Yup, you heard it right. I spent over 5 hours today with Chilebrown and his wife Ms. Goofy in a classroom getting fully instructed while eating chicken, pork ribs, sliced/pulled pork and beef brisket. Neat, eh?
The class started this morning at 7:30 in Fairfield California, just 30 minutes from home. I signed up a month ago or more, they don’t come to town often and the chance to attend wasn’t an option. While I did guest judge the 5th Annual West Coast Championships, I felt it was time to make it legal.
Don’t get me wrong, sure it was fun and the food was really good. But it was an instructional class in every sense of the word. We were schooled in every aspect of judging BBQ by KCBS rules. And brother, or sister, that ain’t no joke. These people take what they do very seriously. The sheer volume of respect they have for the teams is huge. They go way out of their way to make damned sure it’s fair.
You sit a specific direction when judging, no talking, no sitting next to friends. You must be on time and if you don’t show? You’re very well bloody likely to never judge again. Green lettuce, parsley and cilantro are your only garnish, use the white part of iceburg and you’re marked as disqualified for Appearance. If the pork rib meat falls-off-the-bone? Marked down, it should come clean with a tug with your teefs. When a judge reaches for a pork rib and two come away? You get 2 and the 6th judge gets none, everyone marks this team as 1 (disqualified) for Appearance. For me, the most important part of the judging is to rule your decision based upon the merit of that BBQ. You cannot judge it based on how well you cook, or whether you prefer something different. I like that part.
Soon I will be receiving my card, a judge polo shirt and a certificate stating my place in the circle of true BBQ competition judges. I’m a greenhorn to judging and competition, but not to good barbecue.
If you’d like to see a few more pictures from the day, please visit KCBS Judging Class 2009.
Biggles
Author Archives: admin
Broken Garlic Squisher, what ever will I do?
Oh yeah, use a knife.
Garlic presses are only a convenience.
xo, Biggles
Pepper Rub Country Style Pork Perfection of Love
Doh ! I cooked this about a month ago and it’s been one of the posts waiting in the wings. Yeah, it’s like that and I have more than just a few.
I been so tired of the chile powder, paprika and the likes. I’ve had so much over the years which is why I’ve been using mostly good kosher salt to marinate my meat in lately. A while back Eric the Knife Guy and his lovely wife Janet gifted me some spice blends from Oregon Spiceman. This particular blend is their Pepper Rub. Black pepper, white pepper, sweet basil, garlic powder and salt. Sounds good and smells even better.
I had a good load of fancy pork country style ribs from Ted of Highland Hills, it was time. Brought down the trusty clay cooker, sliced up an onion, too much garlic, rubbed the meat 2 hours before, installed enough chicken broth, and slid it in to a cold oven set to 400 degrees. I probably even soaked the clay cooker a bit, like you’re supposed to.
Pull when pully aparty, pull when broth is rich in flavor and texture. Probably around the near 3 hour mark.
How was it? The fancy pork and its flavors pulled right through, so tender, so juicy in its own perfection. But the clean bite of the pepper delivered to my waiting gullet everything I was looking for. The onions brought to the table a sweetness, the garlic rounded out all the flavors with a husky bellow. The pepper rub was a delight and packed a slight punch, tilted my head with complex flavor thinking. It wasn’t something I could serve the boys with their “tender” (read: undeveloped) palate. But brother, or sister, this juicy delectable is absolutely divine poured over a more than heaping pile of buttery mashed taters, even perfect for a mid July festival.
fini
Mug Rootbeer BBQ Sauce – a recipe
A year ago I received a nice email from a guy who was working for a large ad firm, who was in turn working for a grill manufacturing company. He wanted to know if I was interested in posting about some fancy grills. I took a look and they were propane, even the charcoal versions weren’t much to speak of. I passed.
Forward to today and the same gentleman emailed me again, wanted to know if I remembered. I did, and had saved his email from last time. This time he’s working with Mug Rootbeer, wants to know if I’m interested in a BBQ Sauce recipe. For trying out the recipe, he’ll send me a Mug Rootbeer cooler filled with nearly all the ingredients to make it.
Sure, what the hell, count me in.
At first glance the recipe actually looked decent, I was surprised. I didn’t really know what to expect. If it sucked, I was going to rework it and see if I could have some fun, post or no post. If it was decent enough, I’d give credit where credit was due. It was good and the other 6 tasters felt the same. Good Sauce.
One of the benefits of this recipe is that while it does have a good list of ingredients, it doesn’t lean heavily in one direction. Got a good sweet background, tasty tang where it’s wanted with a little swing of fun in the middle. Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s got the liquid smoke, a controversial ingredient. As my sister says, “Don’t add too much ya bone and it’s fine, small amounts.” Or just don’t add it. And as near as I can tell, it’s very reproducible. When I was simmering it down, I lost track of time and volume. Stirred it and tasted, worked out just fine.
If I were to try this again, I’d add a tablespoonful of the red pepper flakes to make it jump. Oh, yes. Please click on, Mug Rootbeer BBQ Sauce Recipe to view and print the card.
I surely have no idea where this recipe came from, I made it and it was good.
Biggles
Meathenge to Fatted Calf to the sharing of meat between father & son
Editors Note: Yeah, confused? I didn’t know how to title this one either. I received this email the other day and was really blown away, I did tear up. We all make jokes, tell “stories” and enjoy the Meaty Lifestyle. But how many of you, and raise your hands, where meat has come in to your life and given you a venue to share the last life & times with a loved one before they pass?
I asked for permission to post this email and to post an image. Please read on and dare to keep a dry eye.
Hey Biggles,
First, I have to say a huge ‘Thank You’ for telling me about subscribing to Toponia’s weekly newsletter for the Fatted Calf a couple years before she and Taylor took the leap and started their operations in Napa. I *so* looked forward to reading her updates and although it wasn’t convenient to hit the SF Farmer’s Market, I knew that one day, I’d get to taste their their products.
Move ahead to a year ago. The Fatted Calf has been running at the Oxbow Public Market for a while, and my dad, who was living in the Yountville Veterans Home was talking to me about Charcuterie and stoking the fires of meat love. I made a promise to create a nice Cheese Board lunch the next weekend, and so, finally stopped by the Fatted Calf for sausage.
Bailey was working the counter, barely two weeks into her start with the ‘Calf. I sampled my way through just about all that was available that week and ended up buying more than a pound of some of the most wonderful sausage I’d had in many, many years. I was sold.
Stopping at the ‘Calf on my way to visit my father became a habit very quickly.
Sadly, my father passed away on April 21st. I thought that I might not head over to Napa so much, but then, I got the heads up from Toponia about their first ever, up-n-coming Basic Pig Butchery and Sausage Making class. Lemme tell ya, I grabbed the phone so fast it set records in three states. I thought it would be a nice way to keep fond memories of hanging out with my dad over exceptional food.
The class was wonderful. Taylor, Toponia and the rest of the crew are fine people indeed. I had such a good time, I’m tempted to volunteer for them sometime.
Thanks so much for sharing your love of meat.
Best to you and yours,
-CM
Eidtor’s Note: Please take a moment and hoist a cool refreshing beverage to CM and his father, a moment of silence and respect.
Sleepy Summer Mornings
Hi Everyone!
Wanted to stop by and say hi to everyone, Hi! While I do have a few posts in the wings awaiting some inspiration, we’re not up to much here at Meathenge Labs. Cooking for me these days consists of burgers, a red sauce sphaghetti dinner and calling Mountain Mike’s Pizza. Sad, yet true. In any case, the boys and I are doing fine, I’m not driving nearly 500 miles a week (until school starts in a few months).
Here’s Tiny E’s feet as he’s sleeping, right now. Sleepy Summer Mornings, ain’t they grand?
xo, Biggles
Bananas and Bacon – Guaranteed to start conversation
editors note: This image is from the back of the book, it was far cooler.
The little book is titled, The New Banana and it hails from 1931. Looks to be an introduction to this new fruit, national news, foreign news, scientific, daily menus for the week & recipes too!
Which leads me to the Bananas and Bacon recipe, no really. If’n you’re interested in a scanned original from the book, please follow the link below.
Bananas with Bacon
6 Bananas
1/4 pound bacon
Roll half lengths of peeled bananas in strips of bacon. Secure with toothpick, if necessary. Broil under flame; or bake in oven-proof dish in a hot oven, 450 degrees F., about fifteen minutes, or until bananas are tender and bacon is crisp. Baste at least once during the baking … Whole bananas may be wrapped in bacon and cooked in the same way.
xo, Biggles
Bistro 1491 – Albany
I grew up in Albany, went all the way through Elementary, Middle and High School, seemed like forever. Back then, Albany was a sleepy little town stuck in time and Solano Avenue (the main drag) was no exception. It wasn’t uncommon to visit stores, shops, pharmacies, offices and diners that’d been there for 50+ years. As a teenager it drove me crazy and ended up taking a bus in to Berkeley (right over there) for a little fun and merriment.
Today, one of the last strongholds of that era, was Walker’s Pie Shop. I was sad to see it go for posterity reasons, but honestly the food didn’t keep me coming back. Wondered what would replace it?
Bistro 1491, babeee !!!
Mign Shatje – when a big brother steps in
Please read my lengthy prose, I do have a point to it.
I met my little sister when she was born. I remember bringing her home from the hospital in our new 1968 VW camper bus, no selt belts. I remember holding her in my arms as we made our way back home, she got passed around, it was pretty awesome.
Over the years we didn’t get along very well. In fact, I was pretty evil and she was very ingenious about being antagonistic. Even as teenagers, the love wasn’t there (on my part) and I was old enough to move out and do my own thing. After some time and having close friends knock me around some, I knew she loved me, and I have to admit I loved her too. But it wasn’t the time or place to settle such things. We enjoyed out time and/or place, for the most part, as best we could.
As we aged and mellowed a tad, we’ve had great fun together, sharing with each other. I introduced her to computers, and she let me in the door at 1am to show her how to play Steam Roller. This is a game where you’ve been sound asleep for a few hours, and some assailant jumps in to bed with you and rolls over you, repeatedly. Then, they grab a cardboard box and make a sled to use as vehicle to get from your upper apartment to street level. At 1am. Ain’t she just the best to put up with me?
Yes, she is.
To make a long story short, this woman has always been one of those artists that we only dream of being. Her pencil, charcoal to digital artwork has been online and published in many formats for over 20 years.
What happens then? You get plagiarized. Tee hee, this something I’ve only dreamed about.
How many times have you been to a web site or visited a blog of some sort and the author is complaining of plagiarism, content scraping or something related? Nearly every day right?
But in those instances, how many of them are collecting $1000.00 a print, getting magazine articles, praise from every angle all based upon your artwork? Not many I would think. But this is the case for my little sister.
My little sister’s artwork is being plagiarized to the point where this woman is collecting thousands of dollars and garnering tons of praise for something she digitally traced and added some vector graphics to. You do need to know my sister isn’t the only victim of this crime, she isn’t the only one.
If you’d like to see the comparison of my sister’s artwork versus what this woman selling, please take a gander, mijn schatje & blastmilk comparisons.
xo, Biggles
ps – We are looking for legal ways to handle this situation. If you have solid, concrete knowledge, please let me know. The woman is in Paris, France and we’re in the states. Ultimately, we really want her to stop stealing other artist’s work and profiting from it. A little shame wouldn’t hurt either.
ppssspssspes – Above all, we must keep this civil.
Fishy says, “Happy Birthday Meathenge!”
That’s right folks, Meathenge is 6 years old as of 3 weeks ago! A few times over the years I’ve gone back and have been able to trace my life through Meathenge. The fads, times, people, meeting new friends, learning, being plastered all over the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Food Section. I’ve enjoyed nearly every moment this web site has brought to my life, I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. I mean comon, how often do you get Toponia emailing you in desperation to see if you’re available to work the Fatted Calf Stall at the market? A chance to sling some of the West Coast’s best charcuterie ever? Pure heaven.
Happy Birthday to Meathenge and thank you everyone for making it a purely enjoyable way of life. You’re the best!
A toast to Meathenge! A toast to another 6 years !!! mmMmmM, toast.
xo, Biggles
Orion Cooker – It’s a cooker.
I don’t know where to start with this one. I am proud of myself for waiting 24 hours to post this though, gave me a chance to calm down and catch my breath.
What is an Orion Cooker? It’s a stainless steel rig that cooks your food by convection, the heat source doesn’t see the food. The food is placed inside, on racks or hanging from racks, the match-lite charcoal (manufacturer’s spec) is placed in the tray that surrounds the outside bottom of the cooker and in a little tube pot thing up top. Smoking chips are placed inside between the drip tray and the cooker’s outter wall. Once all that is done, put the lid on and light the charcoal.
For 3 racks of baby back ribs, you do nothing for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Pretty neat, eh?
Since I knew a real wood fire wouldn’t be introduced to the food directly, I had an idea as to what kind of smoked product to expect. It’s really good, juicy, smoky, but lacking the character only a real fire can introduce.
Um, I didn’t get that. I spent nearly 40 bux on 3 slabs, I didn’t get that. What I did get was steamed meat. MmMmmmm, steamed meat. No browning, no smoky flavors, an odd texture and they were over-done. Over-done steamed meat! Oh joy !!! The boys opted for Top Ramen instead. Even a dry rub of 2 kinds of pepper, dried basil, garlic powder and salt produced a very bland product.
After 24 hours of mind numbing reflection and a few conversations, I don’t think I added enough smoking chips and I think I should have pulled the meat at an hour or even 55 minutes. Even so, the looks of a pale rack of pork ribs, all funky with moisture, really turned my stomach upside down. I buried a few ribs in some jarred sauce and it was 100% better, so I tossed them in the trash. Even at 100% better they weren’t worth keeping.
All that aside, it’s an excellent cooker. The damned thing is all stainless steel, built well and built with good thoughts behind it. The screws, washers and nuts are all stainless as well. It went together very easily, every hole matched up and all the threads were perfect.
Considering the briquettes are exposed, small children and pets need to be kept at a safe distance. The instructions say you need about 15 pounds of match-lite, which is about 12 some odd bucks. So, if you’re going to fire this sucker up, fill it up. There’s no damned sense in putting a 3 pound chicken in there. If you have food that flourishes in steamy heat? This cooker just can’t be beat.
I took a handful of pictures of the Orion Cooker and they came out really great. Come for the pictures, leave when the food arrives.
xo, Biggles
Happy Hens Farm – From Petaluma to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market
I haven’t been to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market in quite some time, been busy and very well distracted. Had a few moments to myself this morning and headed out with some scrilla, a bag and an aching in my heart.
Check out those eggs !!! I spied them at Highland Hills’ stall, along with some badass whole chickens. These ain’t your Feel Good Organic eggs or chickens, these are the real deal budro. I paid dearly for them, but I couldn’t resist, I had to have. I can hardly wait!
I got a lot more, you’ll have to wait and see.
xo, Biggles
Happy Hens Farm
P.O. Box 4468
Petaluma, CA 94955
707.775.8246
Unexpected Delights – Country Fried Bacon
This was and is completely unexpected, Country Fried Bacon.
Our internets has been going up and down, they were expected to come fix between 4 & 6pm. Didn’t have anything planned for dinner, had the hankering for something deep fried.
Found enough oil, two bunches of asparagus, taters … and bacon. Whupped up some beer, flour & salt. Dredged the “veggies” and deep fried at 360 degrees F.
Country Fried Bacon rules. So clean, so perfect, so not greasy and easy.
xo, Biggles
A Dutch Oven Gathering and Girl Bacon
Dutch Oven Gatherings or D.O.G.’s are nothing new, only to me and the rest of us city dwellers. Chilebrown of Mad Meat Genius directly introduced me to the art a few years ago. Basically, you cook your food in a cast iron dutch oven that has feet and a special lid that will accept charcoal briquettes. This way, no matter where you are or where you go, you can have a world-class meal. Cool, eh?
But what happens when your skill set is no longer tested, your mettle isn’t put to the trial? That’s right, you begin down the road of Competition. And that’s just what CB, Abram & Larry (not included in this set) have done, they’ve trundled off to the big time of Dutch Oven Competitions. This is no small feat, you’re competing against people who could very well have done this their entire life! And a hundred or more competitors? It’s a vast sea of flurry for sure.
But you know what? Even after only a few good, heavy competitions these guys, The Meat Men are taking 2nd place. I’m impressed, a lot.
A few weeks ago CB emailed me and had been conversing with Abram, they agreed that I should host a Dutch Oven Gathering Practice Competition at Meathenge Labs. My first reaction was, well … YEAH !!!
Last Saturday was the day and I invited a few local bloggers to attend. I figured The Meat Men could do their thing, we could fire up my smoker, grill and quaff a few Cold Ones and have our own sit-down fest.
It was better than expected, everyone showed up when they said. The attending Meat Men got to work and I worked my station at the smoker. All were fed huge amounts of everything, joined by smiles and cold refreshing beverages.
CB cooked off his yeasted bread, Abram made a stellar Hawaiian Pork Rib dinner and I served up smoked chicken, bacon and a tri-tip. Pam of Zoomie Station provided homemade apple turnovers along with lamb burger sliders. Cookiecrumb of I’m Mad and I eat, Cranky of Pluto Demoted provided fresh oranges, tater salad and some other things I cannot remember. Mostly because it was 4 days ago and too many wonderful beverages in between. Tee hee.
After all was said and done not only did we really enjoy ourselves, but The Meat Men made their food under their time limit of 3 hours. Not bad, eh?
If you’re interested to see the rest of the story, go here and survey!
xo, Biggles
ps – Toponia of Fatted Calf gifted me the idea of using the term, Girl Bacon. Why? Because CB’s slab bacon had teats!
New Toy Day – Descoware 5 Quart Danish Oven
I’ve been monkeying around on ebay since no later than ’98. And, only 4 years ago put myself on an absolute rule, don’t go unless you’re actually looking for a specific thing. Don’t go, don’t do it and never, ever after 6pm. Man, the crap that’s shown up on my doorstep! I’m not the only one, am I?
Been wanting another enameled cast iron oven for a long time, years. Odd that I only have 1, but there it is. To be honest, the cost has kept me away. Rarely, if ever, do I buy anything new. Cameras and kitchenware can be had used, in great condition, a great price and usually of higher quality than I can afford new.
Last week, after my other Descoware Danish Oven developed a chip during some over-heating abuse, I decided just to look on ebay to see what there was. I still use the old oven, but can’t store leftovers in it over-night, gets all rusty. Other than that, it’s still in weekly use.
That’s when I saw her, an unused Descoware 5 quart oven, in the original box with the original sticker on the front from 40 some odd years ago. The starting bid was 1/4 what a new Le Creuset is, I put in my bid of just a tad over. My first bid is my only bid, I gauge what I’m willing to pay and not a penny more.
I won.
Check that sucker out! You may or may not have heard about the ol’ Descoware name. They started out in the 1940’s and through the 1960’s were plugged by famous chefs world-wide. Julia Child made mention of them and plugged them quite frequently on her cooking show way back when. The attention to detail, the quality of the cast iron and enameled coatings are unsurpassed, even today. Everyone’s favorite color for enameled cast iron is Flame, that’s an easy one right? Yeah, that was created first by Descoware. The signature dark grey interior of yore? Yup, Descoware first.
I tried it out last night and it was quite similar to using a non-stick combined with cast iron, flippin’ amazing. I’m glad I decided to take a quick peek in to ebay, only if to look and see.
xo, Biggles