Real BBQ

My BBQ integrity was recently called into question because of my love for the McRib. That sandwich is just a guilty pleasure. I do not consider it BBQ. It is just a sandwich that has BBQ sauce on it. BBQ is something I love and take very seriously. Unfortunately, I do not get to eat, make, or participate in real BBQ as regularly as I would like. Between living in the tundra for four months out of the year and working a second job that ties up the weekends there is just not as much spare time as I would need to do it right. So, now I will tell you what good BBQ is.

Good BBQ is not about the sauce. Good sauce does not make good BBQ. Good sauce makes good BBQ better. BBQ is about smoke. Pulled pork, brisket, ribs and chicken need to be cooked low and slow over coals with plenty of smoke flavoring the meat. If that is not happening it is not BBQ. In fact, if the meat is done correctly you may not even need BBQ sauce.

The basic elements of real BBQ are fire, smoke, and low temperatures for long periods of time. If you have those things you have BBQ. I came to understand what real BBQ is late in the game. Fortunately, I am still in the game with, hopefully, plenty of time to play. For me, BBQ is about more than eating good food, although, that is a good portion of what I like. I love tinkering with the fire and adjusting the settings to get the temperature right, watching the smoke rise, and smelling the smoke while it is cooking. Getting to pick at the meat when it first comes off the smoker is tops. If you are not the one cooking it you have to rely on the generosity of the cook to share this with you. Fortunately for Denise, I am a very generous guy. You can get good BBQ in restaurants, Hickory River Smokehouse in Champaign is a good example, but I would rather do it myself in my backyard. Anybody can do real BBQ and I don't understand why more people don't do it. I think if more people knew how easy it was, more people would do it.

This summer, when Emerson turns one, I plan on having pulled pork for her party. Hopefully, our guests will get to try some good BBQ. I am counting on myself not to mess it up. With a little luck there will be some people who have never tasted the real thing and they can see what it is all about. I better start fine tuning my skills a little because June will be here before you know it. And since I am raising my girls right, they will have a whole lifetime of enjoying real BBQ.

Summer is Coming

I am excited about the summer. I will be getting a new smoker that is going to allow me to do so much more than what I was previously able to do. I will be able to do several racks of ribs, a whole brisket (can you say "excitement"), and several pork butts. This means that for Emerson's first birthday we will have plenty of food prepared at one time instead of several different times on different grills. She is going to be a nice addition to my cast of fire breathing toys. This also means that I will have to practice to learn how to use this particular smoker since they are all different. That means plenty of good practice food leading up to her birthday party. I have to fine tune my dry rub and my own BBQ sauce. I am giddy with the possibilities.

Using this is the perfect way to spend a Saturday. Sitting in a lawn chair, watching the girls play in their playhouse, tending the fire and smelling the smoke, all in anticipation of eating some of the best food a person can have. Does it get any better than this?



With a little practice she will be turning out some delicious BBQ. The BBQ will hopefully look like this. Forget PETA. This is what animals were meant to do. Be slow smoked and covered in sauce. Add some of Denise's potato salad and some baked beans. My stomach is about to growl even as I type. And right now I haven't even gotten to the pulled pork (that is a post of its own). I was only thinking of the ribs.

Summer can't come soon enough.

The McRib from McDonald's should be on the regular menu. That thing is so doggone tasty. They have no other sandwich that even comes close. I can not figure out why they don't keep it around constantly. It has three things going for it that puts it head and shoulders above their other sandwiches. The three things are:

1) Pork
2) BBQ sauce
3) The need for lots of napkins

With those key elements it has to be a regular menu item. There is always a lot of BBQ sauce on the sandwich which makes it perfect for cleaning up with the fries. How can you go wrong with that? A messy pork sandwich covered in BBQ sauce is as near to perfection as you can get for fast food.

This does not come close to satisfying my constant need for true BBQ, but when you go to McDonald's and expect to get the same old thing, average burger and world class fries, and you unexpectedly see the McRib is back, it is like a surprise party. All is good in the world despite Obama having been elected.

How do you follow up something as tasty as this? I will tell you. McDonald's chocolate chip cookies. Three for a dollar. If you are lucky enough to get fresh ones, even better.

Chew on that.

Tonight is Halloween and the girls took us trick or treating.  Claire made a pretty good haul for someone so little.  We didn't even go to that many houses.  After we were done, we decided to use a coupon we had for a free appetizer or dessert at Friday's.  We settled on an appetizer.  The loaded Potato Skins seemed like the least disastrous thing that we could choose, so we went with that. 

Denise and I each had something new.  She had the Prime Rib Stroganoff and I had the Grilled Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Skewers with the new Jack BBQ sauce.  I had a taste of Denise's meal and it was incredible.  The meat was so tender but it still had a rich sauce with the noodles.  Grilled onions and mushrooms.  A great thing to order.  

The main thing this post is about though is the new BBQ sauce.  I could have put a straw in and drank a glassful.  If I could make a sauce like that I could retire. My life's work would be done.  It was sweet and tangy with a little bite to it.  It was not too sweet like some sweet sauces can be.  Whoever developed this sauce did an amazing job.  It is easy to see why it won the contest.  Needless to say I didn't have any left to bring home.   I finished off that sauce with the Texas toast that came with the shrimp.  If they ever decide to sell that sauce on its own, it is a sure fire money maker.  It easily beats Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ.  Now I just need to get out of this Biggest Loser thing so I can have a whole slab of ribs to eat that sauce with.

I can't wait for that day. 

Today at lunch Denise and I went to one of our favorite spots. A cheap Mexican place called El Campesino. Everyone who eats there gets the complimentary chips and salsa. The chips are warm and crispy when you get them and the salsa is always top notch. The problem is I am trying to lose weight and those little fried triangles of death are a weakness of mine. Fortunately, Denise understands and moves the basket out of reach when I have had my share. A favorite thing to do is to mix my rice and beans, put on several dashes of Cholula hot sauce (blog topic for a later date) and scoop up the concoction with the chips. Everything just comes together to complement everything else and it is heaven on the tongue.

Today, though, I had my all-time most popular item, the Burrito Croqueta. Grilled pieces of chicken with fresh pico de gallo wrapped in a flour tortilla. They cover with a red sauce and then put some Mexican cheese that gets all soft and gooey on top. This is a favorite. This has become a mexican comfort food for me. It is consistently good and is always worth the trip.

Food is a Passion

Most anyone that knows me knows that I love to eat.  Not that I am a glutton or anything crazy like that.  I am just infatuated with good flavors, textures and smells.  When they all come together and meet perfectly in someone's creation, I am happy.  I am sure that I drive my wife,  Denise, nuts with they way I can go on and on about food.  So, in an effort to spare her and to indulge myself, I decided to blog about it.

Since I first started tossing around the idea of blogging about food I have had so many different ideas about which I could write.  For now, I think I will just share some of my favorite types of food and will let this be a reference for myself later on if I think I have hit a wall with writing.

My absolute favorite type of food and one that I have very strong opinions about is barbecue.  I am not even going to go further because it could be an all day writing session.  There are so many facets of BBQ that I can't start now.  Pizza is also a favorite that I have strong feelings about.  A list of some others would include Italian, Mexican, Chinese, home cooking, comfort foods, desserts, and I am sure I am leaving some out.  

Denise and I have several restaurants that we go to where we are very well known.   So many topics, so little time.