Since Autumn starts on Friday, and last weekend was soooo cool and refreshing, I thought I’d try to get some idea of what types of autumnal foods everyone is anticipating. Continue reading
Autumnal food poll
Carnival of food photography – September 2007
Here we are at the September 2007 edition of the Carnival of Food Photography! The emphasis is on summer oriented foods, to celebrate the passing of the season. Next month will focus on fall foods, but let’s spend a moment looking back at summer. Continue reading
Current events – Mid September 2007
This week is really hectic for Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue. We started off the week with a barbecue class at Cooks’ Wares in Springboro, OH. The class was a big success; it was full in less than a week after registration opened up for it. We had a full house, with some on a waiting list, too. Props to my peeps (Maria and the staff) at Cooks’ Wares for all their help (like my ‘urban’ talk there… I’m so with it… Not!) We did a full competition menu of chicken, ribs, pork and brisket, with cole slaw, tomato pie and doughnut bread pudding added. The sauce for the bread pudding included some Maker’s Mark whisky… Man oh man, was it good stuff! Continue reading
Tomato Pie
Well, here it is again!!! The recipe is pretty much the same, but there are reasons to bring it back. First, this way, it keeps coming up. Secondly, it’s just so good, it’s tough to post it too often. Thirdly, Nika’s great looking tomatoes made me start jonesing for the last of this year’s tomatoes. You’ve got to see them; they’re gorgeous, as tomatoes go.
I have one basic theory about tomatoes…
Local, ripe tomatoes are a gift from God. He’s basically saying, “Night’s will get a bit cooler… Grab the salt and enjoy My best for you!” Ok, He doesn’t tell me to grab the salt; I already know to do that.
On the other hand, hot-house tomatoes, grown out of season and sold all year, are of the Devil, and no one can convince me otherwise! I can almost see Satan personally breathing a bit of evil into each of those plants that look so diabolically similar to the heavenly tomatoes of summer. Continue reading
Melancholy ribs
This is going to be a bit of an odd post for me. I’m really blue today, and, since this is my blog, I’m going to type what I want to type… I’ll start with ribs, though, for those readers that want a bit of cooking today.
On Labor Day, I tried some babyback ribs. I have to say that I still prefer spares, but these were worth a try. They looked good, but one rack was a bit tough… Sometimes, you just don’t have good meat to start with, I think. The flavor was still there, though.
I did the same basic stuff I usually do for ribs. Continue reading
Making burnt ends
I didn’t grow up in barbecue country. My earliest memories of barbecued ribs were from places like the Montgomery Inn, famous in Cincinnati for ribs. I don’t go there at all anymore, as their ribs are steamed and sauce-drowned. People in Cincy swear by them, but I choose other ribs. Pulled pork was done in a crock pot, and chicken was grilled at best.
Brisket was unknown to me in any form other than corned beef. Later, pastrami could be found in the area, but I had no clue what part of what animal this stuff came from. I take that back… I knew it wasn’t pork because the best places to get either were Jewish delis. Continue reading
Blog day, August 31, 2007
Today is the third Blog Day of 2007. In the spirit of Blog Day, I’m listing 5 non-food blogs that I like.
Blog Day 2007
The first, inspired by yesterday’s Scotch whisky entry, is The Scotch Blog, written by Kevin, a scotch enthusiast that lives in Virginia.
The next is a great photo blog of Labrador Retrievers… Labster. Some funny photos of my favorite dogs can be found here!
And one of my favorite non-food things… Buckeye Football!!! The Buckeye Blog is a great place for Buckeye football info.
My wife and I are fans of the show “Scrubs” on NBC, going into its final (sadly) season. Zach Braff plays JD on the show, and has a fun blog.
And my last blog link for Blog Day is for a hobby that I’m hoping to develop a bit… PhotographyBLOG.
Take some time and visit the links… There’s good stuff out there! Continue reading
Scotch for barbecuers
The typical barbecue drink seems to be beer. I have nothing against beer. I like beer, in fact. I’m probably most partial to nut brown ales, especially English nut brown ales. I like microbrews, too, and I think it’s great how good beers are easier to find today than they used to be (however, I think the day of the local microbrewery restaurant has mostly passed… It’s too expensive for most places to stay open if they don’t bottle and sell outside of a restaurant).
The Accidental Hedonist recently asked about good Scotch whisky, which made me realize I don’t think I’ve mentioned how well Scotch can go with barbecue. Scotch is a different level of drink. It’s not something you drink as a beverage, to help wash down some brisket. Shiner Bock does that really well. Scotch is more something to have after barbecue. Sound odd to put scotch and barbecue together? I don’t think it’s odd at all. Continue reading
Cooking at home vs competition cooking
I’ve seen several threads on message boards about whether barbecue competitors cook at home just like they do for competition. The answer is often ‘Yes’. I sometimes wonder, though, if this is due to wanting to practice or because of preferring competition barbecue all the time.
Here’s how I see competition cooking being different from cooking at home:
It’s simply that, when I cook at a competition, I concentrate on making 6 servings/slices/pieces/ribs as good as I can make them. Continue reading
Another class coming up
On September 10, 2007, Mark and I will be conducting another class at Cooks’ Wares in Springboro, OH. This time, we aren’t trying anything too fancy… Just straight barbecue!
In May, there were timing issues for a grilling class, though I did hold a private grilling class that month. The newsletters got out late, and, I think, the menu wasn’t what people necessarily wanted. So this time, we’re going with real competition barbecue as a theme.
We’ll be doing pulled pork, brisket, beer can chicken, spare ribs, tomato pie, cole slaw and Krispy Kreme bread pudding with whisky sauce.
The good news is that the class filled up in less than a week! The bad news is that some people are on a waiting list. If you’re local and want to learn a bit about competition barbecue, get in touch with the store… We can try to talk them into another date! Continue reading
Why blog about food?
One of my favorite non-barbecue food blogs has been Pinch My Salt. Nicole writes this blog, usually from her home in Sicily, but recently from a visit to California. She’s got a great blog about being yourself (not food related). I encourage you to go over and read Find Your Inner Bumblebee.
I’ve been thinking of the whole blogging thing. I’m mostly catching up now that I have a new computer, though I still need to get some stuff on WellFed.net! I’ve also been going through a lot of old photos that were on my ex-Dell, moving them to the new MacBook Pro laptop we have. Continue reading
City Barbeque fire
On August 11, 2007, City Barbeque in Centerville, Ohio, sustained $550,000 worth of damage due to discarded smoking materials (read somebody tossed a cigarette butt against the building). The flames spread up the side of the building into the attic.
The attached Graeter’s Ice Cream shop had some smoke and water damage, but the firewall between the buildings stopped the fire from spreading to the adjacent shop.
City Barbeque is allowing its Centerville employees to work at other locations (City BBQ is a 12 store chain now). They expect to reopen in less than 60 days. Continue reading