Contact with Kingsford

I've wondered about the safety of using smoking chips, e.g., the ones from Kingsford and went to their site to contact them about it. Here's our exchange:

Me: I have a concern with your chips for smoking. I thought wood needed to be preburned (like lump charcoal) to be used for smoking. Otherwise, if you burn fresh wood, like those chips, you add a ton of volatiles to the food as the wood begins to smolder. Can you explain a bit more about the way your wood chips are treated and address the safety of smoking food with them?

Kingsford Guy: Thank you for your recent e-mail about KINGSFORD wood chips. The information you requested will require further research. Unfortunately, it may be several days before we will be able to provide an answer to your question. Once we have the necessary information, however, we will provide it to you by e-mail as promptly as possible.

Having thought about this exchange for the weekend, I'm actually kind of shocked at the Kingsford guys response. I'm more than a little surprised he didn't have this information immediately available. Should be interesting to see what he comes up with researching their own product! Good thing Dr. B's here for an authoritative opinion.

It's not about the bling

Do what you love and the . . . I forget the rest.

The other day a small crew from Picture Show Films and a marketing person from Weber came by for the shoot. Sixty something degrees in Columbus - in February! What a day to take a break from the grind and cook some ribs low and slow. While the rest of the family frolicked in the sun, took care of the kid (thanks my love!) and made sides for the end of the day rib fest, a couple guys stood in my yard and we talked barbecue ALL DAY LONG. I think I might have to crawl back to the church and tell them I made a mistake.

Anyway, many asked me "how much did you get?". Well, they did force me to use a shiny new kettle (but I did get to use the lump charcoal of my choosing). The new kettle and I bonded pretty quickly (don't know if my old kettle will forgive me) and then they just left it behind and said I could have it and I might also get a Weber Smokey Mountain™ out of it as well. It's a smoker I've wanted for a long time. My yard's small and can't easily accomodate one of those huge rigs; the Smoky Mountain™ is a pretty nice rig and has a small footprint. So, I got some nice stuff but I would've paid twice the comps for the fun we had.

As they filmed, their editor kept collecting feeds in the dining room and was already beginning the editing. They're going to make a short commercial for tv and going to run longer streaming video spots on the Weber site beginning in April. I'll keep you posted and give links.

Grilling Details: Royal Oak lump charcoal, maintained a temp of approximately 225-deg-F for 5 hours beginning at about 7:20 am (with a few spikes because I kept playing with my new toy). Monitored only the dome temperature only throughout the session. Used a pretty typical dry rub and did two moppings with cider vinegar during the cooking. The meat was also warmed to RT prior to tossing it on. Let 'em rest about 20 minutes wrapped in foil and boy were they tasty. The ribs themselves were pretty variable with respect to the amount of meat. Some were really meaty, others not as much. They were all pretty lean.

How were they? The image shows what remained. It's a pretty crappy image but it was a busy day and didn't get to take too many pics. Well, this is the last post for a long time about this. On to meatier episodes.

Valentine's Day, A Good Day to Rub Ribs

Tonight the gang will pile over to our house to briefly stay and watch the rubbing of the ribs in preparation for tomorrow's barbecue fest. I'll use a rib rub similar to that reported previously. Then they get out of my kitchen and we proceed with the bath, watching of Nemo, bedtime and get ready for tomorrow's shoot. Looking like good weather. Potentially rainy but warm. And, I'm not sure if the butcher pulled off that little membrane on the ribs. Got 7 half racks ready to go. We'll be serving them around 1-2 pm with (ham-hock flavored) black-eyed peas, greens and corn bread. If you happen to be driving by, stop in to say hey.

'Que specifics: I'll be using a Weber Kettle, burning Royal Oak (Naked Whiz gives it a 4.8/5) and relying on the native smokiness of the lump itself rather than tossing in too much extra smoke. Probably shoot for 5 hours at 225F.

Prep: To Do List

Next Tuesday, Picture Show Films will be here for the day. We'll be preparing Ribs. We'll be giving them a rub the night before, wrapping them up, warming them up the next morning and tossing 'em on the faithful Weber at about 7 am Tuesday. They'll be done by 1 pm. After an hour rest, we'll feast with the crew with Ribs, greens, black-eyed peas and Cornbread. The Prep:
a. prepare ingredients for rub
b. buy ribs (about 7 half slabs, baby backs).
c. buy a new foil drip-pan
d. check fuel supply of lump charcoal; be using Royal Oak for this round.
e. calibrate thermocouples
f. clean out Weber
g. buys lots of extra fruit/coffee/juice for the crew to munch while waiting
h. buy cornmeal stuff for corn bread and greans
i. polish the rig (no smart ass the rig refers to the infamous Weber)
j. remove dog poo from yard since there's no snow to cover it
etc.

If you're in the vicinity, feel free to drop by, just be prepared to disapper temporarily at 1 pm because that's Frankie's naptime.

Meatballs: Recent Findings

Photogenic? Hardly. But, there are few foods that give me a more comforting feeling than meatballs in tomato sauce. When we have them with pasta, you can hear Frankie chanting "more meat, more meat". Music to my ears. She also eats ten times the weight of these little delicacies in fruits and veggies, so I think her diet's balanced.

I've spent some time recently talking about meatballs. In the past I've made them from ground turkey and cracked wheat (I was quite proud of that innovation), ground sirloin (my Mom's preference) and now I'm using the holy trinity of meat: beef, pork and veal. In less fancy circles, it's called "meatloaf mix". I heard about it many times but not many supermarkets have it. The other day, I found it in a local market. If you find this delectable mixture, use it.

My Meatballs, makes about 10 small ones
ground beef, pork, veal (equal weights), ca. 1/2 lb.
bread crumbs, 1/2 cup
parsley, finely chopped, bunch
salt
pepper
garlic, trace or garlic powder
onion, small, finely diced
egg, 1
milk, enough. add milk and bread crumbs to get a mixture that's not too wet or dry.

To cook, plop 'em in sauce raw and simmer tomato sauce (tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, bay leaf) for a couple hours.

I could eat these for breakfast they're so good.

Pancakes Coming

It's almost February 2! According to Wikipedia, it's technically the festival of the Purification of the Virgin. According to word IQ,

the eve of Candlemas was the day on which Christmas decorations of greenery were removed from people's homes; for traces of berries, holly and so forth will bring death among the congregation before another year is out

But to us, it's the Festival of Pancakes with Huckleberry Jam and Powdered Sugar.

I think Frankie will approve of the Holiday.

Pizza, Lean 'n Thin

I usually don't write about what I ate last night. But, this was kind of interesting. I usually have a lump of dough in the fridge from the baguette recipe. Recall, that's a lean dough, about 3 grams fat (veg shortening) per 500 grams of dough; much less than my pizza dough which has about 25 grams fat (olive oil) per 500 grams (and a little honey). I keep the baguette dough in the fridge (up to a couple days) so we have something on hand to add something special to an otherwise skimpy meal.

Last night Mom was out wining and dining a job candidate and it was me and the kid home for dinner. Table for two and I had no plan. After a brief panic, I took my lean dough, warmed it a bit, and decided to make a couple personal pizzas out of it with some fresh tomato (ugly ripes™, the best!), mozzarella and a bit of Reggiano. Seemed like a promising fix. But would that lean a dough work for a crust? I like my pizza crust with the oil and trace of honey to give it a tender interior, crispy exterior and amber color.

To my (and Frankie's) pleasant surprise, it worked quite well. A bit more chewy than usual but since we let the topped pies rest a good 10-20 minutes (diaper change between pizzas) before shoving them in the 550-deg-F furnace, they bubbled up nicely and were adequately tender. Frankie ate mostly my crusts, a couple pieces of orange and a crayon (purple, I think). She likes sauce more than fresh tomato but the different dough was a nice change.

The image is one just out of the oven and one about to go in on my two peels.

Quick, Call My Agent

Got the TV commercial. Me and my Weber (and dog, of course, she cleans the grate). Got a conference call Wednesday morning at 9:15 to hash out some details. I think I'm going to hold out for Nick Cage as the stunt double. Let you know how it goes. Update: Cage is busy that day. Filming starts Feb 15th (weather permitting) and I get my choice of a new grill for compensation! Someone pinch me.

Desperation Dinner #1 (Soup)

Our newest favorite quickie:

Collards, Chicken and Beans Soup, serves 2-3
1. Saute onion and a sliver of garlic in olive oil.
2. Add 10 oz. frozen collard greens, a chopped boneless chicken breast and can of cannelini beans.
3. Let simmer while walking the dog, changing a diaper and reading "Everyone Poops" (about 30 minutes).
4. Ladle into bowls, top with grated Reggiano, serve with crusty bread, wait anxiously for Spring and enjoy.

Fresh tomatoes - in Winter?

Last night was pizza night. We made one of our favorites: roasted eggplant, fresh tomato and chevre. The amazing thing I noticed this horrible season of rain, snow and dirt is the tomatoes in the supermarkets are pretty darn good! What a cool surprise. I've been buying a beefsteak type from Michigan and just last night got some killer Romas and used them for our pizza.

During past Winter seasons, supermarket tomatoes have always presented as ripe, red and juicy only to taste mealy and flavorless. But these two examples are really good - and from Giant Eagle of all places. It's good to have them around. Salads, pizzas and our spirits are better for them.

P.S. Pay no attention to the psychotic way I cut this pizza. Frankie gets small squares and we get slices and then I just started making random cuts. Trust me, it tasted MUCH better than it looks here.

We Made the Short List

A note I received last Friday from my contact at Picture Show Films:

Hi Dave-

I hope you had a good holiday season. I just wanted to let you know that you're on the short list of candidates for the Weber spots we're shooting. Weber is still figuring out exactly what they want to do in terms of the number of spots and the products they want to feature, but they really liked your story. I should know more by the middle of next week.

I had a phone interview a few weeks ago. He's making commercials for Weber and I might get in one. He said if the deal goes down, he pulls up with his crew in an RV and shoots improv style all day while I grill. Is that a cool gig or what? Keep you posted.

And for the last time, I did tell them what I looked like. Brad Pitt and Nicholas Cage made the short list for the stunt double.

Pan Size

Note: See update appended.

I was reading about a bread I'd like to try on Let's Cook with Meg and Ted. It's called a Grant Loaf and it seems really quick beginning to end. I especially appreciated the emphasis placed on the size of the baking pan relative to the batch size of the loaf. When baking in a pan (rather than free-form on tiles or something) I believe this is a particularly overlooked parameter. At least, it's been in my experience. I found this cool reference on volumes of popular Pan Size and their volumetric equivalents. Should be a useful reference when creating/planning/scaling a recipe. Just thought I'd share.

Update: You'd think I'd actually pay attention to my own advice. I used an 8 1/2 x 4 x 2 inch pan which was roughly 1100 mL volume (measured by simply adding water to the empty pan; It's tricky to compensate for the bevel in the pan and really wanted an accurate determination of volume. The recipe I decided to use was:

My First Grant Loaf
water, hot tap, ca 110F, 200 g
whole wheat flour, 90 g
rye flour, 90 g
spelt flour, 90 g
honey, ca. 15 g
salt, 5-6 g
rapid rise yeast, 1.5 t, ca. 5 g
Total mass, ca. 500 g

8 minute mix in my bread machine, shaped into a loaf, let proof for 30 minutes, baked at 425 for 30 minutes, popped out of the pan, let cool 20 minutes and ate some. It looked like the earthy crunchy super dense loaves at your least favorite health store. So, right now, no pic. But it tasted great!

The pan size, based on the citation in the first paragraph, was roughly 2 times too big. I think this has a lot to do with the dynamics of baking, the sides covered the loaf rather than the loaf springing past the sides of the pan to be baked. Maybe it won't make a difference, but my next attempt will confirm it. I'll either double the dough size or decrease the pan size. Stay tuned.

One last note: I'm actually not pitching this it tasted so good and I always pitch stuff that frustrates me. Drives my loved one nuts but I can't tolerate inferior baked goods and despite this one's shortcomings, it was quite good. And, I did all before dropping the kid off at daycare.

Cookies, Frankie and Decorations

More cookies! During the past holiday, Frankie decorated cookies with Mom (kind of) and showed amazing potential. Trish finished 'em off (2nd image). The cookies were heavenly. Flour was used merely as a support for butter and sugar in this rendition of the sugar cookie. These were the most delicate sugar cookies I have ever had (I think it was from the Cooks' Illustrated Baking Book). Then, they were decorated quite festively. Christmas this year was food, food and more food.

A Turkey, A Weber and 1-deg-F

The weather for Christmas stunk this year; snow followed by lots of ice. But, we kept indoors and had a very relaxing holiday.

However, we still needed to cook the holiday bird. Recipes developed for barbecueing from the infamous Weber Grill Company (note the sucking up so I can be in their televeision commercial) are created based on an ambient temperature of 60-deg-F. I figured it'd be about March before we saw those temps and the bird needed to be done by 4 pm. On Christmas morning, it was only 1-deg-F (note the ice covered bush in the foreground: proof it's wicked cold out). Luckily, it wasn't windy. Wind makes temperature control nearly impossible in the cold.

I knew my Weber was still the weapon of choice for our brined bird. The 8-pounder was prepared in the same manner described previously (only it wasn't given a name). The cold posed a bit of a challenge but a relatively steady temp of about 300 +/- 40 degrees was still realized; it simply required a bit more lump charcoal than anticipated. Four hours later, we had our bronzed turkey resting and waiting for dinner. It was pretty tasty and we reached a new low in 'cue.