FEEDBACK
--
You are the
Alton Brown of Que!
Joe Mizrahi
Smokin' Joe's, NY, NY
--
I took my leftovers to work and was mobbed when people smelled the aroma from the microwave.
Dale Ray, Wichita,KS
--
I have always loved cooking ribs but with our new gas grill they were never as good as charcoal. Well that all changed last night when I made the greatest ribs I have ever tasted. My wife wanted to know if I bought them somewhere and then claimed I cooked them myself.
Allen Nicley, Mont Alto, PA
--
We love your beans. My recipe has our guests tooting for a few days; I bet that yours will last a week!!!!
Peggy Bohl, Sacramento, CA
--
I had two ribs and my boyfriend ate the other 3 1/2 pounds. He couldn't stop to talk. He had to bring a box of tissues to the table because these ribs are so good, they make him weep. And that's the truth. Of course, I make sure he has plenty of napkins, too. He tells me that my ribs have deepened his love for me. Well, fine, but I know that just means he wants more ribs:)
Nancy J. Mostad, Minnesota
--
All I have to say is OH MY GOD!!! They are hands down the best ribs I have ever tasted. Everyone begged me for the recipe.
Lisa Clark, Levittown, NY
--
I died laughing
at your rib song.
Gary Hays,Smithville, Texas
--
I tried your Magic Dust (on chicken) and it was amazing!
Ivan Carabott, Malta
|
|
| FREE: SMOKE SIGNALS ELETTER
|
|
|
|
ABOUT SMOKE SIGNALS
|
|
 Smoke Signals is the occasional free email newsletter from Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn of AmazingRibs.com. It is designed to let you know what's new on the website and in the world of outdoor cooking.
With Labor Day this weekend and football season under way, I've got some new recipes for your backyard or tailgater.
|
WISCONSIN BRAT TUB
|
|
 Brätwurst (braht-vurst), better known as brats, are the official food of University of Wisconsin and Green Bay Packer fans. They are great tailgate food.
UW is based in Madison, which calls itself the "Brat Capital of the World" and is home of the giant annual "Brat Fest" over Memorial Day weekend. In 2008 there were 191,712 brats served. Only slightly more modest, Sheboygan, an hour south of Green bay, calls itself the "Bratwurst Capital of America" and home of "Sheboygan Bratwurst Days" in late July. It is also home to as well as Johnsonville Sausage, the largest brat producer in the US. Johnsonville operates what they call "The Big Taste", the world's largest grill, and nearby in Mount Horeb is the Mustard Museum (a must visit, pun intended).
Brats are tan colored sausages made from coarsely ground pork and/or veal. They often contain eggs, pepper, savory, bay leaves, nutmeg, celery salt, chives, and parsley and they are stuffed into natural casings. Buy plain brats, not those cheese filled abominations. If you can get them, buy Usinger's or Klement's, both from Milwaukee. Johnsonville Brats, available nationwide are good too.
Unlike hot dogs, brats are not precooked at the factory. In my Brat Tub recipe we take a classic Wisconsin technique and amp it up slightly. The brats are simmered first in beer, then grilled, and then the beer is made into a sauce, and the brats simmer in the sauce. Touchdown!
This recipe is designed for cooking on a grill, but you can do them indoors on a griddle, in a frying pan, or under the broiler. They are simmered (never boiled) in beer and onions and butter, then grilled, and then ketchup and mustard are added to the beer, it is cooked down and made into a delicious gloppy sauce.
|
SHISH KEABOBS NO. SPIEDIES YES!
|
|
 I'm not a fan of shish kebabs (or kabobs or kebobs for that matter). I like red meat rare to medium rare inside. It is most tender and juicy when pink to red. I like meat crisp and dark on the outside when the maillard effect has had a chance to work its magic and enhance its flavor (see my article on meat science).
Kebabs are usually an inch or so square, and it is near impossible to get crisp and red/pink meat that small, especially when you have a hot metal poker running through the center conducting heat and cooking it from the inside. If I've got cubes of meat, I'd rather get a perforated grill topper or cast iron griddle, get it blazing hot, spray it with a little oil, and roll the meat around on it like a frying pan. Ditto for the veggies.
In Upstate New York they are called spiedies (pronounced SPEE-dees). Spiedies were probably created by Augustine Iacovelli, who, in 1929, immigrated from Civitella in Abruzzi, Italy, and settled near Binghamton, New York. A local specialty in Abruzzi is Arrosticini, lamb chunks grilled on a skewer and served on bread soaked in olive oil (for more on arrosticini and foods of Abruzzi, click here).
In Binghamton Iacovelli opened a restaurant, named it Augies', and introduced spiedinis, which got their name from spiedo, the Italian word for a spit for roasting. It is believed he marinated and heavily seasoned lamb chunks on wooden skewers and served them on Italian bread to hungry laborers. They sandwich became so popular that there is even an annual Spiedie Fest in Binghamton in August. It's been around since 1984, draws more than 100,000, and there is even a cookoff and hot air baloon rally.
Today, spiedies are cubes of meat, typically lamb, but they can be beef, even a mix of lamb, beef, and pork cubes. I've even seen chicken added. The meat is marinated for many hours, often overnight, in oil and vinegar with lots of garlic and green herbs. Speedie mainade can be bought in bottles, even 1 gallon jugs, in grocieries in Upstate.
Nowadays my faveorite spiedies are not cooked on skewers, but grilled over an open flame with onions and peppers. When grilled, the olive oil drips and flares a lot so the meat gets really crunchy on the outside. Served rare to medium, the marinade flavor is almost as strong as the meat flavor. In Binghamton and at the State Fair in Syracuse, they are served on soft crust Italian style bread or pitas. Spiedies are popular backyard and tailgate food in Upstate, and for the life of me, I cannot understand why they have not spread beyond. If you like shish kebabs, you've gotta try spiedies.
|
HARISSA HOT PEPPER PASTE
|
|
 Harissa [hah-REE-suh] is my favorite hot pepper sauce. It is far more complex than anything I've ever tasted, and the home made is better than the store bought by far.
The ancient recipe may be from North African, or the Middle East, or maybe even Albania. It is used as an ingredient in stews and soups, and is served as a condiment with couscous, fish, or meat.
A few years ago, harissa was unknown in the US outside Middle Eastern and North Afican communities. Nowadays it is hard to pick up a cooking mag without reading a recipe that calls for it.
If made properly, it is a very deep, rich, complex hot sauce, much more interesting than most bottled hot sauces.
At right you see store-bought red harissa from a can, and my home made, from home-smoked jalapenos and pablanos. Most of my home-grown chilis were green, so the color is greener than the commercial harissa, but I think you can tell from the picture which version the crowd liked best.
Smoked red jalapenos are called chipotles, and can be bought dried or in a can with a sauce called adobo. You can use either, but this recipe calls for the dried version. You can even use any red hot chili. Anchos are not usually smoked and sold are usually sold in dried form. You can buy chipotles and anchos in any store that serves a Latino community or online.
Although not traditional, harissa is great with Spiedies.
|
LAMB LOIN CHOPS IN SHEEP DIP
|
|
 "Just a little sheep dip. Panacea for all stomach ailments." Mae West
Lamb loin chops are my favorite red meat in the universe. Period. Really. No cow. Here is an extremely quick and easy marinade and cooking method for grilled lamb loin chops. The marinade is great on all cuts of lamb including rack, leg, and chunks. If you don't think you like lamb, try this simple recipe and you may swear off beef for life. The output is amazingly flavorful and tender and juicy and succulent and... |
| SCHMANCY SMOKED SALMON |
|
 No fish is more receptive to smoke than salmon. This recipe creates an elegant, delicate, moist piece of meat with a hint sweet, and a hint of garlic. This recipe is "hot smoked" at about 225F. If you can get your smoker lower, fine, just adapt the time allotted.
|
JEWELL RAE COOKING VIDEOS ARE HYSTERICAL
|
|
 It's the political silly season and nothing is sillier than the cooking videos from Jewell Rae, each devoted to a different politician. Brought to you by the funny folks at funnyordie.com. If your sides haven't split after watching Jewell Rae, the video from the Onion humor newspaper about the research by Pizza scientists at Domino's on the limits of what people will eat should do it. |
COME TASTE WINE WITH ME
|
|
 Join me at the Chicago's Scoozi Restaurant on Wednesday, September 17, 2008 from 6-9 p.m. for Uncorked 2008 - Tasting, Meal, Auction for the benefit of The Chicago Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
There is a tasting of some very nice wines including wines by Chapoutier from France's Rhone region. Their labels have braille on them! Stay and bid on magnums donated by Cakebread Cellars, Whitehall Lane Winery, Shafer Vineyards, Chimney Rock, Heitz Cellars, Grgich Hills Estate, Provenance Vineyard, Duckhorn Vineyards, Freemark Abbey, Markham Vineyards, and more. Tickets are $75 and include wine throughout the evening and a buffet dinner of wood fired pizzas, salads, pastas, and desserts.
A pre-event VIP tasting is being hosted from 5-6:30 p.m. VIPs will meet Master Sommelier Alpana Singh, host of PBS's "Check Please!", and taste a variety of special wines chosen by Sam's Wines. VIP tickets are $150 and include food and wine throughout the evening until 9 p.m.
Scoozi is at 410 W. Huron, Chicago. Tickets can be purchased online by clicking here or call 312-997-3679.
And no, that's not me in the picture.
|
BLOG: THOUGHT FOR FOOD
|
|
 Once again the Chicago Tribune has run out of good writing and paid good money for another bad essay by a Meathead for the op-ed page. If you don't live in Chicago you might not get all the jokes, but it contains my musings on how Chicago might top Beijing if it gets the 2016 Olympics, as it hopes. They trot out the ancient Chinese drums? We trot out the Bucket Boyz. Click here to read the whole article about how we might show the world what Chicago culture is all about and see the Bucket Boyz in action.
|
VISIT THE AMAZINGRIBS.COM GIFT SHOP
|
|
 Order cool gear from AmazingRibs.com including aprons, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, intimate wear, and other apparel for men, women, kids and pets. I also have beer mugs, posters, clocks, and other tschotschkes.
Select from a number of fun captions: Nice Rack!, Porknography, Hot & Juicy, Suck bones!, Eat me!, Succulent, Got ribs?, Allèz Barbecue, Jeet?, BBQ Goddess, BBQ God, Saucy, iRibs. To see the entire selection at CafePress.com, just click here.
|
|
SEND ME FEEDBACK, PLEASE |
|
 Do me a favor, willya? Send me feedback.
Let me know what you think of an article or recipe: If you think it is
confusing, if you know a better way, or if I made a mistake. My Daddy
taught me that "praise is cheap, criticism priceless."
I hope you found something useful here. If you do, please click here to forward a copy of this to a friend.
Remember: No rules in the bedroom or the kitchen,
Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn
AmazingRibs.com
Click here to contact me
|
|
|
|
|
