I’ve been monkeying around Barbara’s Tigers & Straberries for quite a few months, reading posts, checking out recipes and leaving odd comments when possible. I stumbled upon this recipe for Char Siu last Thursday and knew it was for me. A quick jaunt to the Asian grocery and we were set, Meathead visits often and knew where everything was, thanks MH.
Are you ready?

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I’M ALIVE !!! I’M ALIVE !!! Oh man that felt good, like a warm spring rain or a light jog down a sandy beach in September. I lit a FIRE !!! I think boys & girls need to light fires at least once a week, that’s how I see it. Going a month or two just won’t do, nope.
I’ve been in a fog for a little bit and the nasty winter weather hasn’t been helping. Well, here we are at day 2 of daytime temperatures in the mid 70 degree F range and I couldn’t be possibliy feeling any better. Yesterday at 4:30pm Biggles was at the grill, in shorts and lighter in hand, cool refreshing beverage in the other. It was time to light a fire and cook dinner, wanna see?

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If you look closely, down low and in the near center there? You can see where a Chupacabra got a hold of it.
Last week some time Jlee asked if I’d show up early to the market on Saturday morning, she’d like a hand getting the Fatted Calf meat coolers out of the truck, they heavy. Sounded as though she was going to be by herself selling sausage until at least noon or so. I offered to come play and help out, it’s nice to spread the good word of the charcuterie, I am your guide. The weather was pleasant and there was a really cool Native American festival going on in the park 40 feet behind us. We got to hear music and smell flat bread being cooked and sell meat to hungry patrons, a perfect Saturday morning for Biggles.

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2 weeks ago, I caught my brain feeding me images of beef meat, roasts to be exact. Not pretty little standing rib roasts or the lean ball-tip roast. But the big and mean looking chuck roast, the caveman type. I know you’re thinking, “yeah, so?” Well, I’ve never been a huge beef eater. Yes, I eat more beef than most beef eaters do. But my meat passion steers towards the piggy and most anything with feathers. Plus I’m a cheap bastard and good beef costs money. In this case though, I am obliged to follow the voices in my head, “Must Get Beef Roast”.

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If you’re eating well and wanting to listen to good music, I nearly always choose fast flowing classical. And if that isn’t going, I’ll switch to John Denver or Woody Guthrie. This will usually suffice, however when it can’t overcome? Clearly Helen Reddy wins the bid, timeless and built to withstand time.
Just like Pork, Mesquite and Hickory. Tonight’s meal was delivered by Niman Ranch with their thick pork loin chops grilled directly. Then we have Rick’s Hot and Mild Italian Sausage. These sweet sausages are tenderly hand-made with care and forethought. Sure the mild ones are fine, but what will draw you in is the Hots. I know, I know, ewww, hot food! ICK. No, this isn’t that. Yes, they are ‘spicy’ but not hot. What sets them apart is the apparent huge flood of red wine and fat, warm happy pork fat. The stuff that puts the flavor all over your apprehensive mowf.
Real Wood, Real Fire & Real Meat = Real Happy Diners (they don’t hassle your ass).
It’s summer, get fat.
Rick’s Quality Meats
1600 Liberty Street
El Cerrito, CA 94530
510-233-9390

You want a meat thrill? Click on the above image to get a much larger version with all kinds of juicy detail.
The logistics of making a decent blog can get interesting at times. One of the basic rules I have is to not post too many times a week, let alone a day. I believe I can give you 3 decent posts a week without getting too weak. And this post I wanted to leave for tomorrow morning, but I can’t. It was too tasty, too amazing to leave behind. This is a fresh post from tonight’s meal.

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Today was a perfect sunny day to start up the grill and try out one of Rachel’s recipes. Anything with wild salmon, extra virgin olive oil, smoked chile peppers and some fancy Australian salt. Such a treat since I can get most of these ingredients at one stop.
The Austrailian Murray River Salt flakes I already had, from the wonderful Salt Traders. Look for the Margarita Salt. I got no idea why they named it that, but it’s amazing. Smoky, hot and with wondeful cruncy light salty love.
Just before noon I jacked up the mesquite grill and tossed on some hickory chunks. This was let to settle for a bit. One needs to let the grill or smoker get in to its crease before cooking anything.
The fresh salmon was slathered in extra virgin olive oil and the Margarita Salt. On to a searing grill for a handfull of minutes on each side. Pay attention to the initial side, that’s for presentation. Let the other side go to hell, who cares.
Even with lighting a fire, I had this meal done inside of an hour, not quite 30 minutes. I believe it was closer to 40 minutes, even so. This was a hands down winner for when you have very little ingredients and no time.
Fini
ps – Rachel Ray had nothing to do with anything I did. I was just feeling cheeky, in a positive way towards Rachel. Just venting a little steam, she’s been getting such a hard time. I figure people should lighten up a bit about simple, easy to find and cook meals.

Nikon D70 paired with AF-D 60mm f2.8 micro. On tripod and 250 UV balanced flood. Post production edit; photoshop levels, up the white and bring over the black.
The fat from salmon is so cool. Remind you, this is coming from someone who has only been eating fish for 10 years or so and only recently Salmon. Yeah, I know I’m an idiot. But I just love Salmon Fat and had to mention it. The stuff is so sweet & warm, so clean. This lends possibilities, lots o’.

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Hey, the crust on the bread had a bubble the size of Chicago in there. Anyone know what that’s all about?
Had a nice weekend filled with crazy pork roasts, marinated tri-tips and sausage stuffed quail. The weather was quite breezy, but at least the sun decided to come out before noon. Heh.
Check out these hickory smoked quail that I picked up from Fatted Calf on Saturday morning. I hadn’t decided what to get until I walked up. I think I did pretty well, eh.

And look inside the quail!!
That thar is a fig, yum. Figs & Pigs (Hi Kate!).

I entered my pork roast over at The Pragmatic Chef. Today was the last day to get your entries in, I barely made it. I don’t think it’s up yet, we’ll see. I’ll let ya’ll know. I’m pretty excited about it.
As you can probably guess, the 3 day weekend really had no goals or plans. I knew Paul was coming over Sunday for a meal, but that was about it. Everything was just a toss together situation, now I need some salad and fiber.
Biggles

Correct grilling placement, gentle meat out of direct evil heat.
There’s a reason I can set up a nice grilling session on weekday nights, even though I’m putting in 37.5 hours a week at my place of job. Five and a half years ago we decided to buy a little teeny tiny house in the same city that I commute to. This gives me a 6 minute commute, even in dead tight traffic I can get there in 10 minutes. That’s planning right there, just in case you were wondering.
Tonight was the last night I had to grill the Crepinettes & Sweet Italians from last night’s post, it was time.
What you’re viewing there is a mesquite fire squizzled with spatz of hickory chips. Every 7 minutes I tossed on a Rosemary branch that was semi-dried from the garden. Oddly enough Rosemary is pretty much a Weed here in the SF Bay Area, you can’t walk down any block and not find it spouting from some box or yard.
The gifted meat is a Lamb Crepinette with Red Wine and Nicoise Olives and yes, Sweet Italians. Notice they’re done and not engulfed in flames. Why? Because they’re sitting to the side of the direct FIRE. Do you see any problems? No, you don’t.
They’re gone now, we et them.
Hugs.

Here is something that worked out pretty well on the Father’s Day Smoke Fest. The stuffed pork loin was the highlight, but only by just a bit. The beef brisket was running a close second. All were tender, quite juicy and the smoke ring was wide & deep. I have to say though, the onion was fun because I’d never had one this big.

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Instead of waiting until next week to share my meat, I thought I’d step in right now and give you the short low down. I have more pictures, more meat and more love to share.
I got the fire started a little late this morning, 8:30am. The brisket had been marinating all night and went in first. A few hours later went in this Porchetta Pork Loin Roast from Fatted Calf. If you look, you can see where they sliced it open, stuffed it with herbs & spices and sewed the sucker right back up. I’m also doing a few whole chickens, one has a Jerk type seasoning and the other said it was a Singapore situation (had curry powder!). All these babies were installed in to a 200 degree smoker powered by mesquite/hickory and rosemary branches when I’m feeling dangerous.
I haven’t done a brisket in years, it’ll be interesting to see how this turns out.
Biggles

I’ll tell you why. For the last … 3 months or so I’ve been dealing with Gout. What’s gout? Well, to keep this short, it’s the body (kidneys) inability to handle meat, alcohol, caffeine & legumes (even tofu), these foods are high in purines. Basically, it’s an accumulation of uric acid in the blood. When it arrives in your feet (cooler than your body), the salts in the uric acid solidify and settle. Causing immense pain (you limp a lot).
I’m about 14 days out with nearly no meat (a few pieces of ham) and no alcohol and no caffeine and no legumes (not even tofu). At this point I don’t have any clear idea as to what the near or distant future will bring.
So, if ya’ll could keep that in mind when you wonder WHAT THE HECK IS BIGGLES DOING WITH CARPAL TUNNEL ENTRIES ?!? Or, WHY THE HECK NO MEAT IN THAT BURGER ?!?
You know why. Now now, settle down. This by NO means spells disaster for Meathenge. I’m still going to be smoking, grilling and roasting new and different meat type recipes. Good stuff too, just won’t be eating much if any of it.
Please be ready for different types of entries here and understand the reasoning behind it. It’s what’s going on here at Meathenge Labs. And that is that.
Onward …

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Last week The Bay Area was experiencing a “Heat Wave”. This was nice considering all the damned rain we’ve slogged through over the last few months. We’re talking direct Spring weather. Bright intense sunshine with crisp air hovering around 75 degrees. Brilliant green grasses, blossoming fruit trees & wild flowers filled the air. SNEEEZE CHOOOO.
GRILB TIMEB !!!

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Is everyone tired of winter yet? Tired of the snow, maybe? Tired of the rains? Oh you bet. Those long, day after day rain storms? Yes already.
For whatever reason, they broke this last weekend and we all saw 65 degree + weather, perfect for a morning out. Guess what I found?

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