She-Smoke

Superbowl Sunday: Can You Top a Meat Stadium?

2012-01-31T14:59:00.000-08:00

I'm just about ready to post my little recipe of stuffed wings for Superbowl Sunday. I think they are great, but then this came across my virtual desk. Some guy named Mikey over at Char-broil is making a MEAT STADIUM. That's right, a panorama, a model, a not-so-small-miniature of a football stadium, made entirely out of meat.

I can't imagine, frankly, where one finds space in one's brain to think and execute a meat stadium, but we all have different abilities, don't we?

To see it, complete with football-esc diagrams, click here.

National BBQ Association Conference coming up

2012-01-26T12:15:00.000-08:00

Hey fellow West coasters, the NBBQA conference and trade show is in San Diego, CA this year. It's coming right up - February 22-25. I'm tempted to go, but don't know if I can get away. Restaurants and young 'uns tend to tie one down a bit. Still, looks like they will have some excellent sessions, like getting your sauces and rubs to the market, and how to keep profitable during this recession. Good no matter where one is in the process, plus plenty of fun.

Anyone going? Anyone been in the past? I think my desire to go is in part for some sunshine, but also for some face to face barbecue community time. You all know, if you've paid attention, that I am wishy washy about the social media business. I take breaks, to my "brands" detriment perhaps, but life's too short to worry too much about that. I'll choose real time contact over on-line contact just about any time.

So...any chance any of y'all I gab with on facebook and twitter going?

Hello Snow!

2012-01-18T10:22:00.000-08:00

The wood pile is ready for making fires after sledding. That is a perk to owning a barbecue restaurant - an everlasting supply of wood. Sure, using up our nicely seasoned cherry wood for firewood isn't economical, but this might be our only true snow day all winter. And frankly, the mobile smoker isn't getting much action right now so we might as well use some of those sticks sitting in the shed.

For those of you laughing at our paltry Seattle 2-3 inches, and the fact that schools got out yesterday because of a "threat of snow", check out the snowman we made the previous day at the park. We call him Wood Chip Man. If you look closely you might be able to discern the face made out of wood chips, as opposed to the wood chips that were picked up in the rolling.

By the way, Smokin' Pete's BBQ is open today. Come in to warm up with some barbecue.

See ya, 2011

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

Awesome axe kick snagged from this website

I don't think I've ever heard someone say, "Oh, if only this year could last forever," have you? No matter how wonderful your year may have been, it's always time, isn't it, for a new year to begin. 2011 has not been a favorite year for many of us. I heard a commentator say the other night that the theme of 2011 is "When will it ever end?"

Instead of champagne this year, I'm planning on sending off 2011 with an axe kick. Then I may imbibe in some bubbly.

I'll make sure to eat my collard greens and black eyed peas too for a good dose of health and prosperity for 2012.

Happy New Year everyone!

"Fish Friday" Cedar Wrapped Ling Cod

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Here's my post on the Char-Broil Live site about cooking Ling Cod in The Big Easy. What I loved about making this dish? It was super fast and delicious. It's also simple. During the slog of holiday dinners, parties, and platters of cheese, it's nice to have a simpler dinner here and there. This dish is heavy on the flavor but light everywhere else.

Read the whole post here (please) and if so inspired, throw me a comment here or on the Char-broil site. I do so love to hear from y'all.

A Practical Wish for the Holidays

2011-12-23T00:45:00.001-08:00

My son attended a preschool one year called Nature Kids, housed in the middle of Seattle's largest park, the 534-acre Discovery Park. The main premise of the preschool was that the kids would go on a hike for most of the day, rain or shine, learning about nature.

The school had all sorts of specially named places they'd hike to: Stick Belong, a place they often gathered large sticks to make a lean-to fort, Owl Logs, a place with fallen trees that could be an instant game of pirate ship, and the Wishing Tree.

The Wishing Tree was my son's favorite. Almost every day, the kids would gallop to one particular tree of many that surrounded an open field and whisper their wish. My son naturally wished for superhero strength, the ability to change into a cheetah, or an invisibility hat he could don to sneak candy whenever he wanted.

One kid, however, wished every time, without fail, for a sandwich. My son reported this to me each time with an incredulous voice, for the boy apparently wished out loud to the Wishing Tree as well.

"But he gets a sandwich!" my son would say, shaking his 4 year old head. "There's a sandwich every day in his lunch!"

The fact that this boy would waste his wish on something so mundane, and on something he'd get within the hour baffled both of us. Even I, a cynical adult, would prefer an invisibility hat to sneak chocolate over a sandwich.

But after a while I got it. The kid was a practical fellow. He wanted his wish to come true.

For those of you that want your wishes to come true this holiday season, I suggest socks. Wish for socks. Sometimes it's better to keep your expectations low and be surprised. After all, they might be really great socks.

For the rest of you...Happy Holidays! May your feasts be plentiful and delicious. May your family be bearable. May it not hurt when you bite your tongue. Do bite it, for the few days you need to. It will make for a far smoother year. May your gifts all fit so that you don't have to enter the post-Christmas fray at the mall, unless you like that sort of thing. May you get amazing socks. May you go easy on the eggnog and be mildly controlled with the chocolate...

And when the din settles down, may you find time to stop, breath and contemplate the new year about to unfold.

White Winter/Fall Colors

2011-12-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

We don't get much snow in Seattle. Most of our "white winter" is an unending white sky. It gets grey plenty too, but today it was that endless white. Here are some images of winter I took today, walking to the post office, contrasted by some fall pictures I took last month. We had a glorious fall, due to incredible blue sky, crisp sunshine days.

I played with the highlights with this one.

What a contrast to the fall...

My son is saying, "Come on, mom!"

My favorite of the fall pics. I have a cheap little point and shoot camera. It's woefully inadequate for a food blog, but it fits in my pocket and helps me capture my kids and fall leaves and stark trees.

The Holiday Store is Open!

2011-12-06T12:33:00.000-08:00

We've come up with a host of barbecue stocking stuffers this year. Back by popular demand is the BBQ Soap. An olive oil soap, it's scented with sandalwood and hickory, "For when you want to smell fresh out of the smoker!" TM. Also this year we have the Pitmaster's Blend coffee for sale. Truth be told, it is the Tango Blend by Cafe Mam, but we've renamed it Pitmaster's Blend because it's what our pitmaster, Eric, drinks by the gallon. We think it is the best coffee on earth.

As always, we sell our spice rub, smoked peppers, sauce gift packs, and signed copies of She-Smoke! We have a new T-shirt design! Big, bold, Ballard. Get 'em while they're hot. Here is one of our cooks, "Falcon", modeling the new T.

Check back to the blog soon as I'll be unveiling a really cool giveaway for the holidays!

Deep Fried Turkey, Hold the Deep Fry

2011-11-22T11:10:00.000-08:00

The "Oil-less Turkey Fryer" from Char-Broil arrived just in time for me to test before Thanksgiving. I am one of their bloggers this year on Char-broil live in exchange for a few goodies like this. The products are for me to use or give away. If I want to review them, I can, but without any strings attached. But first, some back story....

I've been intrigued by this little unit for a few years now, having competed on one in a Barbecue Smackdown at Memphis in May in 2010. I'd always wanted to go to MIM, so when Char-Broil invited me to be a guest chef for some fun demos and competitions with some other barbecue personalities, I jumped at the chance.

I'd never touched one before I was thrown into a celebrity grilling competition, and had to learn quickly how to operate it while at the same time realizing that everyone else was cheating wildly, pulling bacon and other ingredients out of their pockets.

Luckily, The Big Easy, as it's called, is really easy to operate. Turn on gas, turn igniter switch and you are good to go. I didn't win the competition, but it was a blast. Next time I'll stuff my pockets with bacon. It was nice to get to know this cooker at home, without the pressure of TV cameras on me.

I decided to make a simple "deep fried turkey", according to the recipe provided in the packaging booklet. I rubbed a 14 lb turkey with peanut oil, and then sprinkled on a rub I made by mixing two commercial rubs together plus some thyme. I didn't need to get finicky about the rub as this was my maiden voyage. It was more about testing the tenderness, the skin, and the cook time than any specific flavors.

First I seasoned the little guy (the grill, not the bird) with vegetable oil, per the instruction booklet. By the way, my preferred oil rag for grills is a clean old sock of Eric's that has finally shredded. I can get an old sock oily, dirty, and then throw it in the compost with a clear conscience that I've both reused an old thing and diverted it from a landfill. We always seem to have a steady supply of tube socks in the process of biting the dust. Eric will try to wear the torn, holey socks out of the rag drawer, so I have to actually rip them to the point that they no longer hold a foot. But I digress....

Here are my comments on The Big Easy:

I cooked my turkey for 4 hours, about 30 minutes too long because the kids were in the bath and I couldn't go out and get it. It came out beautiful, but on the edge of too done. The booklet math recommendation came out to 3.5 hours so it was correct.

The skin: The skin is definitely the highlight of this turkey and cooking method. It was all I could do not to pick the bird bald. Crispy, fried but not oily, and a deep amber color...perfect.

The flavor: I didn't brine the turkey and wish I had. It was a little bland beyond the skin layer.

The texture: This time of year we are up to our necks in turkey at Pete's, so I'm used to the smooth, almost delicate texture of a smoked turkey. The texture was a little tougher, but I attribute this to my overcooking.

Sturdiness and other comments about the cooker itself: I like the basket and little handle lifty thing that comes with. You simply load the basket and drop it down. It was solid enough and sat level, yet once assembled I could carry it out the door and down the steps to the front yard. It was easy to set up and easy to clean.

What I did NOT like: It cooks totally open - you only use the mesh lid at the end, meaning you have this really hot burning thing right at kid level. And by kid level, I mean right exactly at the height and spot a 2-5 year old would stick their hands on or in. It made me very nervous. I got so nervous bringing my almost 3 yr old widely around it that she nearly tripped, out of transferred nervousness, into the burning hot center.

I've come up with a solution. Char-broil should include cones and caution tape with the packaging to section off the grill. And maybe a few English traffic cops to stand around it to make sure no one gets too close to the flame.

Final comments: I like it. I'm keeping it vs giving it away. I wish it came with a lid or cover because the very first night I left it out and of course it rained. I recall the ones we used in the competition had lids, and grill inserts so maybe these are extras one can order.

I'll use it again, though it will most likely be on a less frequent rotation than other grills, due to the open flame/small child issue. I want to try it with a brined turkey. The booklet has some recipes with injections, but no brines.

As for my opinion on injections, I think I've already answered that poetically.

Barbecue Soap Curing

2011-11-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

The barbecue soap is unmolded and cut. It will be ready for sale and to ship by December 5th, just in time for the holidays.

I've been making this soap for stocking stuffers since we opened Smokin' Pete's. It's scented with hickory and sandalwood, and is a classic Castille soap recipe (mostly an olive oil base, with some coconut and palm oil). No, I did not render the brisket fat to make it! I used to make soap and bath products with a friend. For a brief while we sold it at crafts fairs and farmer's markets.

The last two years, I've either not made it or made very little, but I've had so many requests this year I made sure to make two big batches.

The only change this year is to the packaging: instead of the tag line "For the manly man that wants to smell fresh out of the smoker!", it will say "For when you want to smell fresh out of the smoker!"

I've always struggled with that line. It always got a lot of laughs, and I liked the rhythm of it, but I didn't like that it was only geared toward men. In honor of the spirit of She-Smoke, I decided to make the packaging equitable for all. Here is what the packaging looks like, but with the "old" line.

It's Here! My New Oil-less Turkey Fryer

2011-11-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

It's called The Big Easy and Char-Broil claims is has all the taste of a fried turkey, without the oil, mess and imminent backyard explosions we hear about every year on Thanksgiving.

I'm intrigued. I've always been too chicken to fry a turkey (heh heh), and therefore the perfect candidate to try out a gas powered oil-less unit.

First I'll need to assemble and season the little guy. I've bought a 14+ pound Northwest Natural turkey and am planning to try the first recipe in the Charbroil booklet they send. It's very simple - 1 turkey, peanut oil, and herb seasoning of your choice.

How many of you have deep fried a turkey? How many have tried The Big Easy? If you've tried both, please share your comparison in the comments.

7 Do's/Don'ts When Smoking Turkey

2011-11-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

Turkey time is a favorite part of the year for me. For one, Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal. When asked what I'd choose if stranded on a deserted island, with only one food choice, I say Thanksgiving dinner. Then I'm told that's not fair, I must choose one food, like a mango, to which I reply, that's ridiculous, no one could live off one food, nutritionally, and I stick to my guns. Definitely Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, and gravy...lots and lots of gravy.

I love the hustle and bustle of this week at the restaurant, and I know all of you are making plans, calling relatives and friends, and divvying up the menu. Are you are asked each year to bring a special dish that everyone loves? Is there a dish someone always brings that, oh god, makes everyone silently groan?

If you are on turkey duty, here are some tips for smoking your turkey.

#1 DO start with, if possible, a fresh bird. Fresh birds were slaughtered this season. When you buy a frozen bird, it could very well have been left over from the year before.

#2 DO buy a natural turkey that has not been pumped with any solution. You are going to brine your turkey, so you'll want your turkey free of additives.

#3 DO brine your turkey before smoking. Give at minimum of one hour of brine per pound of your turkey. Usually one day in the brine is best. This will keep your bird juicy during the smoking process. See my post above all about brines.

#4 DON'T get too fancy with your brine. Strong brines, like beer or wine brines, are best for red meat. I find a simple salt brine or citrus brine is best for turkey.

#5 DO rub turkey with olive oil or butter before you add a spice rub. This will help combat the somewhat rubbery skin that can occur from slow and low cooking.

#6 DON'T stuff your smoked turkey. Stuffing lowers the center temperature of the turkey. Because of the low temps for smoking (180-220), stuffing won't allow the bird to get up to a proper safe internal temperature. I'll discuss the stuffing conundrum in my next post.

#7 DO remind your guests, in particular your mother, that smoking causes the meat to turn pink. It's a different pink than a turkey that is undercooked. Undercooked turkeys are pink in the center, closest to the bone. Smoked turkeys are pink throughout.

Those are just a few tips dealing with the very beginning and the very end of smoking one's turkey. I'll discuss the middle part, the cooking part, in my next posts this week.

Brining the Bird 101 (Repost)

2011-11-10T23:08:00.000-08:00

This is a repost from a Thanksgiving series I did in 2009. I won't repost the entire series, but brining your turkey before smoking is both essential and simple. Without further ado....
For Turkey Week today the Barbecue 101 class is about BRINES.

What is brine? It is a combination of water or other liquids, with salt and often sugar. Brines add flavor and more importantly, moisture to the meat.

How does it work? For a brine to do it's magic, it must a) fully cover the meat and b) be saltier than the meat itself. The meat draws in the salt, and the liquid with it, to equalize the salt ratio. It makes sense, when you think about it. There aren't "salty spots" in an ocean, or "almost fresh water" areas. Salt water is salt water. I know there is a scientific answer for this, but it's late while I'm writing and I don't want to get on an oceanography google fest tangent. If any of you want to chime in, please do.

What goes into a brine? Water and salt are all you really need, but it's fun to add other flavors. A large turkey isn't going to take on much flavor inside the meat from a rub. That will remain on the skin, or just under as we will discuss in the Thursday recipe. A brine is an excellent way to infuse other flavors into your turkey. Sugar and vinegars are popular. So is beer or other alcohols. I like these on large cuts of pork or beef, but find they overpower turkey.

I get surprisingly traditional at holiday time. I just can't teriyaki my turkey. I love the simple flavors of citrus, garlic, and herbs. Below is a variation of the Citrus and Clove Brine featured in She-Smoke (pg. 63). For examples of other brine recipes, click here. My turkey was pretty big for smoking (14lbs), and I used a 5-gallon bucket so I made a brine batch and a half. If you fill a large plastic bag with your brine and turkey, you can make less brine solution.

Holiday Turkey Brine

2 gallons water
2 cups kosher salt
3 tbls. pepper corns plus 1 tbls. ground pepper
1 red onion, cut into wedges
1 orange, cut into wedges
1/2 grapefruit, cut into wedges
1 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
5 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves

As a general rule, you need to submerge a turkey an hour for every pound, for a maximum of 48 hours. Too long in the brine and the meat can get mushy. Once brining is done, rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels before adding your rub and cooking. The Thursday recipe will cover preparing and smoking a turkey.

Any questions, class? Please post them in the comments so that everyone can benefit from the discussion.

Stuffed Turkey Breast with Orange-Maple Glaze

2011-11-03T16:42:00.000-07:00

Whether you want a new turkey breast recipe for a weekday dinner, or have a smaller gathering at Thanksgiving this year, here is a post I hope you'll like that I wrote for Char-broil Live.

The other day a friend of mine bemoaned the fact that she would be having a quiet Thanksgiving this year. She loves turkey dinner with all the trimmings but the thought of “all that work” just for two, and having to process most of the turkey for the freezer, was making her rethink the menu. She wasn’t fishing for an invite. In fact, she was looking forward to her first quiet Thanksgiving in her 42 years.

Read the rest of the post and recipe HERE!

I'll be posting more about turkey and some trimmings this month. If anyone has questions they'd like answered, please e-mail me at julierbq at q dot com and I'll put it on the list to discuss this month!

Halloween Contest

2011-10-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween, so here's a little contest. Post your own ghost story in the comments of my Smokin' Pete's BBQ ghost story (previous post), and be entered to win a copy of my book, She-Smoke. Here are the rules: 1) It has to be "real": It can be a local ghost story, one you've heard from a friend or read from a non-fiction book, or it can be your own experience. 2) Comment must be posted by 11:59, Halloween.

That's it! You do not have to believe in ghosts to participate :).

Spooked by the Smokin' Pete's Ghost

2011-10-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

The other night I was working late on a Monday. We recently decided to be closed on Mondays during the fall and winter, to give ourselves and the business a break. I find I love to work in the peace and quiet.

Only the other night, it wasn't at all quiet.

If you've visited our restaurant, you may have seen the sign above on the green bathroom.

That sticker was there before we opened. It was put there while it was a butcher shop and there are a number of supposed sightings of a ghost, or ghosts, in the building.

One worker from the Butcher Shoppe days told me he saw a short man with a black hat standing with his horse in what is now our dining room. A ghost horse? I recall smirking when I first heard it.

Another story goes that after one of the past owner's father died, the green bathroom kept getting locked...from the inside. Hence the sticker.

I've never liked working at night alone at Smokin' Pete's. It's in part because of the stories, and in part because old buildings make noises, but also because of something else. Something not super scary or menacing, but definitely something more.

I heard that something the other night. I was in the bathroom when something, or someone BANGED the door. Hard. It jolted me out of my end of the day brain drain, and immediately all senses went to high alert. This wasn't a door creaking from a sudden gust of wind. The bang I heard was so hard and definite that the door shook, echoing for a few moments after.

"Hello? Who's there!" I called, quickly gathering up my things.

Silence.

I was outta there faster than you could say "I AM NOT AFRAID."

Don't worry. I've never heard or seen hide nor hair of any ghosts during business hours. But whomever is there likes the place to themselves once the open sign is turned off and the dishes are done.

I understand. Maybe we, me and the ghost that is, can find a way to share the lovely silence on Mondays. Since this Monday is Halloween, I might skip it and work on my ghost personnel issues later.

Have any of your own ghost stories you'd care to share?

Scrap Pile Chili

2011-10-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

You may not generate a barbecue scrap pile like a restaurant, but for those of you dedicated to firing up the coals no matter what the weather, you probably have more than a few bags of zipped up meat scraps in the freezer.

What better time of year than to make a big ol' pot of chili from the scraps to garrison your insides from the coming cold?

I love using barbecue leftovers in dishes. All that love and smoke brings an extra layer of flavor. I've featured a number of barbecue leftovers like this barbecue lasagna or a yummy brisket dip. Barbecue tacos are also standard fare in our house.

Today I give you my recipe for Scrap Pile Chili. It doesn't sound pretty, but it tastes so good.

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know I encourage deviation from all recipes and using what you have, so feel free to tinker.

You'll notice that the ingredients sound like someone was cleaning out the fridge. I was. Much like my Uncle Jack's Clean Out the Fridge Barbecue Sauce. What can I say? I'm a multitasker.

Scrap Pile Chili

Ingredients
Canola oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 fresh jalapenos, seeded, finely diced (*Gloves highly recommended)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup mix of cumin, kosher salt, chili powder, paprika, chili flakes & black pepper
1/4 cup chopped bacon
3 cups mixed barbecue scraps, cubed. Be sure to trim obvious chunks of fat off, but not all of it.
I used a mix of brisket, pulled pork & chopped up hot links
1 cup salsa mixed with 2-3 cups water (more as needed)

2 cups pinto beans, pre-cooked: I used leftover beans which were fully flavored and spiced. If using canned beans, which you should for this recipe since it's a quick chili, not a proper stew-all-day-chili, bump up the mustard and brown sugar quantities below.
1/2 bottle of mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar

Step-by-step
Heat oil to medium high and add onion. Stir until starting to turn clear and add garlic, bell peppers, jalapeno & bacon.

Once bacon begins to brown, add spice mix and meat scraps. Reduce heat to medium.

When meat is fully hot, add salsa, water, beans, mustard and brown sugar. After 30-40 minutes, reduce heat to low.

Simmer for at least an hour, adding water and more salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with sour cream & green onion.

*A note about chopping fresh jalapenos or any fresh peppers. The juices, and in particular, the seeds, carry the most heat. Be very careful when handling and I highly recommend using disposable gloves. After you remove your gloves, still wash your hands thoroughly in hot soapy water.

My Little Gordon Ramsay

2011-10-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, I planned to bang out dinner and a blog post while I was at it. The kids waited (im)patiently as I photographed their dinner from 12 different angles. Done, I thought. I'll post the recipe tonight after the kids go to bed.

Unfortunately, dinner didn't have that WOW factor you want in a recipe.

"I'll have to redo this, with some tweaks," I said, after a few bites.

My 5 year old son was a little less forgiving.

"You should do the OPPOSITE of what you did on this dinner."

Ouch.

My son often critiques his meals. We get a daily report card on his lunch. A half sandwich and orange slices don't made the grade. There has to be something special, another layer, to make it memorable. Some fruit leather, or an item not in the usual rotation, like the homemade chicken nuggets I packed today.

Don't get me wrong, he gives us plenty of thumbs ups and "best dinner EVER!" comments. Nor is he what I would call a picky eater. Compared to kids his age, his pallet is wide. You should see him scarf down eel at the sushi bar.

He's discerning, though. He can tell if the cooks at our restaurant put too much pepper in the mac-n-cheese...and he'll tattle on them. He knows when I've tried to sneak in zucchini in the marinara sauce, a vegetable not on his approved list. Overall, the kid's pallet is good. And when he says dinner doesn't cut the mustard, well, he's usually right.

My own little Gordon Ramsay.

So it's back to the drawing board. I'll let you know when I've worked out the kinks, so to speak.

Smokin' a Fatty

2011-10-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

We of the barbecue religion love our double entendres, puns, and new ways to slip pork butt into a punchline. Just look at the KCBS roll call - it'll make you smile. The Fatty is no different. It's a standard smoked sausage roll that, I suppose if you've guzzled enough tall boy PBR's, looks like a giant spliff on the grill.

Whatever the name, they are tasty. In looking through recipes from the past two years, I noticed I've been remiss in devoting a diversion for this dish delish.

The concept is simple: Make a sausage roll, wrap it in bacon, sprinkle some rub on it and smoke it. Whether you stuff it with something, what you mix in with your sausage, and what rub you choose generates endless variations, and where the creator can make her mark.

Stuffed Italian Fatty Recipe
1 lb mild Italian sausage, uncased (if using plain sausage, herb it up with some dried oregano, basil & rosemary).
3 oz Queso Fresco (may substitute grated mozzarella)
4 Tbs. tomato sauce
10-14 slices good quality bacon (regular thickness)
Rub of your choice (I made one of paprika, black pepper, ground red pepper, garlic salt, dried basil)
Wax paper or plastic wrap

Step-by-step
1) On a flat surface or flat edged cookie sheet, lay a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper.

2) Roll out sausage, either with hands, or put another sheet on top and roll out with dough pin.
3) Down center crumble the Queso and spoon a strip of tomato sauce.
4) Roll both sides into the center and smooth sausage together. Pinch ends closed. Set aside on plastic or wax paper.
5) Using another sheet of plastic or wax paper, lay out 4-6 strips of bacon in a row, touching. Weave 4-6 strips in a lattice like you would a pie.

6) Place sausage roll on one end and roll lattice over it, using the paper to roll it. Use 2 more strips to lay over the ends, or pinch any lattice overhang to seal sides.
7) Sprinkle with rub of your choice.

8) Fire up your grill and get your smoke on. Smoke indirectly from the flame at 250 degrees for approximately 2 & 1/2 hours. Pull when internal temperature reads 160 degrees.

Let it rest for at least 5 minutes. Slice and serve as a meal or as a tasty appetizer. Excellent cold or reheated the next day.

Smoked Babyack Ribs with Fresh Currant Chutney Glaze

2011-09-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to be a part of the Char-broil All-Star Bloggers this year. Today they put up my first post, a recipe for smoked babybacks glazed with a sauce using fresh currants. Here is how it begins....

Gorgeous fresh currants at my grocery store drew me in like a kid to a candy store. I realized I’d never seen fresh currants, and they reminded me of huckleberries, a berry I’m quite fond of. I knew I had to make a sauce with them and who knows what else, so I bought a flat...

Read the rest of the post here.

We need one more day! Smokin' Pete's back open on Friday

2011-09-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Eric was right. There. I said it. When we decided to close for two days to deep clean and reorganize a bit, all was fine. When I said, "Yeah, but the floor really needs to be repainted," Eric replied,
"You're crazy. I'll have no part in it."

I'm a bit of a picker. If I see a little paint chipping off, it's a struggle not to pick it. So I rented a giant shot blaster machine and boy, let me tell you, that thing picked the whole floor off!

So we need another day for the paint to dry.

My fault. See you Friday. Could you not wear high heels? Maybe socks. Or those booties real estate agents give you when entering a house for sale. No?

Recipe: Huckleberry Pie

2011-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

The huckleberries were late this year. So late it's practically fall for a berry that is usually long gone before school starts. I know in the past they've been ripe by the end of June because Eric made a huckleberry tart for my aunt's funeral.

We camped at the end of June and there was hardly a speck of green buds pushing their way out from under the leaves.

July we were slammed with catering and had family visiting from out of town. No chance for berry picking.

"We've missed them for sure," I told Eric when we ran up to Index, WA for a quick overnight camping trip.

But there they were. Red, juicy, and though not as bountiful as last year, plenty enough for a pie and some left over for the freezer, to top cereal and ice cream later.

The kids helped make the pie.

The recipe is simple. If you've read my book or this blog, you know I like simple.

The Filling:
3 1/2 cups huckleberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoon corn starch
Mix the sugar and cornstarch together, then carefully coat the berries with it, as huckleberries are more delicate than most berries.

For the pie crust, try my mom's recipe, which is in my book, or use your favorite crust recipe

Mom's Pie Crust
2 cups all-purpous flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
2/3 cup chilled unsalted butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1/4 cup ice water

Mix the dry ingredients together. Cut up the cold butter and shortening with a fork into the flour until it looks like cornmeal. Incorporate ice water a little bit at a time until you can gently form a ball with floured hands. Divide into two balls.

On a floured surface, roll out the first ball to about 1/4 inch thick. Transfer to pie pan. Pat in the dough and prick it in a few places. Pour in filling. Roll out next ball and cut into strips to make a lattice on top. Crimp bottom and top together.

Brush with egg wash and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven until juices are bubbling, about 55 minutes.

Fancy 'Cue: Some wedding shots of the summer

2011-09-01T09:11:00.000-07:00

If company picnics in the park are our catering bread and butter, weddings are our dessert. They take much more time, planning, and work, but it's magical to be a part of one of the most memorable days of a person's life.

One of these days, I'll kick off the Smokin' Pete's blog, but until then, I'll share some shots of the summer beyond ribs, brisket and pulled pork. Well, maybe I'll sneak a few of those in too, but here are some of the salads and appetizers we do.

Recipe: Summer Grilled Beef Salad

2011-08-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

In honor of the last week of summer, I thought I'd post a favorite dish of mine. I love fresh summer salads, slightly wilted by delicious grilled meats. I made this Marinated Grilled Beef Salad in under 10 minutes, start to finish. Not only is this a fast meal to make when you are out playing late, like you should be, it's light for hot nights and healthy.

I don't usually buy packaged products or already marinated meats, but these boneless Hawaiian style beef short ribs from Trader Joes caught my eye. My first thought was "boneless short ribs, why?", but when I picked up the package I noticed something: the ingredient list was short and all normal food items. No five syllable additives, no high fructose corn syrup. In fact, the marinade sounded like something I'd make.

Sure, it's almost just as easy to marinate the meat yourself with the same 5-6 ingredients on the package, but like I said, we were out late playing in the sunshine. This seemed like a perfect comprimise.

My hunch is that this meat wasn't really from the short ribs, much like "Boneless Country Ribs" aren't really ribs. But the texture, marbling and grain seemed similar at least. I'll have to talk to a butcher and get back to you on that.

I made my charcoal fire good and hot, a two-layer fire with the grill grate close to flames. You can of course grill these with a fully preheated gas grill.

Grill the ribs on high heat, 2 minutes per side approximately, then let the meat rest while you make the salad. The beef came out tender, with a light sweetness from the marinade and, most importantly, not overly salty. So often commercial rubs and marinates are loaded with salt, but these came out nicely balanced.

The salad is simple: Arugula greens with broccoli slaw mix in a light sesame-soy dressing. Again, I make this classic dressing at home, but today for speed and ease, Mr. Paul Newman made it for me. What a guy.

Cut the beef against the grain, diagonally and toss. Mmmm, and not a speck of guilt.

Wordless Wednesday: Camp Bacon

2011-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Seattle's Child Article by Rebekah Denn

2011-08-24T01:31:00.000-07:00

Wow. I realize this published in JUNE for the 4th of JULY issue of Seattle's Child, and it is now the end of AUGUST, but I just read Rebekah Denn's interview with me, so I'm sharing it now. I actually thought it didn't get published, and was too shy to ask why it didn't, but see now I was merely too buried in pork and brisket to find the article.

If you live in Seattle, you know Ms Denn. She is one of those writers that has her finger on the pulse of the Foodieville. She is one of the Big Girls in the Northwest and she does it all with a toddler in tow. We talked and e-mailed about the challenges of balancing family and work and neither of us came up with an answer. Sorry.

I guess we all have to roll with it. We also talked about giving yourself a break when you are trying to be a super barbecue mama. If you want charcoal, cook with charcoal. If you need dinner RIGHT NOW because the kids are so hungry they're spinning out of control and are mixing the entire bin of Leggos in the bathtub with a bottle of Molasses they somehow snuck out of the cupboard...go with gas.

Read more about our conversation here.

Smokin' Pete's BBQ voted Best BBQ by Seattle Weekly

2011-08-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just coming up for air from a busy busy catering summer to spread the good news: Smokin' Pete's was voted Best BBQ by the Seattle Weekly.

Read the whole scoop here.

In other restaurant news, we are part of the InBallard.com group. Check out their website for all the best Ballard has to offer. Every Tuesday, there are special events during the summer.

Wordless Wednesday Video Post

2011-07-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Grilling Master Classes at University Farmer's Market this Saturday

2011-06-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be a part of this event. Come this Saturday for a day celebrating local, farm-direct meats and produce on the grill. Here is the press release. I'm going to be demonstrating with some amazing folks (and I love the title they've given me: "Master She-Griller" I want that on a button):

Grilling With the Masters at U-District Farmers Market

When: Saturday, July 2 9:30 – 1:30 pm

Where: University District Farmers Market (located outdoors at University Heights Center on the corner of University Way and NE 50th)

Celebrate the coming of summer and barbecue season – and watch FREE master chef and producer classes all day long at the market!

The U-District Farmers Market is chock full of farmers and ranchers who raise/produce some of the best meats, poultry and salmon available anywhere in Seattle – all of it local, sustainable and delicious.

On Saturday, July 2, market shoppers can watch fun, expert demos on filleting fish, cutting meat, how to make the perfect hamburger, how to cut a whole chicken, tips on the best types of meat (beef, pork and lamb) for your barbecue...and how to grill it all to perfection.

The Master Line-up:

Becky Selengut, chef and author of Good Fish and the Cornucopiacuisine blog will show shoppers her secret to preparing the perfect fillet of fish. Becky will sign copies of her book which features sustainable seafood recipes from the Pacific coast.
Master butcher, Doreen Nelson, of Smokey Ridge Meats (Chewelah) will be on hand to explain and de-mystify fresh cuts of lamb, pork and beef for the grill and how to get the most value out of cheaper cuts of meat.

Farmer Janelle Stokesberry (Stokesberry Sustainable Farm) is an expert on all things chicken and loves to teach home cooks how to make the most out of every part of the bird. Learn how to cut, quarter and grill a whole chicken.

Farmers Eiko and George Vojkovich (Skagit River Ranch) will be on hand to show folks how to make and grill the perfect hamburger.
Julie Reinhardt, local author of She-Smoke, will be the Master She-Griller, demonstating in-person her mastery of the art of perfect barbecue. Julie is co-owner of Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ in Ballard.
Lissa James of Hama Hama Oyster Company will be on hand to show off her excellent fresh oysters and best ways to grill.
And vegetarians should know that recipes and great grilling tips for veggies and seasonal fruits will also be available.
9:30 – 10:30 am How to Fillet a Fish and Great Grilling Ideas for Fish Becky Selengut

10:30 – 11:00 How to Grill the Perfect Burger Eiko and George Vojkovich – Skagit River Ranch
11:15 – 11:45 How to Cut-up and Truss a Whole Chicken Janelle Stokesberry – Stokesberry Sustainble Farm

12:00 – 12:30 pm Perfect Cuts for Your Grill Doreen Nelson – Smokey Ridge Meats

12:45 – 1:15 Grilling Oysters Lissa James- Hama Hama Oysters

Master She-Griller Julie Reinhardt will be on hand to oversee the grilling and offer expert insider advice all day long!
The University District Farmers Market is open every Saturday, year-round (rain or shine) outdoors at University Heights Center on the corner of University Way NE (the “ave”) and NE 50th. Hours are 9 am – 2 pm.

For more information contact the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance at 206 632-5234 or go to: http://www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org/

Pacific NW Eggfest

2011-06-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

I had a ball at the 6th Annual (my 2nd) Pacific NW Eggfest on June 11. I went with a single item - Kalbi Beef Short Ribs, served with rice made on my Egg. Eric cut the ribs for me on the bandsaw in our walk-in at Pete's, so they were thick and meaty. The ribs marinated for a day. They could have used another day, due to their size, but I had plenty of compliments, including "These are the best short ribs I've ever had." I'll take that.

My two neighbors were Egg-o-matic machines. Every time I looked over, they were coming out with a new dish. I think I might have to step up my game next year and at least add a breakfast or dessert item like these: apple crisp, giant pancakes, and my tent buddie's Planked Twinkie Chocolate Marshmallow Bonanza thingy.

For those of you that haven't been to an Eggfest, it is a meeting of Eggheads, cooking on Eggs. In this case it was open to the public for the purpose of selling Eggs. Folks could purchase the grills we cooked on, at a discount. A good deal when you figure we helped season their grill for them.

Brian from Left Hand Smoke was there again, representing the PNWBA, as were the Butt Rub folks. -Brian brought some tasty home-cured bacon, and the Butt Rub dude is shown here with a mouthful of his own biscuits and gravy.

And the bonus? It's held right across the street from IKEA, so I was able to pick up a few more platters for the shop, along with a giant wheel of Skandinavian cheese and five other things I did not need.

My Eggnest in honor of the Eggfest 2011

2011-06-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

For the second year in a row, I cooked at the Pacific NW Eggfest. The week prior, Eric made our Big Green Egg a perfect nest.

This old fire pit came with our house and used to have a wishing well roof. It would have needed a lot to make it a working grill, though it does have an ash/access door, but the Egg fits just perfectly in it.

I'd always worried that someone might roll off with our Egg. I know that's silly. The thought of a drug addict rolling a Big Green Egg into a pawn shop is comical. But our neighborhood has had issues with theft. It's getting better, but we've had many things disappear from our yard. Eric knows my paranoia so he made this protective nest as a surprise.

It's the little things, or in this case, the really big heavy things, that keep a marriage fresh.

Some of our regulars at Smokin' Pete's

2011-06-17T18:23:00.000-07:00

We have a regular biker group that rolls in to Pete's about once a month. Thank you to Pat Ferris (of Dysfunction Junction fame) for the great photo from the other night!

Memorial Day Greetings

2011-05-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hello from Barbecueville. We've been doing a lot of this lately:

Making yummy things like this:

And a little bit of this:

Greetings on Memorial Day. Today, may you remember your loved ones passed on with joy of their lives instead of sorrow from their passing.

A May Day Bouquet and a Challenge

2011-05-01T20:28:00.000-07:00

It seemed strange today to be enjoying a perfect sunny spring day in Seattle, while storms rage in the South. My Alabama cousins are seeing devastation that is hard to describe. So these flowers are for them.

We used to fill construction paper baskets filled with flowers from our yard and hang them on doors of the little old ladies in the neighborhood. We'd ring the doorbell and run. With giggles behind bushes we watched them smile as they took the flowers inside.

I love the surprise and secrecy of the May Day basket. Some people need much more than flowers right now. I challenge you to send someone a little May Day help this month without their knowing who sent it.

Just ring the doorbell and run.

May Day BBQ 7:15pm Pork Butt in the stall....

2011-05-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

May Day BBQ 5:30pm: Beef Short Rib Dinner

2011-05-01T18:04:00.000-07:00

The final glaze gave these ribs a nice sweet ending. I mixed equal parts strawberry jam with apricot nectar juice, plus 3-4 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce. The kids loved it. 3 1/2 hours on indirect heat, after some direct grill time was perfect to get them tender. These were pretty small. The short ribs we get in the shop that Eric cuts with the bandsaw are much much bigger and need more time.

May Day BBQ 2pm: Beef Ribs on the grill

2011-05-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

I love beef short ribs. I like them sliced thin on the cross cut (marinated long, then grilled hot and fast) and I like the thick cross cut sections like these. They need a fair amount of time to get tender, but I love the flavor from direct grilling.

I marinated them in the morning, though these really are best marinated the night before. The marinade is a basic soy-ginger sauce: Fresh ginger, soy sauce, a little bit of rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, plenty of brown sugar, and a little bit of fruit juice to stretch it.

I started them over direct heat of my Charbroil infrared grill, then moved them to the indirect side and to the top rack. The Hopefully they will be ready for dinner to go with some grilled zucchini.

May Day Virtual BBQ: 9:30am, 11am, 12:20am....Moppin' Time

2011-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

The mop, a total throw-together recipe from the fridge: Apple cider vinegar, bit of ketchup, puri puri spice (hot!), and the end of the orange-mango jam.

8:12am Pork butt in (I'm already and hour behind....)

2011-05-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

It's in. In between all this, I am cleaning an apartment to show today. I come from a long line of people who like to double and triple book themselves. I'm also supposed to be working the lunch and dinner rush at the restaurant today. And I want to get the kids to the park.

Luckily I have a husband that doesn't plan beyond his morning coffee, so I can move some of my plans over to his column. He's cutting me some cherry wood off our clippings to add to the smoker as we speak....

So come y'all, whatcha got goin' on?

7:35 am: Charcoal lit

2011-05-01T09:30:00.000-07:00

6: 40am The coffee shop is closed

2011-05-01T07:12:00.000-07:00

I know this coffee shop used to be open at 6am on Sunday. Cafe Vita is where I wrote most of She-Smoke, and on Sunday mornings I often beat the employees here.

No problem, I walked up the street to Marketime, where everybody knows my name....and the gals got a good laugh at my froggy voice, bed head, and the clothespin stuck to my jacket.

The Making of a May Day BBQ

2011-05-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

6:21am Julie there is no coffee in the house.

6:25am She pulls out the pork butt, and seasons it with a mix of spices from her cupboard, then puts it back in the fridge.

6:35am Julie realizes speaking of herself in third person all day could get really annoying.

I head out for coffee. I am thankful to live in a city, in a neighborhood, where I can walk to a coffee shop. The morning is beautiful! Birds are singing, the sun is shining.

It's a good day for a barbecue!

May Day Virtual Barbecue (and giveaway)!

2011-04-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

It's spring and you, yes you, are invited to a virtual barbecue. Since May Day is a holiday that celebrates spring, fertility, and other outdoor activities, I thought we could all honor this fest with some outdoor cooking. (Though please, for safety and for the sake of being neighborly, please don't grill naked). Come join the party this Sunday, May Day, share what you are cooking, and maybe even win a book.

This isn't my first virtual barbecue here at She-Smoke headquarters. Before the book launched, I held a contest for folks to upload videos to YouTube for a video virtual barbecue. The entries I did get were amazing, like this one from my kinfolk, however I learned an important lesson about contests and events: make them really really easy to enter.

To join in the virtual potluck, simply post a comment here about what's on your barbecue on May Day, or comment and/or upload a photo on the She-Smoke facebook page. I'll pick three favorites (or maybe we'll figure out a way to vote on facebook) and give away three copies of my book.

Easy. Fun. Invite all your friends, especially those far far away so that you can be with them, virtually, at a barbecue.
An little end note for research junkies like me: The archives from the University of Missouri explain how May Day began, in case you aren't familiar with this somewhat forgotten holiday. The website includes some wonderful pictures of ladies dressed in white, dancing around the maypole.

Spring Baby Backs Part 2 (repost)

2011-04-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

I changed the title from "Spring is time for Baby backs" to "Spring Baby Backs" because really, any time is time for baby back ribs. Here is the continuation of the recipe. In case you missed it, see Part 1 for Uncle Jack's Clean Out The Fridge Barbecue Sauce.

On one of the recent schizophrenic spring days here in the Northwest (it's been alternating between sun and snow or sleet), I fired up the Weber after a 3-month hiatus. A hiatus filled with spit up, 1am, 3am and 5am feedings, and the daily challenge of figuring out how to do anything with two kids. Ive become a pack-mule and have had to learn to slow down to a zen-like speed that would annoy an overfed turtle. Some days, by the time I get the baby fed, all of us dressed, and the bag packed, the "window" of getting out slams shut and it's time for another round of diapers, naps, lunch and meltdowns. Why am I going on and on about this? Because standing at the grill on a beautiful sunny day with nothing but a pair of tongs in my hand made me feel so light and giddy, I thought I might just fly away with the clouds.

Ribs mopped with a bourbon barbecue sauce aren't always associated with the words "light" and "airy" but I'm calling these "Float on a Cloud Baby backs" all the same. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
Uncle Jack's Clean Out The Fridge Barbecue Sauce (part 1)

Apple juice (in spray bottle if you have it)

Modified Feisty Girl Rub - this rub is in my book, but I've added a little more sugar. Any spicy brown sugar rub will do. Quantity is per rack.

6 Tbls. brown sugar
2 Tbls. sea salt or kosher salt
1 Tbls. fresh ground pepper
2 tsp dried mustard
1 Tbls. paprika
1 Tbls. Cajun seasoning mix
A few dashes of cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger

1-2 racks baby back ribs (membrane removed)

Step by Step
1. Pat rub all over ribs 1 hour to a day ahead.

2. Make your fire for Slow and Low and "Get Your Smoke On". In other words - light a quarter to a half chimney (about 20 coals) and dump, when coals are turning ash gray, into a tight pile on one side in your charcoal grill. Add a chunk of wood or a 1/2 cup of wood chips and close the lid. After 10-15 minutes, place ribs on indirect heat side of grill.

3. Target inside grill temperature is 200-250 degrees. Note how I've put a remote thermometer through a potato so that it doesn't sit directly on the grill.

3. Close lid and leave it. After 30 minutes light a new batch of charcoal in your chimney starter or a second grill. Feed already-hot coals to your pile 45 minutes to an hour into cooking. Add wood as necessary for the first 3 hours.

4. After one hour and every 45 minutes to an hour thereafter, spray mop your ribs with the apple juice. Keep that lid closed as much as possible to maintain your heat and smoke!

5. Ribs will take 4-5 hours. Brush racks with barbecue sauce in the final 20-30 minutes.

6. Remember, "falling off the bone" is a misnomer. You want to be able to bite the meat without losing half of it on your shirt.

Feel free to ask any questions or comment on the recipe!
Originally posted on 04/18/2009

Spring is time for babybacks: Part 1

2011-04-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

I'm reposting a few of my favorite blogs and recipes from the past two years. In part because I have a lot more readers now than when I first started this blog, and it's new to many, and also to give me a little break from the blog this spring. Without further ado, from April of 2009.....

The first sunny day this past week I uncovered the Weber and stoked up the coals. I usually don't let inclement weather stop me, but this winter I also had a newborn to care for. I was lucky to get a frozen pizza pocket cooked in the microwave. It felt good to stretch my smokin' muscles after a three-month hiatus.

I also needed to clean out the fridge. (I'd clearly taken a three-month hiatus from it as well.) So I first made my Uncle Jack's Clean Out The Fridge Barbecue Sauce. My Uncle Jack loves to eat and he loves to make a deal. Making a tasty sauce out of items on the brink of the garbage bin tickles him pink. He'll tell you his recipe is a secret. What he means is you-don't-wanna-know what's in it. I once watched him unload the contents of my Aunt Sandra's fridge into the sauce pot - a fridge that was always chock full and contained a number of the world's greatest mysteries inside. What he did admit to me is that as long as certain ingredients were included in the recipe, the rest was mere nuance.

My sauce didn't have anything too scary. I included the certain ingredients: ketchup, mustard, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, garlic and salt, then added the bits and ends in my fridge to make the sauce. I had some bourbon, old ginger, and the end of a bottle of maple syrup to throw in. It made a rich, dark sauce. Here is a picture of my ingredients:

Here is my recipe. Remember - barbecue sauce is one of the easiest sauces to make. You can use my ratios of the base ingredients and clean out your own fridge. After that you can fire up the grill to make some baby back ribs (Part 2).

RECIPE: (Ode to) Uncle Jack's Clean Out The Fridge Barbecue Sauce

2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 1/2 cups ketchup
2 Tbls. spicy brown mustard
3 Tbls. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
End of a bottle of maple syrup with 1/2 cup hot water to swish it all out
2 Tbls. bourbon
1 Tbls. molasses
1 tsp. finely grated ginger (can use powdered ginger too as shown)
1 tsp. salt

Saute garlic in olive oil on medium heat, stirring. Just as it begins to brown, add ketchup. Add remaining ingredients and reduce to low. Simmer sauce for about 45 minutes before serving or before cooling to bottle for the refrigerator.

Kicking Out Winter with Darth Maul Dip

2011-03-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

The sunshine this week absolutely saved me. I don't know about you, but this winter was a hard one for me. Not only did it seem colder, wetter, and darker than usual, we were plagued with illnesses. It's common when you are the parent of a preschooler. They are petri dishes for all the funk passed on by their little friends at the playdough table. This week, playing outside, feeling warmth on our faces, made me realize how long we've been couped up.

It's why I've posted so little. No one wants to hear about hacking coughs or bedside buckets on a food blog, right?

But last week, the last week of winter and our last illness, is a tale I must share. It was Winter's last hurrah before Spring kicked it out for good.

One night, my son would NOT go to bed. He insisted on reading his "recipe book", a Star Wars cookbook someone gave us a year or two ago. After previously barely noticing the book, he became a fanatic, pouring over the photos and recipes like, "Amidala Challah", "Darth Malt", and "Opee Sea Crunch." Desperate, I promised him we'd make "lots" of the recipes the next day. At last he dropped off to sleep, still clutching his new found religion.

That night both El and Eric came down with the flu. I was up most the night with baby girl and dog tired in the morning. My son started right in at breakfast, making me read all the recipes that he wanted to create. Right now! I told him we didn't have the ingredients and he had school...so I managed to stall the Star Wars recipe fest.

After school he was adamant, and I knew a huge tantrum was brewing if we didn't to get to the store. El was perky as if the previous night didn't happen, but Eric was still in bad shape. He needed to sleep and a trip to the grocery store with a long cooking project was the perfect distraction from dad in the bed.

It wasn't entirely out of the good of my heart. I'd felt the rumblings in my own tummy and knew it was only a matter of time before I'd need Eric to return the nap favor.

We made our list. At the top of son's wishes was making the Darth Maul Dip. It was a simple roasted pepper dip, but the cookbook came with a stencil template to make the mask with poppy seeds. Totally cool.

I recall the first wave of nausea hit me as I wrote the check at the grocery store, thinking 50 bucks was an expensive distraction. By the time we returned home, I needed to lay on the couch, "just for a little bit". My son had waited all day and this was too much for his 5 year old psyche.

I dragged myself up and began laying out the ingredients. Opening the jar of roasted peppers made me nearly lose it. I wavered, grabbed the counter, and slowly breathed through my nose. Then I reached for the cream cheese. That was it. I bolted to the bathroom. Thankfully, at that moment, Eric rallied out of bed and finished the dip with our kids.

I was able to take a photo, but we now had a vat of dip, and no one at the party, save our son, interested in eating anything. It didn't matter. My son's sole purpose of the day was relieved. His Star Wars itch was scratched. He had made Darth Maul Dip!

Thankfully, it was only a 2 day flu. My son never got it, and he was the only one to taste the dip. Makes you think. We went on to make the Opee Sea Crunch, the Boonta Breakfast Tarts, and the Darth Malt. We already had the toy in the picture from our favorite toy store - Goodwill. None of them were great recipes from a professional standpoint, but they all put a smile on my kids' faces.

Now that spring is here, we'll have to do a grilled version of the Darth Maul Double Dogs. If you are interested, here is the book image. I have a feeling we'll have to find the first one.

Poetry Friday: Shel Silverstein's "Merry"

2011-03-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

I ran across this poem today while reading to my daughter. I tend to skip around while reading my favorite Shel Silverstein book, Where The Sidewalk Ends, so the fact that I read it on March 25 was pure synchronicity. I posted too late to participate in the regular Poetry Friday round up, but if you like writing, reading, and/or discussing poetry, there are folks from all over the country that post about poetry every Friday. One blogger will host and give the list of all the blog posts that day. I join in from time to time. To find out who is hosting, and what it is about, just google it.

"Merry" by Shel Silverstein in Where The Sidewalk Ends

No one's hangin' stockin's up,
No one's bakin' pie,
No one's lookin' up to see
A new star in the sky.
No one's talkin' brotherhood,
No one's givin' gifts,
And no one loves a Christmas tree
On March the twenty-fifth.

I love this poem, especially because Christmas around our house tends to be a source of friction. My husband is not a fan of the holiday, nor of the the murdering of trees, as he calls it (he gets the ironic hypocracy that he owns a barbecue restaurant).

I think March the twenty-fifth is a perfect day to talk brotherhood. We need it. There is a lot of sh-t going on in the world right now!

Grill Love

2011-02-15T01:00:00.000-08:00

The torrential wind and rain storm finally let up enough for me to brave the grill on Valentine's Day night. I fired up my infrared grill and put some love on for dinner. That's right, heart burgers.

I noticed that my Charbroil Kansas City Rub had a deep reddish orange color, so I mixed it in for flavor and color. Sure, maybe I overdid the heart theme, but it was fun for the kids. (Eric and I are both a little under the weather, so between coughing fits, we decided on a date night next week).

I realized that it's been a few months since I used the gas grill, and I should have seasoned it first with some oil. My burgers stuck a bit, but I managed fine with a little muscle.

Granted, I was out there in the stormy dark, with the flashlight, wiping rain from my serving plate, and picking up various objects that blew over in the yard while the burgers cooked, but it's a good reminder to re-season your grill when time has passed, and seasonally. A grill cover can keep out the rain, but freezing temperatures and severe winter weather mean you have to give your grill some extra love.

Grill love.

Seasoning your grill is simple.

1. After cleaning your grill grates, soak a paper towel in cooking oil and rub grill grates thoroughly.
2. Turn on your burners to high and close the lid. Let the oil "burn on" for about 10-15 minutes.
3. Turn burners off and let the grill cool completely, with the lid on.

If it is a brand new grill, you should do this 2 or 3 times before cooking. For the very first time, I do the above without oil. This way you burn off any chemical residue left on the grill parts first before seasoning it with oil.

Happy Valentine's Day Breakfast

2011-02-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Admittedly, I had something else in mind for my second V-day post. Something grilled. Between the windstorms, typical Seattle downpours, having to work longer than expected on Sunday, and a sick husband, life got in the way.

This breakfast made one of my two kids happy. The other decided he didn't like hearts. Or raisins. He's not sure he likes the whole Valentine's Day thing. At school today, he has to bring a "friendship" valentine to a secret name he drew. He was hoping for a different name, that of his very first crush. How do I explain that sometimes we do things to make some else happy?

I've tried everything I could think of this weekend, including having him pretend he's someone else. He's not buying it, and really, I don't blame him. If it's not from the heart, what is the point?

This is hardly a recipe. You know how to make French toast. I cut out the bread by cutting around a heart candy box. You may use a heart cookie cutter, but you'd miss having to eat the chocolates in the box first. I used Dave's Killer Bread Robust Raisin bread for the toast, and sticky foam to make the heart wand.

Valentine's Day Menu #1: Smoked Rack of Lamb with Wilted Pea Shoots & Blueberry Sauce

2011-02-12T01:21:00.000-08:00

Handmade gifts are always more meaningful to me. It's easy to go out and drop some quick cash on a gift, but making something is from the heart and paid for in currency far more precious than money: time.

The same goes for cooking. Eric and I avoid the traditional "go-out" dates like Valentine's Day, Friday night, and brunch (though I do drag him to brunch about once a year). We're even encouraging people to stay home at Smokin' Pete's. Granted, we would prefer that they pick up a Love Combo at our restaurant.

Nothing says I love you like a homemade meal. Especially one that takes time to prepare, like barbecue. Hey! There's an idea. Need some suggestions? I thought you'd never ask. You know your love one's tastes best, so cook his or her favorites, but here is one of two Valentine's Day meals I'll post this weekend.

Grilled and Smoked Rack of Lamb with Pea Shoots & Blueberry Sauce
This one will impress your love. Make it a weekend event and go shopping together at a farmer's market this weekend. If you're interested, read my post about American vs. New Zealand Lamb. I don't know why, but it has always been one of my top read posts.

Ingredients
1 full rack of lamb, uncut
1/2 cup olive oil

3 T Kosher salt and 1 T black pepper
3 T dried mustard
3 T ground oregano

The Greens
2 small bunches pea shoot greens. Find these flavorful greens at farmer's markets. Substitute any hearty green if you can't find them.
Half of a fresh lemon
Salt to taste
Shaved Parmesan

The Sauce
1/2 cup fancy blueberry preserves (with lots of whole blueberries in it)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Fresh cracked pepper
Garnish with fresh golden raspberries (optional)
Serve with roasted fingerling potatoes or other potato dish.

Step-by-Step
1. Make a charcoal fire in half of your grill. I used a kettle Weber.

2. While coals are getting hot, rub lamb rack first with olive oil, then with spice mixture. Let sit out while you get the grill ready.

3. Once coals are red hot, rake to one side, single layer, get grill grate hot. Put whole rack on grill to sear, bone side first, for 3-5 minutes. Flip and sear fat side. Put lid on to minimize flare ups, but keep vents open.

4. Move rack to indirect side. Add a few wood chunks to fire. Close lid, half shut the vents, and cook to medium rare.

5. While meat is cooking, saute cleaned pea shoots. Make sure you've removed the woodier stems. Pea shoots are full of flavor, but can be touch. Saute in a hot pan with olive oil. Salt. Squeeze lemon after greens have wilted. Turn to low and cover for 10 minutes. Serve with shaved Parmesan.

6. Pull lamb when internal meat temperature (be sure to insert into the meaty middle) reads 135 degrees. It will raise to 140 degrees while it rests.

7. While it rests, make a quick sauce of blueberry preserves and balsamic vinegar. Boil down (reduce) for 5 minutes. Add pepper.

8. Cut the lamb and place over the greens. Drizzle the sauce and garnish, if desired, with fresh golden raspberries.

I Heart Barbecue

2011-02-11T15:54:00.000-08:00

Just sayin'...I'm working on a V-Day post, but in the meantime, feel free to share this little picture with your barbecue friends.

Two-Parter Apricot Glazed Baby Back Ribs

2011-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's time for some meat, y'all! Enough of my waxing and waning about the New Year. It's a barbecue blog dammit so today I've smoked up some baby backs.

What is different or interesting about these ribs? Why post about them, as opposed to others? In every post I try to use a recipe to teach a technique. It's what I do in the book, so it is what I continue to do here on the blog.

These ribs were smoked with a dry rub the day before. I pulled them to chill in the fridge when they were technically cooked, but needed another hour plus to tender up.

The next day, I put them back on the smoker, indirect heat, for 30-40 minutes, then glazed them once hot and left them for another 40 minutes or so.

This is a great way to prep ribs for a party, or to have ribs on hand for a weekday dinner. Smoke them on the weekend while you are doing house projects, chill, then reheat and add sauce for dinner on Tuesday. I actually think the spice and smoke sink in to the meat better this way.

The rub: Use any simple spice rub you have on hand. I grabbed kosher salt, cumin, chili powder, and a small amount of paprika and tossed my racks in them. Last month I reviewed Charbroil's Basic Rub, and liked it for it's simplicity. If you are going for "wet" or glazed ribs, the rub doesn't need to stand alone, and you don't need a lot of competing flavors with the sauce.

The meat: I used baby back ribs, but spares really do well with this technique. When making ribs for a party, you can easily misjudge how long spare ribs need, and have the rest of the food timing thrown off. By smoking them a day ahead, you have more control of the end time.

I'll be honest...I didn't take off the membrane. I usually do, but the first one was so thin, it kept tearing. I was in a rush to get them in the rub and to make it on time for pick up at my son's pre-school. Know what? It didn't matter.

The equipment: I used my Big Green Egg! She's a beaut, especially on these rainy, colder months. Eggatha keeps her heat like a champ. I only smoked two racks, so no other equipment (rib rack, indirect plate, drip pan) was needed. I made a small charcoal fire in one spot, and place my racks indirect from the fire.

The wood: Cherry wood trimmings from my yard, of course.

The glaze: Now here is where you really can mix it up. I use 50% preserves with 50% barbecue sauce, store bought, or home spun. Heat it up and whisk together. The owner of Ole Ray's Apple Cinnamon Barbeque Sauce sent me a case of his sauce once after he read that I recommended it in Woman's World Magazine. It was a sweet gesture, but I get so many bottles of sauce here and there, my fridge has little else. I wanted to move some of the product, so I used it in my glaze. His sauce is a sweeter, molasses-y sauce that works well in a glaze.

The result: Tender, flavorful ribs...by 6pm on a Tuesday.

January Gathering In...with a side of bacon

2011-01-14T22:14:00.000-08:00

I found this cookbook while going through my book things and FINALLY putting it all away. Two years ago in December I finished She-Smoke, turned it in to my editor, and had a baby 29 days later. At this time exactly two years ago, I had a two week old baby in my arms, was just starting to walk after a C-section, and had ten days to proofread the entire book.

I was overwhelmed, to say the least. I pushed through it, with lots of help from my folks and Eric. After that the other part of the work began: the promotion and marketing of the book. Besides creating a website and blog, there is a huge amount of work an author does with the publisher, contacting people for blurbs, making a huge list of media contacts, bloggers, and friends to help launch the book, and lining up bookstore events and interviews.

In the flurry of it all, I never got back to my desk mess from the book. My pile of research, files, journals, notes, galleys...everything has remained in an overflowing box on my desk ever since.

It's a small desk. The book mess has been the elephant in the room I've ignored for too long. So this week I decided to tackle it, decide what to keep, what to chuck, and put it away in a labeled box. Some day in the future I'll go through the same box, smile, laugh, and then get rid of most of it, but I pared down what I could for now.

I've been doing a lot of sorting, boxing, throwing out, fixing... a friend recently called it gathering in. January is the perfect month for gathering inward and finding a quiet rythm. I like to let go of things in January, clearing out with the old, the papers and stuff that weigh you down, and making room for new things, new possibilities.

It's much different than spring cleaning. Spring cleaning is full of energy and focused on opening up, letting the sunshine fill all the winter cracks, shaking the stagnant air and dust out! Out! Out!

I think of January as more of a subtle shifting of energy to bring oneself back to oneself.

In terms of cooking, I've made pans and pans of lasagna lately. I love the layers, the blending of different flavors, until they are all bubbling together happily.

I've also baked chicken, simmered stews, and kneaded bready things like pizza. Have I taken a photo, or written down a recipe? Not one. This isn't food for show; it's food for one's family and for one's inards. It's nothing fancy, nothing you don't already do.

Instead, I'll leave you with a few tips from this booklet's Master Menus for Winter Meals page.

"For a taste tempter, season cream of tomato soup with peanut butter. Garnish with bits of cooked bacon and serve with toasted bread sticks."

"Chopped crisp bacon and lemon or onion juice added to spinach enhances it's flavor."

"For a special perfection salad to serve with beef short-ribs, add pineapple cubes to gelatin and cabbage just before molding."

"As a pleasant meat loaf variation, have two or three frankfurters ground with beef and pork for loaf. Or lay bacon slices over the top for added flavor."

What comes around, goes around, eh? The bacon craze is nothing new. Maybe this year will be all about gelatin and peanut butter.

What about you? Have you been gathering in, and if so, how so?

A Not List for the New Year

2010-12-30T01:27:00.000-08:00

Today I finally finished baby proofing the upstairs. There is nothing like crossing off something from the "Big List of All Things", eh? Of course my children are two and five, but if someone visits with a crawling baby, boy oh boy, that baby is safe upstairs.

I hope my family doesn't mind pureed foods, because I am now ready for the next thing on the list: canning homemade organic baby food.

Maybe I missed the boat on that one. Besides, the first child hated (still does) pureed foods, and the second went from rice cereal to gumming steak in mere months. I cooked a few yams, stewed some apples, so I think that counts.

I have multiple lists swirling in my brain at all times. I think most women do, but for some of us, it is ~~almost~~ an affliction. Besides the Big List of All Things, there is the immediate list. The immediate list is the one that makes me feel like an insane robot left alone on a planet for centuries (the anti-Wall-E, if you will).

I have this thing about wasting no steps. It's something that stuck from my waitress days: Never return to the kitchen empty handed. Bring hot food out, clear dirty dishes back. Only now, instead of dishes, it's all housework, and I don't get tipped. As I walk down the hall I fish out the puzzle piece from my pocket that I picked up earlier and, in a single motion, swing open the toy cupboard, shoot it like a basket ball into the puzzle shelf, and re-latch the cupboard as I go.

It sounds efficient and mom-like, right? But today I needed to pee. I went to the bathroom and found the toilet less than pleasing. I have a five year old boy, need I say more? So I cleaned it first. I keep a stack of what I call "pee rags" in the cupboard handy. Then I took the rag, along with the pile of clothes "someone" left on the bathroom floor, to the adjacent laundry room.

Here's the problem. A normal person would just go pee first. I on the other hand, upon finding myself in the laundry room, felt the urge to "swap out the laundry" i.e., put a load in the dryer, and start a new load in the washer, before I returned, clean towels in hand, to the bathroom. No wasted steps, see? By the time I'd loaded the washer though, I'd forgotten my original bodily need. The moment I heard the Whoosh of the washer, though, I remembered that I really had to go.

I made it, and as I had more than a few moments to reflect, I decided that this immediate list, and the Big List of All Things, both needed to chill.

My husband would laugh if he read that last sentence. He would say, "You can't do it," not in a mean way, but as a way to challenge me. This, from the man that says every New Year, "I resolve to not make any New Year's resolutions," and thinks it's funny. Every year. He and I have a difference of opinion of what a "day off" means, but the truth is, I need to learn how to do nothing. When you are travelling at light speed, you miss the rainbows.

So instead of New Year's Resolutions, I'm making a Not List.

#1 is an easy one: I am not going to feel pressured "as an author" to twitter or facebook. If I want to say something or respond to someone, I will, but I haven't found any of this glorious social media to have an impact on my supposed "platform" or to make many meaningful connections. A few, sure, but mostly it takes away time I need for writing, sleeping, or relaxing, all things that are better for my health and well being than tweeting about brisket.

#2 I am not going to nurse my daughter for much longer. That is a tough one for me, but it's disturbing my sleep too much. It hit me on the night of her second birthday this week (yeah, I'm one of those la leche mamas). While she was nursing, she paused, and with the boobie still in her mouth said, "Back kick." Assuming I heard wrong, I repeated, "Back kick?" She then nodded and proceeded to show me her back kick.

Apparently, while nursing, she was mulling over how to perfect her Tae Kwon Do. While I say 'Kudos to you, my martial arts baby', it does make it perfectly clear that nursing is no longer food, nor even comfort at this point: it's a coffee break, hold the coffee, stet the milk.

#3 I am not going to post on this blog more than once a week. Ooh. Another tough one. In part because I feel like I have so many things I want to post about, and also because "they" always say that you must post at least three times a week, if not five, to have a successful blog. I'm not sure how "success" is measured, but I do know that I have other projects I want to put energy into, and would rather make one good post each week and have fun with it.

#4 I can't say I am not going to make lists. I'd need years of therapy to throw out my legal pad, but I am going to mellow out on both the immediate list and the Big List of All Things. I probably should start by changing the name of the Big List.

I know, that last one wasn't a "Not". In fact I've sat here for 15 minutes and everything I tried to write was an "I am" instead of an "I'm not". The moment I say no to a few things, a world of possibilities opens. Think of what I can accomplish when I master doing nothing?

What do you say, are you with me? What's on your Not List this year?

A Big Fat Ribeye

2010-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

The first thing I tried from my big box of Charbroil goodies, was their "Basic Rub" on a big fat ribeye steak. Why a steak? Let me tell you, honey. The rain in the past week was torrential. I know you might think that Seattlelites are used to rainy days, right? But downpours with wind storms and flooded basements aren't our usual cup of rainwater. Usually it's more of a constant drizzle, or as I like to think, a refreshing mist that pairs well with coffee.

Not last week. Did you notice the lack of posts? That was because we were busy shopvac-ing hundreds of gallons of water out of our basement, pulling up carpet pad, and moving fans around the rooms.

There were a few breaks in the flood, and that's when I ran out to buy some steaks for the grill.

It was only fitting that we grilled them on the Charbroil infrared.

I went light on the rub, in part because the first ingredient was salt. I should have used more, but instead sprinkled a little afterwards.

The result? Delicious. The rosemary in the rub is finely chopped, so you don't get bits of herb in your teeth (I hate that). The rub wasn't too salty, nor was there any one flavor that stood out too much. It wasn't too spicy. It was, well, basic, and basic is all I want on a steak. I want to taste the meat cooked over a flame.

My only critique thus far is that the packaging is a little plain. We get a little wild in barbecueville with our names, puns, and graphics. The Charbroil line is understated. Nothing is named "Hot Mama's Tongues of Fire" or "Billy Bob's Big Butt Rub", but I'll forgive the plain Janeness.

Merry Christmas from Charbroil

2010-12-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

I love mail. Especially boxes or thick bubble envelopes. Usually that means a book I've ordered has arrived. But the other day a big box arrived at my office. I picked it up and shook it a little.

"I wonder what it could be?" I said to my catering manager.

"Why don't you just open it?" He said, dryly, handing me a box cutter. Clearly I am easily thrilled. I don't get out much, unless it involves a bouncy house or monkey bars.

Out of the blue, the folks at Charbroil sent me a HUGE box of barbecue goodies - spice rubs, marinades, sauces, and even a bag o' brine.

I've already tried out a few things. I'll post them over the next month. The very first thing I did was sprinkle a little of that "Taste of Sizzle" basic rub on a big juicy steak, then I threw it on the ol' infrared grill.

I'll show you those pics next. I'll also not open every single thing so we can have a little giveaway in a bit.

Thank you, Charbroil! I needed a surprise, truly. Merry BBQ Christmas to you to.

Soup Week Round-Up. Recipes from friends

2010-12-11T23:04:00.000-08:00

The minute I posted about Soup Week on facebook, a cavalcade of responses came in. Seems like everyone was making soup. Italian Bread Soup, Butternut Squash Soup, Matzoh Ball Soup and so many others. I decided to post a few recipes from friends as my final post for Soup Week.

Both these women are from the old neighborhood. One rode trikes with me, the other was my neighbor. And both of these women know a thing or two about cooking. Neither take short cuts in their recipes here, and the extra time to make stock from scratch, as well as the noodles or matzohs, make them truly special.

Cheryl shares her homemade Chicken Noodle Soup with hand made noodles on her own blog. The hand made noodles look amazing and easy. I like her suggestion to try it with grilled chicken too!

Sara shares her homemade Matzoh Ball Soup recipe here. She made it during Hanukkah, but it reminds me to make this soup at other times. I love Matzoh balls! Her picture is above. Here is her recipe, adapted from “Grandma Florrie’s Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls”, from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook by Marjorie Druker and Clara Silverstein.

Sara Webster – Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls

Matzo Balls

7 eggs separated
1 tbsp kosher salt divided
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 ¾ cups matzo meal
2 ½ tbsp club soda (see notes)
2 tsp onion powder
1 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley

Soup

One whole chicken (6 lbs) -or- 3 lbs of chicken thighs*
1 beef bone (or veal bone)
2 onions – yellow or sweet – pealed and diced
4 ribs celery diced
10 carrots peeled and sliced
12 cups water plus additional as needed
1 large sweet potato peeled and diced
2 tbsp fresh Italian parsley

For Matzo Balls – fill an 8 quart pot three quarters of the way with salted water or chicken stock (I used water). Bring to boil.

Place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and add a pinch of salt. Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In separate bowl mix together the egg yolks, salt, oil, matzo meal, club soda, onion powder and parsley. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Place in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Using your hands roll the batter into walnut-size pieces. Drop the matzo balls in the water and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 35 minutes. Remove with slotted spoon. 12-15 matzo balls.
For Soup
In large stockpot combine boil the chicken, beef (or veal bone), onions, celery, and carrots. Add the water and salt. Bring to boil over medium high heat. Remove any foam that rises to the surface using slotted spoon or strainer. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2-4 hours. If the liquid becomes too concentrated, add more water during the cooking time. Add the sweet potatoes and parsley. Simmer for additional 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove chicken and beef soup bone (discard). Pull skin of chicken and remove chicken meat (as much as you can) – toss carcass and place chicken meat back into the soup. Serve soup with matzo balls floating on top.

Notes: Original Recipe called for 3 lbs of chicken thighs, I used a whole chicken. Thighs have more flavor, but I like working with whole chickens – so I’ve adopted that change. Original recipe cooked for nearly five hours – I was able to do in about 2.5 hours and still very good. I also skipped the club soda step the second time I made it and worked fine. Club soda will make the matzo balls very light and they float better but I didn’t notice this as problem by omitting the soda.

Thank you, friends. And if you readers still need "more soup for you", here are some of my past soup posts to try.

Smoked Turkey Soup

Chicken Soup with Rice (is nice)

If all else fails, throw it into a pot and stir. Happy soup making everyone!

Quick Chili with Pulled Pork, Smoked Peppers & Black Beans

2010-12-10T21:21:00.000-08:00

Quick Chili is practically an oxymoron, but I like to keep ingredients on hand to whip up a batch on demand if need be. True chili should be cooked slow, letting all the flavors of the spices infuse into the meat and beans.

Like barbecue, chili fires a passion in people that can beat the heat in the chili pot itself. Some swear no bean should enter the pot. Others declare beef to be the only meat allowed. Everyone has their own idea of what spices and flavors make the best batch.

This chili is an excellent cheater chili. It's not what you'll enter into the chili cook-off, but it's a great recipe for when you think, "Mmm. Chili sounds good," at 4pm, instead of 10am.

Of course, your larder may not contain the same things as mine. I almost always have the following ready to go:

Leftover smoked pulled pork, in freezer. Leftover brisket or other meats work well too.

Smoked peppers (or whole dried). We smoke a mix of habaneros, poblanos and jalepenos at Smokin' Pete's BBQ for our barbecue sauce. Smoking the peppers gives them another boost of flavor, while retaining their natural flavors. Good quality chilis are the most important part of creating the flavor base.

Canned beans. Black beans, kidney, or navy. Beans are the biggest time constraint with chili and the best way to cheat when time won't allow an all day affair.

Everything else is an accessory to the chili pot. As long as you have the power trio above, you can make this quick chili. Even though I'd have a hard time making chili without cumin and Mexican oregano, I'm of the opinion that chili can be made with just about any combination of spices.

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 T ground cumin
2 T smoked or dried chilis, preferrably ground by hand, in mortar and pestil or coffee grinder
2 cloves garlic
2 T Mexican oregano
1 T kosher salt
1 tsp ground ginger (optional)
1 tsp tumeric (optional)
12 oz pulled pork
1-2 cans black beans (or kidney)
1 cup stock
1 small can of diced green chilis
1/4 cup tomato paste
Grated cheese (optional)

Step-by-Step
1. Sautee onion in olive oil. Add spices and stir until onion cooks nearly clear.
2. Add pulled pork, beans and green chilis. Stir until ingredients incorporated. Turn down to medium low.
3. Add stock and tomato paste and simmer for 30 minutes or more.
4. Serve with grated cheese or whatever else you like with your chili.

Brisket Vegetable Soup

2010-12-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

This simple soup can be made with meat of your choice. I happen to have left over brisket in the fridge, and love the full flavor a little beef can bring to a vegetable soup. I like to keep store bought chicken and/or vegetable stock in the coffers so that I can always make a quick soup.

With stock from scratch you can infuse more layers of flavor, but this soup tasted like it had simmered for hours after only 730 minutes.

Ingredients

3 cups chicken broth or stock

3 cups water

2-3 celery stocks, sliced fairly thin

1 cup sliced carrots

3 cloves garlic

1 cup other vegetables in the fridge, chopped. Broccoli stems are nice for soups. They have more flavor than the crowns, and often get left behind to wither in the "crisper".

3 cloves garlic

Herbs of your choice

Kosher salt to taste

1 cup chopped leftover brisket. This particular brisket had a little sauce on it, which added a flavor layer. Use a little more tomato paste if your meat is unsauced.

Tomato paste - about 4 tablespoons.

Step-by-step

1. Chop vegetables. Pour water and stock or broth into pot and turn up to medium-high.

2. Add celery and carrots. Turn down so that the soup is just under boiling.

3. After 10 minutes or so, add other vegetables that may take less time, salt, herbs, and garlic. Let simmer.

4. Prep the brisket. Using leftover barbecue meats in soups is wonderful, but you need to trim off the visible fat when cold. For the brisket, I originally trimmed it cold, then made the chopped brisket with sauce. Once it cooled, I removed any visible fat. After I put the leftovers in the soup, I skimmed again for oil on the surface (made me feel like a BP worker).

5. Add brisket and tomato paste. Simmer until ready.

Colorful Winter Beet Soup

2010-12-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

This soup was fun to make with the kids. They liked playing with the colorful juices and making beet prints on paper. I left the beets fairly large and chunky. You may prefer yours with a finer chop, or even pureed at the end and served with a dollop of sour cream.

Fine. More for me. I love beets. I'd never thought of using the beet greens, though, until I had our Russian neighbor's beet soup. The beet greens add so much flavor, I'll never chuck them in the compost bin again. Using the many colors of organic beets available this time of year, this soup is a visual, as well as tasty feast.

Ingredients

1 onion

6-8 beets, red, orange and yellow

2 T dried thyme

1 T ground ginger

Chopped tops (beet greens), thick stems removed

3 cups vegetable stock, 2 cups water

Fresh dill ( a few large stems that you won't eat, plus some finely chopped sprigs)

Salt and pepper as you go.

Step-by-Step

Sautee chopped onion in olive oil. Add sliced beets and stir in dried herbs. Add in vegetable stock and water and bring to a boil. After 5 minutes, turn down to low. Let simmer until beets are al dente. Add in fresh dill and finely chopped beet greens. Cook for another 30 minutes or so. Salt and pepper to taste along the way.

Get ready for...Soup Week

2010-12-07T17:20:00.000-08:00

I've decided to make this soup week. I could tell you it is because soup simmers one's soul in the winter, melting the blues from the inside out, (or that eating soup apparently makes you write syrupy prose), but the real reason I'm dedicating the week to hearty broths is because of last week: I was stuck in the house for three days straight with two sick kids.

Did you notice? No posts last week. I was going to do that cheat thing you can do with blogs and type in a different day for "publish" than when I actually did, but then I thought, why? This is my life. It's full of interruptions, and often, the interruptions are better than what I was supposed to be doing.

I will say this, though, taking care of kids all day is way more work than going to work. At work, I can make my list, coffee in hand, and then proceed to get the work done. How I love to cross things off with a big thick Sharpie, or a fancy Pilot pen.

With kids the satisfaction has to come from the process. Nothing gets crossed off. In fact, you find yourself doing the same task over and over again. If I had a dollar for every pen without a cap I picked up off the floor...

After awhile, you start coming up with projects that take a lot of time. Like soup.
I was determined not to make sick fest a video fest. They still watched plenty of movies (I'm no saint), but we also made dozens of glittery Christmas ornaments, decorated the tree, read piles of books, did and undid stacks of puzzles, powered through our teetering cupboard of games, and my son even had me re-do the chore list so he could pick up toys for a sticker (I'm still flummoxed and tickled by that one).

If I've painted too lovely a picture, I also let the kids set "traps" all over the house, said "Sure!" when they wanted to chop up ice and chalk on the fireplace, and on the longest day, barricaded myself in the office armed with a glass of wine to check e-mail. But that was day three. You understand, right?

So I'll share a few soups this week. Easy soups. Soups you can make with a 1 and 5 year old. Immune system boosting soups to help barricade your body from the germs. And soups to remind you that giggles and togetherness and wonder are all far more satisfying than crossing off your To Do list.

What is simmering on your stove?

Thanksgiving Week, Day 4 (and 5, 6, 7): I Am Thankful for Family

2010-11-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving day at the Reinhardt's isn't what you would call normal. For one, we go to work. Eric started about 4:30am. I followed after dropping off the kids to our village - grandma and grandpa. Then we proceed to shell out turkeys and complete dinners to the masses.

The kids know the drill. They know we'll arrive about 3pm, laden with food to add to the feast already in progress. Our kids love their grandparents, and the rest of their village at Thanksgiving. Uncle Boone and Aunt Mimi were there early, cooking dinner as early as 6am. As soon as I told our baby girl she was going to see her uncle and aunt, she joyfully exclaimed,

"Me, up, weedoo, bo bo Boon!"

Literally translated, that means, "Me up (on) Uncle Boone's shoulders!"

Uncle Boone has big, broad shoulders. Baby girl rates every guy she meets based on how good his shoulders are. After Da Da, Uncle Boone, our neighbor across the street, and Grandpa are her favorites.

Before we showed up, my other local brother Mark arrived with his son, big kid cousin Zach, who played chase and picked up baby girl till she giggled, and blocked our son's Tae Kwon Do moves without complaint. Long time friends joined us, as did Aunt Mimi's parents. Everyone brought a dish and a smile. E-mails from Eric's family connected us from afar.

I am so thankful for our family. We couldn't do this without them, both literally (try finding a babysitter on Thanksgiving!), and emotionally, with their constant support and love and laughter.

Thank you family. I feel up high, right there on your big, broad Weedoos.

Thanksgiving Week, Day 3: I Am Thankful for Turkey!

2010-11-24T18:15:00.000-08:00

What can I say? Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal. You would think that after managing over 100 turkey orders, many of which are complete dinners for 6-12, that I might be sick of turkey. I know Eric is. He eats steak on Thanksgiving. But I love turkey with all the trimmings.

I also am truly thankful that we have such wonderful customers that order turkeys from us. Otherwise November would be a bit of a bust. It's just not the month that screams "BARBECUE" to most folks, and without our Thanksgiving orders, we'd be better off staying at home.

So thank you. To all of you who ordered this year, or in past years.

We're smokin' in the snow for you. Now cross your fingers it doesn't snow on Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving Week, Day 2: I Am Thankful For Neighbors (and their homemade chutney!)

2010-11-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

I have some wonderful neighbors in our little hood. We have an interesting street. It's kind of the intersection of many parts of Fremont. Part arty/funky, part 20's somethings/apartment dwellers, part families with young kids, and part...downright sketchy.

It's the sketchy part that has brought the neighbors together. Banding against the crime literally happening in front of us, we've developed a pretty vigilant neighborhood watch without getting vigilante.

We've fought the crime around us by getting to know our law officers, speaking with city council members, and by banding together at barbecues.

Yep, I even fight crime with barbecue.

At the heart and soul of this group are two folks named Sally and Robert. They are our block watch captains, and two of the nicest people you could meet. While they keep us together by the e-mail loop, they create a sense of neighborhood just by walking their dog and saying hi.

A few weeks back, Sally and Robert brought me over a jar of Robert's homemade chutney. Just 'cause. I've been meaning to post it as a recipe with lentils that I made with it, but thought I'd share the recipe today.

As we bustle around getting ready for Thanksgiving day, hopefully we'll all have the opportunity to stop and say hello to our neighbors, at the grocery store or on the street. I know these two have taught me that you can stop crime, and build incredible connections just by being neighborly.

Here is Robert's chutney recipe. He adapted it from a Mango Chutney recipe from their South Florida days, and believes the recipe is originally from the Beach County Extension Home Economics office in West Palm Beach.

MANGO CHUTNEY NO. 1

2 cups vinegar

5-1/2 cups sugar (Robert substituted brown sugar for half of this amount)

10 cups green mango slices (Robert substituted about 12 cups of green tomatoes figuring they're more watery than mangoes)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped green ginger root (Robert used regular ginger root)

1 clove garlic chopped fine (Robert added the equivalent of an extra 2 or more cloves)

3 cups seedless raisins

1 large onion sliced

1/4 cup fresh orange peel

2/3 cup blanched chopped almonds if desired (we did
4 red chili peppers w/ seeds removed -- Robert did *not* use chili peppers in his batch

This chutney is good by itself, but I used about half of a jar with lentils and it made a delicious and seasonal side dish.

Chutney Lentils
8oz fresh chutney (above)
1 cup lentils, rinsed
2 12 cups water
1 tsp. kosher salt

Put lentils and chutney in water and boil for 3 minutes. Turn down to simmer for about 45 minutes, or until lentils are soft.

(I added this after I first posted).

Incidentally, both Sally and Robert are journalists and free lance writers.

Robert writes for InvestigateWest (invw.org). His long bio is here: http://invw.org/team. You can follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertmcclure.

He is a "veteran journalist exploring new frontiers in investigative reporting, particularly on the environment. Board member, Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ)."

Sally is a freelance writer for numerous publications. Her AOL Green Police column is here: http://www.walletpop.com/blog/bloggers/sally-deneen, and she's on Twitter at twitter.com/sdeneen.

She also volunteers for a nonprofit news site started by laid-off staffers of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: http://www.seattlepostglobe.org/

Check out their work and say howdy to your neighbor. With the web, we're all neighbors now!

Thanksgiving Week, Day 1: I Am Thankful For Salt

2010-11-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for so much, that I thought I'd put a few of them down this week. To start, since we have vats of turkeys in the brine right now, I am thankful for salt.

It's just a little thing. I should put down family and love and all the big stuff. And I will. But tonight as I was putting the kids down to bed, this idea of salt popped into my mind. There are worlds crammed inside each little grain of salt.

Salt is pretty amazing when you think about it. It almost seems conscious the way it equalizes itself. That's why brines work. As long as your salt solution is saltier than the turkey or other meat is naturally, the meat will draw in the salt around it until it's all even Steven. The water and other liquids in your brine just piggy back on the salt.

Salt is essential for life on this planet, yet too much can kill ya. We all know that it's a pinch of salt, and a pound of prevention, right?

Humans have been using salt to preserve foods and mining salt as far back as 6000 BC. It's our first spice, our first flavor enhancer, and it indubitably has saved lives and helped civilization advance because of our ability to preserve of meats and other foods.

Salt water makes up over 97% of the earth's water. Less than 3% of the earth's water is drinkable. But that means 97% of the earth's water is perfect for brining Thanksgiving turkeys! OK, not really, but speaking of that....

If you are smoking your turkey, I highly recommend brining it first. The extra water will help the turkey stay moist during the smoking process. The salt will add flavor. Don't worry about adding a bunch of other ingredients to your brine. Too much fuss can spoil the broth. Keep it simple.

I'll leave this salt ramble with some quotes I found browsing the ol' internet. I've verified none of these, but even if they aren't totally correct, I like the sentiment.

I'll start with a quote from a very early cookbook, dated around 350 BC. Archestratus nailed it right here:

"Many are the ways and many the recipes for dressing hares; but this is the best of all, to place before a hungry set of guests a slice of roasted meat fresh from the spit, hot, season'd only with plain, simple salt....All other ways are quite superfluous, such as when cooks pour a lot of sticky, clammy sauce upon it." - Archestratus

So true, Archestratus. Here are a few more words from wise folks around the world.

"Salt is born of the purest of parents: the sun and the sea." Pythagoras

"The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." Isak Dineson

"Don't slaughter more pigs than you can salt." French Proverb

"If there are two cooks in one house, the soup is either too salty or too cold." Iranian Proverb

"Bread and salt never quarrel." Russian Proverb

And finally, from the father of the American foodie himself,

"Where would we be without salt?"
James Beard

Recipe: Faux Burnt Ends

2010-11-18T23:17:00.000-08:00

As promised after my rant about our trainee at the restaurant that cut off the burnt ends of the brisket and put them in the scrap pile (breathe, Julie, that's it, inhale, hold it, exhale....), here is a recipe for "faux" burnt ends.

If you see burnt ends listed on a restaurant's menu, by the way, I'll betcha ten bucks they aren't the real deal. Do the math. Giant 8-12 pound brisket, with two bitty ends that everybody wants. Well, many of us do. There is a reason why we don't offer brisket burnt ends at Smokin' Pete's. I regularly steal them for my lunch.

There has to be a perk for all this, right?

Faux ends are quite tasty, and a great way to use the fattier part of the brisket, the point, or deckle.

The process is simple. Cut up a chilled brisket, or the deckle portion of one into end-sized chunks. If you smoke the whole packer, separate the deckle or point to chill fully before you cut up into pieces. Trim the larger channels and caps of fat. (If what I just said doesn't make sense to you, here's a review of brisket terminology).

The shot below is of a half chilled brisket, right at the midway where grain of the point runs opposite the flat. If you have difficulty carving a brisket, try practicing on a chilled brisket. The meat grains and fat channels are so much clearer when it's cold, that it can be a great learning tool.

Lightly re-season the pieces with a rub of your choice. Let me repeat, lightly, and I would suggest you use no salt in your rub, especially if there was salt in the rub from the first round. The first time I tried to make faux ends, they were way too salty. Toss in a thin barbecue sauce. Again, go light on the sauce. Otherwise the pieces won't get a crispy crust like the real deal.

Put the brisket pieces in a foil pan and put back in the smoker for about 2+ hours. Stir once after about an hour. Keep the smoker on the low side of slow- about 180 degrees, but get it good and smoky.

Remove once the bits are a little bit crispy like the ends you love.

Burnt ends are excellent with slaw on a sandwich, or a perfect flavor punch to chili and stews.

I prefer to snitch at them with my fingers.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

2010-11-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving week at Smokin' Pete's means we are drowning in gravy and are up to our elbows in brining turkeys. I'm working on a post about turkey this year, but thought I'd stall a bit and share my posts from last year.

The first post is about Brining. I highly recommend brining your turkey, especially for smoked turkey.

Here is a Sage-Rubbed Smoked Turkey with a Maple Glaze recipe we did last year that was lick your fingers good.

This post is about how to plan for feeding a crowd. There is math in this post, but don't worry, I walk you through it.

I also talked turkey with Diva Q pitmaster Danielle Dimovski. That was before she became the superstar she is today, competing on the BBQ Pitmasters show among other TV appearances.

A final post last year was a list of further resources for preparing Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy the posts. Since I covered a lot of bases last Thanksgiving, I may just mix it up a little this year.

New things shakin' at She-Smoke

2010-11-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

I've been shakin' things up here at the She-Smoke blog. Part of why I posted so little last month, aside from us being freakin' busy at the restaurant with catering, was that I need some time to ponder the direction of this little corner of mine.

I know I overthink things. Just put up a damn recipe, Julie, you say. And you're right. But now that the book has been out for over a year, and the initial promotional frenzy has settled. I want to expand this blog to have more resources in terms of links to other sites, equipment, and news.

To start this, I've added some pages to this blog. The link-o-rama page will take me awhile, but I've started adding equipment and books I like to the BBQ Store page. I chose to "monetize" with Amazon, not for the money, but because it makes it easy to find what I'm talking about. I don't have to go track down links. If I make a six pack of beer at the end of the year, I'll be thrilled.

Please check in the next few months and tell me what YOU would like to see here. I have a ton of resources I know I want to add, it's just a question of time, so I'll add things slowly.

Brisket Burnt Ends

2010-11-11T23:06:00.001-08:00

I need to rant tonight. I left the restaurant earlier and our new cook trainee did something that still has my jaw dropped down. Not in a good way. I noticed he sent out a brisket plate and that there was a pile of the brisket burnt ends on his cutting board.

"What's this?" I asked him. "Why didn't you put this on the plate?"

"Um, well, I..." he began.

Turns out this wasn't the first time dude CUT OFF THE BURNT ENDS AND PUT THEM IN THE SCAP PILE. The burnt ends. The best freakin' part of the brisket, in my opinion. Wasted.

I gave him my standard lecture about waste, walked away, and then came back after a few moments of reflection.

"This is the gold! People ask specifically for these little bits of heaven. You scrapped the best part of the brisket!"

I wish I knew whether any of it sunk in. It's one of the greatest challenges of running a restaurant: you are only as good as your weakest employee. I'm not saying he's weak, he's a good guy actually, but he's a greenhorn.

As business owners, we can't do everything. If we are always working in the business, we can never work on the business to grow it and improve it. It's a constant challenge to find that balance between the two.It's also really really difficult to give up control. Especially from a control freak (husband's term) like me.

We are blessed with great employees who care about our business. Seeing someone chuck out the gold tonight made me think I have a false sense of security. But then I reel myself back in from my doom and gloom cliff edge, and remember it was just a few burnt ends on a hunk of meat. It's correctible. Crisis averted.

That said, I think the next post will be how to make burnt ends. Make burnt ends? I know, there are only two ends to a brisket that get extra rub and smoke and a crunch that then melts in your mouth. But there is a way to fake burnt ends. We don't do it at Smokin' Pete's, but many joints out there do. And even though anyone thinking about it would know you can't keep burnt ends in stock, really, their customers don't care as long as they get them.

Mmmm. It is going to be a post I'll enjoy.

Volcano Cake with Dinosaurs

2010-11-08T23:59:00.000-08:00

For a barbecue blog, I sure post about cake a lot. Perhaps it's because food is a celebration to me, and many celebrations involve cake. Or perhaps it's because my husband, Eric, has a way with cakes. His aren't delecate cakes, or even pretty cakes, but they are the kind of cake that make you say "No Way!" when you see them, and then "Oh my freakin' god!" when you eat them.

For his first birthday, my son requested, and I quote, "A chocolate volcano cake with red lava coming out, and dinosaurs climbing it with a T-Rex on top." You see, he is under the impression that all kids can simply describe their fantasy cake, and a parent produces it.

Perhaps it is because, for his 4th birthday, his daddy made him a monster-sized monster cake.

Or because he remembers this Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Bacon Frosting.

Or his mommy's grilled birthday cake or her Harvest Cake in celebration of not cleaning the house.

Or the special She-Cake that kind of started it all.

Eric's volcano cake was loved by the kids and hated by the parents at the party. Not that the adults didn't chow down on the double chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. But we heard a few grumbles of the ilk that he'd just upped the cake ante way too far and that any store-bought would now pale considerably. Sorry.

So how did he do it? Pro novelty cake makers would layer up a sheet cake and then carve out the shape. But this requires a certain skill and it wastes a lot of cake. Eric instead thought of the volcano scape like a topographical map. He cut out a shape on restaurant-size parchment paper, then made smaller shapes that layered up. He then baked two sheet pan cakes. Once fully cool, he placed the parchement on the cake and cut out the shapes. Then he layered each with frosting in between and iced the entire cake.

For the lava he used red jello and for the tar pit surrounding the cake, green jello.

This was enough cake to feed about 60 people, so scaling it to a home-sized sheet pan and parchment would be plenty big enough.

Oh dear. I just smeared frosting from cake left-overs on my keyboard. Hazard of the job.

Next post: Back to barbecue, wherein I blog about having to stop myself from whacking a trainee upside the head at the restaurant for CUTTING OFF THE BURNT ENDS OF THE BRISKET AND PUTTING THEM IN THE SCRAP PILE. I know. I'm still shaking my head. I'll devote at least one post to brisket burnt ends as a way of dealing with it.

Camera Found!

2010-11-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

For two months, I have been hobbled without my camera. I kept holding off buying a new camera because I knew wasn't truly lost. It was underneath the car seat, in my office in a box, or...where it was finally found...in a demo box kit I'd put in the catering room at work.

Truth be told, I want a better camera, but I don't want to rush into a purchase. My phone camera has been so poor a substitue, that I've actually posted far less than these past two months. I have loads of posts I could put up here, but without a good picture, I can't make myself do it.

The minute I had my camera in hand, I took a picture of Eric's bounty of chanterelles and oyster mushrooms picked on an incredibly sunny November day up at Index.

Tomorrow's picture will also be from the hands of Eric. It will be about cake. If you've followed this blog at all, you know Eric makes some pretty fantastic cakes. I think this one, erm, took the cake.

Recipe: Bundt Cake Pan Chicken

2010-10-27T15:35:00.000-07:00

The other day I wanted to make Beer Can Chicken. One of my favorite grocery stores, Ballard Market, had two-for-one organic chickens so they were almost the price of, um, un-organic chickens. Score!

By now you've heard of Beer Can Chicken. It's a popular and easy way to smoke chicken on the grill: Open a tall boy beer, take a few gulps and poke a few holes in the can, then stick the can up the chicken cavity and place on grill. The steam from the beer keeps the chicken nice and juicy, while the chicken, in an upright stance, smokes evenly.

Only I didn't have a beer. No problem, I said to myself, rummaging in my messy bottom kitchen cupboard. I know I have one of those beer can chicken stands around here. Clanking around and throwing various kitchen and baking equipment around, my hand landed on part of Grandma Helen's bundt cake pan. Grandma Helen was Eric's grandma, and we have hordes of cast iron pans and ancient but useful baking pans from her.

I held it up and realized it would be a perfect "beer can chicken" stand. Not only would it hold up the chicken and be sturdier than a beer can, the bottom part would catch the drippings so I could baste the chicken along the way.

And it's downright girly, I thought, me being the kind of feminist who finds no offense in the idea of being a girl.

So here it is, my recipe for Bundt Cake Pan Chicken. Incidentally, if you don't have a bundt pan, you may substitute a tall boy can of beer.

Ingredients
Spice rub of your choice
kosher salt (if rub has no salt in it)
1 whole chicken
Olive oil

Step-by-Step
1) Prep your chicken: Remove giblets. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Rub generously with olive oil, followed by kosher salt. Pat rub all over chicken.

2) Place chicken upright on bundt pan.

3) While chicken is sittin' pretty and getting her rub on, go get your smoke on: Make fire in grill for indirect, medium heat. Shoot for 300 degrees. You can smoke it slow and low, but I like my chicken skin crispy, and the higher temperature will do that. Once pre-heated (charcoal or gas), add wood to fire.

4) Cook chicken for one hour without peeking. Use your vents to control and stabilize the heat. After one hour, baste chicken with juices collecting at base of bundt pan. Continue to baste every 30 minutes for about 2 to 2 1/2hours until chicken reads 165 degrees in the meaty part of the thigh.

5) The trickiest part is taking the bundt pan with chicken off the grill without spilling all the juices on the fire. I removed some of the drippings first, then picked it up carefully with a hot pad and tongs on to a plate. Let the bird sit about 5 minutes before pulling off the bundt pan. Remember that the pan will be hot! Let sit for another 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

You may notice that the rub is light, and a little uneven. What can I say? The baby woke up from her nap right as I was applying the rub, and I needed to hurry up and get and get the bird on so I could pick up son from pre-school. You know what? It was delicious! This method of cooking chicken makes it so tender and juice, that it requires very little fuss.

Mmmm.

Ballard Author Event

2010-10-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

You are invited to a one-of-a-kind event on October 19: Ballard Authors & Neighbors. For the locals reading this post, you know that Ballardites stick together. It has the feel of a small town inside a big city. What has changed since I was a child is that Ballard has become a diverse quilt of art, music, hip shops and restaurants.

Mixed in, quietly among the stitches, are those of us that work with words. We wallflowers will come out of the Norwegian wood, so to speak, for an evening roundtable with 30 authors talking about writing, playing bingo, and signing books. Ballard's own Secret Garden Bookstore will sell books.

Come on out to Sunset Hill Community Club, 7-9pm, and join in the fun. Read the Ballard News Tribune article for more information and a peek at some of the authors that will be there.

Food Poetry Friday: October Berries

2010-10-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

I haven't participated in Poetry Friday for awhile, but today, looking out at the grey, this poem I wrote a few years ago seems right. This week Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol's Corner.

If you are a berry picker, as I am, you know about October berries. Most left on the vines are shrivelled, bug-eaten, or moldy. But some look plump and ripe like August berries. You pick one, peer at it closely to make sure you didn't miss a nasty bit, and if it checks out, you pop it in your mouth.

How sour it is! October berries were green in August, and never really ripened properly. Still. This will be the last berry you pick until next summer.

October Berries
by Julie Reinhardt

August is the time to find
Juicy berries on the vine
Until your mouth is purple and
You’ve red stained fingers on each hand

But now it is October, yet
I hunt for berries, cold and wet
I pick as if they were like gold
These left behind, fruit not sold

For though they are not plump and sweet
As August berries that I eat
October berries are the last
Until next August comes to pass

Dish Up Literacy Tonight

2010-09-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Come eat out at Smokin' Pete's or other participating restaurants for a good cause! Page Ahead, Washington State's leading provider of children's books and literacy programs gets over 160,000 new books into kids' hands each year.

Tonight restaurants will donate 20% of sales to Page Ahead for their annual "Dish Up Literacy" night. At Pete's also have live music tonight by Dysfunction Junction! So whether you come for the bluegrass, or the books, it's going to be a great night.

One last extra special perk: Secret Garden Bookstore will give you a 10% discount on book purchased for Page Ahead. We will have a book drop at Pete's all week, or you can purchase books and leave them there.

Redhook Ale Sausage Fest 2010

2010-09-21T23:41:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I missed posting last week. Between running around getting everything ready for Sausage Fest, starting a new co-op pre-school, which had some 3-hour thing I needed to do almost every day, and attending a 4-hour writing workshop (yay!), I never caught my breath.

Then the weekend hit. Besides preparing "bites" for 2000 at an outdoor beer, meat, and music festival on the Redhook Ale Brewery grounds, we also had a wedding for over 200 the next day, another catering, and a ton of large pick up orders for the big football weekend.

Poor Eric. Friday night I saw him between the hours of 2:45 am 5:45am, the time he went to bed, and the time he got up to go back to work. I know of no other person than my husband that can time hundreds of pounds of meat for multiple functions with a demeanor so calm, he makes others nervous. You see, he is most comfortable in the eye of chaos. Give him a 12-item menu for a complicated wedding, and he's fine. Throw in a hail storm and 30 mph winds and he's downright chipper.

For Sausagefest we decided to make pulled pork sliders, chopped jerk beef sliders, and MOINK balls (Me: What do think of this menu, honey? Him: Whatever. You're going to do it no matter what I say). The festival expected 2000 guests minimum, so each of the 11 vendors were instructed to provide 2000 tastes of each item.

I do a lot of catering math, so I knew that it wasn't possible for one person to eat one of each menu item from 11 vendors. Most vendors served 3 items, so 33 times 2-4 oz of meat per person would be about 6 pounds of meat per person.

Still, I knew the MOINK balls, a steal at only a buck each, were going to fly out the tent. We soon learned just how much labor it takes to make 2000 bacon-wrapped meatballs. I'm glad we did, because we sold at least 1500 of them in about 6 hours.

I was on the ball station for a long stretch. It was relentless. All day I heard, "Double ball! Combo with a ball! Pork slider with a ball! Nine meatballs!" I kept trying to find a bottle of water, but the ball orders wouldn't stop. We traded food with the great folks at Salumi, and I only had time to eat one delicious slice of cured pork. I don't know what happened to the other plates they sent over, but hope someone on our staff was able to eat it.

Molly Moon's Ice cream was right next door. I'd had visions of trading tastes with them throughout the day. We both had lines 30 people deep that didn't let up for 4 hours or more. At one point I couldn't hear the orders anymore. I'd repeat it, then the order would float away from my brain.

That's when I begged some icecream from the two people scooping like machines in their spiffy ice cream truck. We traded protein for dairy and that little bit of maple-bacon ice cream I savored in a 2-minute break, saved me. Yep, I can say I've been saved by Molly Moon's ice cream, gosh bless 'em.

It was intense, a blast, and I saw a number of friends there. I didn't get to roam, like I'd hoped, but as you can see, we took our new smoker on her maiden voyage, and she smoked like a champ. I'm already booking caterings with her, so she's off and running.

Pre-school is settling down, as is the summer, so I hope to post more frequently. Fall is my favorite season. Creative juices flow more readily, and the rainy months in our little corner of the country beg for blog posts about stews, smoked turkey, and squash on the grill.

It's also time to take a long, deep breath. Did you breath deeply just now? Good. So did I.

Recipe: Smoked Meatloaf (Not your mama's)

2010-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

The other day I whipped together dinner using a little of this and a little of that in the refrigerator. I was happy to use up odd bits that were still good, but on their way out.

My four-year old took one bite and spit it out. "Blech!"

I took a taste and though it was edible, I kinda had to agree with him. That night my facebook status update read, "It was not my best work. More cleaning out the fridge than cooking, really."

That inspired me to create something really good using what I had on hand in the refrigerator. I had 2 carrots, 3 mushrooms, 2 stalks of celery, half an onion, a hard end of bread, half a package of bacon, and some ground beef in the freezer. All I needed was some pork sausage and I had everything I needed for meatloaf.

Not your mama's meatloaf

At least not my mama's.

My mom basically added a few dried herbs and an egg to a hunk of ground beef, shaped it into a loaf, poured over a bottle of ketchup and cooked until well done. I was programmed to think I hated meatloaf, until one day while babysitting when I was about 14. Before leaving, the mother of the child I was sitting pulled out a meatloaf and gave me reheating instructions for dinner.

I looked at it with suspicion, but heated it in the microwave like she said. I cut off a slice and to my surprise, it had cheese and salami in the middle of it. What's more, the red sauce on it wasn't ketchup, it was a delicious marinara.

Ever since that day I learned that meatloaf can be a place of creativity and self expression....and no place for ketchup.

This meatloaf is smoked, and really, once you cook meatloaf on the grill, I swear you won't cook it in the oven again. I won't. This is based on my recipe in She-Smoke (Not Your Mama's Meatloaf, pg. 164), but of course I changed it to use what I had on hand, which is what we do when we are cooking. We use the ingredients in the larder and only buy what we absolutely have to. I encourage you to do the same with this recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
4-6 slices bacon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 carrot, finely diced
3-4 large mushrooms, finely diced
2 stalks celery, sliced thin and down the middle
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 pounds ground all-natural beef, 90/10

1 pound pork sausage (ground, not in casings)
1/2 cup salsa (I used up the tomatillo salsa in my fridge. Any salsa will do)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil or finely chopped fresh basil (or herbs of your choice)
2 teaspoon ground dried sage
2 eggs

Step-by-Step
1. Cook bacon on low until brown but not crispy. Set aside. Pour out half the fat, but leave the pan nicely coated.

2. Add olive oil and saute onion until almost clear. Add carrots, mushrooms, celery, garlic salt and pepper. Cook until beginning to soften.

3. Chop bacon and add to vegetable mixture. Set aside and make a fire in charcoal grill, smoker, or gas grill. Once hot, get your smoke on with wood chunks or chips. Target temperature should be 225-250 degrees.

4. While fire is getting hot, gently mix the ground beef and pork sausage. Add the bacon-veg mixture. Whip egg, herbs and Worcestershire sauce together and pour over meat. Gently mix until ingredients are incorporated.

5. Shape into 3-4 small loaves. Place on a cookie cooling rack, perpendicular to bars.

6. Place entire rack with loaves on an indirect grill with a drip pan underneath. Smoke meatloaves for 2 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 160. For a faster cook, 300 degrees at 1.5 hours.

7. Cool for 10 minutes and slide loaves off racks onto plate. Cool another 10 minutes before slicing. (I've found that if they cool too much, they start to stick on the racks. 10 minutes is still warm enough to slide, but they'll still need a little setting time before you eat).
Incidentally, I made four small loaves and gave two to a friend who had twins only a month ago. She said it was the best they'd ever had. Of course, she's sleep deprived and probably living off cereal and church casseroles, but it was still nice to hear.

Our New Rig

2010-09-03T22:41:00.000-07:00

For years I've wanted a mobile smoker for our catering. We have big grill, but our smokers are hard wired into the restaurant. Mobile smokers can be pricey, but in the Northwest they are also pretty rare. This isn't Texas. There isn't someone on every corner selling last year's model. It's actually quite tough to find a used one and we are not really the types to buy a brand spankin' new rig. That would be too grown up. Besides, we like a little seasoning to our equipment.

But the other day, I typed in "smoker trailer" to Craigslist and this one came up. It's a custom job, a little funky, but it's a good unit. The indirect smoker section can easily fit a whole pig, plus there is a larger grill section, accessible from both sides, for direct or indirect grilling.

I love it. Eric's been cleaning it out, scraping off some rust spots, and lighting fires in it every day. I've been on kid duty all week so I haven't been able to play with it yet. We'll fire it up next week with meat before its maiden voyage at the RedHook Ale Brewery Sausage Fest on September 18. If you are in the area, come! 11 other vendors and we will be serving up meaty "bites" for a mere $1-$3. I think Molly Moon's ice cream is even doing a bacon ice cream. Plus there will be beer and music and I think prizes. Did I mention bacon ice cream?

If I haven't found my camera by then, I'm buying one for Sausagefest. I want to get a zillion great shots of our new rig, fully loaded with butts, brisket, and other meaty bites.

Scenes of Summer

2010-09-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

Ah September, are you really here? I remember waaaayyyy back in April thinking about the massive amount of catering we'd have to do before it was fall again. It seemed like an insurmountable task at the time, so I only looked one week ahead at a time.

Then we got so busy I only could look ahead one week at a time. There was too much to do!

I tend to keep this blog and my work life at Smokin' Pete's a little separate. It's challenging, as they are both about barbecue, but this blog is also about the time I'm not in the restaurant. It's about cookin' in the backyard, with kids running around me, and about how I try to sneak in writing time here and there. Hopefully I share a few tips along the way to help you, or at least a story to make you laugh from time to time.

This blog is also a creative break from work for me. I can post what I want; I don't get paid for it and I blog because I like it.

But this week I have to write about work. We had a helluva summer! We did more catering than ever and sort of grew up as a business: we finally bought a catering van after years of delivering in our station wagons (or as one client called it, our "clown cars", because we fit so much in our two wagons), we have a higher caliber crew, and could rely on our staff more than in years past, and yesterday, after over a year of looking, we bought a mobile smoker!

I'll show you pictures of it tomorrow. First, I thought I'd share some shots of summer. Enjoy.

Smoked chicken finished off on the grill for a crowd of almost 2000.

Meat. It's what's for dinner.

One of my floral arrangements this summer. I always forget to take pictures!

Biker night at Pete's. This group drives up at least once a month.

Fixin's platter and our Sweet Potato Cornbread.

Not the prettiest pic, but hey, I'm workin' here. CB, if you're reading, note the Char-Broil hat.

We cater a lot of weddings and rehearsal dinners, more than you might think. This wedding was stunning, as was the bride. She wasn't afraid to chow down on some ribs in her dress either, bless her.

I had many visits by old and new friends this summer, including this one by Barry "CB" Martin of Char-broil, Larry "The BBQ Grail" Gaian, and his lovely wife Celeste. Larry and Celeste breezed in between a wedding rehearsal and trip to Pike's Place Market. We ate Eric's Kalbi Beef Ribs, plus a sampling of barbecue.

Smoked Salmon. We smoked these wild Sockeye with a mix of alder and cherry.

And finally, though I have loads of cute pics of my kids this summer, I am reticent to put them out here on the web. I'll instead share one of our two new furry kids. This is Saber (short for Saber tooth Tiger). She's a cuddle bug.

Hope you all had a wonderful summer and that you all remember this: barbecue is good any time of year. Especially February. Don't forget to eat ribs at Pete's in February, y'all. It will beat back the winter blues for both of us.

Recipe: Smoked Stuffed Trout with Farro & Greens

2010-08-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

The very first night, within an hour of unloading my new Big Green Egg, I fired it up. Eric had bought some wonderful looking Rainbow Trout, and we decided to smoke-roast it on the Egg as a christening.

I'm also on a latent farro kick. Latent because back when every food blogger was bowing to the hip "new" Italian grain, I was digging in my heels, saying, "Why should I spend $8.50 on a little bag of stinkin' grain?"

I still kind of think that, but I do see what all the hub bub is about. The kernels are so...meaty. And they take on flavors so delicately. E' bellissimo, the farro. Farro, by the way, is a generic word for wheat in Italy, and they note it as farro small, medium, or large. The stuff that we get in the expensive little bag at the fancy grocery store, is a very large variety. It may actually be some variety of spelt.

Eight plus bucks for a small bag, though. Come on! This is something I'll only cook with something special, like the trout I'm about to show ya, if I'd stop yapping already.

This recipe is easy. With a Big Green Egg, you can do it blindfolded. At least after the charcoal is lit. This works perfectly well on a gas grill too, cooked indirectly.

Smoked Stuff Trout with Farro and Greens
© Julie Reinhardt

2 Rainbow trout, book cut (see below)
2 cups cooked farro
1 cup Swiss Chard, chopped fine
3 tablespoons chopped tarragon (or herb of your choice)

2/3 cup grated Parmesan

4 tablespoons melted butter

salt and pepper

Step-by-Step

1. Cook farro in salted water, set aside.

2. Book cut trout, meaning cut down one side of the bones as if filleting the fish, only don't cut all the way through. This way the fish opens flat like so:

3. Mix remaining ingredients together and stuff fish.

4. Smoke-roast at 250-300 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour. (I used plum wood because we have plum trees and other fruit trees that give us year-round free smoking wood. Use what you have on hand. Alder is nice for fish.)

What I loved about this dish, aside from the lovely smokiness of it, was that it made a whole meal! The grain, greens and fish are all in one. I made a simple heirloom tomato salad with nothing but salt on it to balance out the flavors.

I must add one note that the pictures on this post, and for the next week or so, will be sub-par. I've lost my camera. Lost it! I can only hope it's buried under something in my office and will re-surface soon, which tells you a little about the state of affairs in my office. I'm left with my phone camera, which is fine for a quick shot of the kids, because they are cute no matter what, but doesn't quite capture food well enough.

I really don't want to buy another camera. Correction, I do want to buy another camera, but can't really afford the one I want. But I digress...

Happy cooking everyone!

Baby Eggatha

2010-08-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've wanted a Big Green Egg since before I had babies, and now she's finally here. Everyone, meet Eggatha. Isn't she pretty?

A huge thank you to the folks at Associated Energy Systems for making this happen. I've done a few Egg events this year, from giving one away on CBS Better Mornings Atlanta, to making MOINK balls at the Pacific NW Eggfest, to a demo with AES, and I hope to do more, especially now that I'm a ~~card~~ grill carrying Egghead.

In my book I call the Egg an "insulated barbecue womb", because it holds temperature so evenly. I also love its versatility. Most grill/smokers do one or the other better, but the Egg truly is both. You can make pizzas fast and furious one night, and slow cook a pork shoulder the next day.

I'll post my first recipe on the Egg next. We christened it with smoked stuffed trout. It was eggcellent. OK. I promise to get these egg puns out of my system. Really.

It's that time of year again

2010-08-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

This is the time of year that I do two things: I make crazy lists and spreadsheets about moving off the grid and disappearing into my solar-powered bunker, and I rebel. I rebel from all the extra noise, be it on-line, like twitter or face book, the noise of the nightly news, and the noise of those little obligations that wear on you, but you really should do.

Like pay bills, and make a copy of your new insurance card for the doctor, or file things.

I rebel because while everyone has been enjoying their summer days and vacations, we have been catering in the heat, in parks, on roof tops. Every. Single. Day. Or if by chance we get a day or two break, the phone seems to ring off the hook.

I'm not complaining. In barbecueville, you take as much as you can muster in the summer months, because the winter is loooong. No matter how loyal your customers may be, people just don't eat as much barbecue in the rain as they do in the sun.

But by mid to late August, I start to lose it, just a little.

I read novels at night until 2am.

I search craigslist and the web for things I don't need.

I write poetry.

And, as you can see, I rebel from my blog. I have about 15 posts stacking up. None finished, but all pretty close. A picture here, a proofread there. I have all sorts of things to tell you about... from pictures of a friend's book launch party, to pork sliders, a smoked trout stuffed with farro recipe, a Salmon Bake I attended, new food poetry Friday posts, my new Big Green Egg....

The list is long and as soon as I get my rebel yell on, or off, I'll get right back to it.

Until then, enjoy the dog days of summer. Keep cool, read good books, and if you are so inclined, pen a few lines of poetry on an envelope from your purse.

My mom-in-law is coming in less than two days. I really should deep clean the bathroom, but The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is calling me. Sigh. I think I'll just read a little bit first. Anyone buy that?

I wouldn't come over tomorrow if I were you. I have a feeling I'm going to be speed cleaning like a madwoman. The kind that might wind up in a solar-powered bunker if she doesn't get a little down time soon. Wish me luck.

Mother-in-Law Kalbi

2010-08-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm lucky that I get along with my mother-in-law. Politically, we are near, we both loathe Walmart, and we generally don't vote for the red team, unless by red team you mean a bottle red wine. She's sharp as a whip, and I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that whip.

So when she e-mailed me, "That's NOT Kalbi!!!", about my blog post a few weeks ago, I had to let my first three reactions go, and then have a talk with my husband.

"Those are the cross cut short ribs I always buy, and what is served in all the Korean restaurants here. What does she mean I have the wrong cut?"

Turns out instead of a thin cross cut of the beef ribs, her Kalbi recipe, and probably more authentic than what I get on Highway 99, has the ribs cut across only once, in half, then scored along the top. Same basic marinade, only these are the big, meaty ribs, not the thin slices of them.

Lucky for me, we have a band saw in the walk-in refrigerator (we cut our own dog bones). So honey goes to the shop and cuts me up some beef ribs just like his momma used to buy.

These meatier bones need more time marinating and some indirect time in the smoker than the thin cut short ribs.

The Marinade
Make the same marinade as the other Kalbi ribs I did a few weeks ago, but instead of overnight, marinate meat for 1-2 full days.

Combination Cooking
Make a hot hot charcoal fire and sear ribs. Keep on turning for about 5 minutes. Set aside while you make an indirect, low fire.

I used my Weber bullet smoker and used the bottom part first as a grill, then put it back together for smoke, added wood, the water pan and lowered the temperature with the vents to about 200 degrees.

Smoke ribs for about 45 minutes to an hour to tender up. This isn't slow and low barbecue - you want the ribs to stay on the rarer side, like steak, but giving them some low heat will break down some of the tough connective tissue.

The Glaze
Make a glaze and brush on liberally for the last 20 minutes of cooking time.

Heat 1 cup chicken stock and whisk in 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Add 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Boil down until it thickens. Makes enough for about 6 racks of beef short ribs (12 Kalbi pieces).

Serve with white rice and grilled zucchini or a fresh cucumber salad and dig in.

Visit today with Larry "BBQ Grail" and Barry "CB" from Char-Broil

2010-08-06T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today I get to visit with three great folks at Smokin' Pete's, Larry "BBQ Grail" Gaian, his wife Celeste, and Barry "CB" Martin. I spent almost a week at Memphis in May with all of them, so this is a reunion. The four of us went out to dinner every night and ate both good and bad barbecue in the city.

Both Larry and Barry are well-known in the barbecue community. Larry runs a few websites, most notably The BBQ Grail, where he blogs, twitters and facebooks about all things barbecue. He is also the inventor of the MOINK ball, a delicious concoction I've made on this blog (and many other times).

Barry is the man behind the "CB" persona over at the Char-Broil forums, and he writes the blog and the Char-Broil newsletter. You'll also see him at big events, talkin' infrared with the masses.

I'll try to add pictures of our gathering tonight. We'll be eating barbecue at Pete's, of course!

Writer friend Holly Cupala's book trailer (and contest!)

2010-08-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

A dear friend of mine just launched her first novel, Tell Me A Secret. I just finished reading it and what I loved about it most was that she really nailed the emotional climax of the book. That's not easy to do. As a writer, this is the one thing that I strive for most, and the one thing I struggle with the most.

I know as a reader when an author hits it. It means I'm no longer aware that I'm reading. Instead I'm in the story, rooting for the main character with banners and pom poms...and at some point I'm bawling my eyes out. A story doesn't have to be sad for me to tear up, it has to be honest. It has to connect to that emotional well that resides inside of us.

Holly reaches deep in that well in Tell Me A Secret, a story about a teenage girl dealing with a pregnancy, her family secrets about her sister's death, and finding her way and place in the labyrinth of it all.

For all the other great things about this book, you'll just have to read it yourself. And to help you get this hot little book in your hands, Holly is running a fabulous contest where you could win your very own copy. Or a cool necklace like the one in the picture. Or a Tell Me a Secret tee like the one modeled by miss Holly herself, plus tons of other cool swag.

All you have to do is watch this very cool book trailer and then share the love. Share it on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or some other place out there in web land. You get 5 points for each share. Tell Holly where you posted it to get entered.

Miz Cupala (rhymes with Impala) will be featured at readergirlz for the entire month of August, with a live Twitter chat coming mid month.

Later this week I'll post a recipe for the chocolate-peanut butter-bacon cupcakes I baked for Holly's book launch party. For now, go out there and enter. But first, watch this....

Wild Huckleberry Bread

2010-07-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I have a penchant for wild huckleberries. Red, blue, it doesn't matter which variety. I just want to eat them. We pick these wild, tart berries every year, up on some property near Index, WA. You may have read my last year's post called Huckleberry Sweet and Sorrow Tart.

This year was an excellent crop. Just the right amount of sun and rain made them plump and perfect. What didn't go into the kid's mouths, went into to our bucket. Oh, how we could have plundered without the babes! Then again, I'd have missed baby girl's exclamation at every single berry, "Bewwy!", and her chubby little hands stuffing handfuls into her sweet cheeks.

We promised Eric's mom some berry something when she visits in August. Let me tell you, the stock is dwindling. She may just get a few frozen berries on yogurt for breakfast.

I coralled my son the day after berry pickin' to help me make this bread. I used a recipe in the Joy of Cooking for a baseline of ratios, but made it up as we went along. We ate the entire loaf throughout the day. I think my husband got one slice. Maybe.

Wild Huckleberry Bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2 X 4 1/2 loaf pan.

Whisk together:
1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, beat on high:
6 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar

Gradually beat in:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
3 T maple syrup

Add the flour mixture in three parts, beating on low or handmixing until just combined. Fold in 1 cup of wild huckleberries. (You may substitute 1/2 cup of dried berries and 1/2 cup chopped pecans).

Bake 45 minutes. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding from pan to further cool before slicing. Dust with powdered sugar.

Our smoker, our oven

2010-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit this. Back in April, in April, our oven elements at home went out. I tried out the self-cleaning function on the oven, and apparently four years of grime was too much for the thing, so it quit.

It was right before the book tour, and then I went to Memphis, and then catering season hit three seconds after I landed (while I'm admitting embarrassing things: suitcase still not entirely unpacked).

I also checked and they don't carry the elements at Home Depot or Lowe's. All appliance parts live in a place called Tukwila. If you are in the Seattle area, that is. There is an actual town, south of Seattle, that hoards appliance parts and to get them you have to go there. Yeah right.

We haven't missed it much. Eric is the king of the one pan meal, and we have a bevvy of grills and smokers in the back yard. The two things I miss, though, are frittatas and baked goods, if "baked goods" can really be counted as one thing. Two categories then. Fluffy egg dishes and yummy baked things.

But guess what? I don't have to miss a thing. I can do it all on the grill (and so can you).

Today, I did both. Well, I kind of cheated on the baked goods category. I baked Pillsbury dough ready-made cinnamon rolls, which were yum, and besides it was work-related. Yeah. Sorry about your cubicle.

I'm doing an all-day demo at the Big Green Egg dealership in Kent on Tuesday, and needed to time my breakfast choices. I'm going to do the egg dish from scratch, but needed something easier than pie for the second item. Everyone loves a cinnamon roll, so I figure no one will bust me on the store-bought with a mouthful of buttery icing.

Both dishes were so easy and were enhanced by the imparted charcoal flavor that I must share them with you. The first is a Southwest Frittata with Yukon Gold Potato Crust.

I baked on my Weber Smokey Mountain (I don't have an Egg...yet, but it's coming). It maintains heat really nicely, but it likes 250 degrees. I can get it higher, but it takes management, and I had both kids solo today.

Both recipes are timed for this lower heat. If you have a smoker/grill that can maintain 325-350 degrees easily, halve the times. Of course you can do both recipes in the oven, but that's missing the point.

Southwest Frittatta with Yukon Gold Crust

Ingredients*
3 Yukon Gold potatoes
salt to taste
3/4 lb sausage
2-3 T vegetable oil
8 eggs
2 T milk
4 oz grated cheddar or Colby
2 T diced green chilies
1 T diced jalapenos
4 T enchilada sauce
4-6 slices Oaxaca cheese (or other mild, slightly creamy cheese. I like the Oaxaca because it gets nice and smoky, but it's somewhat pricey and not always available)

*A note about the ingredients. I get annoyed by recipes that have you buying all sorts of ingredients where you only use a tiny bit. Just. Like. This. One. The green chilies and jalapenos do freeze well. Buy the smallest jars, or skip one of them. The enchilada sauce is nice for color and flavor, but is optional. Use what you have in the fridge and pantry! Substitute freely!

Step-by-Step
1) Cook potatoes until just done, but still firm. Cool for 1 hour.

2) Cook sausage and drain on paper towels.

3) Slice potatoes in about 1/4 inch slices and fry until just starting to brown in pan. (Remember: Hot Pan, Cold Oil. Don't add the oil until the pan is hot, then add the potatoes. This way they won't stick or get saturated with oil). Salt lightly, if at all. The sausage and cheese will add salt to the dish as well. Set aside.

4) Get coals hot and, when ashed over, spread evenly in charcoal smoker (or in half of a grill so you have an indirect cooking space). I used a water pan and think it helps keep the eggs from drying out.

5) Whisk together 8 eggs, milk, cheese, sausage, green chilies, and jalapenos (sauteed onions and garlic are also nice with this recipe. I was just out. Saute them with the sausage).

6) Place potatoes in an oiled pan that you don't mind getting a bit sooty. A 10-inch pie pan works well. Cut some potato slices in half so the "crust" goes up the sides of the pan.

7) Pour the egg mixture in the pan and place on grill.

8) Bake for 30-40 minutes. Add slices of Oaxaca cheese in a sun pattern, and alternate stripes of enchilada sauce. Bake for another 20-30 minutes until center doesn't wiggle.

9) This is important: Let cool for at least 10-15 minutes. Cut around edges with a dinner knife.

10: Getting it out of the pan: Place one plate over it and flip. If you oiled the pan well and let the frittata cool enough, it should fall out. Don't worry if some of it doesn't. Scrape any remains and pat back into frittata. Place another plate on top and flip over again. Now the pretty part will show and most mistakes will be hidden. Slice and serve.

Cheater Baked Good Recipe on the Smoker
1) Open a can of ready made cinnamon roll dough.
2) Place in oiled pan as directed.
3) Bake in smoker at 250 degrees for 1 hour, icing it in the last 10 minutes. If you bake at the directed 325-350 degrees, follow time on can.

Eat 'em up. Hopefully you ripped the calorie/fat content part off the wrapper when opening.
You don't wanna know.

NW Barbecue: It's Salmon Bake Time

2010-07-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

We went to the Seafair Pow Wow last weekend at Discovery Park in Seattle. I've been wanting to go to this Pow Wow for years to see the traditional dancing, and because they do a salmon bake. To those of you on the east coast, this is our answer to the clambake.

I have a particular interest in traditional salmon cooking, as you may have read in my book. I go into detail on how to create your own stakes and pit for a traditional Coast Salish preparation. We have a touristy, but authentic enough place called Tillicum Village that prepares salmon on stakes as you can see in the photo here. The salmon cooks indirectly around an alder fire.

Making stakes like these is quite easy, and a great way to cook fish at the beach or camping.

The Browns Point Salmon Bake is August 7 & 8, and if you are in the area I encourage you to go. They only host it every other year and it's the largest one in the area. It has a rich history, and one that I have a personal connection to. My uncle slow-cooked salmon in a large pit each year, along with potatoes and corn. He wrapped the salmon in seaweed the kids gathered before the bake. Turns out he learned the technique from the same Native American that started the Browns Point bake. At Browns Point, they cook the salmon on cedar stakes over a pit almost identical to the pit we saw at the Pow Wow this weekend.

The Seafair Pow Wow pit was made of cinderblocks, but instead of cedar stakes, they used modern technology and cooked the fish in mesh cages. They cooked the fish on one rack, then put another on top to turn. This made it easy to flip, with minimal lost of fish in the fire. The Pow Wow itself struck me as a joyful celebration that embraced modernity easily alongside tradition. The MC cracked jokes throughout, saying things like,

"OK, folks, we just have to wait a second while some duct tape is applied. Duct tape being one of the necessities of traditional Navajo dancing."

It was a fun, albiet hot day (for a Northwesterner). For those of you interested in learning to cook salmon this way, or on stakes, here are a few tips.

1) Cook fish meat side to the fire first.

2) If you are cooking it on stakes, leaning toward the fire, then have the head end, the fleshier end, down, closest to the fire. This way the tail end, or tip, won't get overcooked.
3) Flip it when it is almost done. Leave it skin side to the fire for only a few minutes. Too long and the meat may fall off the skin.

Tips 1 & 2 apply if you are grilling a fish directly, too. Fish baskets are great for the more delicate varieties. I find salmon is a pretty grill-hearty fish, but if you are nervous about it, don't hesitate to use the tools available.

For much greater detail, turn to Chapter 10 in my book, or e-mail me with questions!

Back to some grillin': Kalbi Short Ribs

2010-07-15T23:49:00.000-07:00

OK, break's over. Let's get back to some food on this barbecue blog. You may have noticed I haven't posted a recipe for awhile. June and July are our busiest catering months at Smokin' Pete's BBQ, and I'm lucky to have two matching clean socks, let alone cook something worth photographing at home.

This post ain't barbecue, it's grillin', but it sure is tasty. Korean-style short ribs are one of the quickest meals you can throw on a grill. Marinate them in the morning, throw on some rice when you get home, and sizzle these ribs on a hot hot grill.

I usually use a charcoal grill, but this time I tried out my Char-broil Quantum infrared grill. I wanted to see if the infrared grill could really get hot enough for this recipe, because I find regular gas grills don't.

Kalbi Marinade

Make a simple marinade of equal parts soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and brown sugar. Add chopped fresh ginger. Green onion is nice if you have it (I didn't this time). Chili flakes and black pepper will add some heat (I made mine mild for the kids, but I normally like a little kick of chili). Submerge ribs in marinade for 4-8 hours before grilling. Shake off excess marinade before you put them on the heat.

The Grill
Be it gas or charcoal, you want a hot fire for these babies. They are going to cook fast, and you want to sear the outside, pull them off rare on the inside, and let them finish to medium rare while they rest. Leave some indirect space on your grill in case things get too hot or flare up. I rarely have flare-ups, but I once nearly started a back yard fire while grilling short ribs.

On the infrared grill, I prepped the grill grates with a swipe of an oiled rag before turning it on. I find my infrared needs more seasoning than a standard gas grill. I then preheated both burners on high for a full 15 minutes with the lid down.

The Meat
Throw down the ribs for a quick 1-2 minutes per side. As soon as they are marked, basically it is time to turn or take them off.

Green on the grill
While they rest, grill some bok choy you have marinated in canola oil, rice wine vinegar, and a touch of soy sauce. Grill the bok choy on medium heat or indirectly, so the leaves steam without burning. Serve with jasmine rice.

I thought the infrared grill did better than a standard gas grill. While they weren't as reddish pink in the middle as I'm used to, the ribs were as tender as the rarer ribs I get on charcoal. I missed the layer of charcoal flavor to the meat, but that's the trade off when you are going for the ease of gas.

Drew Landry on the Gulf Oil Spill: Just Do The Right Damn Thing

2010-07-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

To continue with the musical theme this month (grin), I saw this on Huffington Post today. I love this. A fine young man named Drew Landry got up and sang to the politicians. Drew, like so many people, has lost more than just his livelihood from the BP oil spill, he's lost his way of life. In the end of his presentation, in frustration he says, "Just do the damn right thing."

I want that on a T-shirt.

Not that would do anything to stop the gaping, gushing hole of oil that no one seems to know how to stop.

The destruction of ecosystems from this spill is something I doubt we will see recover in our life time. What gets me, though, is the amount of toxic chemicals they are using to break up the oil, that is already making people sick. Duh. Why is common sense so difficult for Washington?

Perhaps this song can help give the people a voice.

Pictures from the Lilith Fair

2010-07-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

Heading to the Gorge Amphitheater brought back so many memories. About 15 years ago, I used to work for a backstage catering company. We catered for the talent and the crews, preparing all their meals and dressing room requirements.

We did three years hard time at the Gorge. Every weekend in the summer, we logged the three-hour trek from Seattle, with vans loaded to the hilt with food to feed anywhere from 60 to 500 people, three meals a day, depending on the show.

Festival shows like the Lilith Fair, or Lollapalooza were crazy. We had up to 12 dressing rooms to supply, all with very specific, contracted items. If someone wanted St. Paulie Girl beer in their dressing room, there was no substituting Molsen. Not if you wanted a job the next week.

Many of the dressing room items had nothing to do with catering, but were things the artists needed, like socks, condoms, (or a brand new toilet seat because Ms. Jackson won't sit where others have).
The Gorge was particularly challenging because it is literally in the middle of nowhere. It sits on the edge of the Columbia River Gorge, in a desert landscape ringed with farmland. The nearest Costco is 2 hours away. Four hours round-trip for a forgotten item doesn't really work in catering time, where everything must be up and ready at a specific moment.

You made sure it was in the van before you left town. All of it.

It was also hot. Sagebrush hot. Rattlesnake and jackrabbit hot.

And hilly. And we had to roll case after case of beer up those hills, in the heat. I don't miss working there, it was a job for young bodies, but it sure was nice to visit last weekend, especially because we got to go like we're used to at the Gorge.

I have no idea what the Gorge is like as a "regular concert goer". Saturday, I must admit, was no different. We had backstage passes. 15 years later we drove up, in a catering van (only not as a working caterer, ours had a blow up mattress in the back), entered the gate like we used to, and went backstage. The funny thing is, I don't actually think we were supposed to park back there. But they waved us through and, since we knew how things work there, we quietly found a spot and didn't do anything un-kosher, like ask for an autograph or take pictures without permission.

We had great seats. 2nd row, center section, lookin' up the nose hairs seats. Because of that, my little digital camera pictures aren't that bad for concert shots.

Erykah Badu was amazing (how have I missed her?), Sheryl Crow and her amazing band of 14 years rocked the house, Sugarland was full of fun and energy, and Sarah McLachlan serenaded us with her beautiful voice and spirit. Here are some of the pictures.

Oh yeah! Since this is a barbecue blog, I should tell you. The backstage caterers boiled their ribs. We watched them dump 'em from the pot. Someone eating them a bit later asked me "If they are good, though, why is that wrong?" My answer was it's not wrong if you like them, it's just not barbecue. If they taste good, then by all means, have another.

I invite you to comment.

Erykah Badu

Not only can she look glamorous in an old pair of yellow sweats, a t-shirt, farmer's apron, ten-gallon hat, and gold earrings, Erykah can sing her heart out!

Sheryl Crow played mostly crowd-pleasers plus a few songs from her upcoming album. My favorite was the rowdy Led Zeppelin show ender, complete with smashed drums, keyboards, plenty of reverb.

Bassist Tim Smith

While Sugarland is not my cup of tea musically, no one can argue that they put on a high-energy and fun show. Except maybe Eric, but he's a cranky person by nature. He doesn't trust exuberance.

This is the view from the catering tent.

And one last shot of the sun going down....

Happy Fourth of July!

2010-07-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July Everyone. May your 'cue be tender, may your steaks sizzle, and may you combat "bubble butt" on your burgers by making a slight depression in the center of them before they hit the grill (that was a tip, by the way).

For the first year since we opened the restaurant, I not actually working today. Eric is, as is most of our crew, but I get to be on kid duty today. Why, you ask? Because last night was our very first night away from the kids. Ever. So they need extra mama today.

Last night we went to the Lilith Fair at the Gorge, after which we drove to the woods at Index (arriving in the wee hours). We woke up and picked huckleberries, and headed back to town to pick up our loved ones, who were watched over by their loving grandparents (yay for grandparents!!!).

It's a testament to our employees that we can do this on such a huge barbecue weekend. They actually like it when "mom and dad" are away, not because they can goof off, but because they can prove to us how great a job they can do without us. Not that we need any convincing, but we appreciate it just the same.

Now go out there and fire up the coals, y'all, if you aren't already there.

Save your cuttings!

2010-07-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you that prune back your trees in the spring or fall, remember to save the wood! Any non-evergreen wood is usually excellent for smoking, especially fruit woods. Even adding a chunk to your grill can impart a kiss of smoke on quick grilled items.

Our cherry and apple trees don't give us much fruit, or much we can reach before the squirrels and birds get to them, but they supply wood chunks most of the year for barbecue.

Season wood in a covered area for about six months.

R & R in the woods at Index

2010-06-24T23:28:00.000-07:00

After two busy-as-heck weeks at Smokin' Pete's, we took a few days to rest. There is really only one place I can completely forget about the business, e-mail, and the house list: the woods of Index, WA. It's almost scary how easily I forget it all here.

It's easy to "unplug", because there are no plugs. No cell reception. No running water. No street lights. Just peace. I won't say quiet because the birds sing symphonies all hours of the day and night, the wind stirs the trees into a breezy boogie, and the Douglas squirrels chirp like it's 1999.

We go every year about this time. Once the graduation parties are done, schools are out, and before summer camps begin, most folks spend time with their family. That means they generally don't need catering and we get a slight break before the onslaught of the 4th of July and the rest of the summer.

Our little slightly-bigger-than-a-bathtub shack still needs a floor, so we camp. It's near the North Fork Skykomish river, which is, in my mind, the most perfect river in the world. I am almost always inspired to write poetry while sitting on its rocky shores. Much of it stinkier than skunk weed, but I kind of liked the poem I wrote this time.

The huckleberries are just starting to turn red. In a few weeks we need to get back to pick some serious berry booty. My 17 month old can now say "Bewwy!" She's indiscriminate, happily gulping down salmon berries, huckleberries, and grapes (she calls those berries too), followed by her favorite word and sign: "Mo'!"

Blue Huckleberry

And there are wildflowers. Lupin and Foxglove and Columbine, Oh my!

I love how kid-friendly nature is. I mean, look at this happy one-eyed monster rock.

Or the scary guy next to him:

We made a baby wading pool off the river in no time at all.

Bliss.

So where do you like to unwind? What helps you unplug? And when are you going there?