The BBQ General » Musings

Feast or Famine

The General — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:11:11 +0000

That’s what this time of the year represents…because we are now in the famine stage. In November and December we were doing multiple parties on the same day. Fed 3,500 people in Forsyth Park, cooked for over 1000 at the Roundhouse, and we cooked at the National Barbecue Festival (winning two first place trophies…one for brisket and one for ribs). Now that we are in our January doldrums, TLW has suggested that we get back to blogging.

So, here we are with two reformatted computers and none of our information was saved! Guess what TLW got for Christmas? An external hard drive…now we can back up our work…kind of like locking the barn door after the horse is stolen!! She asked me if we weren’t going to elaborate more on our exciting Fall, and, of course, I plan to!

I think the thing I am most proud of is when we engineered the Day of Great Thanksgiving where 3,500 folks were fed in Forsyth Park. It soon became very apparent that even though we own two Southern Prides, we were no match for feeding this kind of crowd. Nor was the small kitchen in the Old Savannah City Mission capable of that kind of production. There is an old saying that when you do big parties, you need to just break it down into a bunch of smaller parties. That is exactly what we did! We got Paula Deen’s restaurant, The Lady & Sons, to do the gravy…about 50 gallons of it! The Mansion at Forsyth Park did the green beans. Savor Savannah Catering produced the yams and Savannah Technical College (Culinary) produced the dressing. The General smoked 240 turkeys. Savor Savannah also loaned us four huge hotboxes to keep everything warm. Isn’t it MARVELOUS when a plan comes together? Guess what? We did all of this in less than a week.

The first of November saw us in Douglas, GA competing in the National BBQ Festival . In 2006, we finished in the top ten of the open contest, so this year we were invited to compete in the Invitational where the top ten teams from each sanctioning body around North America were invited to participate. We did respectably in the invitational, finishing in the middle of the pack of 38 teams with one call only…for 9th place in chicken. The open brought many more teams…over sixty. We thought we turned in good products on Friday, so we aimed at producing similar results for Saturday’s event. When it came time for the awards ceremony, our name was not called in chicken. We knew that our chicken turned out darker than the day before, so that was not a surprise. But what was a huge surprise was that we won first place in ribs, and first place in brisket. Had we scored better in chicken, we would have taken first place overall…but we ended up third overall! We were so proud of our performance, since we only cook twice a year, and we were up against some very strong competitors who compete a lot more frequently. If you get a top three call in any category, besides the money, the team is also awarded a beautiful brass bell (small for third to large for first). TLW had been saying all weekend that she wanted a bell….and now she has two big ones!!

Computer Disaster

The General — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 22:56:45 +0000

The General and I have had extremely bad luck with our computers this month. First, our Dell desktop died and the hard drive had to be reformatted. Ugh. All info lost…but we had a backup of most files on my Powerbook. Well, guess what happened? Crash! We are still crossing our fingers that Apple will be able to retrieve our files…if not….it will not be pleasant around here. In the interim, I have been trying to gain access to our blog and its files. This is my first attempt. If this works, I have lots of info to share!
TLW

Eureka!!

The General — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 21:39:46 +0000

The General has been out of town, so TLW has decided to go it on her own. Food and Wine magazine is one of my favorites. Their October issue is titled “Wine Made Simple.” As usual, their are many recipes TG and I want to try…especially the Spicy Pork and Tomatillo Stew which is pictured on the cover. The article that piqued my interest the most is “8 health benefits of drinking wine.” Here they the benefits:

Promotes longevity

Reduces heart-attack risk

Lowers risk of heart disease

Reduces risk of type 2 diabetes

Lowers risk of stroke

Cuts risk of cataracts

Cuts risk of colon cancer

Slows brain decline

The article goes on to list the evidence. You will have to read it for yourself here.

(Of course, the health benefits come from moderate consumption!)

Another reason I love Food and Wine is that they are a sponsor of Top Chef on Bravo TV. Even though this year is Season 3, this is the first year I have watched it. Even though TG detests reality tv, I would catch him stopping and watching it over my shoulder. It was great to see the underdog, Hung, win.

All through this season, Hung remained true to himself while ticking off almost all of the other contestants. His ego, confidence and drive superseded any effort to be popular. Initially he was not one of my favorites, but as he kept avoiding eliminations, I thought he might have a chance. As a true champion, he rose to the occasion when necessary. I am happy he won, but I think I also would have been happy if Dale had won. I can’t wait until F&W’s Top Chef edition comes out!

If you haven’t watched the series, I bet you can catch the re-runs on Bravo!

Strange Coincidence

The General — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 16:08:23 +0000

In August, on our way to vacation at Lake Chautauqua in upper New York State with our good friends Sir Charles and Kathleen, TG was worried that the Lake might be too remote since I brought no reading material. After lunch in Cleveland, we found a Border’s Discount Book Store…and it truly was a discount store. Since I liked the low prices and their selection of cookbooks, I bought several. I didn’t pay much attention to them until we reached the Lake.

I began reading one called Cook-Off America Volume 2 and suddenly discovered that I was in the book! “The Original Q Company Brisket” National Capital Barbecue Battle. It goes on to call me a consistent winner and a “circuit” celebrity. Funny though, the recipe isn’t mine nor is the picture one of our shots…even though it is a darn fine one.

From then on, I was like a celebrity chef and our friends told anyone who would listen about this strange coincidence! I was then put on the spot when Sir Charles went to his freezer and pulled out a standing rib roast and announced that we were having a dinner party Saturday night and I was to smoke the roast as well as other parts of the meal.

Being away from all my spices and tools, I was able to go back into the archives of my mind and remember an old beef marinade that I used to use all the time. It consists of one third teriyaki, one third red wine vinegar, and one third water. The water keeps the teriyaki from turning the meat too dark. Also add a good shot or two of bourbon. The bourbon breaks down the fibers in the meat and acts as a tenderizing agent…as well as a flavoring agent. I let the meat marinate a couple days before cooking it. I must say that it was one flavorful piece of meat…and all the guests agreed.

I also found out something that most home chefs don’t realize. I was looking for some spices to use on the roast and I found that some of Charles’ spices were out of date…some by two or three years! Most spices are only good for a year or less…depending on geographic location (temperature and humidity). When in a pinch, the old standby is seasoned salt, black pepper and granulated garlic and that is what I used on the rib roast.

Another Burst

The General — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:00:23 +0000

Received an email from Steve from Sullicom yesterday. He has spotlighted The General on his blog. After some fine compliments, he comments that The General’s blogging is sporadic. He is correct! Both The Little Woman and I are trying to rectify this situation. Blogging for the BBQ General is, I think, a bit harder than for most bloggers because we collaborate on almost every entry…so we both have to be “in the mood” and “available.” Thanks, Steve, for giving us a kick in the pants, and we will try to be more consistent! Also, congrats on a great blog!

Fried Squirrel

The General — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:05:19 +0000

Here we are with a party to get out on Saturday…and, guess what? …our power goes out. No power equals no stove/oven. Usually power outages around here are fairly temporary, but this one didn’t appear to be….especially when 5 Georgia power trucks show up. After the first two hours, we had to come up with an alternate plan for preparing our menu for the party to be held later in the day. Six hours later and with the party under control we learn the cause of the outage….a very dumb squirrel trying to chew through a line !

Championship Grits, Again

The General — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:01:46 +0000

We couldn’t let August go away without reporting how we fared at the Dillard, GA Bluegrass and BBQ contest held the first weekend in August. First of all, as usual, we enjoyed the wonderful mountain air (especially since Savannah had been sweltering in the high 90’s and low 100’s with ultra high humidity). Also, the hospitality of Jane and Steve, the organizers, was amazing as it is every year and this was our 11th contest in a row with them…so you know they have something going on. Sixty teams gathered, some from as far away as Texas and all of the teams were “heavy hitters.” Last year we tied for second place overall, even though in the standings we placed third, so we were looking for another good showing. Buckhead Janet, our teammate came up from Atlanta, and we went about our usual prep.

We decided to enter two ancillary contests as well as the regular KCBS sanctioned one. Same as last year, Grits and Cabbage. TLW used the same recipes for both. Last year she placed third in Cabbage and first in Grits. It is very difficult to repeat your success from one contest to another, we were just looking for respectable placements. Unfortunately, the judges did not enjoy the cabbage entry and we placed low in the standings. However, her
grits won first place again. Not bad for a Yankee!!

As far as the rest of the contest, we finished 7th in Chicken, but 9th overall. We were very surprised since we didn’t get a call for our ribs, pork or brisket…but we were right in there near the top 10 places. We were very pleased with our showing since we only compete two times a year and some of the heavy hitters are on the circuit 2, 3 or even 4 times a month. All in all, we didn’t come home with a lot of prize money, but we did come home with smiles on our faces!

Failure of Big Bucks

The General — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:27:01 +0000

It is fairly human to think that ‘if I just had enough money then I could be successful.’ How about if you had a 73 unit BBQ chain and enough money to have at least 2 Southern Prides in each location and all the latest restaurant equipment? But….you failed.

Such is the case with Smokey Bones restaurant chain owned by Darden Restaurants, owners of Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, etc…

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, July 9, 2007, Darden has closed 54 locations since May and has put the rest up for sale. I can’t help but feel somewhat of a personal disappointment because The General was indirectly involved with the start up of the first unit in Orlando. My friend, Brian K., did the initial spec work for the prototype store and the thought of having a national chain doing BBQ was quite exciting.

So why couldn’t money buy success? In TG’s opinion, there were several factors that brought on their demise. First, the food was just simply off. They never could get their brisket down correctly and from what I hear, they consulted with regular food service consultants …not barbecue people. What sticks in my mind is one of the biggest negatives…they originally tried to turn SB into a sports bar. When they did this, in my opinion, they eliminated a big part of their customer base…women. Think about it-George comes home on Friday night after work and says, “Honey, I want to take you out to dinner tonight and let’s go eat BBQ at a sports bar!” He may get away with that once, but Honey isn’t going to want to spend a lot of quality/romantic time with George at the sports bar. BBQ has always had a male macho image…although there are plenty of good female BBQ chefs out there!

A lot has been blamed on the lack of success of the Smokey Bones chain due to the regionality of BBQ flavors. But I have always believed that good BBQ is always cooked essentially the same with the sauce denoting the region and that can always be adjusted. In certain areas, like California with its tri-tip, cut from the sirloin and Texas, with its beef brisket, those meats are predominant BBQ items. That, too, could have been addressed by SB.

What I believe wasn’t addressed is the fact that they did not have enough variety in their overall menu to make non-BBQ eaters want to go there.

The General works on this constantly doing grilled shish ke bobs, BBQ pizza, fish on the grills, wraps, etc. Of course, TG does not own a 73 unit chain!

Out from under the rock

The General — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 19:54:53 +0000

In May of this year we finally received a contract on our property in Atlanta after it being on the market for over 2 years. That was the good news. The horrible news was that 23 years worth of “stuff” still remained in the house. Three dumpster loads later and a garage sale finally reduced the house to sale-able condition. If there was a lesson to be learned, it would be that none of us humans need the amount of “stuff” that we think we need. We are all so encumbered by it. Yet, it is truthfully hard to see it go, although we are still dealing with some of what we moved here to Savannah.

Combine this factor with a series of out of town guests and the loss of our beloved 11 1/2 year old German shepherd Radar, this might just begin to explain the General’s absence from the blogosphere.

Space management issue

The General — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:43:46 +0000

In a previous post, I mentioned that we received a smoker from Cookshack which TG is learning to use. I’ve got pork butts down pretty well lately. Since it is a smoker, it needs to be outside, but since it has digital settings it needs to be covered. Right now it is sitting and functioning quite nicely on our screen porch. Now what is the problem with that? Nothing, as far as the General is concerned. However, The Little Lady has a major issue with a piece of cooking equipment on “her” porch. So far she has been a “trooper” and all the time occasionally throws barbs about it my way.

Last week, The General got a call from a freight company wanting to deliver a 250 lb. box to our house. Guess what? It was a new TEC grill from Char-Broil! I had been hoping that I might receive one after Char-Broil invited us to New York City to the preview party for this new line. Oh, my, it is a BIG box and right now it is sitting in our front hall. We do not have a patio (yet) and I have taken up all the backyard space I can with my two Weber kettles and a Smokey Joe. Now, guess who isn’t happy about all of this? TLW She has been making comments that it is time to create an outdoor kitchen to house all of this equipment. Great…except it will cost $$$$.

TG has to take all of this under advisement:

New Cookshack smoker….free

New TEC Grill…free

The Little Woman happy…priceless

An Easter Success

The General — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:20:31 +0000

The General cooked with a new ham, but not new to this coastal area…Lee hams. They are packed in Southeast Georgia. I cooked them up to 160* and coated them with a simple coating of brown sugar and honey. They were absolutely outrageous…but the main compliment I received was that they were not salty. Many hams have a high salt content…but not so with the Lee ham.

Most of the hams were smoked for the Old Savannah City Mission’s Easter meal which was served inside the mission due to inclement weather. We had hoped that it would be a repeat of the Christmas dinner which was served outside “on the corner.” Approximately 100 homeless “friends and neighbors” were treated to a dinner rivaling many served in Savannah’s elegant homes. The dinner included ham, corn bread casserole, yams, corn, rolls, melon, grapes and chocolate covered strawberries. Guests could even coat their own strawberries, along with angel food cake cubes….as we had our very own chocolate fountain!

It was a special dinner, and the friends and neighbors loved it. But those of us serving them had an even better time…

Just in time for Easter

The General — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:19:57 +0000

The General has used Sinclair Foods’ Baked Potato Salad with Sour Cream for over 10 years. It always gets rave reviews at all of our parties that we have catered. More times than not people in attendance will ask us for the recipe. TLW got smart and started telling folks that it is an old family recipe…(just not our family’s.) Such is the case with ideas…or TG wishes he had thought about it. In Paula Deen’s latest book, “Paula Deen Celebrates!: Best Dishes and Best Wishes for the Best Times of Your Life” (Paula Deen, Martha Nesbit) she talks about decorating for Easter using sod grass on the buffet table. Here are a couple of variations if you don’t want mess with the sod: try TLW’s favorite, wheat grass which is edible or try my idea which to get some astroturf and decorate with Easter eggs, baskets, bunnies, etc.

Paula also has a wonderful recipe for ham (p.77). She calls it Peanut Butter Glazed Ham. Now since we live in the same city as Paula, we don’t want to get into trouble by publishing the whole recipe. Some of the ingredients are chicken broth, creamy peanut butter, and honey. Sounds yummy doesn’t it?

She also gives a recipe for ham salad (p.83) which uses the leftover ham from your Easter dinner.

Two Books

The General — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:04:47 +0000

When TG was back in Atlanta last week, I immediately went to Costco to get my “Costco Fix.” They have an excellent book section with a large volume of cookbooks priced very competitively.

I picked up Todd Wilbur’s“Top Secret Recipes (Top Secret Recipes: More Classics)” (Plume) I opened the book to page 137 and lo and behold there was KC Masterpiece Original BBQ sauce recipe. The General hasn’t tried it yet…but I will soon! This author fascinates me because he has the ability to break any commercial recipe out there…without stealing the recipe itself.

“Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars” (Ceil Dyer) takes another approach by collecting manufacturers’ “on the package” recipes…something I have always believed is that these recipes wouldn’t be on the product unless they were good.

I think you will have a lot of fun with both of these book and hope you try some of their recipes

Two Books

The General — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 19:02:43 +0000

When TG was back in Atlanta last week, I immediately went to Costco to get my “Costco Fix.” They have an excellent book section with a large volume of cookbooks priced very competitively.

I picked up Todd Wilbur’s“Top Secret Recipes (Top Secret Recipes: More Classics)” (Plume) I opened the book to page 137 and lo and behold there was KC Masterpiece Original BBQ sauce recipe. The General hasn’t tried it yet…but I will soon! This author fascinates me because he has the ability to break any commercial recipe out there…without stealing the recipe itself.

“Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars” (Ceil Dyer) takes another approach by collecting manufacturers’ “on the package” recipes…something I have always believed is that these recipes wouldn’t be on the product unless they were good.

I think you will have a lot of fun with both of these book and try some of their recipes

Healthy Solutions Spice Blends

The General — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 16:24:30 +0000

Most of us hard liners think that if something is healthy it won’t taste good. However, there is a company in New Hampshire called Healthy Solutions Spice Blends that has a large variety of rubs and spices that don’t contain sugar or salt. We have tried many of them and this is one case of healthy and good being compatible. Check them out…especially if you are on a restricted diet or just eat healthy!

Char-Broil TEC Series

The General — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:48:09 +0000

Ohhhh…The General is getting excited. Coming soon to a store near you-the Char-Broil TEC Series Grills. You might remember that last year TLW and I went to NYC to preview this new iteration of grills. Simply amazing! This is the same infrared technology that steak houses have used for years…high intense heat that sears the outside of your meat without drying out the inside.

Well, in anticipation of the unveiling, Char-Broil has rolled out a website devoted to the TEC series. There are virtual tours with cool movies and lots of information for us to drool over!

Stay tuned!

Taste of Savannah 2007

The General — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 17:27:33 +0000

Once you have done food competitions, it is hard to wean yourself away . Such is the case with 2007 Taste of Savannah. So The General decides to go up against some of the big hotels and restaurants here in Savannah…along with an unlikely cooking partner, The Old Savannah City Mission. Why? might you ask?

It all started back in November when TLW and I volunteered to help the Mission smoke some turkeys for their Day of Great Thanksgiving. We were so impressed by the work of the Mission and its year-long residential program called the “Urban Training Institute” that we started volunteering there to help with some other projects. Along the way we found some students who particularly liked working with food. We are now “Volunteer Faculty Members-Culinary Arts Specialists” for the Mission.

Getting back to the Taste of Savannah. We had two entries which we decided to enter in the Appetizer category. The first was a beef brisket ‘biscuit’ topped with a deep fried onion ring (Ore-Ida Onion Ringers) and a light squirt of sauce. We used the Onion Ringers because they had a consistent small size that worked best on the small roll we were using. In fact we counted @ 30+ ringers per package. We cut the sandwich in half and secured each piece with cool picks we purchased on line from Pick On Us.

The second entry was a pulled pork sandwich topped with a peppery vinegar cole slaw. We cut that small roll in half as well and used different picks to differentiate the choices.

The cole slaw dressing we used is from Mike Mill’s book Peace, Love and Barbecue on p. 14.

2 C apple cider vinegar

2 C sugar

1 1/2 T canola oil

1/2 C chopped onion

1/4 C green bell pepper

3/4 t celery seed

1/2 t kosher salt, finely ground

1/2 t ground black pepper

1/4 t chopped garlic

We quadrupled the recipe to provide enough slaw for the 1000+ people in attendance. Both of our entries were well received and word spread fast especially about our brisket. Before we knew it we could hardly make sandwiches fast enough…but never once did we give out…although it got close many times!

Now I wish I could tell you that we won the whole thing, or at least the Appetizer category. That not being the case, we really went into it feeling that we won before we ever made the first sandwich. We had a marvelous time working with the students from the Urban Training Institute and they really enjoyed themselves as well. We also had an opportunity to introduce many Savannahians to our barbecue, and as a result we have already booked several parties for this spring. In that regard, everyone came out a winner!

BBQ Trail et al

The General — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 15:12:51 +0000

One way to easily spot a BBQ addict is to see what they do on weekends or their time off. It was not at all uncommon for us to get up on a Saturday morning and take a field trip by driving 100+ miles to some BBQ joints we had heard about. Now with the sophistication of technology a lot of the research and work has already been done for you by the Southern Foodways Alliance of which we are proud members. Check out their BBQ trail of Northern Alabama. Using their words “Download an SFA trail map, gas up the car, put some extra cash in your wallet, and hit the road.” They even went beyond BBQ and created a Tamale Trail in the Mississippi Delta and The Boudin and Gumbo Trails in Louisiana. Take a look, get inspired and get eatn’

The Southern Foodways Alliance and Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q invite you to set out on the BBQ Trail. Meet Susie Headrick, who taught her family about cooking bbq when they purchased the Green Top. Learn about the origins of the sauce that’s made every week at Top Hat Barbecue. Visit Chuck’s Bar-B-Que, where your belly will be filled pork, your soul with the gospel. The Southern BBQ Trail includes oral histories, photos, film snippets, audio clips, and an interactive map for hungry travelers. Grab a napkin and go!

The SFA and McIlhenny Company, makers of Tabasco, invite you to set out on the Boudin Trail. Visit T-Boy’s Slaughterhouse, one of the last of its kind, where the boudin is as fresh as it can get. Learn about the days when casings were stuffed using cow horns from Jimmy Guidry, the boudin maker at Don’s Specialty Meats. Meet Robert Cormier, co-owner of The Best Stop, who has traced his Cajun heritage back a handful of generations to family in Nova Scotia. The Southern Boudin Trail includes oral histories, photos, film snippets, audio clips, and an interactive map for hungry travelers. Grab a link and go!

The SFA and McIlhenny Company, makers of Tabasco, invite you to set out on the Gumbo Trail. Learn how to make a roux with Billy Grueber from Luizza’s by the Track. Meet Lionel Key, an artisan whose uncle taught him to make file from sassafras leaves. And then visit the Olivier family for dinner, where you might find three different versions of gumbo on the table. The Southern Gumbo Trail includes oral histories, photos, film snippets, audio clips, and an interactive map for hungry travelers. Grab a spoon and go!

The Southern Foodways Alliance and Viking Range invite you to set out on the Tamale Trail. Meet Elizabeth Scott of Scott’s Hot Tamales, who has been making and selling hot tamales for more than fifty years. Visit the Bourbon Mall, where the tamales are fried. And learn how Sicilian immigrants factor into the Delta’s long history with these bundles of meat and masa. The Mississippi Delta Hot Tamale Trail includes oral histories, photos, film and audio clips, a “Hot Tamale How-To,” as well as an interactive map for hungry travelers. Grab a shuck and go!

A big shout out from The General to SFA’s Amy Evans for her effort to spur culinary tourism!

Happy Birthday, Radar!

The General — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 15:12:52 +0000

Just have to celebrate our German Shepherd’s 11th birthday. We are so happy he is still with us after the loss of his brother Mars and his diagnosis of bone cancer. The ole boy still has a little kick in him yet…especially if he gets to go for a ride in the car or is treated with some ‘people food!’

Happy Birthday, Radar!

As Seen On TV

The General — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:53:54 +0000

At one time or another we have all been amused with some of the infomercials they through at us. For most of us we don’t buy anything but we are always a little bit amazed at the claims proffered. This year, TLW broke the cycle by giving The General a ‘Vidalia Chop Wizard.’ This thing really works! Now we have a commercial model, but the problem with it is that if you just dice one bell pepper you have to clean it as much as if you diced 100. This slick little unit is a real workhorse and the best part is all parts fit nicely into our home dishwasher. It has two different sized blades (fine and coarse). She bought it at Walgreen’s in their “As Seen On TV” section for all of $19.95 with no shipping and handling. We even went back and bought one for our daughter! I have only been allowed to use it for a sample test run as TLW has taken it over!

With a renewed confidence in “As Seen On TV” we came across a cordless no-hands can opener…
One Touch…of course, sold for $19.95. Guess what? It works!

Now moving up the scale. There was a lot of chatter on the
BBQ Forum about a cordless electric knife…Sonic Blade. Now this moves out of the category of the $19.95…from $59.95 and up. We bought it because we have 500 lbs. of brisket to produce this month and thought it might give us a ‘leg up.’ Now you will not find this at the Walgreen’s retail outlets because of the higher retail but you can go to Walgreens.com to find it. We haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but TLW keeps threatening??? to practice. Will let you know after we do all of our brisket just how good this is!

At the top of the gift list from TLW this year was a new bright red
George Foreman G5. It has interchangeable plates to actually bake cookiws and make waffles as well as grill. We have had a smaller version for a long time, but the downside was that it was not immersible and was difficult to clean…but it was $19.95!! This little baby usually was used when the weather was so nasty that I didn’t want to fire up the grill…or I was just lazy. The beauty of the G5 is that these plates can be tossed in the dishwasher. Not real grillin’ or smokin’ but sometimes just right for the occasion!

Hot Squat 3000 Gold Series

The General — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 13:39:38 +0000

This post on the BBQ Forum caught TG’s eye.

.

2007 Food Goals

The General — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 21:49:21 +0000

One goal is to learn how to perfect fish tacos along with grilled pizza…and learn how to do them on a fairly large scale. TG got some inspiration from a Christmas present TLW gave me.

“Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens: Making Meals Fast and Fabulous” (Karen Adler, Judith Fertig)

Our good friend Karen Adler, along with Judith Fertig, give recipes in this book for both items. Stay tuned for some of our experimentation!

Calling All Jack Daniel’s Fans

The General — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 21:39:26 +0000

A few years back my friend Eddie, an avid BBQ fan and collector of Jack Daniel’s paraphernalia, nominated TG to the Tennessee Squire Association from Lynchburg, TN. I have thoroughly enjoyed my membership (which is free, BTW). Every year I receive a new JD calendar. I was awarded a plot of land in Lynchburg (which I have never seen and is probably not very big). During the year I receive some interesting correspondence from caretakers and neighbors regarding my ‘land.’ It is a fun thing to be part of. In addition to the above mentioned items, I have been given the right to nominate one additional squire each year. This year I decided to award this nomination to one of our readers. Here are the rules:

You must be of legal drinking age in the county of your residence.

You must be a devoted fan of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

You must be someone who drinks or gives Jack Daniel’s by preference with consistency.

You must be respected in your community and/or field of endeavor.

You must not be connected with the liquor industry in any way.

So, if you are interested in this nomination, please write TG or comment below as to why you should be considered. If you are selected, I will need your full name and address, occupation, company or organization, birth date and gender in order to complete the Squire application.

Time is of the essence. I need your nomination by January 15, 2007.

Rack of Pork

The General — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 21:18:30 +0000

The last discussion item regarding the holidays is rack of pork. Next to turkey it is one of The General’s favorites. You should ask your butcher if he is able to secure this cut of meat for you. It smokes up perfectly on the grill. It is sometimes sold as a seasonal item, and we used to be able to get it around the holidays at Costco. Whenever we want to impress guests or clients we always pull one out of the freezer. It is like 10 or so huge pork chops all stuck together. Wow, try this and discover why it is one of our favorites!

A.W.O.L.

The General — Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:52:14 +0000

The General and TLW are glad to be back in the blogosphere! No we did not run away to Tahiti or Thailand. We have been inundated with catering gigs for the holidays. It was a very productive period, but left us little time for anything else.