Barbecue Culture
BBQ Gift Baskets from 1-800-Flowers
The popular floral site 1-800-Flowers.com has just launched a new line of gift baskets in conjunction with top celebrity chefs. Paula Deen, Preston Bailey, and BBQ hero Steven Raichlen.
Raichlen has two signature baskets, including a “Beer Can Chicken” basket featuring a roaster, rub, recipes, and so forth. A unique and interesting collection for the BBQ lover on your holiday shopping list!
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Turducken time!
If you are going to get a Turducken for the holidays or that next family get together, you should check out Cajun Grocer.com. You DO know what a Turducken it is right? It’s a chicken stuffed inside a duck, stuffed inside a turkey. CajunGrocer.com ups the ante by stuffing sausage in as well!
You order them frozen, then make sure you give yourself 48 hours of thaw time (in the fridge) before popping them in the oven. These are ready to cook. I’ve got one coming, I will let everyone know how it is.
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July 4th Dessert Wars
Stumbled across these photos of last year’s annual 4th of July “Dessert Wars” at the Westwood Swim Club’s Independence Day barbecue. Those are some great looking desserts, great work folks!
What a better occasion than Independence day to gather with friends and family for a cookout. A little friendly competition never hurts either. Tell us about your July 4th barbecues, we’d love to hear about everyone’s traditions!
The Westwood swim club is located in Mt. Holly, New Jersey.
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The $50,000 Hamburger
So you think you make the world’s best hamburger do you? Well Sutter Home and the California Avocado Commission want you to prove it, and if you’re right you’ll take home$50,000.
This is the 16th running of the annual contest, and will no doubt draw thousands of entries from around the country. Onions and mustard won’t cut it here folks. You better have something extra special if you are going to hang with the competition. There’s even a category for non beef burgers made from Salmon, Chicken, and so forth.
Hurry, the submission deadline is August 21, 2006. If you are looking for some hints, checkout the official cookbook, which contains recipes from winners and runners-up from past contests. Hmm, I’m thinking my entry will be the Sutter Home Merlot with Avocado burger.
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Barbecue Cookbook Benefits U.S. Marines
Last year, active duty and reserve Marines at 10 military installations around the country fought in a different type of battle, this one thankfully a lot safer than their day jobs.
The troops battled it out on the barbecue pit to find out who would take top grilling honors. The event, sponsored by Weber, was designed to earn money for the families of Marines killed or wounded in action.
To earn money, they are selling a barbecue cookbook that showcases the winning recipes from the competition, along with steak recipes from famous former Marines like Lee Trevino and Ed McMahon. The book is only $10, and 100% of the proceeds benefit the Marines and their families.
For $30, you can buy both the book and a nice knit shirt. The book is also available at a number of retailers like Ace Hardware and Do It Best Stores.
This is a really good cause, so I encourage anyone interested in barbecue and grilling to pick up a copy. It’s the least we can do.
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The Weber Grill Restaurant
The Weber Grill Restaurant in Chicago put their grilling expertise to the test with their all grill kitchen. Billing themselves as the “ultimate upscale grilling experience”, they bring Chicago area residents the delicious flavor of the grill in a restaurant package. Patrons can enjoy the dining room, or for a more authentic cookout experience, enjoy their food on the spacious patio.
There are actually three Weber Grill Restaurant locations in the area: Chicago, Lombard, and Schaumburg. In the Weber Grill kitchen their experienced grilling staff cook up delicious backyard favorites like hamburgers, steaks, and chops. But being an upscale restaurant they also offer prime rib as well as grilled seafood and vegetables.
Grilling classes are also a popular reason to visit the Weber Grill Restaurant. Once a month at the Schaumburg location, you can learn to grill from the expert grill masters at Weber.
Another unique fact about the Weber Grill Restaurant is their open kitchen design that allows you to observes the chefs in action behind their grills. Cooking over real charcoal (up to 2000 pounds per day), the Weber chefs use the popular Weber Chimney Starter to light up, just like you would at home. The food is cooked over giant size versions of the famous Weber kettle grill.
If you are ever in the Chicago area, drop in for a bite at the Weber Grill Restaurant. They take reservations, and they stay very busy – especially on the weekends. Those of too far away will have to be satisfied with our own Weber cookouts.
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May is National BBQ Month
It’s May, which if you weren’t aware, is National BBQ Month. Spring is the perfect time to get out there and grill. Unless you are in central Texas apparently, where it’s hot as hell already. Not that it’ll stop diehard grillers however.
If while firing up the grill after the winter you discover that the burners are rusted through and it’s time for a new grill you may want to check out this Buyer’s Guide for some tips.
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Review: Steaks of St. Louis
Last week I told you about a mail order steak shop I’m trying out called Steaks of St. Louis. Last night I grilled up a little “earth and turf” trying out their porterhouse cut pork chop and New York strip.
The pork chop was huge, moist and not too lean. A good sign. This particular shop lets you add a marinade or rub to your order, so I tried out their Sesame Teriyaki flavor on this one. It wasn’t bad, but I’d have liked more kick. Seasoning aside, the pork chop was excellent, big and thick and meaty. It grilled up nice and moist. Too many of the pork chops you buy in the local megamart are so lean they dry up on the grill, but not these.
While I wasn’t too impressed with the Sesame Teriyaki seasoning, the Malibu Seasoning on the strip streak was awesome. It didn’t overpower the steak but provided an excellent accent. I would definitely try it again. The steak itself was good as well. Not as impressive a cut as the pork porterhouse, but a good quality cut and an ample size.
If you don’t have access to good steaks in your area, or if you just prefer the convenience of buying in bulk and stocking your freezer, then I hardily recommend Steaks of St. Louis. They even have a money back guarantee that you’ll enjoy them, so I don’t see how you can go wrong.
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Pig Saves Life of BBQ Baron
After serving millions of them up to his patrons over the last 70 years, two pigs went from providing Melvin Bessinger’s livelihood to saving his life. Bessinger, the longtime South Carolina bar-b-que magnate and co-founder of the highly successful Melvin’s Bar-B-Que chain, recently found himself in need of heart valve replacement surgery. Ironically, the valves doctors use these days are taken from farm-raised pigs.
The surgery took place in January 2006 and the patient is doing great. Melvin’s family jokes that after years of stating how heart-healthy the ‘other white meat’ is, they can now prove it. Says David Bessinger, son and co-founder of the Melvin’s chain, “Dad always taught me to only serve the best pork to our customers but I guess he saved a little for himself.” Now out of the hospital and on the mend, Melvin is not surprised that the situation turned out the way it did. “Pork made me what I am, so I guess it is fitting that a pig saved my life.”
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BBQ Competion in NYC
One day, NEBS (New England BBQ Society) sanctioned grilling contest – March 25, 2006, Sheepshead Bay Brooklyn to benefit the St. Mark Sport’s Association. The event is being sponsored by Paul Kirk’s RUB restaurant. Continue reading “BBQ Competion in NYC”
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Study Says Grillers Sizlle All Year Round
Stephanie Holbrook over at the Hearth, Patio, & Barbecue Association has written to share with me some interesting statistics from their new study on recent changes in the industry. The HPBA is an international trade organization for barbecue and patio retailers. Among their findings were these tidbits.
Based on a representative sample of more than 8,000, the report revealed that over 60 percent of Americans are grilling year-round and nearly half grill during winter months.
Grill ownership increased 10 percent from 2003, with eight out of ten households now owning an outdoor barbecue grill or smoker.
More than 35 percent of women are now taking the tongs for gas grilling, up six percent from 2003. And 42 percent of women are using electric grills, inching closer to men at 55 percent. However, men and women are on equal footing in the decision of when to grill, at 47
percent each.
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BBQ Matches Collection
Here’s an interesting gift for that barbecue lover in your life. A ready-made collection of matchbooks from some of the best BBQ joints in the country.
This nice little gift is only $9.95, so the price is right too. I guess you could argue that it would cost your thousands of dollars in airfare to collect all these at the actual BBQ joints, so that’s quite a bargain! You can order it direct from their website.
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2006 Chile Calendar
Holiday seasons coming up, and the perennial favorite, the niche calendar, is poised to begin making its appearance. If you have someone on your list who likes things hot and spicy, you could do worse that the Peppa Heads’s Chile calendar.
This calendar first and foremost features pretty pepper pictures (Say that 10 times fast) but it also includes a number of pepper related recipes. The pictures all come from the author’s own (extensive) pepper garden.
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DIY grilling, Japanese style
Yakiniku, literally Japanese for “grilling meat”, is a trendy new dining fad catching on with west coast diners. Each table in a Yakiniku restaurant features a personal grill where diners cook various cuts of meats to their liking.
No complaints about how your food is cooked will fly here. You can order up anything from chicken to the famous premium Kobe beef for your grilling pleasure. Even vegetables and seafood are available.
Read this review of one of the most popular new chains, Gyu-Kaku. With three already going strong in West L.A., Beverly Hills and Torrance, Gyu-Kaku has unveiled its first San Fernando Valley restaurant in Sherman Oaks.
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What’s in a name…
Barbecue competitions encourage creativity, and it starts with the team names themselves. In fact, it appears that a clever name is second only to owning a smoker as a requirement to enter at many contests. Of course, there’s always the potential embarrassment of showing up to the showdown with the same name as another team.
Ever industrious, the barbecue community has set up a system to avoid just such a problem. At the website www.BBQTeamNames.com you’ll find a database of nearly 700 names that been used in past competitions. A useful and fun resource to browse. A few gems that caught my eye.
- Glazed and Confused
- 3 Fat Guys & A Smoker
- Wild Bunch Butt Burners
- Smokin & Chokin
- Hoggie & The Blowpigs
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