The BBQ General

Crab Cakes

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:15:20 -0500

Savannah, being a port city, is really into seafood... and crab cakes are really popular here. In the February 2008 issue of the National Barbecue News there is a recipe for Grilled Crab Cakes with Salsa. The recipe calls for Corn Bread Crab Cakes with chunky salsa and a white sauce. It sounds very good and we plan to try it soon.

TLW also has an awesome recipe for crab cakes:

2 egg whites
1 C mayonnaise (Hellman's)..can add more to get correct consistency
1/2 t Old Bay Seafood seasoning
3/4 t dry mustard
4 T butter
1/2 t ground celery seed
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 t cayenne pepper
6 T extra fine cracker crumbs
1 lb. lump crab meat
8 slices white bread

Combine egg whites and mayo in mixing bowl. Add seafood seasoning, dry mustard, celery seed, lemon juice, cayenne pepper and cracker crumbs. Whisk to remove lumps.

Lightly fold crab meat into mayo mixture. Cover and chill.

Discard crusts from bread slices and cut each slice into quarters. Process in food processor fitted with steel blade until you get a uniform small crumb.

Shape chiilled crab mixture into small cakes. Dredge each cake in bread crumbs and place on rack over a sheet pan. Chill at least 30 minutes so breading can set.

Prepare your grill for direct grilling. Place cakes on a sheet of foil that has been sprayed with Pam. Cook until the bottom of each cake is golden. Gently flip each cake and brown the other side. (You can also saute the cakes in a black iron skillet using the butter. )

TLW usually serves her crab cakes with her Cajun Remoulade sauce. The recipe in the NBBQ News calls for chunky salsa and a drizzling of a white sauce consisting of sour cream, mayo, milk, lemon juice and Italian seasoning.

Shrimp Alfredo

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 14:24:09 -0500

Here is a recipe that you can do either inside or outside on the grill. Wow! Were we ever surprised at how good it was...and how easy. TG bought about 11/2 pounds of shrimp. Taking the easy way out last night, I boiled them with the shells removed. I could have almost as easily grilled them. Prepare enough fettucine for two or more. I used prepared Alfredo sauce that I found in the spaghetti sauce section of our local Publix. Heat the sauce in your microwave for about 2 minutes on high, lay down a bed of fettucine on your dish, spread the shrimp out evenly and cover with the Alfredo sauce. Garnish with minced parsley and serve with garlic bread. Really fast and really good. The Little Woman gave me two thumbs up for this dish!

Eating With Your Eyes

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:59:24 -0500

People eat with their eyes...as if I didn't already know that after competing 11 years on the professional BBQ circuit. Sometimes we have to re-learn things we already know to reinforce them. I believe that our success at the National BBQ Festival in November should be credited to TLW's presentation of our ribs and brisket. I can only take credit for the ribs that I selected and of course the cooking of them. They were especially meaty...but the rest was due to her creativity...

Friday, after our finish in the middle of the pack of the Invitational event, we had a discussion with two judges, one our good friend Bob Lyon from the Seattle area. TLW asked them how they came up with their presentation scores, which amount to almost 25% of the total score for each entry. Many points were mentioned that we always keep in mind, but one stood out. Since the turn in boxes at this event were bigger than those usually used, the boxes should still be very full. In the Invitational, we did not follow this advice, and in thinking about our presentations, we could have added more samples.

In Saturday's Open event, we kept that concept in mind and had no problem with putting in plenty of ribs, since all of our slabs were awesome. Below is a picture of our turn in box. During Friday's contest, TLW put in one layer of ribs, but on Saturday two layers really filled up the box. And the judges must have liked them giving this entry the first place nod.

We had a major problem with our chicken. It came out of the pit much darker than usual. In retrospect, we ran out of honey that we usually use to sweeten our sauce and replaced it with maple syrup...could this have been the culprit? It took a great effort for TLW (and a lot of cuss words) to find enough pieces of chicken to fill the box...We were decidedly unhappy with that sample even though the day before, chicken was our only top ten finish.

When it was time to turn in our brisket, we ran into another snag. Our four briskets all seemed to be slightly overcooked...even though TG thought they were at perfect temperature. After cutting in to all four, TLW had about ten slices that were acceptable to her...but alone in the box they looked pitiful. So, she cut pieces from fatty parts that we usually don't turn in...but love to eat. With about 30 seconds left, she placed them in the box jigsaw fashion and figured that all was lost. Much to our surprise, the judges gave us first place...amaziing!

Now whether you compete or not, it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that you incorporate good presentation into the food that you feed your guests. Looks do count!

Paul Kirk and R.U.B. (Righteous Urban Barbecue)

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:21:34 -0500

Over the years I have always known about him The Baron of Barbecue, Mr. Kirk, but I have never met him, primarily because we cooked in the Southeast and he cooked in the Midwest. I am always pleased when someone goes beyond their passion and turns it into a business. Such is the case with Paul. He has recently published a cookbook

"Paul Kirk's Championship Barbecue: Barbecue Your Way to Greatness with 575 Lip-Smackin' Recipes from the Baron of Barbecue" (Paul Kirk). He has also added to the barbecue scene in New York City with his restaurant R.U.B. competing now with Daisy Mae's and Blue Smoke. I would recommend that you try all three restaurants when you get to the Big Apple. We have visited Blue Smoke (and give it high marks) but have yet to try the other two.

I have also heard that he has opened another R.U.B. in Las Vegas at our favorite hotel The Rio. Check it out next time you are in Sin City!

Feast or Famine

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:11:11 -0500

That's what this time of the year represents...because we are now in the famine stage. In November and December we were doing multiple parties on the same day. Fed 3,500 people in Forsyth Park, cooked for over 1000 at the Roundhouse, and we cooked at the National Barbecue Festival (winning two first place trophies...one for brisket and one for ribs). Now that we are in our January doldrums, TLW has suggested that we get back to blogging.

So, here we are with two reformatted computers and none of our information was saved! Guess what TLW got for Christmas? An external hard drive...now we can back up our work...kind of like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen!! She asked me if we weren't going to elaborate more on our exciting Fall, and, of course, I plan to!

I think the thing I am most proud of is when we engineered the Day of Great Thanksgiving where 3,500 folks were fed in Forsyth Park. It soon became very apparent that even though we own two Southern Prides, we were no match for feeding this kind of crowd. Nor was the small kitchen in the Old Savannah City Mission capable of that kind of production. There is an old saying that when you do big parties, you need to just break it down into a bunch of smaller parties. That is exactly what we did! We got Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady & Sons, to do the gravy...about 50 gallons of it! The Mansion at Forsyth Park did the green beans. Savor Savannah Catering produced the yams and Savannah Technical College (Culinary) produced the dressing. The General smoked 240 turkeys. Savor Savannah also loaned us four huge hotboxes to keep everything warm. Isn't it MARVELOUS when a plan comes together? Guess what? We did all of this in less than a week.

The first of November saw us in Douglas, GA competing in the National BBQ Festival . In 2006, we finished in the top ten of the open contest, so this year we were invited to compete in the Invitational where the top ten teams from each sanctioning body around North America were invited to participate. We did respectably in the invitational, finishing in the middle of the pack of 38 teams with one call only...for 9th place in chicken. The open brought many more teams...over sixty. We thought we turned in good products on Friday, so we aimed at producing similar results for Saturday's event. When it came time for the awards ceremony, our name was not called in chicken. We knew that our chicken turned out darker than the day before, so that was not a surprise. But what was a huge surprise was that we won first place in ribs, and first place in brisket. Had we scored better in chicken, we would have taken first place overall...but we ended up third overall! We were so proud of our performance, since we only cook twice a year, and we were up against some very strong competitors who compete a lot more frequently. If you get a top three call in any category, besides the money, the team is also awarded a beautiful brass bell (small for third to large for first). TLW had been saying all weekend that she wanted a bell....and now she has two big ones!!

Computer Disaster

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:56:45 -0500

The General and I have had extremely bad luck with our computers this month. First, our Dell desktop died and the hard drive had to be reformatted. Ugh. All info lost...but we had a backup of most files on my Powerbook. Well, guess what happened? Crash! We are still crossing our fingers that Apple will be able to retrieve our files...if not....it will not be pleasant around here. In the interim, I have been trying to gain access to our blog and its files. This is my first attempt. If this works, I have lots of info to share!
TLW

Eureka!!

Fri, 05 Oct 2007 16:39:46 -0500

The General has been out of town, so TLW has decided to go it on her own. Food and Wine magazine is one of my favorites. Their October issue is titled "Wine Made Simple." As usual, their are many recipes TG and I want to try...especially the Spicy Pork and Tomatillo Stew which is pictured on the cover. The article that piqued my interest the most is "8 health benefits of drinking wine." Here they the benefits:

Promotes longevity
Reduces heart-attack risk
Lowers risk of heart disease
Reduces risk of type 2 diabetes
Lowers risk of stroke
Cuts risk of cataracts
Cuts risk of colon cancer
Slows brain decline

The article goes on to list the evidence. You will have to read it for yourself here.
(Of course, the health benefits come from moderate consumption!)

Another reason I love Food and Wine is that they are a sponsor of Top Chef on Bravo TV. Even though this year is Season 3, this is the first year I have watched it. Even though TG detests reality tv, I would catch him stopping and watching it over my shoulder. It was great to see the underdog, Hung, win.

All through this season, Hung remained true to himself while ticking off almost all of the other contestants. His ego, confidence and drive superseded any effort to be popular. Initially he was not one of my favorites, but as he kept avoiding eliminations, I thought he might have a chance. As a true champion, he rose to the occasion when necessary. I am happy he won, but I think I also would have been happy if Dale had won. I can't wait until F&W's Top Chef edition comes out!

If you haven't watched the series, I bet you can catch the re-runs on Bravo!

Grilled Swordfish

Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:15:44 -0500

I can't say enough good about the June issue of Food and Wine magazine. Plenty of smoking and grilling recipes, and a lot of them were done by our BBQ friend Steve Raichlen. Last night we cooked their recipe for swordfish steaks that was out of sight! It consisted of a very basic one hour marinade consisting of salt, freshly ground black pepper, minced garlic cloves, lemon juice and olive oil. (TLW has convinced me that using fresh garlic cloves and mincing them gives a superior flavor than the already minced garlic out of the jar.)

Reading the recipe for the 'ketchup' which requires the roasting of fresh tomatoes, reminded me of how good roasted tomatoes are and what fabulous salsa they make. The recipe for the ketchup calls for 1 1/4 pounds of tomatoes. It has a lot of ingredients including allspice, ginger and capers.

TG highly recommends that you find this issue and look for the recipe on p. 188 or check it out
online. Remember not to exceed the internal temperature of 140* for your swordfish steaks.

BBQ Calendar

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 10:48:55 -0500

Yesterday a package arrived in The General's mailbox from Los Angeles CA. It contained a 2008 calendar entitled 'A Pig a Day' Icons of Barbecue. Earlier in the year TG received an inquiry from the publisher as to how to reach Dr. Porkenstein, a cooking team from Cape Cod. Happy to receive the info, Dick, the publisher promised to send us a complimentary copy. Thanks, Dick for remembering!
For The General, it has been fun to page through the calendar and see many of the icons we have seen on the bbq circuit for years.

Click here for more information. Seems to be a great opportunity for a Christmas gift for your BBQ friends!
One fun part of writing this blog is that you never know what is going to show up at your door. Before the calendar, we received a turducken from the Cajun Grocer. TLW and I can't eat a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey all on our own, so we are getting together a delegation to help us with this monumental task. Can't wait! Needless to say, we can't recommend the turducken until we try it, but if you are looking for Cajun foods on the internet you may want to give Cajun Grocer a chance. TG is anxious to try their boudain sausage which we use in our famous championship shrimp and grits recipe.

Strange Coincidence

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:08:23 -0500

In August, on our way to vacation at Lake Chautauqua in upper New York State with our good friends Sir Charles and Kathleen, TG was worried that the Lake might be too remote since I brought no reading material. After lunch in Cleveland, we found a Border's Discount Book Store...and it truly was a discount store. Since I liked the low prices and their selection of cookbooks, I bought several. I didn't pay much attention to them until we reached the Lake.
I began reading one called Cook-Off America Volume 2 and suddenly discovered that I was in the book! "The Original Q Company Brisket" National Capital Barbecue Battle. It goes on to call me a consistent winner and a "circuit" celebrity. Funny though, the recipe isn't mine nor is the picture one of our shots...even though it is a darn fine one.
From then on, I was like a celebrity chef and our friends told anyone who would listen about this strange coincidence! I was then put on the spot when Sir Charles went to his freezer and pulled out a standing rib roast and announced that we were having a dinner party Saturday night and I was to smoke the roast as well as other parts of the meal.
Being away from all my spices and tools, I was able to go back into the archives of my mind and remember an old beef marinade that I used to use all the time. It consists of one third teriyaki, one third red wine vinegar, and one third water. The water keeps the teriyaki from turning the meat too dark. Also add a good shot or two of bourbon. The bourbon breaks down the fibers in the meat and acts as a tenderizing agent...as well as a flavoring agent. I let the meat marinate a couple days before cooking it. I must say that it was one flavorful piece of meat...and all the guests agreed.
I also found out something that most home chefs don't realize. I was looking for some spices to use on the roast and I found that some of Charles' spices were out of date...some by two or three years! Most spices are only good for a year or less...depending on geographic location (temperature and humidity). When in a pinch, the old standby is seasoned salt, black pepper and granulated garlic and that is what I used on the rib roast.

Another Burst

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:00:23 -0500

Received an email from Steve from Sullicom yesterday. He has spotlighted The General on his blog. After some fine compliments, he comments that The General's blogging is sporadic. He is correct! Both The Little Woman and I are trying to rectify this situation. Blogging for the BBQ General is, I think, a bit harder than for most bloggers because we collaborate on almost every entry...so we both have to be "in the mood" and "available." Thanks, Steve, for giving us a kick in the pants, and we will try to be more consistent! Also, congrats on a great blog!

Linguine with Clam Sauce

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:41:03 -0500

As TG has stated before, I have had marginal luck using recipes from magazines. In fact, I have stopped several magazine subscriptions recently. One that I continue to subscribe to is Fine Cooking and I have had success with many of their recipes. If you don't subscribe to it, it would be a worthwhile addition to your cooking arsenal.
In their November 2007 edition, there is a recipe for Linguine with Clam Sauce that I thought The Little Woman might like. I asked her to try it...she was very willing since she has an addiction to clams of any kind! We both loved the result and plan to make it again tonight!
24 littleneck clams (TLW used 36)
6 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 c dry white wine (TLW used Barefoot Chardonnay)
5 T finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
3 large cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
8 oz. linguine (FC recommends De Cecco, Due Pastori, or Rustichella d'Abruzzo brands) (TLW used the spaghetti we had in our pantry)
Freshly ground black pepper
Scrub the clams under cold water and set aside. In a heavy 3 qt. saucepan, heat 3 T of oil over medium heat. Add the pepper flakes and cook briefly to infuse the oil, about 20 seconds. Immediately add the wine, 2 T of the chopped parsley and half of the minced garlic. Cook for 20 seconds and add the clams.
Cover and cook over medium high heat, checking every 2 minutes and removing each clam as it opens. It will take 5 to 6 minutes total for all the clams to open. Transfer the clams to a cutting board and reserve the broth. Remove the clams from the shells and cut them in half, or quarters if they are large. Return the clams to the broth. Discard the shells.
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until it's almost al dente, 6 to 9 minutes. Don't overcook.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining 3 T olive oil in a 10 or 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining 3 T parsley and the rest of the garlic and cook until the garlic is soft, about 1 minute. Set the skillet aside.
When the pasta is done, reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and then drain the pasta. Add the pasta, the clam and the broth the clams were cooked in to the skillet. Return to low heat, toss the past in the sauce and simmer for another minute to finish cooking it, adding a little of the pasta water if you prefer a wetter dish.
Taste for salt and add a large grind of black pepper. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley leaves.

Fried Squirrel

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 10:05:19 -0500

Here we are with a party to get out on Saturday...and, guess what? ...our power goes out. No power equals no stove/oven. Usually power outages around here are fairly temporary, but this one didn't appear to be....especially when 5 Georgia power trucks show up. After the first two hours, we had to come up with an alternate plan for preparing our menu for the party to be held later in the day. Six hours later and with the party under control we learn the cause of the outage....a very dumb squirrel trying to chew through a line !

Green Beans

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 09:57:46 -0500

If you stay in the catering business long enough, you get some really different gigs/jobs. We experienced this phenomenon this past weekend when we catered a party in Port Wentworth for a regional conference of The Little People of America. As different as we imagined it to be, it was probably one of the better parties (most fun) we have catered in our whole career. They had a talent show, a DJ, dancing and... even though their stature is small, they have large appetites! It was really a fun party to do!
In the last couple of years, we have started adding green beans to the menu. The General despises canned green beans because they taste canned, so I have been buying the frozen 5 pound long cut package at Sam's. They are very easy to prepare. Simply bring your water to a boil (TG uses the turkey fryer pot) and add the green beans...for this party I used 15 pounds. This will cool the water, so wait until the water comes back to a boil. In the meantime, add a handful of minced garlic along with 1/3 cup of Lea and Perrin's Worchestershire sauce. Once the water returns to boiling, cook for no more than 5 minutes. Do not over boil them!! Remove the beans from the pot and put them in half pans and add plenty of butter. As Paula Deen says, "The more butter, the better they taste." These beans retain a nice green color and have plenty of texture and flavor...and have really been a hit at the parties where we serve them.

Cajun Remoulade

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 15:17:12 -0500

TLW takes great pride in her Cajun Remoulade and Crabcakes recipes which she may post later...if I can bribe her. But here is one that is quick, simple and good. It was given to us by our neighbor, Ernie, and it is a replica of the sauce used at the Longfellow House (TG thinks in New Orleans). Apparently one of Ernie's relatives had been searching for this recipe for over 25 years. It is supposed to be used with shrimp, but it tasted great with some frozen crab cakes we thawed the other night.
1 C Mayo - We prefer Hellman's
1/4 - 1/2 C Creole Mustard - Zatarain preferred
1 T Horseradish
Juice of 1 lemon
2 shakes Worcestershire sauce
1 Garlic clove, smashed
Enjoy!