April 2006
Cutting Up a Chicken
Another good training video. This one deals with the proper way to cut up a chicken… always a useful skill to have. This video is brought to you by the folks over at Cuisine at Home Magazine. Click on the link below, press the blue play button, give it a minute to load and enjoy.
How to sharpen your knives
Here is nice little video by the Unknown Chef on the art of knife sharpening.
Soul Fusion Kitchen
Sylvie from soul fusion kitchen has done a wonderful write-up about our first BBQ competition. Check out her post at: Soul Fusion Kitchen
Carnitas
Even though it isn’t BBQ, I figured that I could share this with you all since it is delicious and it does, after all, involve one of my favorite cuts of meat… the pork butt. My family has a tradition of cooking carnitas outdoors on Easter Sunday and feasting on tacos and downing a couple of cold ones. It’s a day that I am not the one responsible for the Q… and gives me some time to just kickback and enjoy the party.
Carnitas are traditionally cooked inside of a “caso” (large copper pot) and deep fat fried in lard until the meat is tender and a tasty crust develops. Pork butts aren’t the only things that are cooked in the lard, Brother X also likes to drop in a rack or two of spare ribs to boot… deep fat fried ribs, as if the ribs weren’t fatty enough. We chop up the carnitas and wrap them in a tortilla, sprinkle some cilantro and onions and a dollop of homemade salsa. It’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
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BBQ Humor
This was sent to me by an old friend, Rosario. Enjoy.
Barbecue Season Is Coming!
After the long months of cold and winter, we will soon be coming up to summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking, as it’s the only type of cooking a real man will do, probably because there is an element of danger involved.
When a man volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:
Routine..
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1) The woman buys the food.
2) The woman makes the salad, prepares the side dishes, and makes dessert.
3) The woman prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces, and takes it to the man who is lounging beside the grill - beer in hand.
Here comes the important part:
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4) THE MAN PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.
More routine….
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5) The woman goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
6) The woman comes out to tell the man that the meat is burning. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another beer while he deals with the situation.
Important again:
7) THE MAN TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WOMAN.
More routine…..
The woman prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins, sauces and brings them to the table.9) After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes.
And most important of all:
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10) Everyone PRAISES the MAN and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.
11) The man asks the woman how she enjoyed “her night off.” And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that there’s just no pleasing some women….
Four-Q takes fifth place in ribs!
I wanted to do a quick post about the Autry BBQ competition this yesterday. Our team of bloggers competed against some of the best teams in state and came in fifth in ribs. Ultimately we ranked 19th out of 29 teams, not bad considering it was our first time out there. We had a great time out there and will probably do it again… were considering entering the Rose Bowl competition in October.
I will write a more telling review of my experience later this week because I am currently trying to catch up on some sleep. I wanted to thank my teammates (including the plate-prep girl, Cutty) and all of the blog readers and writers that came out to support us, (It’s great to finally put faces to a names) and all of our friends and families. It was very fun; you can’t go wrong hanging out with people who love BBQ.
Here is the list of winners from the first annual BBQ competition at the Autry:
Sauce
1- We B Qn
2- Santa Ynez BBQ
3- Uncle Ike’s BBQ
Southwest Dish
1- Iron Pan BBQ
2- Duelling Bubba’s
3- QN4U
Chicken
1- Gourmet Grills
2- BBQ by Dan
3- Asleep at the Grill
4- Tropical Heat
5- Otis and the Bird
Ribs
1- Tropical Heat
2- BBQ by Dan
3- Half Penny Kenny
4- Out of this World BBQ
5- Four-Q BBQ
Pork
1- QN4U
2- Otis and the Bird
3- Santa Ynez BBQ
4- Out of this World BBQ
5- BBQ by Dan
Brisket
1- Asleep at the Grill
2- Zeke’s Smokehouse BBQ
3- Otis and the Bird
4- Santa Ynez BBQ
5- Sug’s Shack
Reserve Grand Champion
BBQ by Dan
Grand Champion of the 2006 BBQ’N at the Autry
Otis and the Bird
BBQ Competition this weekend
My BBQ chicken turn-in box, work in progress.
This weekend, I will be my first official BBQ competition… and I am awfully excited. Seeing how addicting this “sport” can become, I don’t believe that it will be my last one either. For those out there that don’t know, four of us Southern California food bloggers have taken our virtual love of food and joined together to form a competition BBQ team. We go by the name name Four-Q. The funny thing is that none of us had ever met or spoken on the phone until we formed this BBQ team, about two months ago. We only knew each other from reading each other’s blogs: Soul Fusion Kitchen, You Gonna Eat That?, The Survival Gourmet and BBQ Junkie (of course).
The BBQ competition is this Friday and Saturday, with the awards being presented on Saturday afternoon. There are six categories in which we are being judged: chicken, pork butt, pork ribs, brisket, BBQ sauce and “anything butt.” The “anything butt” category is basically anything but BBQ.
Southern California is continuing to host more and more of these competitions. It benefits all of us by raising the level of BBQ in our region and helping define our own BBQ culture. If you are interested in BBQ, blogging, cooking, BBQ competitions or just looking for something to do come out and enjoy a weekend (Friday and Saturday) of BBQ at the Autry (in Griffith Park)… and meet a few bloggers trying to do there thing.