I had a religous experience
May. 15th, 2008 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bzarcherBack in...jeez, late March? City BBQ announced that they'd be doing "Barbeque 101" seminars for the Make A Wish foundation. $60 donation gets you food, a book, and about 2 and a half hours of instruction and fun with Rick Malir, the founder and president of the company.
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flaggerx, felislachesis, and I signed up as soon as we could settle on a date.
So, tonight, we met up at City BBQ's Gahanna store, and got some religion.
(Well, I started with a bottle of Cheerwine, which I guess they special order in for their stores, but that's another story. Needless to say it was reaaaaally good.)
The first discussion, once we had a short thank you from Make A Wish and some of the -fantastic- Bama chicken and their beef sausage (and a small tangent about how they worked out the recipies for each), was on grilling, and charcoal. He showed off a chimney for those who hadn't seen one before, and proceeded to mix kingsford and hardwood while explaining the differences and benefits of both. Alex also had a briquette tossed at his head during this, but Dave was good enough to intercept it.
The mix is to provide a longer burn from the briquettes with the higher heat of the hardwood (used for cooking asparagus wrapped in panchetta and marscapone as appetizers). He also explained that for smoking or "slow cook" in a charcoal grill, you really don't want to use hardwood because it burns too hot and too fast, so you'll have to keep adding wood and not letting the smoke work in the grill, which gave Alex and I a "OH. THAT'S WHAT WE DID WRONG" moment.
(He also discussed cold smoking, which may be the sexiest thing I have ever heard of doing to a piece of beef, but that's going to be a surprise for later, ladies. Oh, yes.)
After the apertif and remembering to fuel their gas grill, he showed us a really nice steak rub made from coffee, black pepper, and salt, and then proceeded to shock me.
There were two salmon recipes on the tasting menu - one brined and smoked, the other a cedar plank grill. I was expecting to taste just enough to be polite and then give my extras to Alex or Dave.
Oh, was I wrong.
The alderwood smoked salmon was -incredible-. Still a little fishy, but with a nicely complex taste and beautifully flaky texture. I don't know if I could have eaten a whole serving, but I would have happily tried another slice.
The cedar plank salmon blew me away. I immediately wanted more. I -would- have eaten a whole serving. No fishy taste, and the cedar taste was incredible beneath it.
I may have to revise some of my statements about it being a cold day in Hell before I ever used a gas grill when charcoal was available. I admit that some of the tricks for temperature control would have been much more difficult on charcoal, but were ridiculously simple on gas.
To keep us busy while the cedar salmon finished, he also showed us a neat trick for forming and cooking hamburgers. :D This is also a secret.
We also learned a lot about meat selection, including some of the places he buys for his personal use in Columbus, and saw amazing demonstrations of how they prepped pork shoulders and beef briskets for their 25 hour slow cooks...and how they broke down the finished product for serving. And then we ate that, too. :D
(True fact - for every 10 pounds of brisket or pork shoulder they start with, 6 pounds are lost by the time it is served, much of it from the rendering of the fat caps.)
I got so many awesome tricks, learned a ton, and have a book full of recipes to try.
You have -all- been warned. It's gonna be a fun summer.
Oh, and did I mention that after the class ended, we all got a free buffet of pulled pork, ribs, brisket, sides, and banana pudding?
I am so deep into my happy place right now.
flaggerx, felislachesis, and I signed up as soon as we could settle on a date.So, tonight, we met up at City BBQ's Gahanna store, and got some religion.
(Well, I started with a bottle of Cheerwine, which I guess they special order in for their stores, but that's another story. Needless to say it was reaaaaally good.)
The first discussion, once we had a short thank you from Make A Wish and some of the -fantastic- Bama chicken and their beef sausage (and a small tangent about how they worked out the recipies for each), was on grilling, and charcoal. He showed off a chimney for those who hadn't seen one before, and proceeded to mix kingsford and hardwood while explaining the differences and benefits of both. Alex also had a briquette tossed at his head during this, but Dave was good enough to intercept it.
The mix is to provide a longer burn from the briquettes with the higher heat of the hardwood (used for cooking asparagus wrapped in panchetta and marscapone as appetizers). He also explained that for smoking or "slow cook" in a charcoal grill, you really don't want to use hardwood because it burns too hot and too fast, so you'll have to keep adding wood and not letting the smoke work in the grill, which gave Alex and I a "OH. THAT'S WHAT WE DID WRONG" moment.
(He also discussed cold smoking, which may be the sexiest thing I have ever heard of doing to a piece of beef, but that's going to be a surprise for later, ladies. Oh, yes.)
After the apertif and remembering to fuel their gas grill, he showed us a really nice steak rub made from coffee, black pepper, and salt, and then proceeded to shock me.
There were two salmon recipes on the tasting menu - one brined and smoked, the other a cedar plank grill. I was expecting to taste just enough to be polite and then give my extras to Alex or Dave.
Oh, was I wrong.
The alderwood smoked salmon was -incredible-. Still a little fishy, but with a nicely complex taste and beautifully flaky texture. I don't know if I could have eaten a whole serving, but I would have happily tried another slice.
The cedar plank salmon blew me away. I immediately wanted more. I -would- have eaten a whole serving. No fishy taste, and the cedar taste was incredible beneath it.
I may have to revise some of my statements about it being a cold day in Hell before I ever used a gas grill when charcoal was available. I admit that some of the tricks for temperature control would have been much more difficult on charcoal, but were ridiculously simple on gas.
To keep us busy while the cedar salmon finished, he also showed us a neat trick for forming and cooking hamburgers. :D This is also a secret.
We also learned a lot about meat selection, including some of the places he buys for his personal use in Columbus, and saw amazing demonstrations of how they prepped pork shoulders and beef briskets for their 25 hour slow cooks...and how they broke down the finished product for serving. And then we ate that, too. :D
(True fact - for every 10 pounds of brisket or pork shoulder they start with, 6 pounds are lost by the time it is served, much of it from the rendering of the fat caps.)
I got so many awesome tricks, learned a ton, and have a book full of recipes to try.
You have -all- been warned. It's gonna be a fun summer.
Oh, and did I mention that after the class ended, we all got a free buffet of pulled pork, ribs, brisket, sides, and banana pudding?
I am so deep into my happy place right now.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:23 am (UTC)*makes plans for a road trip...*
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:23 am (UTC)It's good to be a turn of the millenia American.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:29 am (UTC)It was not as expensive as I expected, even with shipping it was cheaper than buying the same grill locally.
Chimney is easy. Chimney is $15 bucks.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 02:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 06:18 pm (UTC)My one big secret for making hamburgers? Work the meat with your hands long enough to warm it up and break down the fat a bit. That'll allow it to form nice stick-together bits, which when you put it on the grill, won't immediately break apart when you apply heat. Mmmm.
And I've seen chimmneys used, they're neat. And wow do they work quickly.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-16 08:42 pm (UTC)I love my chimney. I would not grill without one at this point.