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Food Network’s Sloppiness

A long time ago before I met Gert, I watched the Food Network. My favorite was Too Hot Tamales starring Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. Another show I recall watching was How to Boil Water. This was the version with Sean Donnellan and Cathy Lowe. Jack McDavid was a favorite too with his show Grillin’ and Chillin’. That show had a co-host. He has now taken over the Food Network’s pedestal.

Bobby Flay is everywhere. While the television network has re-designed itself to not load up on professional chefs, Flay is the resident teacher/master. Search the ‘Net and most folks describe Flay as cocky. I suppose. It’s hard for me to judge as I do not watch the network much. Yes, we like the reality show. And sometimes I’ll tune in just to see what’s up. In this world of 24-hour broadcasting, there’s a lot of nothing on.

Nevertheless, when folks find out I like to cook they immediately assume I watch Food Network. Bobby Flay is the star so I must like him too. Sure, why not? I have nothing against him.

I’ve been researching baby back rib recipes in preparation for the next smoke on the WSM. I thought I would check out the Food Network web site. While there I specifically sought any Flay recipes for ribs. He is all about grilling and I figured I would enjoy something of his.

The search produced little but there was one recipe and the title sounded interesting: Spice-rubbed Chipotle-Molasses Ribs. Yummy! I click on the link. The first thing I see is a big photograph of a charcoal grill (Ranch Kettle?) with a slew of racks on it. Food porn at its best.

Then I read the recipe.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.Combine all spices in a bowl. Rub ribs on both sides with spice mixture.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the soy sauce, 2 cups of water, and the ginger and bring to a boil. Pour the mixture into the bottom of a roasting pan and place the ribs on a rack in the pan. Brush with the Chipotle-Molasses Sauce. Place in the oven and bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, basting every 15 minutes with the sauce.

These ribs are to be cooked in an oven, not on a grill. What is the photograph of the grill for? Sheesh!

I looked through the links for other recipes from that episode. One of them is titled The Secret to Cooking Great Ribs. Sounds good to me, so I click on it. There are some tips for grilling ribs. Nothing new, but it at least matches the title. But at the bottom of the page I read the following:

This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

Huh? I understand scaling and I understand substituting for the home cook. But not having tested the recipe? What good is it then? It is published by the network shouldn’t they stand behind it? Shouldn’t they have at least tried it?

The Food Network’s culinary point of view (to use Bob Tuschman’s overused phrase) has changed away from good cooking to good entertainment. There’s a big difference.

Posted in Culinary, Media | No Comments »

Let Them Eat CAKE!

LCRS

I began the Boston butt in the smoker. Late this morning I began fixing dessert.

This is a classic white cake with buttercream frosting. Yummy!

I thought I would use a cookie for the dial of the Colorado, but our cookies were way too small, so I broke out a cracker. The menu buttons are m&m candies.

I am not a cake eater; I much prefer pie. So, this extravaganza will all be for my wife, who will be in heaven. Me, I’m still waiting for that butt to be done.

Thanks for giving me a reason to make another mess in the kitchen. That’s always fun . . . and my fingers are still blue.
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Boston Butt

I will be liveblogging the smoking of my first Boston butt. Woohoo!

Last evening we went to BJ’s to pick up the Boston butts. I was disappointed there were none. The kid at the deli said there was a case in the back someone had requested. He was unwilling to break it up. He suggested I call back this morning. I did and sure enough they had some. I suspect the case was broken up.

I purchased 15.21 pounds @ $1.59/pound.

At home I made the rub. I am following The Renowned Mr. Brown recipe from Smoke & Spice. I trimmed the fat from the larger butt and froze the smaller. The rubbed pork went into the refrigerator at 2:00. All is on schedule for a midnight smoke.

11:20 p.m.
Pulled the butt from the fridge and re-rubbed it, saving some of the rub for later. I filled the charcoal ring and buried five pieces of hickory and five pieces of mesquite. I topped the ring with about four pieces of each. Most of these pieces were less than a fist.

I then started 10 bricks of Kingsford in the chimney. While that was burning, I assembled the meat on the rack, threaded the probes, and ensured all was ready.

Midnight
Spread the ashed coals from the chimney on the ring and placed the middle section and lid on the WSM. I struggled a little bit lining up with the base. I don’t know if it is because I couldn’t see as well in the corner or if I moved the ring, but it took a moment to get all lined up. By that time some of the wood began burning. What a fabulous smell!

12:38 a.m.
The smoker temperature just hit 200°F. I closed all three bottom vents. The temperature is still rising. I am hoping it levels out around 225°.

There is smoke coming out from beneath the lid in one section and through the vent in the lid. It’s a fair amount, but I believe this is normal, particularly on a new WSM. It certainly doesn’t seem too much.

1:45
I am beginning to feel comfortable. I shut the bottom vents at 200° and watched the smoker temp rise to 261°. It has now backed off four degrees in the last five minutes. I think the smoker is stabilizing. I never rang my alarm at 262°.

There does seem to be more smoke than I think there should be. I know being new the smoker has not built up its seal yet. I suppose that is it.

The lid temperature is reading 195°. That can’t be right. I need to calibrate all these before the next cook.

BTW, it smells great! The scent has wafted into the house. I love this!

06:30 a.m.
Fritz is awake. The boy is so cute. He’s playing hide-and-seek with me. This helps me forget about the elevated smoker temperature. Why did the smoker spike 30°? Why did the remote thermometer alarm not go off when the smoker’s temp rose, but did just now withe meat’s temp? Grrrrr . . .

The visible smoke has dissipated.

9:45 a.m.
The temperature of the smoker is dropping. That presents mixed feelings. The temp was too high so I am getting back to where I want to be. OTOH, dropping 30° I do not believe shows a healthy smoker.

So, what to do? I could stir the coals. I could open the vents. I do not think I need fuel. The ring was full and crested a bit in the beginning. Using the Minion Method, that should be enough for this cook. Even if it weren’t, I expect to get to afternoon before it dies.

My current thinking is to let the temps drop down to 225°, which is where I wanted to cook at anyhow. At that point I’ll open some vents to sustain the fire.

It, at least, sounds reasonable. So goes a newbie . . .

14:15
Well, I basted again just now. This is the 14-hour mark. Internal temps have been running 187-188. I re-positioned the probe. 185 seems about average. Nothing was 190 or above.

I rotated the butt 90°. When I did, some of the meat dislodged. I “patched” it up the best I could.

The bone did not dislodge easily. I think it is more that the meat is fused to it, however.

I think patience is the course of action, but we’re getting closer.

* closed bottom vents
^ turned and basted
# basted
$ rotated
@ moved probe, opened vents 50%
% butt appeared drier than it had and felt like it was done

16:15
All right, the butt has been packaged!

Reading some more it seemed like I was in good range. When I looked at the butt, it seemed drier than it had. I think it is done, despite the temperature. It should keep cooking.

We are at 16 hours-plus. Hmmm . . .

I wrapped the butt in foil. Of course, there was a little taste left on the grill. Peppery. Yum! It is now wrapped in two towels and inside the Igloo.

19:00
Awesome! I unwrapped the butt from the foil and towel enclosure. Oh man, this was good. Real peppery. Real good.

I pulled about half of this so we could get to eating. I made the vinegar sauce that was recommended. It was strong. Next time I will try about half the amount of vinegar. Even so, it was very good. I enjoyed my pork very much. I served mine on white bread in the traditional style. The rest of the gang had rolls.

The reviews were good. It’s possible this was just a touch dry. Some parts were extremely moist, others not as much. I think Gert would have enjoyed this even more if it was bathed in barbecue sauce as we get at fairs, etc. I will investigate that for next time.

There is plenty of leftovers. I have a couple care packages for the neighbors. And of course, there is lots for sandwiches tomorrow. This is fine eatin’ folks.

I am happy to have made this. Thank you, Mr. Brown!
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French Toast

. . . or is that Freedom Toast? Whichever, Beetle made us breakfast today! This is a treat I could get used to.

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First Smoke, Baby

Ah, it’s been hectic today. I fired up the WSM for the first time and cooked three racks of baby back ribs. I used the Best Ribs in the Universe (BRITU) procedure that so many recommend. In the end, all was well and we enjoyed our ribs. It was a bit rough getting there, however.

I had some difficulty removing the membrane from the racks. The first rack went flawlessly. The second rack gave me lots of trouble. The third tore and I had to dig to get it all off.

The directions called for making a quarter batch of the rub. Even that was far too much particularly given how everyone warns to dust the racks, not thoroughly rub the racks. I did use about two-thirds of the salt called for to make certain it wasn’t overpowering.

Starting the charcoal was easy enough. I probably could have filled the chimney a tad fuller. The wood was aflamed easily enough. I let it sit an hour prior to putting on the ribs. When the ribs hit the grill racks, the temperatures confused me. At first I had a probe in the ribs. I shouldn’t have. D’oh! That read extremely hot as in 300°. I knew that couldn’t be right. At the same time the rack temperature read 164°, which is entirely too low. The lid temperature was 225°. Which should I follow?

I stressed for a bit until I got a feel for what was going on. The rack was probably a bit cool, but it rose. The lid held steady throughout. The following are my data:

* closed vents
^ turned ribs

At the three hour mark I turned the ribs. One rack began falling apart. I think that is a good sign.

The directions said to begin looking for doneness at the fourth hour. I believe these were done then. The issue is we weren’t ready. Gert wasn’t even home and I was timing the rest of the meal for a bit later. I pulled the ribs at four hours, 40 minutes. I sauced them immediately. Admittedly, all looked really good.

In addition to the ribs I made onion rings. I liked them, but next time I will cut the rings a little bigger. I also need to ensure each ring is well-battered. A couple slipped through and did not hold as well.

After all this, the beans were just from a can. Seeing how all this worked today, next time I need to jazz up the beans. They were a bit plain given dinner. We also had a salad.

The ribs were very good. I would not classify them as the best in the universe nor even the best I have ever had. The ends were a little more done than I would have liked. Nevertheless, I really did enjoy these. There was a nice smoke ring on the meat. I gobbled down plenty of ribs as did everyone else. Even Fritz gave his approval!

Obviously I will be making more ribs. I suspect I will try a different recipe and method next time. Playing around with all this will help me determine the best way to proceed.

Good stuff, this smoking is.
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