Norm Matthews

Charlie invited his car club over for BBQ again today. I did hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and some ribs and a brisket in the smoker. I also made some corn relish. All the rest of the normal sides and condiments came from the store.

It's hard to believe many of us were first discussing this as long ago as 5 years, maybe even longer ago than that. At that time it was nearly impossible to get a whole brisket around here. I had to drive across state line to Missouri and pay close to $100. for a choice whole brisket. Franklin must have had quite an influence on BBQ because now grocery stores regularly carry choice brisket for about half that and Costco always has a large section of their meat case with both prime and choice selections. Mail order was the only way to get some other stuff even though Kansas City has ample access to smoker retailers. What made me start thinking about all the changes since then was when I saw this on the shelf at the local HyVee just now.

Charlie had already eaten and left for a car meet by the time this chicken and corn egg drop soup was ready. Before he left he said there was some kim bob on the table for me. There were also a few bags of Jiaiang Noodles on the counter so I imagine his dinner came from the Korean store. I noticed this picture of him and his cousins that he posted on face book while wishing her a happy birthday today. That photo must have been taken around 1983.

I just noticed that it has been over a month since I posted a menu. I have been cooking though, just not taking pictures. Charlie has made a lot of new friends at two car clubs he has joined since he customized his 93 Caddie. He has had them over twice for BBQ. First time it was ribs and brisket, second time it was ribs, hot dogs and lamb. In between another friend of his asked if I could do some ribs for his daughter's high school graduation. Turns out he wanted me to do 16 slabs. My smoker isn't big enough to do more that three at a time and that is pretty crowded. I felt better doing only two at a time. It took four days to do that many. Today I was planning to do an egg drop soup that had creamed corn, chicken, peppers and thickened with corn starch. When I took the chicken thigh that I got yesterday out of the refrigerator and opened it up, it was spoiled so I went to plan B. I had the shrimp in the freezer and everything else on hand and made this Cajun blackened shrimp, sausage and pasta dish instead. One picture is before it had garnish, the other after.

Charlie had friends over again last weekend for a BBQ. I smoked pulled pork and ribs and grilled some lamb on skewers. Stuff was coming out of the smoker while they were arriving so I didn't think to take pictures but the next day, we had more grilled lamb with leftover sides.

Maybe adding salt, pepper and garlic, perhaps some herbs like basil and oregano might perk it up.

This is a boiled fruit dressing I use with a fruit salad that always gets good reviews. 2/3 cup fresh orange juice 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions Bring orange juice, lemon juice, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon zest to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.

Charlie has made several friends going to car meets with his 1993 Caddy Fleetwood and asked if he could have them over for BBQ this weekend. They came today and I smoked a brisket, pork ribs. Also had hot dogs-not pictured- and several sides.

I believe this one is from James Beard. I think mayonnaise replaced these salad dressings when it became commercially available. BOILED SALAD DRESSING 2 Tbsp sifted flour 3 Tbsp sugar 1 tsp. dry mustard 1 C. white wine 1/3 C. lemon juice or vinegar 2 eggs, separated 1/3 C. olive oil salt & pepper 1/2 C. sour cream Combine the flour, sugar, mustard, white wine and vinegar or lemon juice together in the top of a double boiler. Add the egg yolks, oil salt and pepper to taste. Heat over hot water until the mixture thickens. Beat the egg whites until stiff. add the sour cream and the stiffly beaten egg whites to the mixture and beat with a whisk or wooded spoon until the dressing is thoroughly blended. This can be served hot or cold.

I haven't found the one I am looking for but here is one from a 1947 cook book. There is another one that I can type for you if you want it. The only ingredient that is has that this one does not is lemon juice. Boiled Dressing #1 2 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 2 T. flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 tsp. dry mustard 1/2 C. cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. butter 1/2 cuo evaporated milk or cream few grains of pepper Beat eggs until light in top of double boiler. Mix dry ingredients together and blend thoroughly with eggs. Gradually add vinegar and cook over boiling water, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in butter, evaporaated milk, and pepper. Cool; store in covered jar in refrigerator. Makes about1 1/2 cups. Note: Evaporated milk makes dressing smooth and velvety and less apt to curdle.

I have that dressing. It was used on potato salad at a Swedish restaurant years and years ago. Give me a little time to try and find it.

The store had loin back ribs on sale @ buy one get one free. I believe loin back ribs are also called baby back but these had longer, more curved and meatier bones than I expected. (I am not complining) With the discount, they were only $10.50 per rack.

While I was at the store, Charlie called and suggested steak for dinner. I picked out a T-Bone because it was the cheapest of the good steaks and one was big enough for both of is. I should have asked why Porterhouse steaks were a dollar a pound more. They are both from the same part of the cow. Porterhouse is the same as a T-bone only bigger. It will cost more because it's bigger. It should not cost more because of its name. Charlie had Mac N Cheese with his. I had some corn and baked potato. I also had a small piece of Stilton cheese.

The white is kimchi (pickled) but it isn't spicy and it is made with diakon radish. In the jar, it's in big chunks, and I cut it into slices for serving.

I went to an Asian grocery today so we had Korean food: Beef bulgogi, two kinds of kim chi and rice. We also had some kim bob but we ate that while I was cooking the bulgogi.

I asked Charlie what he wanted for Easter. I gave him a choice of ham, lamb, turkey, roast beef or Cornish hens. He chose Cornish hens. While I was at the store, I also picked up a small lamb roast which I braised with wine and rosemary. I liked the hens better. We also had deviled eggs, rice, creamed corn and strawberries with whipped cream and angel food cake.

I used to live by the largest lake in Kansas and they would (maybe still do) have a fishing contest once a year with money awarded to anyone who caught and turned in alive various crappie who had been tagged. The biggest money award fish was caught by someone who didn't know there was a prize and filleted the fish. I made Mongolian Beef for dinner. Charlie said it was good.

Dinner plans for yesterday were delayed so the marinade for the pork chops and the brine for the apricots and radishes were on overnight instead of a couple hours. I think they turned out better that way.

Koreans like the combos in the videos. I was suggesting stuff you might like to substitute. A video that followed used leaf lettuce and grated carrots. My son is Korean. He has no problem with Spam. He just used some in kim chi stew. His grandmother put cold hot dogs in kim bob.

How about ham and gruyere?

We had our Rueben sandwiches today.

It was just the two of us for dinner tonight. March 17th dinner is always a given. Homemade corn beef and all the usual stuff. We had Irish scones instead of soda bread, and I made accordion cut potatoes, baked with butter, parm cheese and other seasoning instead of boiled.

Spam was ubiquitous where I grew up. I guess you are always accepting of something that was always there. It was good fried crispy in a sandwich for a quick meal or snack. I still like it but not as much. I get some once or twice a year. Charlie recently made some Korean/Hawaiian Kimchi stew with Spam.

The first thing I was told by the maker was to fire up the smoker a couple of times while it was empty to get the smoker tempered with a coating from the fire. It is supposed it be "smoked" inside. I clean the racks every time I use them with SOS in the sink. I usually clean the convection plate by scraping it with a putty knife maybe three times a year and scrape the excess out of the bottom once a year. I never gave a thought about the smoke build up inside. The metal is a quarter inch thick and not supposed to ever burn or rust through, at least not for at least several decades.

Charlies cat is 21 years old and that is one of his medicines. I probably should have moved it but it has sat there long enough to have become almost invisible to me.