Norm Matthews

Charlie gave me a scare. He asked for a salad for lunch. I knew he was OK later when he asked for meatballs and spaghetti for supper. It was too hot to turn on the oven so I used the grill instead.

Certainly, be glad to. It's http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

Charlie asked for Banh Mi sandwiches so that is what we had. I made them with pork chops pounded flat.

Tonight we had Italian Pork Chops, pan fried mushrooms and some new potatoes. Charlie is redecorating the living room and these are two paintings he created for the wall. PS The corkscrews thing is something I made around 20 years ago.

Charlie's birthday is coming up in a few weeks and asked to have a BBQ here. That is one reason I have been trying a lot of new recipes lately. I can't get any photos of it to upload but in the end, it is just another picture of a couple slabs of ribs. I'll print a synopsis of it here instead of a picture. Competition Ribs from Cool Smoke P. 97 1 C. Cool Smoke Rub 2 racks St. Louis cut spareribs, membrane removed 1 /2 C. apple juice in spray bottle 1 C. Cool smoke BBQ sauce 1/2 C. honey 2 tsp. cider vinegar 8 T (1 stick) butter, melted 1/4 C. packed light brown sugar Cool Smoke BBQ Sauce 3 C. ketchup 1 C. smoked paprika 1 C. packed dark brown sugar 3/4 C. white vinegar 1/4 C. Molasses 3 T. Worcestershire sauce 1 T. smoked chili powder (p 50) (recipe follows) 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1 T. smoked paprika 1 T. sweet paprika 2 tsp. granulated onion 2tsp cayenne 1 1/2 C. apple cider vinegar Smoked Chili Powder 1 c. smoked paparika 4 T.+ 1tsp dried Greek oregano 3 T.+1 tsp cumin 3T.+garlic 3T+1 tsp. cayenne 2T. granulated onion Cool Smoke Rub 1/2 C. turbinado sugar 1/4 C. +2 T. kosher salt 1/4 C. smoked chili powder 2 T. _ 2 tsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 T. + 1 tsp. cracked black pepper 1 T. +1 tsp granulated garlic 1 T.+1 tsp. granulated onion Heat smoker to 275. Smoke 2 hours, spraying with apple juice every 30 min. Mix and heat to dissolve the honey, cider vinegar, stick of butter and brown sugar. After two hours, drizzle with butter & honey & brown sugar mixture on the ribs. . Wrap in foil, replace in smoker and cook to 203º to 211º . Unwrap, brush with cool smoke sauce & heat to set sauce 15 min. Watch closely to keep from burning or overset the sauce. Serve with sauce on the side. I finally got the images to post.

I did another recipe from the Cool Smoke cookbook. This one was a grilled steak. It was done like always but then it was splashed with butter and bacon cooked together to render the fat in the bacon. Then there was a sprinkle of reduced balsamic vinegar. I poured the butter off the bacon then crisped the bacon in the skillet and added it to the twice baked potatoes.

I had not heard of him before. I don't watch the program he is on but since Thermoworks recommended the book, I got it. The recipes are different from the way I usually cook in the smoker and I want to try many to see if I want to add them to my list of recipes. About competition BBQ contests, he says it is "one bite food" and you have one chance to step up the taste and get the attention of the judges and that it probably isn't something you'd want to eat as a whole meal. To me, it seems that the BBQ restaurants around here, even the award winning ones have food designed to taste good to the largest number of diners.

I got a fry mix to try it with chicken and catfish and decided to make hush puppies as well. This is the third or fourth meal in a row with beans because the only size can they had was way bigger than I wanted. The chicken went in the oil and got browner than I expected almost immediately so I put it on a tray and moved it to the oven. The fish got too brown too but it only took a few minutes. I got nostalgic remembering the catfish and hushpuppies we had when we visited mom's friends and family in Arkansas. Charlie is not a fish fan but he said it was good. He liked the hushpuppies better though. I won't enjoy cleaning up the mess I made and won't try that again in the summer time .

Charlie has been making cherry BBQ sauce for ribs since he lived in Seattle. These were loin back ribs from my smoker .This new cookbook (Cool Smoke) is the first one I have seen by someone else. It is pretty much like Charlies but a little more spicy.

I was concerned about that so I used powdered bouillon and not as much as the recipe said. I opened a packet and divided it by about 1/3 for an onion. It wasn't too salty.

I got a new cookbook a few days ago and the recipes all look good. This is the third one I have tried and I plan to do another one tomorrow. It's called Cool Smoke by Tuffy Stone. Since I don't watch the show where he is a cast member, I didn't know who he was but the book was recommended by Thermoworks and their emails with video tips and recipes are always good. This one is pork chops on the grill and served with a mustard sauce. My sister and I were talking the other day and she told me about a baked sweet onion with a tablespoon each of butter and Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce and placed in a cavity carved out of the top with half a bouillon cube, wrapped in foil, put in a baking dish and baked at 350º for ah hour. Charlie said it reminded him of French Onion Soup.

We had sandwiches today. I smoked a small pork shoulder and made some copycat KFC slaw. The balls are honeydew melon

Charlie has a car meet today so dinner was quick, easy and early. It was grilled steak.

It was a real downpour this morning but it stopped by noon and I did pork ribs in the smoker. Charlie told me he invited a couple of guys who were visiting to have dinner with us and this is what was left by the time I got back to the kitchen.

It was chicken wings night. They were cooked in the oven, but instead of tossing them in Buffalo sauce, I served it on the side with three other wing sauces. One was a spicy Apicot glaze, one was Ranch dressing with some chopped pickled jalapenos stirred in and one was a bottled teriyaki wing glaze. I got some BBQ sauce to try because it had the same name and Charlies old cat. We also had kimchi and rice.

I agree with @EatingBen re bristle brushes. My main basting brush is a 1 1/2-inch bristle brush from an art store. I once was an art teacher in high school. I have had it so long the ferrel cracked and fell of the handle but never a lost a bristle. A little Gorilla glue and it is back in service.I keep it clean by using dish washing soap alone at first. If there is no water at first, he soap will emulsify any oil in the mixture you used if you scrub it in the palm of your hand and take care to work it all the way down to the base of the bristles. Then wash out the soap with warm water. ( when I was in elementary school some guy came to class. I don't remember anything he said except to not wash brushes in hot water because it will make the hair fall out) I don't think that applies too much any more. Good quality art brushes are made better than that but to this day I don't use hot water on brushes. For a long time I was afraid to use hot water when I shampooed in the shower. I have tried silicone brushes and don't like them. The glob on the baste instead of giving a more controlled baste.

I ordered from ThermoWorks and awaiting Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue by Tuffy Stone.

I found a meatball recipe that Charlie said was really good. This is the second time I have made it. I used the same jarred tomato sauce because I think it is really good too. Just before I started posting this I checked to see where it is made and it is distributed by a company here in Kansas City and the restaurant is here in Overland Park. PS Charlie just told me he has eaten there. He said it is a really nice place and a lot of the food seems to be very authentic and not what you usually expect to see on an Italian restaurant menu.

I just read an article from Thermoworks https://blog.thermoworks.com/beef/brisket-style-tri-tip/ that does tri-tip in the smoker for 5 hours and it's supposed to be almost as good as brisket.

Dinner tonight was Salisbury Steak and cracked potatoes.

I've heard something like that before. I don't remember the details but the jest of it is American Alfredo isn't the real thing.

When I say Parm, I always wonder if I am being too vague so i thought just this once, I'd explain.

I wanted to try a recipe for Alfredo sauce that looked good. It was made with cream, butter and a lot of parm cheese. (I use the real Italian kind, I just don't know how to spell it) The sauce did not use any thickener so I thought it would thicken with the cheese. It didn't. It did thicken when the pasta absorbed it though. I made some chicken breasts stuffed with crab to top it. I added some onion, celery and mushrooms to the sauce. I was going to try another recipe from a friend who said her mother made corn on the cob by simmering it in a seasoned mixture of milk and honey but Charlie told me he was going out soon so I didn't have time do do that. I just threw them in the boiling water and cooked them with the pasta.

We had dinner a little early because Charlie has a car show now. I did pork ribs in the smoker. With it there was black bean and corn dip, beer cheese dip, corn chips. corn bread and corn on the cob. There was also some fresh cut pineapple, potato/egg salad, and BBQ beans. We will have some store bought brownies later.

I don't know the answer but Aaron Franklin once smoked three briskets at the same time in a wood burning smoker. Two were wrapped after a couple hours and one was never wrapped so it got smoke for the full time (at least 8 hours almost certainly more) and when they tasted the three, the unwrapped one did not taste overly smoky so there seems that there is a point where smoke stops penetrating. The point of wrapping is to speed up the finish point and apparently wrapping does not decrease the desired amount of smoke.