Green Eggs, Dr. BBQ, Mrs. Dog and Peace on Earth

I was leafing through the Feb. 4 issue of People Magazine while at a grocery store (OK, I bought it and was reading it at home). Anyway I opened it up and there was Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ .

Holy smokes. He did it! I met Ray many years ago at the one of the first “State of MI BBQ Competitions”.  This was at Berlin Raceway in Marne, MI. The Outdoor Cook was only a couple years old. I was new to BBQ competitions. Didn’t know much about nothing.

Anyway, I was cooking on two Big Green Eggs and one Hasty Bake. This big dude came walking by. Stopped. Shook his head sadly. “I don’t like those eggs at all. The Hasty Bake is cool, but those eggs….” He walked off shaking his head.

Well, that was my introduction to Ray Lampe. I met him another couple of times. Exchanged a few e-mails. But that was my first impression. An “egg-hater”. I was to find out that “egg-haters” were many. For some reason egg-heads were an early scourge of BBQ competition. Don’t know why. Eggs cooked great. Looked weird. Cooked great. But green ceramic cookers were different looking for sure.

Flash forward a many years and I start reading about a new egg-head “in-town”: Ray Lampe, aka Dr. BBQ! Ray had become a spokesperson, egg-vocate, egg-vangalist, and egg-lightened BBQer.

Without a doubt, Ray is one of the hardest working  (and most talented) BBQers in America. He travels the country. Competes, writes books, teaches BBQ and still does some catering I think. But I get real kick out of his love for the Egg…

I have a good friend, Julie Applegate (aka Mrs. Dog).

Julie cooked with Ray at the American Royal last year and said she had a great time. Julie is one of the original egg-heads in Michigan. In fact, I think I sold more Eggs from Julie’s referrals than anyone else.

Anyway, it might not be interesting to anyone else, but life makes me laugh. You just never know. Egg-hater one day. Egg-head the next.  What’s next?  World peace?

Grilladelic: Making the world a better place one tender brisket at a time.

ps.  Ray won the Michigan competition that year.  I believed he was using a modified pellet pooper and Moe Pritchett’s Down Home BBQ Sauce! Now, Big Moe is another story (and another legendary BBQer whom I have known for many years!)

Grilladelics Most Wanted!

All right….

January and February are difficult months for grill and BBQ enthusiasts in Michigan (and the Midwest). Not impossible, but difficult.

Here is what I am interested in these bleak months, to help prepare for the open fires of spring.

1. A recipe for a good BBQ sauce. Sweet, spicy and thick. I don’t want molasses sweet. Either honey or fruit sweet. Spicy should be a kick, about 2-3 seconds after the sweet. Thick and gooey. I do like the thin, peppery sauces of Texas, but in Michigan….sweet is the trick. A little bite sets you apart from the masses.

2. A good, simple mop for pork butts. Salt and vinegar focused. I don’t like complicated recipes. Taste buds need that salt and vinegar fix.  Salty with a kick (followed by the sweet and spicy sauce).

3. A great cole slaw recipe. Not Gordon Foods or Sam’s Clubs bulk, corporate “slaw”, but a real earthy, simply, slaw. I am looking for rough cut veggies with almost an asian-style taste….Miracle Whip need not apply.  Please. Cole slaw compliments BBQ more than anything else.

That is my wish list. I am comfortable with my brisket (rub and technique), and my chicken (technique and sauce). I think I can improve ribs and pulled pok with a better sauce. The cole slaw is for the side.

Let me know….being grilladelic is about making the world a better place. One neighborhood BBQ party at a time!

Another Abaco Post

Here is my last post regarding my vacation over the holiday.

These were some very tasty strawberry grouper we caught. We actually landed about 20 of these over the course of two mornings fishing. Absolutely delicious eating. We grilled a couple but mostly pan fried. Shore Lunch and Drakes were the batters we used.

For grilling purposes, we used an open pit. It is probably my favorite type of grilling. Perfect for direct heat, thin to medium cuts of meat or filets. It is very ineffecient however. A Weber kettle with it’s cover really speeds things up.

This picture is the pork loin I referenced in a previous blog. (lime juice, olive oil and Cavender’s Greek Seasoning)

It took about 30 – 45 minutes to grill these.

The beautiful thing about this type of grilling is that you have to be there. Really. You have to babysit the grill the entire time. 45 minutes of peace, quiet and an open fire. That is grilladelic.

My last musings about Treasure Cay in the Bahama’s.

What a beautiful place. Not for shopping, but the fishing, beaches and relaxation was spectacular. I also had an opportunity to spend a half day birding with some great folks. We saw over 40 species including two different types of hummingbirds, a bull finch, and several warblers. we also accomplished this without getting bit by fire ants or rubbing up against poison wood.

It is an unusual place too. My daughter swam in a blue hole. A “bottomless” pit of fresh water in the island that is impacted by the tides. Thank God I was not there when my father-in-law took my daughter and my nieces to the blue hole. The idea of swimming in a bottomless pit of dark blue water is the stuff of nightmares for me. My daughter and her cousins thought it was cool.
During our birding excursion I visited the pine forests and a plantation that was recently shut down, leaving hundreds (thousands??) of workers, mostly Haitians, without work. Near the plantation, we drove through Haitian towns where the poverty was very sad. Apparently many of these individuals are considered squatters and are faced with deportation. I don’t know the whole story, but it certainly makes you appreciate your own blessings.

I am writing this blog in San Antonio, having just finished a conference.

I hope to begin experimenting with my own BBQ sauce this winter and will pass on the progress in future blogs. Adios for now.

No Reservations – Part 2

I previously posted about the Food Network’s “stars”…Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Bobby Flay.   What I meant to say was much better (did I say MUCH better) summed up in Bourdain’s blog about his relationship with the Food Network.

http://anthony-bourdain-blog.travelchannel.com/ 

That is a blog!

And if you think about…doesn’t “success” have a way of spoiling of things?

No Reservations

There is NO QUESTION about it.  The best food and travel show on TV is Anthony Bourdain’s, No Reservations.

Funny and informative.  Last night’s show, set in Singapore, had me dreaming about food.  The simple chicken and rice dish looked terrific.  Especially the condiments: packed with chile, garlic, soy sauce…

Seeing a horseshoe crab being grilled over an open fire was especially awesome.

Here is a link:

http://travel.discovery.com/tv/bourdain/bourdain.html
My grill-cam has been  in the case the last few weeks.  Weather in Michigan is a bit on the nasty side (no excuse, I know) but I did grill some pork in the Bahamas that was terrific.

Here is what I did.  Took a full pork loin and cut it into 1″ steaks.  Soaked this in olive oil, a little garlic and lime juice for about 3 hours.

Got the coals hot in an open grill pit.  Seasoned the meat with the a commercial blend, Cavenders Greek Seasoning.  Really sensational.

http://www.greekseasoning.com/We grilled this for about 30-45 minutes, turning often and squeezing fresh lime juice on the meats every so often.  I don’t know if it was the Kalik’s, but it was the best dang pork I ever ate!

Done Fishin’

Back to work after two weeks in Abaco. We did a little of everything; birding, grilling, fishing, snorkeling, swimming, shelling, eating, drinking, laughing and several more “ings”.

We caught a wide variety of fish, drifting between Green Turtle and Whale Cay. Hog snapper, mutton snapper, strawberry grouper, Nausau grouper, yellow tail, black jack, and about 30 other varieties. The picture below is the hog snapper my brother-in-law caught. We had our kids on the boat when he landed this monster- you can imagine the looks on their faces when this fish was gaffed and landed . An incredible looking snapper…and maybe the best eating.