col klink

We were seated immediately and didn't have any problems getting out. However, it was a Thursday night.

Batgrrrl and I took our minister and his wife out to HV tonight for damn tasty meal. Not everything was stellar but the foie gras was out of this f*#&^ing world. There was a crunch of sea salt on the seared exterior and it was served with carmelized pumpkin. WOW. The fresh sardines were very tasty as was the fresh organic tomatoes with evoo, garlic and sea salt. Batgrrrl liked the roasted eggplant but I was indifferent. There was plenty more (9 courses plus two pretty intesting desserts) but I don't have the time right now to write everything up. Lukcily I stole the menu and will be able to eventually, perhaps sometime after the wedding?

Likewise grilled chicken quarters drenched in tomato syrup. A LOT of people would call that BBQ.

I'm so sorry.

Damn straight, otherwise it's grilling and we all know grilling isn't BBQ. Even if it's slow cooked, you might as well be using a standard oven. I'm also with the "most people are wrong, well not wrong, just ignorant" crowd.

Word. Though it's only been about a year for me.

I mostly agree with this principle. Though I tend towards Texas style BBQ, this definition misses a flavoring agent like a sauce, a mop or a dry rub. If you take a brisket right out of the cryo-vac and onto the smoker/pit, you're just smoking it and I believe this goes with any large cut of meat. I'm also with Hollywood, I don't believe the cut has to be tough, take for instance pork shoulder. It's not tough and I'll be damned before anyone says a smoked shoulder with a little additional love isn't BBQ. As for chicken not being BBQ, I'm not sure where I stand even if you flavor it.* But what about a smoked turkey? Or an ostrich? I bet ostrich legs are awlfully damn tough and big. Wait, before we go anyfurther, should we limit the species of meat? * side note: would brining alone make it BBQ? Let's say you brine a shoulder and then smoke it without a rub, mop or sauce, is that BBQ?

Chef Fowke I can't wait! Just to make sure that I add something to the thread, the one cooking trick I've learned is to always try and learn something from every dish; to analyze everything you eat and try and figure out a way to make it better by analyzing your own methods or trying to figure out how somebody else did it. Over time this builds up theories. The true joy is when you find something that challenges your theories. I don't have a fear in the world that someday I won't learn something about food. edit: that or learning how to smoke, though I'm not sure which.

Thanks for the pic! That's a damn fine lookin' butt ya got there. That picture there is why I love the shoulder so much, that marbling is just beautiful. You also have a nice carving knife, they're indispensible for carving roasts. I feel so goofy for using an ordinary chef's knife in the past.

There's another DJ night if y'all are interested: Saturday July 12, Mashiko DJ night.

Katie, you're right that the flavor combinations of different rums would work well, my only beef was lack of alcoholic strength. But I just came up with an idea that circumvent that: Use 151 as well!

I'd stay away from the flavored rums if I were you, they're only 40 proof. That's just not enough alcohol. Um, for my tastes.

Vodka is the tradition liquor of choice. But I'm willing to bet that light rum would taste even better since it already tastes better with most fruit juices, especially sweet ones.

I have an upcoming "White Trash Party" and one of the things I'm planning on bringing is a spiked watermelon. The first time I tried spiking one I just cut a whole large enough to handle the mouth of the bottle. Nothing happened in the span of an hour so and I got restless. What my roomate and I finally did was get a syringe and just force the vodka in. This worked well for the first 5 or so injections but subsequent ones left us with vodka squirting out the holes! The quick and easy remedy was to insert toothpicks into the news injections. After we drained the bottle of vodka, there was approximately 50 or 60 toothpicks sticking out, looking like the spawn of Hellraiser. So how do you spike your watermelons? For my next one I'm probably going to use light rum instead of vodka but I'm also entertaining the idea of using tequila and triple sec as well. Another question, how do you eat your spiked watermelons? We basically ended up just slicing portions off until only a boat was left and then had a community shot glass that we just dipped into the watermelon boat. Not the most sanitary solution but it worked and we were all sloshed enough not to care.

After reviewing the thread again, I'm going to have to add some smoked spam and PBR to the fondue! edit: possibly a PBR reduction.

Luckily the party has been postponed and I'll still able to make it. Which means I have more time to decide! I'm still doing rummie watermelon, replacing the vodka with the light rum. How does everyone else do it? Hmm, maybe I should split this off in a separate thread. As for the other dish, I think I'm just going to pick some special ingredients and come up with something on my own, maybe a fondue of sorts definitely involving Velveeta and some sort of highly processed meat. Maybe little smokies swimming in cheese? Possibly adding some deviled ham and possibly corn for texture. Next to figure out what to dip in it.

Chocolate milk and bacon potato chips.

Yeah! Congrats! Mmmmmm, pickles and ice scream . . .

Do you have any more where you've cut into it?

If it isn't gamey, or you don't want to reduce the gaminess, I wouldn't brine it. Just use a marinade or rub and you'll be fine if you pull it at medium rare. If you're really worried about the meat drying out (which isn't a problem if you pull it at 135, medium rare) larding is certainly a possibility. I would lard over bard (barding covers the meat and the fat will pick up the smoke, not the elk -- larding inserts fat into cuts) but if you use pork fat, you run risk of overpowering the flavor of the elk. Also, if you lard, the pork fat won't completely render out and you'll be stuck with big pieces of chewy pork fat in your roast, but you and your guest could easily pick them out. My suggestion is to try both and then report the details!

At Hillside, try to dine al fresco above the barrel room. Don't get me wrong, the barrel room is nice, but the open seating above has a much better view of the lake. When we went a couple of weeks ago the barrel room was closed for a wedding that day and only seating on the roof was available. I don't know if the roof is always available, but at least look into it. The view was gorgeous and the umbrellas offer enough shade if you need it.

Do tell! I've only hit that 9 hole course in the hills meant for "executives". Not that I'm going to have much time to golf on my honeymoon.

Have you figured out what you did wrong?

That site recomends using vinegar to reduce the "gaminess" of the elk which I do not endorse. It makes the meat chewier and that's not something you'd like if it's already not a tender cut. However, the salt solution certainly works and won't actually corn it in those amounts.

I haven't smoked or even cooked elk myself, but more than likely, it will be pretty lean. Unless it looks as marbled as a pork shoulder, consider it lean. Elk is a red meat and it you brine it, you're basically corning it, but at a slower rate. I'd stick with rubs and marinades which won't dramatically change the character. Just treat it like you were smoking a beef roast. Have a thermometer and pull it off at your desired doneness. Before you rub or marinade the elk, slice a little bit off of the roast and pan fry it in a little canola oil (the least flavored the better) so see how "gamey" it is. If it's not to your liking, marinade and rub the hell out of it. Also remember that more of the "elk" flavor will come out the more it's cooked. The only question that remains is trich. I'm not sure how prevalent trich is elk, ask your hunter friend. If he eats it medium rare and his muscles haven't seized up on him, go ahead and eat your roasts medium rare to rare.