bbq4meanytime

I am going to guess that the jerk seasoning you are talking about bears little if any resemblance to the McCormick's jerk stuff that I bought at Costco. If youre talking about the powder mix, then no. Different stuff.

When I had it in Jamaica. it was seasoned dark meat, bone-in chicken, cooked on a grill, chopped into chunks and served on brown paper with ketchup eaten standing in the "yard" with reggae blasting out of a boom box. At the Jamaican restaurants in DC and LA where I have had it, it was a very spicy boneless chicken sauteed or stewed and served with rice and peas (beans). Needless to say, the stuff I had in JA and the struff I've had domestically were entirely different, although the domestic Jamaican restarants I ate at were run by Jamaicans. I always wondered why there was a difference. Typical jerk contains scallions, allspice, thyme and scotch bonnet peppers (among other minor ingredients). I buy the pre-made stuff from Grace or Walker's Woods. I use it on chicken mostly but have tried it with shrimp and beef as well. I rarely use it in its pure paste form, until a few years ago before you could buy the "mild" jerk, a 1/4 teas of the regular stuff was enough to make 1/2 lb of meat firery. I would mix some paste with a little olive oil and then marinade the meat. Now, I mostly use it as one ingredient of a marinade.

I'm neutral on the dinner at Ashby, although for the country drive and setting, it's definitely worth it. If your budget is $450 for dinner and overnight stay, The Inn @ Wash will break the budget. The Ashby however should fit right in. Better yet, budget some antiques money for them to buy at American in Paris (the antiques shop next to Ashby). I've got some great stuff there on consignment that I need to move...

Maybe we just were lucky but we DIDN'T have reservations and walked in.

We liked the brunch there. We stayed overnight at the Flint Hill Public House and ate dinner there, bruched at 4&20 the next morning. Don't know if they take reservations, but if they do, it would be a good idea. If anything, the ride out there and back would make it worth it IMO. But then again, I spend every other weekend exploring the VA countryside.

I'm not tired of chipotles, maybe just a bit leary of overusing them. I keep chipotle paste in the fridge (fried, rehydrated and pureed) and add it to a bunch of things-I just no longer tell people or descibe the dish as being "chipotle this or that."

Poche's crawfish boudin was excellent (but I've never had crawfish boudin before so what do I know). It was a little soft, I guess I was expecting a little more firmness but I was pleased, had it with shrimp and grits. Their tasso was pretty good too, nice balanced spiciness, put it my black eye peas.

Yep, that was them, Pismo Clams. Clamming was a lot of fun, but I didn't eat seafood growing up. I sure know what I'd do with those clams now though.

I grew up in So Cal (but now live on the east coast) and I remember clamming at the beach in Ventura County. Eating clams, as I recall, was never a big thing in CA-at least not like eating whole belly natives on the North Shore in Mass. And the clams we dug were big, probably 4 inches across os so (there was a size limit). I don't know what people did with them (I didn't eat them).

Rocks, you're nuts. Gimmee some of that stuff your smoking and maybe I might understand your point.

In addtion to what dls says, I'd add the following (from the Virginia Tech publication on Dry Curing Virginia hams): After the cure process, the hams undergo "cure equalization" whereby the cure adjuncts (salt, spices, sugar, saltpeter, as the case may be) are allowed to be distributed throughout the hams. Thereafter, in southeastern VA (i.e. Smithfield), most hams are cold smoked (at a temp below 90 degrees over hardwood). After cure equalization in southwestern VA (my guess, more akin to the Kentucky style) the hams are not smoked but rubbed with a mixture of black pepper, molasses, brown sugar cayenne and saltpeter. Both types of ham are then aged.

I love grits, but when I cook them, with all respect to my southern friends, I don't cook them like they do "at home." For savory grits, use chicken stock as your liquid. I've tried all sorts of cheeses, cheddar, blues, parmesean, goat and they all add a different cheesey profile to the grits. Parmesean is a good cheese to experiment with. Butter is a must, but I find cream (heavy) optional. The cream will smooth out the grits, if you want stiffer grits, leave out the cream. Fresh herbs, sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers, roasted garlic all make for nice additions (independently, of course). Grits are pretty forgiving. Don't forget the salt & pepper. Some additional sources for the real deal: • Adams Milling Co., Dothan, Ala. 800-239-4233. Old-fashioned whole heart white and yellow grits. $2.08 for 2 pounds, plus shipping. • Anson Mills, Columbia and Charleston, S.C. www.ansonmills.com or 803-467-4122. White and yellow quick and Antebellum Style coarse grits. $3.95 for 12 ounces, plus shipping. • Falls Mill, Belvedere, Tenn. www.fallsmill.com or 931-469-7161. White corn grits. $3 for 2 pounds, plus shipping. • Lakeside Mills, Spindale, N.C. www.lakesidemills.com or 828-286-4866. Country-style white enriched grits. $2.75 for 2 pounds, plus shipping. • Nora Mill Granary, Helen, Ga., www.noramill.com or 800-927-2375. ''Georgia ice cream'' white speckled grits or ''Dixie ice cream'' yellow speckled grits. $2.45 for 1 pound, plus shipping. • The Old Mill of Guilford, Oak Ridge, N.C., www.oldmillofguilford.com or 336-643-4783. White or yellow grits. $1.50 for 2 pounds, plus shipping.

Fifi: corrected: 1-3 lbs, my friend laughed when I said I thought 2-5lbs.

Fifi, out here in these parts Atlantic croaker are readily available nearly year round (2-5lbs). I'm from the west coast and thought eating croakers was odd, but one summer on the eastern shore of VA, the old man at a B&B told me we could keep the big ones and he'd clean them and fry em up for us. Dipped in cornmeal, they were actuall quite tasty. A little boney, but tasty nonetheless. A friend of mine who grew up on Virginia tidewater said fried croakers was good local southern food. I see them fresh all over here. For you folks who've never heard a croaker, they....croak (kinda like a frog) as they get near the water surface.

Well I've ordered perishable foods from all over the country and I thought they did a fair job of packing. Coincidentally, I showed up at the house when fed-x was making the delivery around 3:00pm: about 3/4 of the shipment was still frozen solid and 1/4 starting to thaw. They packed in cardboard lined with styrofoam with a frozen pack insert. My only complaint would be that they left too much space inside the box and some larger sausages beat up on the smaller ones in transit; the smaller ones were slightly smashed where they were beginning to thaw (very minor issue but could have been mcuh worse if there was any more thaw). I might have some concerns shipping in summer and/or if nobody was home within a couple of hours of delivery. Ordering online was easy; order confirmation was prompt and accurate.

I actually like the food at Rio Grande, even if it is a chain. Too bad they stopped making goat. I like the ceviche at Rio Grande. I'm debating whether to try the ceviche at Tia Maria (Near the Ballston Mall) when I eat there with a group of ethnic foodies next week...but its so divey that I'm afraid to get raw fish there. I tried Tia Maria for the first time last night. The visit was inconclusive. I need to go back, and try fifferent things. Nice hotsauce and fried corn kernal munchies. What is elote? I believe elote is edible flower petals. Elote is corn

I went today (yesterday now I guess-weds) for lunch and found out about the chef change. But since I've never been there before it didn't matter. Escabeche of vegetables. Not a huge veggie-only fan (or salads for that matter) but loved this dish. nice crunchy vegetables in well seasoned but not tangy (ie vinegar) sauce. Duck prosciutto, granny smith apples and frisee. I thought this would be more focused on the duck as an appetizer but it really was a salad. The tanginess of the carroway seed vinegarette and green apples overshadowed the delicate duck prosciutto but it was good anyways Tuna, foie gras and portabello club sandwich. I would normally go for a non-sandwich entree, but this sounded good and it was. I'd give it a green light for dinner.

Thanks for the tip, I just received 10lbs (boudin, andouille, tasso) by fed-x today. Lokking forward to tasting!

Carribean Grill & Crisp n Juicy for roasted chicken

I think derosario is out of business. I tried to place an order there a month ago, nobody answers ths phones, nobody returned my e-mail.

as long as nobody was putting cigarette butts out in the friday hamburger then I'm ok. I'm afraid to ask otherwise...

Seriously good food. We dropped in for lunch today and I tried the spanish mackerel, capers, ostreta caviar and mustard oil. Clean tasting fish; the citrus zest and salt balanced well. Fire grilled quail w/maple cumin glaze and black eyed peas was pretty tasty too. Not busy though, we could have walked in but had reservatiosn anyways. We agreed it was definitely worth trying dinner. Although I didn't look at the wine list, they permit corkage. Edited to respond: Jenny: I didn't ask if their menu is online but I don't think so because I was unable to locate it and their business card doesn't have a url.

Jammin Joes, if thats the place in New Baltimore on Rt 29 in a little shack with a hella smoke coming out of it, its my next stop. My mom-in-law used to live 2 minutes away but we never got to try it. Hope to get there soon.

yes. that is the point. just try it next time I was lucky growing up, my first girlfriend's mother is japanese and she cooked all kinds of food. I wish I could chat with her now (the mother, not the girl friend ). Torakris, I had the same question: what is tonkatsu sauce supposed to be (although I think Jason's recipe has shed some light on this)?

I always see abundant stocks of Aji Amarillo Pepper paste and Panca Pepper paste in jars at the store. So I bought some. Anyone know any traditional recipes/uses for this stuff? I looked up some recipes but only found one or 2 references for use in marinades. I assumed that because of its prominence and availability at a few stores, its got to be a staple or condiment, no?