Next Monday, May 14, Bucky McOinkum’s Barbecue will be holding a cooking class at Cooks’ Wares in Springboro Ohio. Continue reading
Grilling class coming up
Dr. BBQ’s Competition Class
Last weekend, Mark and I pulled the smoker up to Detroit, MI, for Dr. BBQ’s Competition BBQ Class. The class was very much oriented toward Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) competitions, and Ray (Dr. BBQ) certainly has the background to talk about comps!
The class ran from 3:00 PM on Saturday until about 2:00 PM on Sunday, with set up starting at noon on Saturday. The weather couldn’t have been better. Highs in the low 70s, low in the high 40s overnight, clear and gorgeous. The class was held at an engineering/manufacturing firm, and John Ford, the owner, has a GREAT pellet smoker inside, with a fantastic kitchen, so we did the classes inside mostly, taking the food outside to cook. Continue reading
Dr. BBQ’s upcoming class
This coming Saturday and Sunday, April 21-22, Mark and I will be attending a competition barbecue class held by Dr. BBQ, Ray Lampe. If any of you have seen the Versus (formerly OLN) Network’s Barbecue Championship Series, you got to … Continue reading
My first sponsor
I was recently contacted about accepting a site sponsor, and I agreed… Our first official sponsor is… Bizrate.com! On the left sidebar, there are links to barbecue and grilling specific links on the Bizrate.com site. Please help me in welcoming … Continue reading
Shish Kabob
The weather has been warming up, until the middle of this week, at least. When it’s warm, I want to grill things, and I decided, with my wife’s prompting, to do shish kabob one day. This is a great meal to grill as you can do everything on skewers, minimizing the need for dishes to be dirtied. Continue reading
A new, to me, sauce
A few weeks ago, I got an email from Dave at Nando’s Peri Peri. It was a somewhat typical email from a company asking for a link. Well, so far, my only links listed on the blog have been to non-commercial sites. It was a nicely worded email, though, and not a form letter. I replied that I didn’t want to start adding to my links with commercial links, but that, after looking at the website, the sauce sounded pretty good. Continue reading
Another trip to Pittsburgh
Earlier this month, my wife and I decided to make our way to Pittsburgh for a weekend. It’s only about a 4 hour drive, and it’s just a nice city. I went to school there in the 80′s, and had step-family there in the 70-s and 80s, so I have some history with the city and enjoy going back when I can. Continue reading
Wow, I’ve been bad about posting!
For my readers that I’ve lost, the last month has been hectic! I’ve had a bunch of computer issues, mostly with harddrive issues. For a quick update, the Jim Dandy BBQ competition that was going to happen in June is … Continue reading
Memphis Barbecue Tour
was recently contacted by Hanna of the American Table Culinary Tours about their September 2007 tour of Memphis Barbecue.
I corresponded with Hanna about the American Table Culinary Tours is a nonprofit company that wants to promote culinary history. Their goal is to work with culinary students for internships and to simply promote cooking history. Continue reading
New York City – Chef’s Table Help!
This coming April (2007), my wife and I are celebrating our 4th anniversary. We decided, on our first anniversary, to not get each other anniversary gifts. Instead, we go somewhere for a long weekend together.
So far, we’ve gone to Cincinnati (close by, but still fun to stay in a nice hotel and enjoy the city), Chicago and, believe it or not, Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge is not my favorite place, but we had a really nice cabin with incredible views, so that part of Pigeon Forge was actually very nice.
This year, we’ve chosen New York City. My sister lives there, and we’re going to visit some with her, do some shopping on 5th Avenue, and enjoy a long weekend in the Big Apple. Yes, I’ll likely try R.U.B. or Daisy May’s, or both, but we’ll also hit Carnegie Deli and a couple other spots.
I’d really like some help, though. For one meal, I want a really great restaurant. There will be 3 of us going, and what I’d most like is a restaurant where we can sit at the chef’s table. I’m asking for help from any of you that either are in a restaurant where this is available or can get me some connection to get to sit at the chef’s table. The dates are April 26, 27 and 28, 2007.
If you can help, email me or leave a comment. If you even just know of a place, let me know. I’d love to review it, especially if you’re a chef wanting to get word out on the food blogs. I wouldn’t even turn down a comped meal, but I’m not trying to be greedy. 
Continue reading
Breaducation – first sourdough and more
I was hoping to do some cooking last weekend, but the weather didn’t cooperate. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that, but the one type of weather I don’t like to cook during is rain, especially freezing rain! We got about … Continue reading
Breaducation – sourdough starter day 7
Day 7 of my sourdough started brought a lot of bubbles! I think it’s on its way now. I can detect a slight acidic/sour smell, but not a bad smell at all. When I mixed in more water and flour, the starter was kind of pillowy, definitely not just a bowl of flour and water.
In my opinion, it’s a real starter now!!!
Now the question is… When will it be ready to use? Continue reading