What I got (or didn't get) for Christmas 2011

Well, truth be told I didn't get anything for BBQ for Christmas, at least not directly. But I did get some cold hard cash from the in-laws (Thanks!!). Always a welcome gift.

I have purchased a few items so far. I got a nice carving knife at the Costco Business Center. Have never had one - big gap in my knife collection. Haven't BBQ'd anything to try it out with yet, so I totally used the wrong tool for the job and used it to slice pepperoni for pizza the other night. Yeah, a bit like taking a tank to a duel, but I tell you what - I've never been able to slice pepperoni so thin and clean ever before!

A bit more was spent at the "regular" Costco on some Single Malt Scotch Whisky that I haven't tried before. I've been moving in the single malt direction in my drinking preferences - a wee dram (OK, a bit larger than that) or two are quite welcomed in the evening.

I'd say that's a good start!

Quick thoughts:

• Knife is great
• Oban 14 year old is on the stronger side, but not too strong
• Singleton 12 year old is mild, maybe too mild. But good. Hoped for more after memories of first tasting this at a distillery in Scotland (not the distillery this bottle came from)
• Lagavulin 16 year old is too strong and peaty for my tastes. But great for others from what I've read

Check back here for reviews of various bottles (full disclosure - I'm no expert!) as I build up, and then drink down, my collection.

And hopefully I'll get that smoker fired up here again real soon as well!

New BBQ Joint - Mike's BBQ in Escondido (mobile)

Grabbed a quick full rack of baby back ribs to go after an afternoon with friends at Stone Brewery & some shopping.

Will report back later with a mini-review.

Will go back again later (unless this rack totally sucks) for a more traditional meal & full review.

I can report that this place is huge. Plus a bar where you can eat off the full menu while watching the 15 foot (yes, 15 foot - this is a big TV) tele.

Visit Mike's BBQ on the web.

Map the BBQ

I'm going to play around with adding a map to this blog. Figure I will include locations of all the BBQ joints I know, links to my reviews, etc.

Hopefully this will be useful for folks looking for a place to eat some good Q.

I was going to focus just on San Diego. But decided to go further since I am lucky enough to travel a bit too.

Phil's BBQ - San Marcos, Our First Time

OK, so Phil's BBQ has been open in San Marcos for a number of months now. Finally had a chance to get in there and check it out a bit. Was returning home from running some errands with Jen, and decided it was time.

My standby, go-to meal at any new BBQ joint is the Pulled Pork Sandwich. It is what I judge a BBQ restaurant by. I have loved the BBQ Broham pulled pork from Phil's since the first time I've had it. That is one huge sandwhich. That being said, the last two times I've had it at the Sports Arena location I have been less that overwhelmed. Chucks of fat big enough that they should have been pulled once. And the other I think it was some just nasty hard edge meat that shouldn't have made it to a sandwich - it was pretty big.

So, today it was ribs. We decided to split a full rack of baby backs and get two sides. I wanted the beans and Jen wanted some french fries. We ordered the fried well-done, and were glad we did. Jen had seen someone's fried on the way in and she described them as "anemic". The 'well done' ones were just perfect!

The ribs. Cooked very well. Close to over cooked, but not quite. I jumped for the ones with little to no sauce on them. Why? Two reasons. I'm not a huge fan of vinegar based sauces - Phil's are. Also, I want to taste the meat and the Q, not just a bunch of sauce. So what's the verdict? Tasty ribs those are!

I motored through 3 then remembered the beans. I forgot that his bean has a bit-o-spice to them. Not much, but I don't do heat that well, so I noticed it. Good though. And we thoroughly enjoyed the fries.

Would I get them again - oh ya. Maybe I'll remember on of these days to ask for the sauce on the side...

It was also fun to try to remember the way the restaurant used to look. We had eaten there twice when it was an Italian place (can't recall the name). Was that area expanded? Etc. I can tell you for sure that I am much happier having that location be a Phil's!

Visit Phil's in San Marcos at 579 Grand Ave, San Marcos, CA 92078.
And if you are in the San Diego area hit the Sports Arena location at 3750 Sports Arena Blvd, San Diego, CA 92110.   Both are close on Monday's.
Be forewarned - there can be LONG lines at Phil's. I am looking at the Point Loma (Sports Arena) location live cam right now - it's packed! Check out the BBQueue Cam (cute play on words guys) if you are in a hurry.
It's hard to beat Phil's for BBQ - well, unless you come to my place...

Oh ya - here's a pic of the ribs plate. Totally sorry about the picture - I only thought to snap a quick one for Foursquare before I got lost in eating. Plus I didn't even realize we were sitting under a neon light - that's why the color is so odd!

Check this out too. First Time I've seen this - what a simple, but useful idea. Just hook your arm under this and pull - door opens and you don't loose the work you just put into cleaning your hands. Now then - go get them dirty again with Que!!

It Has Been WAY Too Long - Time to Smoke

Well, we are in the new house. Still have a bunch of boxes to empty. Still trying to figure out just where it makes the most sense to put things. Still trying to pick which painting/photo to put on which wall. Still trying to figure out the irrigation system and fix broken PVC pipes. Good thing we have many years left to figure this all out!

Have been doing a fair amount of grilling - mainly for dinners for the two of us. So a ribeye or two, burgers, more rirbeyes... We almost never grill any steak but a ribeye. Nothing else comes close, and with the good prices at Costco or Restaurant Depot why not really enjoy your steak!

But what has been missing? Smoking! I haven't put a darn thing in my lonely little smoker in forever.

Well the July 4th weekend is coming and that is all about to change! We have invited friends and family over to hang out, enjoy the pool, the company of other folks and a few adult beverages. And dinner of course. And what's the main course - pulled pork sandwiches!

I'll be making a quick run to RD this week to pick up a 2-pack of pork butt and will cook those up, pull um, and be ready to go for the next day. Jen is considering making the rolls herself. We shall see, I think we have enough to do between now and then that we don't need to worry about that.

It was great the other day when we were talking with a friend and asked her if she can join us for the 4th. She was hemming and hawing a bit - then Jen said - "and Tim will be smoking...". Our friend instantly said, "oh ya, I'll be there!".

Love it. Guess I'd better make some good food!  =)

Some Game Day Tri-Tip

It's Super Bowl Sunday. I only state that because most of you will know what day it is, not because it has any bearing on anything. We didn't host a bowl game, we didn't go to a bowl game - heck - we didn't even watch the game!

But we did have two tri-tips in the refrigerator, and this was the day to cook them up.
Early in the day I skinned about 6 cloves of garlic, and cut them into somewhat uniform sizes. I then cut slits into the tri-tips and pushed a piece of garlic into each cut. Haven't done this since college.

I then liberally covered each piece with Santa Maria Style seasoning from Susie Q's. This is the brand we learned about in San Luis Obispo during college - where we also learned about the Tri-tip. Back in those days not many folks outside of the Central Coast knew about Tri-tip. After covering them I put each into a plastic ziplock bag and back into the refrigerator.

Hours later just as the sun was setting I pulled them out to toss on the grill. Opened up a bag - oh ya, that smelled good!

I'm not sure how the timing was during the game, but mine was cutting it close... Ran out of gas just as the larger cut was done. Perfect!

We had it with a nice side salad with fig & walnut dressing. Tasty.

We did decide that next time we put garlic in we are going to use roasted garlic. The raw garlic doesn't get cooked enough and is too strong. Nice flavor, but could use a little calming.

If you haven't tried it before, do get the Santa Maria Style seasoning. And do let it sit on the meat for 6+ hours - it gives it a great flavor!

Bacon Jam – the quest continues

OK – SO we are loving the Bacon Jam. Took some to a friends house and we all loved it on yams. Really good.

We are using it a lot on burgers – the original use always seems to be the best.

We are working on finding the best mix of ingredients. The first batch we made (in the post below) has been the best. But even the “bad” stuff is really good. For example – we made a batch and split the sugar into half brown and half white. Also drained off more of the liquid. Still good, but it came out too dry and not as flavorful.

So we promise to continue to play with the recipe and work towards making it the best it can be. I know, I know – it’s tough work but someone has to do it! Plus we have a lot of bacon right now – so it seems like a good time.

Have fun cooking/grilling/smoking! If you try Bacon Jam let me now what you think. And if you tweak the recipe a bit, let me know what you do and how it turns out!

Bacon Jam Burgers

So you know we made up this recipe from the show FoodCrafters on the Cooking Channel.

• Just over 1 pound Bacon (cut up – about finger width)
• 1 Large Onion (sent through food processor – about 3/8’s pound)
• 1 T Brown Sugar (Packed)
• 1/2 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 T Jen’s Secret Sauce (sorry, can’t tell you what this is… – but it adds sweetness)

Cook bacon in large cast iron pan over medium- to high-heat. Cook till bacon starts to leak bacon juices.

While that is happening, cut up onion in food processor. Cut that puppy up good.

Add to pan with bacon. Cook for approx 2 minutes (until onion is translucent).

Add Brown Sugar, cook about 2 minutes.

Add Balsamic, cook till done. Done being when the grease has separated from the bacon. Cook till you feel it is done for your taste.

Pour off majority of the fat.

Add it all to the food processor and grind it up – not too fine, you want it to have some small chunks in it.

         

Spread on burger and enjoy!

The first time we made this we took a few bites, then went back and doubled the serving of the bacon jam – so be liberal with it. We also used Havarti cheese instead of Cheddar. Good stuff!

We also felt like we need to add more bacon. So next time we are going to up the amount of bacon and onions and see how that changes things. Will report back here on how that goes.

Tri-Tip on the Grill with Favorite Marinade from Our College Days

We happened upon some trimmed Tri-Tip at the local store, and Jen has been craving it since we had a tritip sandwich at the local Major Market (they do some food vending at the lunch hours in the parking lot). Package was about 4.3 pounds, two pieces, highly trimmed.

Back in the old college days at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (around 1989-1995) we learned about Tri-Tip and Santa Maria BBQ and all the fun foods of the CA Central Coast. There a Tri-Tip is a big ole hunk of beef, about 10 pounds or so – with a big fat cap on on side. None of this trimmed up city stuff. =)

Our favorite way to prep the meat back in the day was to skin about 5 whole garlic gloves, cut small slices into the meat, and stuff them down in there. Then we would take a dry mix of Italian salad dressing mix, make it up without the water & about double the liquids (no fancy measuring cups needed). Then add a generous helping of soy sauce. Put this all in a tupperware container, and let sit in the refrigerator till the party/weekend/dinner. We also liked to poke the meat multiple times with a fork to create little passageways for the marinade to work in. Be sure to turn it each day as it won’t be fully covered in the marinade.

Back in the Cal Poly days we always cooked on a grill with charcoal – hopefully on a Weber kettle, but not always. Don’t put it directly over the coals. Most of the time cooking these big boys is with the fat down – which works well to protect the meet from the heat and help keep the meat moist.

Fast forward to 2010, the gas grill on the porch and the highly trimmed Tri-Tips. Same marinade, minus the garlic cloves. I know, what was I thinking…?? I also did not puncture the meat with a fork. We were going to cook this on Friday night, but ended up staying in San Diego for dinner and some family time. Oh darn, that meant the meat would just have to marinade another day. =)

We are about to move, so spent a hot day Saturday cleaning out the garage, dropping E-Waste at a local collection event (Thanks! didn’t know how I was going to get rid of that old washing machine!). Finally got rid of two old Macintosh computers from our college days – after I pulled the hard drives out.

So we were pretty burnt out by the end of the day. I picked up some loaf bread on my way home from the e-waste event for the planned Tri-Tip sandwiches for dinner.

Cooked them close to the flame, but not directly over it. Well, maybe a little over it to sear a bit and get some color, but mostly no. Flipped about 6 times, cooked for about 40 minutes. Jen decided it smelled too good and that she just wanted a hunk of beef – so sandwiches Sunday!

Oh ya, it was good (sorry, no pictures – out of practice). Tender, tasty. Would have been even better with the meat punctured – the outside is the best.

Jen requested that next time I cut the pieces up a bit so that there is more “outside” to hold the marinade and all its tasty goodness. For her I will try it, may not be as tender though…

All in all a very successful Tri-Tip cook. Good memories from college (that’s where Jen and I met). Leftovers for the week. Plans for doing it again soon (house warming party perhaps??).

Jen’s Sandwich

Tim’s Sandwich

Happy grilling!

Way Too Long…

It has been way too long since I have fired up the smoker, and even longer since I have posted anything to this blog! I will take care of the first issue this weekend – going to clean out the pit Saturday, prep some ribs and a big pork butt, smoke them on Sunday and feed them to family on Monday – the Memorial Day holiday.

Posting to the blog is something I want to be better about too. I visited a number of local (San Diego area) BBQ joints last year, took photos in preparation of a post about the good, the bad & the ugly – and just never got too it. Always so much going on – you know the drill. But that’s no excuse. I have a number of blogs and they have all been suffering. I’ll try to be better about that.

So I will still post some thoughts on those BBQ restaurants (well, one has since folded – wonder if it was just the local one…). Why? Because. I think one was great, one mediocre and one just darn bad. And I think you have a right to know about that – heck, if I was trying to pick a place to eat I’d like to get some recommendations.

So I will work on being better about doing the Que (heck – it is fun and tastes great – why not do it!!??!!) and on the blog too. Wish me luck!  =)