just the right consistency so that I could use a fork to separate the crystals easily by scrapping from the top.

Cucumber – I took off the rind; then used a hand-held cheese cutter to shave thin slices off. These I then cut on a diagonal into pieces about ¾ inch long.

Salmon – I took one long strip of the lox for each plate and rolled it, used a toothpick to hold.

Putting it together: A small pile of flaked watermelon glace’ went on the bottom, Cucumber pieces next, then Salmon on top. This combination was very yummy.

Next time: I think I would coarsely chop the cucumber and salmon and make layers this way. It would be easier for the diner to enjoy all the flavors together.

Peach Margaritas

Tequila – I used a pretty good brand of Silver Tequila; use what you like

Ripe peaches

Peach schnapps or peach flavored liquor

Fresh-squeezed Lime juice

Sugar -- optional

This is kind of up to you how much of what you want in the drink, but for a stronger margarita add more Tequila, for less strong use more ice, peaches, and or schnapps. I used approximately 2 to 1 Tequila to schnapps. You don’t really need much more sweetness with this recipe, but you can add sugar to taste.

Peel peaches and add flesh to blender, add remaining ingredients and blend until peaches are well-minced. Put liquid through a medium mesh sieve and smush down with spoon to get as much of the fresh peach through. Return to blender, add ice, blend until fine.

You can serve with the ice (if you blender gets it really fine), or run the drink through a sieve again and serve immediately. Very nice.

Enjoy!

Joe Koob

Southern Fusion

Southern Fusion

Small Plates

Here is the latest dinner. I will try to post recipes over the next few weeks.

Salmon-Cucumber-Watermelon Montage

With

Peach Margaritas

Pulled Pork with with Mini Tortillas

Curry Chicken Gumbo

Fried Crab-grits Cakes with Remoulade Sauce

Corn Oysters with Petite Corn Rolls

Cajun Skewers with Andoille

Filet Mignon with Ancho chilli Sauce

Yukons and Cheese

Brussel Sprout Pecan Surprise

Masa short bread with Whipped Crème and Blueberries

Smores Martinis

Spanish Potato Tortilla or Omelet


This is one of my wife’s favorite Tapas (or can be eaten as a side dish). It is pretty universally available in Spain, and we enjoyed several varieties while in Barcelona. Here are two basic recipes from the web. I’ll mention a few things below that you can play around with, and a few caveats to the cooking from my experience.

http://spanishfood.about.com/od/tapas/r/tortilla.htm

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/spanish_potato_tortilla.aspx

First: Yukon gold potatoes are GREAT! for this recipe, so I highly recommend them. When we visited our friends in Barcelona (Thanks Pato and Santi!) we had some of these (or something very like them) that I made garlic mashed potatoes with.

Be sure you use a Non-Stick frying pan if you have one – I didn’t once, and it didn’t flip very well. If you don’t, then use an oil that doesn’t stick as readily (olive oil tends to stick), Canola oil works better.

On cooking the potatoes – a bit easier method than pre-frying them , and then frying the omelet (lots of frying and oil!) – is to par-boil the sliced potatoes. Make sure if you do this that they are not really soft – get them out when just barely cooked through and drain thoroughly, pat dry. Then you can skip to the tortilla or omelet part after you lightly sauté the onions (and optional garlic).

Have fun playing with this recipe. There are lots of possible variations:

Adding sautéed peppers

I added some sautéed edible pod peas once

Some grated parmesan or other hard cheese is nice mixed in.

Or you can add some melted cheese atop at the end.

In moderation you can add a variety of vegetables to make it healthier.

You can also probably cut down a bit on the eggs if that is a concern. Experiment and see how it holds together with one or two less.

Make sure the omelet is well-browned underneath before trying to flip. You can brown it even more if you like a crispy texture for the bottom.

This dish goes well with just about anything, so enjoy.



If you don’t want to look up one of these recipes, here are the basics:

2-3-4 potatoes peeled and sliced in quarter inch slices (depends on size of pan and size of potatoes).

1 onion sliced

Garlic chopped (optional)

4-5-6 eggs mixed

Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes (either fry in lots of oil, or parboil as mentioned above), Do Not Brown at this stage. You just want them barely cooked through. Saute onions (and garlic, and other veggies if desired). Add potatoes and onion mixture to Non-stick pan on medium-high heat with a generous coating of oil (you definitely don’t want this to stick. Mix eggs and pour all around potatoes and onion. Turn down heat almost immediately to Medium low and cook until bottom of tortilla is browned (to your taste), but should be well-cooked. Center of tortilla on top may still be a bit runny. Make sure tortilla is completely loose in pan before flipping. Flip (place a plate on top of the skillet and turn over), reheat skillet to medium high, slide omelet in and finish cooking on medium-low heat (again to desired degree of doneness). Serve in wedges.

Best,

Joe Koob

Enjoying the Good Life in Barcelona – Iberian Jamon sandwiches

My wife and I just had the good fortune to spend several days with friends in Barcelona. We got to see the sites/sights, but also had the opportunity to spend time with the family and enjoy aspects of the culture and life that were more ‘down home’. It was a real treat.

To pass on some of the food basics there, I’m going to write several blogs about what we had, and give you an idea of how to create as best we might in this country. One delectable treat that seems commonplace and acceptable for any meal, including breakfast, is Spanish Ham or Jamon, which is oft served with a crusty bread. Here is one basic presentation:

Ingredients:

A crusty bread (see recipe below), most typically fairly flat and cut length-wise in two. Not unlike a Panini bread.
A good ham – recommended if you can find it – Iberian Ham. Serrano (aka the web) seems like a substitute that may be more readily available. (I’ll wax eloquently about the ham in a minute).
Fresh tomatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Fresh garlic (optional)
Manchego cheese (also optional)

What to do:

At one restaurant for a starter we had the toasted bread (lightly toasted) served with the above ingredients so we could ‘make our own’. The first order of business is to take a piece of tomato (served here in cut halves) -- you are to crush and rub the pulp into/all along the top of the toasted/cut side of the bread. [We also had this several other times and sometimes they do this step for you – the bread comes out with the tomato all mushed into the bread.] I know it sounds a bit strange, but the effort is worth it.

Then you have the option of smearing some garlic into the bread as well [I like garlic, so this was a no-brainer for me, but its good either way.]

Sprinkle olive oil (Not too much!) over the bread.

Sprinkle salt (and pepper if you so desire) on top.

Put on a layer of very yummy Iberian Ham. Enjoy!

About Spanish Ham:

Jamon (I’m missing some accents here, I’m sure) is a wonderful cured ham. It seems to come in a wide range of types, qualities, and prices. All of what we had was good! Great, in fact! At some of the tapas places, sandwich places, etc., you could see rows of the whole hams hanging from the ceiling. I would have loved to have hauled one of these back to the States with us.

The ham is very tasty – not too strong, not too dry, but dry, not too salty. Just an excellent cured ham. The closest I can come to in my experience here are prosciutto, serrano, and perhaps a high quality southern cured dry ham.

About the bread:

The ‘sandwich’ bread was a crusty white, seemingly from a fairly flat loaf. It had large yeast holes, and was always sliced in two length-wise. Below is a recipe for basic Spanish bread from the web. I found several, but none mentioned the thickness. I’ll give a few suggestions, and after a few tries, I’ll follow this blog up with another as to the results. For now this is based on my fairly extensive experience making breads.

Pan de Orno

First, you need 1&1/2 TBS of bread yeast, 3 cups warm water, 7 cups of white flour, two teaspoons of salt, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. See recipe here:

http://user.xmission.com/~dderhak/recipe/bread.htm

[NOTE: you can halve this recipe or even 1/3rd it. Just make sure you have about 1 tlbs of yeast in any case.]

Further recommendations. Don’t over knead this and don’t force in too much flour. To gain the proper thickness I would recommend a semi-moist dough. Then stretch it out gently after the first rise into flat (1/2 inch to ¾ inch by 10-12 inches by 3-4 inch loaves. Do this without much kneading in-between (kneading creates elasticity and you don’t want this to ‘spring back’ too much).

After about a half hour of additional rise, gently pull out the bread again to elongate the loaves and flatten them a bit further. Finish the rise, and bake. This elongation process helps make larger yeast bubbles in the bread. There are several things you can do to make a nice crust.

Most recommended is -- put the bread in the middle rack of your hot oven (450) with a pan underneath. Just before shutting the door toss in a cup of cold water in the pan below or a handful of ice cubes. Shut the door and bake.

Alternatively you can start with a pan of water below and/or brush the loaves with water several times during the baking. From experience, the ice-cube/cold water method works the best.

Joe Koob

BTW Sorry for the long absence, but I was in Florida for the winter and I have become lazy about blogging while there – though I still cook!