Some of our regulars at Smokin' Pete's

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

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

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....

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

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

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

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....)

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

6: 40am The coffee shop is closed

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

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)!

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)

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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.