bleachboy

I think it depends on the friends. Ruth and Marcus, friends of ours (my wife and I), invite us over to their house all the time, and we to ours, and I love going over to their place because they generally cook stuff unlike the type of thing I would normally cook. Another couple, Chek and Carrie, never cook for us. Why? They just don't cook. I don't mind that, 'cause I've known Chek for years and years and years and he's just not into cooking. Usually when I invite them over it's because I'm cooking some meat item (my wife is a vegetarian, and you can only eat so many leftovers). I love their company as well, mostly because they're incredibly gracious. But then there's another long-time friend who I won't even try for any more. The reason? He's the type of guy who thinks that cooking is woman's work, and you can put a dish in front of him that took you days to make (and I have), he'll wolf it down, and then you gotta ask "how was it?". "Pretty good." He gets hot dogs when he comes to visit. A little graciousness goes a long way! Us home cooks love compliments. I'd be willing to say that, apart from my own love of the cooking process coupled with the fun of the eating process, I'm cookin' for compliments. Give me none and you're unlikely to be fed well in the future.

I flip beef only once. If I'm doing steaks for guests, I will give them the rotation to create the diamond-shaped grill marks ("so you know it's grilled"), but I won't count that as a flip. If I'm grilling chicken, I'll usually flip it a few times, but bone-in chicken or parts takes a lot longer to cook than beef does. The flipping is mainly just so I can keep an eye on how things are progressing.

That's what I did to get an untrimmed whole brisket, too. :) Indeed, I just got back from the store, and the butcher said they do indeed get bone-in whole pork shoulders. They didn't have any in the back, but he said their meat shipment comes in tonight and to call him tomorrow morning. I'm already getting excited about smoking again!

I wear cologne, but I mist it in the air a few feet away then walk through it. My general opinion is that if you can smell cologne and you're farther than three inches away from some part of the wearee, that's too much cologne. My wife and I were driving past "Denim and Diamonds", a really trashy Country-Western night club in a really trashy part of town, and were almost gagging on Polo for Men with the windows rolled up, from about 50 feet away. Why do people bathe in it!?

Will do! I have never actually seen a bone-in pork shoulder around here (and never one with skin on), which is wierd because Tennessee is pork shoulder country. I am going to call around tomorrow and see if I can source one out, as well as maybe some apple wood for a milder smoke flavor. I'll try to drink less during the smokin' process this time, so that I'll remember to take photos. And I'll spend some time thinking up new awful "butt" jokes.

Congratulations are not in order just yet! I suspect I got lucky with this one. The first time I roasted a chicken, for example, it was phenomenal. The next four times, not so good. I intend to fire up the smoker every weekend where it will be possible between now and the end of summer. I want to feel confident in what I'm doing. So... some questions: 1. Do you ever need to finish a piece of smoked meat in the oven, as I did? I have a buddy in Texas who's an experienced smoker, and he says he pretty much always does this. 2. Do you have any thoughts on the notion of installing (?) some kind of damper (a big slab of aluminum foil?) between the firebox and the grill? 3. If using wood chunks (as I am, and will probably continue to do), about how much wood would you say is the ideal amount in the firebox? 4. Is there a way to avoid having quite so much of the burnt ends? Admittedly, I think much of that problem was my inexperience with heat control. This upcoming weekend I'll probably smoke something different, just because I'm not ready for another brisket. I'm thinking pork shoulder or some sort of fowl (I'd really like to learn to smoke a duck, which might not be too bad as I'm pretty experienced with duck cookery).

Seriously. I am in awe. /speechless

I'd really like to thank col klink for making such a great course. Being born-and-raised in Texas, I have long admired "real" BBQ. In 2004, I bought my first house, and now I have amentities like a driveway, back porch, carport, and shed. This summer, I had decided, would be the summer I'd learn to smoke. So I bought myself a Char-Griller, just like Klink's. About $170 at Lowe's, not bad at all. I bought it on Wednesday or Thursday of the past week. Friday (my wife had the day off) I assembled it (a bitch! Poking those "perforated" holes out was NOT easy. I had to bust out the drill to get one of 'em.). By about 4:00 pm, the grill was assembled. Now to "season" it. Everything was coated with some kind of gunky grease (they called it "vegetable oil", it looked like axle grease to me). The cast-iron grates, I coated with lard then cooked on the gas grill for 15 minutes (my oven's not self-cleaning) then stuck in the oven for about two hours. They came out perfectly black, slick, and quite well-seasoned. The smoker itself I fired up for about four hours, keeping the heat around 300 degrees for the first half, then around 225 for the second half, for practice. It's all assembled, time for a gin & tonic: Seasoning the smoker: After the smoker was seasoned, I made a BBQ sauce (from the Cooks Illustrated "New Best Recipes" cookbook -- the quick sauce, it's great) and the dry rub outlined in col klink's course. Who knew that we had sumac -- a big bag of it, even. Kudos to my wife Marissa for being into Indian cooking! I applied the dry rub to the 8 pound untrimmed brisket I'd gotten at Kroger's (who knew?) for about 20 bucks. The brisket I got looked positively lovely -- just loaded with fat on the top. Anyhow, I rubbed that baby down, wrapped it in foil, and refrigerated overnight. Just my luck. The next day (Saturday) called for an almost certain chance of thunderstorms all day long. I put it off, and around 3pm decided that it wasn't really going to rain. I still pulled the smoker downhill and put it near the edge of my carport just in case. Of course, about five minutes after starting up the fire, it started dumping rain. Oh well -- nothing better to do anyway, let's smoke! (p.s. I apologize for the lack of pictures of any later step, I just didn't get around to it or something) So the wood's fired up (I used a combo of hickory and mesquite chunks, which is just what they had at Home Depot). I cut the brisket into thirds as per the instructions and threw it on the fire. The Char-Griller I bought does have a (cheap, coil-type) thermometer built into the lid. I used my probe, too, but sort of abandoned it half way because I don't think it was working right. I checked the fire faithfully, about every 15 minutes at first, then about every 30 minutes once the fire "matured" a bit. Keeping the fire low was surprisingly difficult -- even 225 was not easy to maintain. It wanted to go either much higher or much lower. The thermometer on the Char-Griller actually marks 225, which is handy -- just keep the needle on that big red line, I said. About six hours later, it was getting late so I took it off. I let it rest, then cut into the point piece, a couple of inches from the end (which was black and charred, and presumably tough -- the "burnt ends"). It was deliciously flavorful and palatable with the BBQ sauce, but dry and tough otherwise. Disappointing. I put everything away and went to bed. This morning (Sunday), I got up and was much more clear-headed, the gin and tonics having left my system. I thought about the phenomenon I've noticed when braising -- if it's tough, give it more time. It seems to get tough before it gets tender. I also remembered a post I'd read on another message board -- a guy who said he finishes his BBQ brisket in a 200 degree oven. So I had nothing to lose -- I was not pleased with the results of a 6-hour smoke. I wrapped the three pieces of brisket in two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, put that on a sheet pan, and threw it in a 200 degree oven. This was about 9:00 am, and I was a bit foggy. About three or maybe four hours later, my grumbling stomach reminded me that there might be brisket about. I took it out of the oven, let it rest a bit, then cut off a piece. Awesome. Unbelievable. Moist and tender, and perfect smoke flavor. Something had happened. Something wonderful. Admittedly, the ends of each piece were still burnt and barky. But the middle 3/4 of each piece was right up there with some of the best brisket I've tasted. I was proud. So I took some of the brisket over to my parents, along with the BBQ sauce, some burger buns, and a fresh bag of potato chips. They agreed that it was truly a delicious brisket. My dad sat there on the back porch, sipping his rum and coke and munching on little croutons of the flavorful-but-chewy burnt ends. Life is good -- thanks, klink!

I have A Broil-Mate 7168 that runs on natural gas. I love it, and use it often. It's a post-style that is permanently fixed into the ground. The innards are all stainless steel and the outside is some kind of powder-coated steel. It seems very well-built, and looks as though it will last a very, very long time.

Cool. This year, my birthday is on a Wednesday (November 2), so it might not be so bad. I might try to make it up before then, though... Alinea looks exciting! We'll see. And your point about the restaurant being open for only a week is well-taken. Trio was very gracious and accomodating, I'm sure Alinea will be no different, once they get the kinks worked out.

Oh, man. Having read this thread, now I just gotta make it up there. Maybe for my birthday. Huge thanks to the many posters on this thread. The last few posts, though, have seemed to take a bitter turn. If I try to get a reservation for on or around my birthday (I had a TDF at Trio for my birthday a couple years back), am I gonna be screwed?

p.s. tomorrow - puffy tacos and deep-fried tacos (the ones with potato in the filling, I forget what the recipe was called)... Marissa is going to be doing some non-beverage chipping in with the puffy tacos!

Thanks for that tip! I just now got done with my second batch of tamales, the chicken and salsa verde, and I definitely feel confident in tamale manufacture. It goes considerably slower with just one person working, though. Tomorrow I'm going to make a third batch to use up the pork filling I made. I FoodSaver'ed the first batch today, and will probably give a lot of these to my mom for Mother's Day (both my parents are tamale fiends -- like father/mother, like son). I will definitely try adding a few spoonfuls of the chile puree to the masa to add some color. Also, I do appreciate the fact that your recipe can use just plain "Maseca" -- the Rick Bayless recipes I investigated during this process all specified sourcing out fresh masa or using grits (?!) instead. I know for a fact that most Mexican-Americans use Maseca for just about everything. I could probably get fresh masa at my local tortilleria, but being able to use the bag of Maseca that's already in my pantry is a big plus. They're not done steaming yet, but here's some photos of the chicken tamale process... The filling: Spreading the masa (p.s. I just used a tablespoon) - G&T in background : Adding the filling - a healthy pinch of chicken bits plus a big spoonful of salsa verde: Tamales in the pot:

Okay, so last night I was worried that my tamales were not going to be what they should be. The uncooked tamales just didn't look the way I felt like they ought to look. I was wrong! After steaming, they turned out to be utterly scrumptious and really pretty attractive, to boot. The tamales we made last night were pork tamales. Today I'm going to do another batch, this time with chicken. If freezer space looks good, I may make another few batches on top of that -- maybe to give to friends and family. I predict I'll have lots of fillings left over. The recipe I followed, by the way, is the one for Mexican-style Tamales on page 91. The "dough": Filling the tamal: We were not putting much filling into the tamales, as it seemed to be squishing out the top and bottom, which didn't seem right. As it turns out, the squishing is just fine -- at some point during steaming it just becomes part of the tamale. Next time, I'll be a little more aggressive with the filling. (These are my wife's hands, by the way, not mine) In the pot for steaming: Tamale heaven! I will admit that I was truly shocked at how good these turned out. I've eaten a lot of tamales in my day, and these are tied for first place (with those fancy-schmancy ones Neiman-Marcus sells). The texture was perfectly light and fluffy, and the seasoning was right on. I would make the filling more spicy next time, probably just by adding some hot sauce or something. Also, the color of the finished product seemed a little pale to me. Would it be heresy to add a spoonful or two of the red chile sauce to the masa while it was in the mixer, just to give it a little extra color? Libations? Of course! Marissa made Kentucky Club's "Mexican Margarita", from page 236. That's a bowl of shrimp in the background, which is what we ate (with mango/orange/pineapple salsa) just prior to filling the tamales. Be careful with these "Margaritas" -- they are almost nothing but pure liquor. We each had two, and I was pretty tipsy. The flavor was very good, though, for something with so much alcohol. When I make the chicken tamales this afternoon, I'll post more pictures, just for comparison.

Photographic evidence tomorrow, but damn. Tamales are hard. Marissa is the Tamale Goddess; however, neither one of us really rolled what I would consider a perfect tamale. We did a single batch tonight -- the pork tamales. Tomorrow I intend to do the chicken tamales, but I think I'm going to ask my local Mexican restaurant if there's anybody there that would be willing to teach me to roll/fill the tamales properly in exchange for booty (i.e. tamales). They're still steaming, so the verdict is not yet in. However, they smell REALLY good. I just don't think they're going to be anywhere near picture-perfect. Tamales scare me -- they're like making biscuits or gravy or something, I think. Easy once you "get" it, seemingly impossible otherwise.

However, if I were to go to the grocery store with the idea of making Mexican food, but no particular goal, these are the type of things I would buy -- note that I have a huge selection of dried chiles and spices, so I'll include vague recommendations, but buy something that piques your interest. - A dozen limes - A bag of onions - A dozen tomatillos - A dozen roma tomatoes - A bunch of cilantro - A couple of bags of dried chiles -- maybe New Mexico and Guajillo - A dozen fresh chiles (jalapenos, if you're mild, or serranos, if you're hot) - A bag of fresh corn tortillas - A bag of dried Flor de Mayo beans (pink Mexican beans) - A small container of lard - A bag of tortilla chips This is about what I bought at the beginning of this week, and haven't needed to go back to the store too much, apart from the trip to buy the corn husks, which I forgot. :P

I can't quite give you a grocery list, but I can clear up the "red pepper" thing, mostly because I ran into the same quandry a little bit upthread. For "red chiles", look for "New Mexico" chiles. They're probably in a cellophane bag with a yellow and red label, mixed in with all kinds of other Mexican dried chiles and stuff. Look in the "international foods" section of your supermarket. They're about 4-5 inches long and relatively red (for a dried chile -- they all kind of look black). When I made the Chile Colorado con Puerco, it called for "red chiles" and I randomly used the "New Mexico" chiles, because they looked the reddest. ludja later filled me in on the fact that these are mentioned in the glossary -- doh! I should read better! Luckily, I picked the right chile.

First off, thanks, Dana, for the advice. Since my last post, I read my other Mexican cookbooks on the art of tamale rollin', and I think I should be good to go. I hope. Also since my last post, I whipped up two more recipes from "the book" to use in my second batch of tamales. Salsa Verde (page 94) and Stewed Chicken (page 90). I didn't take any photographs while cooking, firstly because both recipes involve complicated cooking techniques such as "boiling water" and "putting things in a pot" and "pureeing them in a blender" which most eGulleters are familiar with, and secondly because my camera's battery was dead. The Salsa Verde I have made before, and it's tasty as always. I like this Salsa Verde recipe especially because it doesn't call for chicken broth (most do), and my wife appreciates being able to eat the things I cook. The Stewed Chicken recipe, however, I was a bit skeptical about, mostly because -- hey, I know how to stew chicken. But in the interest of science (as always!) I went ahead and followed the recipe to the letter. Hey, this is pretty damn good! The cumin in the recipe actually lended a very tasty "Mexican flair" to the flavor of the chicken (at least, the tiny outside piece that I nibbled on to check the flavor). I saved the cooking liquid to use in the tamales -- it yielded about two quarts of broth -- and given the two tablespoons of powdered chicken boullion called for in the recipe (which is mostly MSG, at least the Mexican variety that I had on hand) it should make for an especially addictive tamale. I will carefully document the tamale making process tonight, I promise. Given that I have never made them before, though, I can't promise the most beautiful results. I can guarantee, though, that the fillings made thus far (Chile Colorado con Puerco and Stewed Chicken with Salsa Verde) have been delicious, so as long as the rest of the process goes well, success is assured! Chin up!

Here in Nashville, anyway, "quesadilla cheese" is available everywhere. It's usually right there with at least ten other types of fresh cheese and usually about four different types of crema. I'm lucky, I suppose, because I live about five minutes away from undoubtedly the largest Mexican community within hundreds of miles. I can get just about any Mexican ingredient, even the wierd meats. :) So on my cooking project, tonight I'm making the tamales. I'm not actually going to start until 8:30, as that's when my wife will get home from work, and I don't want to have to do all the tamale rollin' myself. I've had the corn husks soaking since early last night, so they should be ready in time. I plan to follow the recipe in the Robb Walsh book, but the rolling instructions are a little vague. I think Marissa will be a good help there, since she's good at that crafty sort of thing. :) The recipe says it makes 24 tamales, although I may go ahead and make a double order, if I can get to the grocery store by about 6pm (to pick up some ingredients for salsa verde and some chicken -- then I can make half pork, half chicken). Any tips on tamale manufacture?

Unbelievable on a Mexican taco. A double layer of corn tortilla, some grilled and diced steak, chopped sweet onions (1015's or otherwise), chopped fresh cilantro, and lime juice. Unbeatable flavor!

You've got balls, sir! I actually order a taco lengua almost every time I go to my local Mexican restaurant, and I really like it. It's really more of a texture thing than a flavor thing -- If you enjoy that "tonguey" texture, which I do. Are you going to give it a quick fry or something before serving, though? The tacos I get usually have a little bit of texture right on the outside, as though they were re-browned or fried or something before they go on the tortillas. That cheese is actually good, despite the generic-sounding name. I recently took a cooking class with a Mexican lady (she's from wherever they make Cotijo cheese -- I mentioned it and she got all proud, and rightfully so) and she used that stuff liberally. It works on nachos, too.

Okay, so today I made a filling for the tamales I'm going to make tomorrow. The recipe I used was for Chile Colorado con Puerco (page 113). First off, this is kind of a wierd recipe. The first instruction tells you to preheat your oven to 350, presumably to help keep you warm while you simmer everything on the stove. The recipe also calls for five "dried red chiles" and eight ounces of "boneless pork". Huh? So, anyway, I used "New Mexico" chiles, which were the reddest ones in my pantry that didn't look like they were of the "small-and-they'll-fry-your-mouth" variety. For the "boneless pork" I used something that my local ethnic market called "PORK SHOULDER SLICE". Apart from these nitpicky considerations, the recipe is very good. The ingredients: Browning the pork: The finished product: I think this will make a fantastic tamale filling. It's a little spicy, but not too spicy. It doesn't really have an in-your-face pork flavor, but like any porky-chili type thing, you take one bite then about half a minute later you say to yourself, "Damn, I sure would like another bite of that stuff". A good tamale should be like that -- no matter how many you eat, you still have room for just one more... While I was in the kitchen -- and mostly because my wife wanted me to try it -- I also made the Molcajete Sauce from page 24. This is a fine recipe for a fine salsa, but nothing extraordinary. Your Rick Bayless or Diana Kennedy cookbook has a very similar recipe, I'm sure. A good mostly-raw salsa with minor "roasted" flavors. Tamales tomorrow!

By the way, I just realized up there that I said I'd make a dish per week -- what I meant was, a dish every day this week. Sorry that some of these pictures are blurry. I learned last night that to take photos of food without a flash, you really need to use a tripod. So to kick off the week, yesterday I made a huge double batch of frijoles. I did not actually use the recipe from Robb Walsh's cookbook, as mine is better.. Errr.. Anyway, this is the recipe for a single batch. Yesterday, I made a double batch, since I intend to serve beans with everything. The photos are of a double batch. The recipe below is for a single batch. Frijoles 1 pound dried pink beans (Flor de Mayo), rinsed and picked over 1 clove of garlic, smashed 1 white onion, quartered 2 teaspoons salt 8 cups water, more if needed Dump everything but the salt into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the salt (yes, now) and reduce heat. Cover partially and simmer (on the high side), stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender, probably an hour or two. The onions and garlic will have pretty much disintegrated. Next, I made the Chili Gravy from page 74 of the book. I used Gebhardt's chili powder, and used peanut oil as the fat and Swanson's Organic Vegetable Broth as the liquid, since my wife is a vegetarian. In the process, I made a few notes in my cookbook. First, one must work quickly, as doing this recipe over medium-high heat makes it easy to burn either the roux or the spices once added. Here was the finished result: I have to admit I was disappointed with the flavor of this gravy. Though by no means nasty, it tasted a little sharp and bitter to me. A little more roundness to the flavor would have been nice. It probably would have been a lot better with lard and chicken stock. But we'll see how it tastes on some enchiladas in a little bit. When I make tamales later in the week, I'll make another batch of this with lard and chicken stock and compare the flavors. At this point I was about three gimlets down, and the wife got home from her half-day shift at the library. She promptly proceeded to make Chuy's Mango Margaritas from page 229. What a great drink! It would have been even better if we had hot weather yesterday, instead of unseasonal 55 degree weather. Oh, well. The mango/orange/lime combination tastes fantastic, and the texture of the drink was very nice -- most frozen drinks feel too icy to me. This one had a lovely velvety texture. I recommend this drink! Time to make Frijoles Refritos (page 27) and assemble the Original Cheese Enchiladas (page 75). If you made the frijoles according to my recipe, they should be salty enough, and you can safely omit the salt. We make our own refried beans around here quite a bit -- they are easy, and about fifty times better than canned refritos. I made four cheese enchiladas in a little Le Creuset dish. For some reason I wasn't having any luck frying the tortillas to soften them -- it just crisped them up. So I nuked them for a few seconds to soften, then filled the enchiladas as specified (I used mild cheddar inside, sharp cheddar on top). Wow! These look awfully cheesy in the photograph, but the chili gravy actually really helped cut through the richness of all that cheese, and the onions added a nice textural element and fantastic flavor. I admit, I was a little skeptical of all that cheddar cheese, but these definitely rank among the best cheese enchiladas I've tasted -- and as easy as the recipe is (especially if you already have some chili gravy on hand), I would definitely make these again! In fact, I may throw together some for lunch again today.

I've made a few recipes from this cookbook in the past, and all turned out good -- a few turned out great. I made the salsa verde just a week ago, in fact. In the interest of science, though, I hereby vow to make one dish per week from this book and post it to this thread, starting tomorrow! (with photographs, yo)

I buy Coca-Cola in the old-fashioned glass bottle at Costco. I really don't think it tastes much different, it's just a more elegant serving method for a single glass of Coke, and the right size for 2-3 mixed drinks that contain Coke, if guests want them. I don't drink them much myself, they're mostly around for guests. Soup: There's a thread somewhere about Mexican Coke (Pepsi, etc) -- the difference is that they (probably) use cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.