Norm Matthews

This site helps explain what happens when meat cooks. http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/meat_science.html Here are a couple brief quotes from the site. More collagen is formed at higher temperatures because it doesn't melt very much at lower temperatures. It isn't low temperatures and long cooking, it's slow cooking with lower ambient temperature (190º to 200º vs higher roasting temperatures) to achieve the best gelatin results. "140ºF Connective tissues called collagens begin to contract and squeeze out pink juice from within muscle fibers..." "160-205ºF Tough collagens melt and form luscious tender gelatin. The process can take hours so low and slow cooking creates the most gelatin...."

I was thinking about making chili tonight but as I was going out the door to shop, Cassie suggested Pork Bulgogi so that is what I made along with some Korean spinach. The rest is store bought.

My son is half Korean and we have kalbi quite often. It's delicious. Here is an overview of traditional BBQ as it was practiced around the country. Now days the terms are more flexible and methods are not as regional as they were a century or more ago. Today, regional styles are more mixed and interchangeable. People from all over pick and choose parts of different BBQ styles and adapt them to suit and/or create new combinations The following is a brief look at old traditional BBQ areas around the country and a very cursory look at the general trends in each area. There are exceptions and at the risk of being stereotypical, I humbly submit the following. Please feel free to criticize or elaborate as you see fit. A brief survey of BBQ. Barbecue in the USA started out as a Southern thing. It probably started in the Virginia colonies and they learned about it from Native Americans, African Slaves and Caribbean traders. In the South, BBQ meant pork. Pork was the choice of large gathering cook outs because it was cheap. Hogs could run wild and forage for themselves. Farmers didn’t have to feed them and they didn’t compete with people by eating the same food. Barbecue was perfect for wild hogs because the long slow cooking over a smokey fire made tough stringy meat delicious. BBQ often brought people together since a hog could feed from 40 to 100 people. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson wrote about BBQ;s the attended. Scarlet O’Hara met Rhett at a BBQ. BBQ could bring crowds to church and votes for politicians. Even though everyone could agree that BBQ was a good thing, there were strong feelings that people could argue about. Chopped or pulled, whole or shoulder, tomato baste or vinegar. It was really about keeping traditions alive and stubbornly insisting that it be done right instead of the easy way. North Carolina The East Carolina traditional BBQ is the closest to the earliest forms of slow cooking. It is whole hog, open pit and it‘s an apple cider vinegar and red pepper based sauce. It is served with hush puppies, cole slaw and Brunswick stew Tom Solomon’s 10 commandments for barbecue (East Carolina BBQ) 1.Thou shalt not have any barbecue but The One True Barbecue before thee 2. Thou shalt not barbecue beef, not chicken, but only pork 3. Thou shalt not cook with gas, nor with infrared horizontal ovens, but only with hardwoods such as hickory or oak, or apple if you must. 4. Thou shalt not make for yourself a graven sauce, or any likeness of any commercial sauce like unto that made in factories in Texas or Kansas City; thou shalt not use tomato, nor ketchup,nor honey,nor mustard; but only have apple cider vinegar and red pepper before thee. 5. Thou shalt not take the name of Eastern North Carolina Barbecue in vain. 6. Thou shalt remember the pit day of Thursday, and keep it holy. 7. Honor thy pit master and thy waitress, that your barbecue may be always plentiful and your ice-tea glass be always full. 8. Thou shalt not consort with health inspectors, nor with environmental zealots, nor with vegetarians, for verily it is so that Hitler was a vegetarian, and Hitler was bad. 9. Thou shalt have hush puppies and slaw and Brunswick stew with thy barbecue 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife- unless she professeth to love thy barbecue, is attractive, and will bring you beer as you tend thy pit. Tom Solomon’sOne True Barbecue Sauce 16 ounces apple cider vinegar 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes 1 1/2 Tablespoons Phu Quoc brand nuoc mam* 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Mix all ingredients and let stand for one or two days before using. Mix with pulled pork barbecue before serving if using as a dip. Note. It is important to use the Vietnamese nouc mam. Other brands tend to be too salty and fishy to blend with the other ingredients. *In the 1600’s and 1700’s people use a concoction called English Ketchup. It contained clams. This recipe comes close to duplicating the original recipe used by the early colonists except their sauce contained clams. Phu Quac replaces the clams in the original recipe. Lexington Style Usually consists of pork shoulder, is closed pit, pulled off the bone but you can order it chopped or sliced. Sauce may have a touch of tomatoes or ketchup added. Served with hush puppies, BBQ potatoes and cornbread. South Carolina has it’s own terrain, personality and BBQ. It is most famous for it’s mustard based sauce but you can find vinegar, tomato or ketchup based sauces in different areas around the state. Pork tends to be whole hog with hams and shoulders apparent too. It is chopped or pulled. One side that is different in parts of South Carolina is BBQ hash, a mixture of meats and rice in place of Brunswick stew. Georgia Pork is the star but you can find beef, chicken, turkey and even lamb, but mostly it is pork slow smoking. Brunswick is in Georgia so they claim the stew and BBQ hash is popular in places too. Sandwiches come on plain white bread. Collard greens, potato salad and coleslaw are common side dishes. Alabama Along the gulf coast, Texas style beef brisket is popular, Toward Tennessee, Memphis influences are around but the red sauce is often spicier. You will find white sauce made with mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper. Popular sides are onion rings, fries, potato salad and slaw Kentucky Western Kentucky its shredded mutton, in Eastern part of the state it’s pork and has a lot in common with the Carolinas style. Mutton is served with a tomato based sauce the comes in mild, hot and extra hot versions. Naked mutton- no sauce, just chopped is popular there too. A popular side dish is a stew called Burgoo. Western Kentucky style sauce is not tomato based at all. It actually is based on worcestershire sauce and vinegar (plus spices). Mutton and pork are available sliced or chopped (NEVER "pulled"). Chopped is usually reserved for sandwiches (usually on a bun with pickle and onion). A "barbecue plate" is often sliced pork or mutton, with pickle and onion slices and a slice each of white bread and "German" rye (which is the same shape and texture of white bread, but with a tan). Sides are usually cole slaw and potato salad. Arkansas Generally east means pork, west means beef but trends blend. Sauces are browner, thicker and sweeter than in most of the South. Cole slaw, baked beans and french fries are all common sides. Texas A very large state with a few thousand BBQ spots. Cattle is king and brisket is most popular but you can get ribs, sausage, pork, chicken, mutton, rattlesnake and armadillo. In West Texas cabrito ( young goat) popular. In South Texas there is a dish where the head of a cow is wrapped in burlap and cheesecloth and BBQed. Closed Pit BBQs are most often used and portable ones shaped like beer bottles, longhors steers or pistols are like Texas art forms. Mesquite is legendary but it burns too hot and fast and more Texans use hickory, oak and pecan. Dry rubs inclued the typical stuff plus influences from the south and Mexico such as chili powders, cumin and garlic. Sauces may be mopped on during the cooking or at the last 30 minutes or left off completely. Sauce is usually tomato based, a bit thinner than in the midwest and typically is made of ketchup, Worcesteshire sauce, chili powder, dry mustard and sugar, with paprika, garlic, cumin, onions or even vinegar sometime added. Sides include Pinto beans, coleslaw, various kinds or potato salad, corn on the cob,mac and cheese, and all manner of peppers. Don’t be surprised if your BBQ is served on brown butcher paper. Memphis in May is where one of the world's largest BBQ contests take place and it is all about pork. It is the World Championship Barbecue Contest. There is a side contest for everything else but the main thing in Memphis is hog. I hear some people even BBQ spaghetti and pizza though. The big controversy in Memphis is wet or dry ribs. Wet ribs are served with sauce, dry ribs are served without or "naked". Sometimes dry ribs have sauce on the side but that is not allowed in competition. You must either put it on or leave it off completely. Typical sauce in Memphis is tomato based and both hot and sweet with some vinegar. Sweet can come from marmalade, brown sugar, molasses, but the sweet does not dominate. Hot comes from cayenne, black and red pepper. Some even include things that range from Italian Dressing to Coca Cola. Sides are BBQ baked beans, skin-on fries, coleslaw and onion rings. One popular signature sandwich is pulled pork with sauce on a bun and topped with coleslaw. Kansas City ( I am prejudiced. KC is my hometown) Barbecue and Kansas City were fated for each other. Influences from the East came to Kansas City as the jumping off point for settlers heading west on the Oregon and California trails. Cattle drives from Texas terminated in Kansas City with the Santa Fe and Chisholm trails. Two rivers join in KC to provied water connections to the Mississipi and Ohio rivers with contacts east and south to Memphis and New Orleans. Later trains brought cattle to KC from Abilene and Dodge Cty where they off-loaded for food and water. Kansas City was grain exhange and pork meat packing center. Beef was a natual addition to the meat processing plants after they were fattened up on grain at the stock yards 1907 Henry Perry opened first BBQ restaurant in Kansas City. As far as known, it was the only one in the nation at that time. There were possibly a couple earlier ones in the South, but at the time his was the only one known. 25 years later there were over 1000 BBQ stands in K.C.. By the time of his death, he was known as the BBQ king and had three restaurants. In the 20’ and 30’s Kansas City virtually ignored prohibition with honky tonks, gambling and speak easys. Jazz developed a singular style in KC. It was a mecca where all kinds of styles of music and BBQ came together and blended to create lots of diversity. You will find whole hog, Memphis ribs and Texas beef combined with a style of it’s own. You can find BBQ chicken, fish, sausage, just about everything. Charlie Bryant was manager of one of Henry Perrys other restaurants. He took over the operation when Henry died in 1940. Charlie’s brother, Arthur Bryant also worked for Mr. Perry. Arthur and took over when Charlie retired in 1946. Arthur changed the sauce. He thought Henry and his brother made it way too hot. Some consider Arthur Bryants the most famous barbecue joint on earth. His bbq is the standard by which others are judged. Some hate his style others love it. Calvin Trillin (1974 essay for The New Yorker) called it the best damned restaurant in the world. Now days it is no longer in the family. It is now the property of a white-owned restaurant company, has suburban branches and the sauce is for sale around the country. Arthur resisted bottling his sauce because -I am told- he didn’t want to put the ingredients on the label. Burnt Ends. Arthur Bryant used to trim off the blackened (not burned) ends of his brisket and put them out for people to nibble on while waiting in line to order. They became so popular that most restaurants carry a version of them today. Arthur Pinkhard..Henry Perry’s pit master at his original restaurant. After Perry’s death, he went to work for another BBQ restaurant, Old Kentuck. 1946 George Gates bought the run down restaurant. Arthur came with the restaurant and taught the Gates family all about Henry Perry’s techniques: slow cooking meats over wood coals. He retired in the early 50’s, and died not long afterwards. Gates and Son’s is owned by Ollie Gates today. He is the most successful bbq restaurant entrepreneur in Kansas City. Sauces are deep red, thick and pungent. Some are sweet like Memphis. Dry rubs are commonly used and include paprika, salt, black and red peppers, sugar and garlic powder. The Kansas City Barbeque Society has a few thousand members in all 50 states and several other countries and sponsor or sanction a network of BBQ contests all over the country. There are at least 20 BBQ contests each year in Kansas city, the American Royal being touted as the largest in the world ( the World Series of BBQ) Sides include coleslaw, dirty rice, potato salad and Kansas City baked beans which include beef drippings and beef brisket bits (burnt ends) added.

Our Southern style New Years Day dinner Black eyed peas and ham hocks. There were two labels on the packages and I didn't notice one until I was ready to cook it. One said Smoked Pork Ham Hocks so I figured it was ready to cook. The other one said Fresh Pork which meant to me that it might be country cured and would turn out pretty salty since I didn't have time to soak it. I cut the skin off and simmered it and it came out tasting good, not too salty at all. Collard Greens Sweet potatoes with honey and cinnamon and corn bread. Some of the brown sugar didn't break up and dissolve so it had a few brown spots. The corn bread mold is cast iron and has a patented date of 1920.

Bon Vivant, Rheingau wines are among my favorites. Never had a sparkling one though. Schami, I fondly remember La Forest Chablis . Both wines are hard to find around here though. It has been a long time.

It was between 14º and 20º today. I made some cream soup. It has potatoes, ham, bacon, green onions, red bell pepper, milk, butter, cheese and sour cream.

Just FYI, thermal shock breakage will occur to vintage Pyrex when using it directly on "modern" electric coil stoves. Pyrex coffee pots and double boilers were designed to use on gas stoves and need to be elevated above more modern electric stoves with a wire coil designed for that purpose. They can withstand uneven heat but not extreme and direct temperature variances.

I recall reading that during the Civil War, Northern troops burned all the crops they came across but didn't recognize black eyed peas as 'people' food and left them alone. Lots of Southerns survived on black eyed peas during the 1860's.

I believe you are mistaken. At least in my case I foil meat when it has enough smoke but not enough time in the smoker. I don't raise the temperature.

Bryant's BBQ sauce? Are you from/in Kansas City?

With pork shoulder butt, a longer time is important. Cook it at a low temperature in a covered container with a little liquid. Allow 60 minutes per pound, then check the temp. 190 to 200 is good. As somebody said, it is ready when it is ready.

I tried a different recipe for brisket today. It was braised in beef broth, fennel, dried plums, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, ginger and sesame oil. I also made some rice. Left overs made up the rest of our meal this evening.

New Years Day food in the South has traditional food associated with good luck and good fortune. Black eyed peas is traditional. A lot of people make it in Hoppin John but I don't care for beans and rice combined. I make the beans with ham hocks. My sister makes a hot chip dip with black eyed peas. It is also traditional to have greens and I make Collard greens. I remove the stems and that takes out any bitterness. Pork and corn bread are both symbolic and traditional for New Years too. While I am not generally superstitious, one year I did a traditional Mexican dinner and fell and broke three bones in my ankle the next day so I am sticking to the Southern dinner my mom from Arkansas made.

Boston butt is pork that does not lend itself to dry roast in a moderate oven. It is better braised in dutch oven with a moist atmosphere for long periods to break down the collagen. 190 is a good target temperature but it should be BBQ roasted or braised for a long time at around 225 or so. Allow 60 to 90 minutes per pound. The lower temperature will produce a more moist shoulder roast.

Our Christmas Eve Dinner Rib Roast with baked new potatoes and cream horseradish sauce Green Beans with bacon vinaigrette Shrimp Cocktail Challah bread. ( the first loaf burned so I gave some to the birds, cut off the crust of the rest and will make French toast and croutons with it. And deviled eggs and assorted raw veggies

Cassie works all day tomorrow. She works today too but should be home for dinner tonight, so yesterday I made some Challah for today. The recipe said 400º for 40 to 60 minutes. I set the timer for 40 minutes and when the crust was set put in the probe thermometer set for 190. After 25 or 30 minutes it didn't smell right so I checked. Probe thermometer said 140 but the crust was almost black. The Thermapen said 210. Another loaf is rising in the kitchen now, the birds get yesterdays bread and the trash can got the probe thermometer. The bread should be done before the roast is due to go in the oven, thanks to rapid rise yeast.

Single barrel is more expensive but it isn't the same thing as straight bourbon. Jim Beam and Ancient Age are both straight whiskeys, though both probably also make single barrel and blended whiskeys too.

The jet dcarch is talking about is the orafice that is placed in the venturi of the burner. It is drilled out for the type of fuel being used by the stove. That absolutely should not be messed with. The holes around the burner that the gas comes out of can be drilled out somewhat but like everyone else has suggested, it is better to replace the burner or clean it out so it functions at its maximum design. Increasing the holes on the burners does not increase the gas pressure or air mixture (which is separate from the 'jet'). Those would also need to be adjusted if the burners are altered. It's not for someone to do willy nilly. Restaurant stoves are different animals from home stoves. They put out a lot more BTUs in the first place and are not insulated as a domestic stove. The restaurant walls are coded to take the heat. Increasing the amount of heat a home stove puts out can void your home owners insurance. If someone needed that much heat in a restaurant, he should invest in a stove for a wok.

If you mean "cooking wine" it is wine that is too salty to drink. A restauranteur created cooking wine to keep his chefs sober in the kitchen. Marsala and dry sherry are OK wines for cooking if for no other reason that they are fortified and will keep a lot longer than table wines. In the past I have used generic wines for cooking like Mountain Red or Chianti made in California. I think Gallo burgundy and Hearty Burgundy were Ok too. I have no idea if any of those wines are still being marketed but that can give you an idea of what to look for that may be better than the Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir that you are trying to avoid.

OH oh. You may have just opened . There are a few Texans who might think so, a lot of others everywhere else who don't.

I agree with andiesenji. After you get accustomed to making biscuits and know when the dough is at a good consistency, it is a lot more trouble to weigh it out than it is to just scoop it out and adjust the wet by eye.

Orange or soft sweet potatoes are called yams to differentiate them from other kinds even though non US yams are a different vegetable altogether. As to blended bourbon, that is tricky. Some is great and expensive, a lot of it is neither. It is easier to just stick with straight bourbon IMHO. You can get small bottles if you don't want to have a lot of it left over.

If you have a brand name, use what they suggest, otherwise here is a general guide http://www.traditionaloven.com/conversions_of_measures/flour_volume_weight.html

Jack Daniels or Jim Beam are good choices. For cooking it doesn't make a lot of difference. Technically you can use just about any whisky, bourbon or not. I'd even use brandy without giving it any extra thought.

Well as for keeping it on hand, it will keep for a long long time after opened. I have one in the kitchen to use as a cooking wine.