I love books, especially cookbooks, so when I got a Direct Message on Twitter from Jennifer Chandler asking if I’d like a copy of her new grilling cookbook to read and review I immediately replied with a big yes!  What I like best about cookbooks is that no matter how bad the book is there’s something to be learned by reading it.  With Simply Grilling: 105 Recipes for Quick and Casual Grilling you get a cookbook that will teach even the most seasoned backyard griller something. Simply speaking this is a pretty darn nice cookbook.

It seems every grilling and barbecue cookbook today begins with a section on the basics on grills, barbecues, accessories and a few essential cooking tips.  Jennifer has done a great job in providing an easy to read and understand primer that every cook should have memorized.  With her “5 Tips to Master Grilling Meats” and tips on “Food Safety” she has touched on some of the more important aspects for becoming a Grill Master.

The educational part of the book is not limited to the first chapter though.  Each recipe includes one or more of the following tips:

• Cooking Tips: Detailed information on cooking techniques, substitutes and “food facts” about the dishes and specific ingredients.
• Do-Ahead: Tips and strategies to take the stress out of dinnertime. (For me this is one of the best features of the book -Grail)
• Variations: Tips on how to put a unique spin on a dish.
• Marinate: To help you plan, I let you know at a glance how long a dish needs to marinate.
• Suggested Sides: Tips to help you plan your menu.
• Grill Pan: Too rainy or cold to grill? Don’t own an outdoor grill? This icon lets you know which dishes can easily be made indoors on a grill pan.

From “Starters” to “Sweet Endings” there is a chapter for every course you might need for your cookout.  (Notice I didn’t say barbecue.  Barbecue is a verb, not a noun.  But that’s another blog post for another time.) There’s even a chapter on salads that looks pretty good.

The recipes aren’t all that difficult to understand and shouldn’t give to much of a challenge for even the novice griller.  But don’t let the level of difficulty lead you to believe these are basic recipes because they aren’t.  Jennifer has taken complex flavor profiles and simplified them down to a basic level.  What this means is there is plenty for the beginner to learn from but with a good solid base that will allow the experienced cook to take them and “make them their own.”

Jennifer may like blue cheese as much as I do, at least it seems so.  There are several great recipes using blue cheese on the grill and before the Summer is over I’m probably going to give each and every one of them a try.  If you’re looking for a new grilling cookbook that doesn’t just rehash the standard recipes then pick up a copy of “Simply Grilling” by Jennifer Chandler.

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“Great barbecue: It’s as simple as meat, fire and smoke.”

It’s that quote on the back cover of Ray “Dr. BBQ” Lampe’s new book, Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue, that first caught my eye.  As much as we’d like to have everyone think turning out great barbecue is something difficult and hard to do.  Ray’s newest cookbook brings low and slow barbecue to the everyday backyard cook’

I’m sure there are a variety of “traditionalists” who may take an exception to some of the “shortcuts” mentioned in the recipes.  But for people who are more interested in getting great results than they are in the perceived “right way” this book has some fantastic techniques and recipes that should appeal to both the beginning and advanced pitmaster.

The cookbook starts off with an entertaining Foreward by “Famous Dave” Anderson.  I don’t always read forwards to books because I usually find them boring and somewhat grandiose.  But when the first paragraph starts with “If you are a pork-aholic…” I’ve just had to find out what else Dave had to say.  Dave’s introduction was an insightful look into both Ray and “Famous Dave.”

If you are ever looking for a great description of what barbecue is and what it’s all about you’ll want to take a look at Ray’s “The Art of Barbecue” that begins his cookbook.  It’s a great explanation and he captures the look and feel of the BBQ world perfectly.  “The Art of Barbecue” is followed by a few pages of explanation on cookers, charcoal, wood and tools.  The section of wood is a good read on the most popular woods used for low and slow barbecue with descriptions of the flavor and what proteins they are best with.

The actual cooking part of the book is divided into seven chapters that covers everything from “Spices and Sauces” to “The Necessary Side Dishes.”  With chapters on pork, beef and birds you get plenty of great recipes and techniques that should provide you with plenty of great tasting grub.  There’s a chapter on “Anything But” includes recipes on “Jambalaya-Stuffed Bell Peppers” and the likes of “Barbecued Bologna” to name a few.

For me the highlight of this cookbook is Ray’s take on Ribs. According to Ray, “Ribs Rule The World,” and I’ve got to agree with him.  Ray takes you a culinary rib field trip from Memphis to St. Louis to Korea and back.  Whether it’s baby backs, beef short ribs or plain old spare ribs Ray provides the reader with some fantastic recipes that will impress friends and family.

There are a lot of great barbecue cookbooks on the market today, Ray Lampe’s Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue is one of the best.  If you consider yourself a beginning backyard pitmaster who wants to learn how to turn out fantastic low and slow BBQ on your existing cooking hardware (except gassers) then this book will give the tools you need.  If you’re a more advanced type cook you’ve got some great recipes that can be easily adapted to whatever cooking techniques you like to use.

One of my favorite recipes in Ray’s cookbook is for “Homemade Pastrami.”  I love pastrami and as soon as I go to the store today to pick up some supplies there will be a brisket curing in my refrigerator.  Ray’s recipe for “Homemade Pastrami” is reprinted with permission from “Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide to Barbecue,” published April, 2012 by Chronicle Books.   Photo by Leigh Beisch. Used with permission.

Homemade Pastrami

Everybody loves pastrami and this homemade version may be the best you’ve ever tasted.  The recipe avoids the long brine method and substitutes a more efficient combination of injection and dry-curing.  It may seem like an intimidating project, but it’s really pretty simple as long as you remember to start the process four days before you plan to eat it.  If you can’t find the Morton’s Tender Quick near the salt at  your local grocery store, look for it online.

Ingredients:

Brine Injection

• 2 tablespoons Morton’s Tender Quick
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 cup ice water

Dry Cure

• 2 tablespoons Morton’s Tender Quick
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander

Cooking Rub

• 1/4 cup coarsely ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons ground coriander

Directions:

To make the brine injection: In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup of water, the Tender Quick, brown sugar, garlic powder, coriander and pepper.  Bring to a simmer, stirring often to dissolve the sugar.  Remove from the heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Add the ice water and mix well.  Refrigerate until very cold.

To make the dry cure: In a small bowl, combine the Tender Quick, brown sugar, garlic powder, and coriander.  Mix well and set aside.

Lay the brisket fat-side down on a sheet pan with sides.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap.  With a kitchen injector, inject the brine deeply into the brisket in a grid pattern at 1-inch intervals.  Continue until all the brine has been used.  Remove the plastic and dry the brisket and the pan.  Flip the brisket over and season the fat side with half of the dry-cure mixture. Press the mixture into the fat.  Flip the brisket and season the other side with the remaining dry cure and press it into the meat.  Put the brisket in a heavy plastic bag.  Push out as much air as possible and seal the bag.  Refrigerate for 3 1/2 days, flipping and massaging it through the bag twice a day.

Take the brisket out of the bag and rinse it well under cold running water.  Place the brisket in a large pan of cold water to cover for 30 minutes.  Dump the water and replace it with fresh water; soak for another 30 minutes.  This will keep the pastrami from being too salty.

Prepare your cooker to cook indirectly at 235 degrees F using medium oak wood for smoke flavor.

To make the cooking rub: Combine the pepper and coriander in a small bowl and mix well.

Take the brisket out of the water and dry it well. Season the fat side with half of the cooking rub, pressing it into the meat.  Flip the brisket and season the meaty side with the other half of the rub, pushing it into the meat. Put the brisket in the cooker, fat-side up.  Cook for 4 hours and then flip the brisket to fat-side down.  Cook until it reaches an internal temperature of 170 degrees F, another 1 or 2 hours.

Lay out a big double-thick piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil. Take the brisket out of the cooker, and lay it on the foil fat-side up. Wrap the foil up around the brisket, adding 1/2 cup water to the package. Close up the package tightly, pushing out as much air as possible.  Return to the cooker until the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 200 degrees F, another 1 or 2 hours.

Take the package out of the cooker and open it to allow the steam to escape. Let rest for 15 minutes. Take the brisket out of the foil and discard the juices.  Slice thinly across the grain to serve.

Giveaway Details:

Want to win a copy of “Slow Fire: The Beginner’s Guide To Barbecue?”  Here’s all you need to do to enter.  Leave a comment below on why you think you should win.  I’ll randomly pick one of the comments on May 1st and that person will get a copy of the book. You may leave a comment once a day until the contest ends.  Simple?  You bet…

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And I really like ” Tabanero Hot Sauce.”

Up until when I was 18 years old “hot sauce” was not something found on my dining room table.  My maternal grandfather loved hot sauce.  I can remember his bottle of hot sauce when I when we went to visit him, but his love of vinegar based hot sauce didn’t carry over to my mother.  My mother was a pretty good cook, but heat to her came from simple ground black pepper.  It wasn’t until I started eating at the mess hall at Fort Hood, Texas that hot sauce became an integral part of my daily dining habit.  A little Tabasco on my eggs in the morning and my meat loaf for dinner helped make eating more enjoyable.

Up until about a year ago I thought I was a hot sauce gourmet because I had three different flavors of Tabasco hot sauce in my refrigerator.  Toss in a bottle of Texas Pete and some Louisiana Brand hot sauce and I pretty much had anything and everything I thought I needed in the hot sauce department.  Then I got my hands on some other hot sauces, hot sauces that would rip the taste buds right off your tongue.  Even though Mrs Grail makes fun of me for heating food so hot it makes me sweat, I just can’t take hot sauces so hot you can’t taste anything after eating them.  Call me a wimp…call me whatever but I’m just not into heat for heat sake.  But then again maybe that’s just my hot sauce ignorance talking.

I knew, the moment I opened the bottle of Tabanero, and gave it the “drop on the finger” taste test that this was a different kind of hot sauce.  It was a little hotter than I normally prefer, but the heat faded quickly and left nothing but a nice little flavor on my tongue.  What I’ve noticed with a lot of hot sauces is when it’s put on food the flavor of the hot sauce doesn’t come through for me.  Instead I’m left with just heat.  That’s not the case with Tabanero, since the harshness of the heats fades it leaves just an amazing flavor profile that, so far, has compliment everything I’ve eaten it on.  And over the past couple weeks, other than my corn flakes, I’ve eaten it on just about everything.

I recently asked Kevin Peake about Tabanero.  He described Tabanero as, “An extremely flavorful sauce with a kick but that isn’t too hot.”  I knew the flavor of the sauce was not like anything I’ve every found in a hot sauce, but I sure found it interesting when he explained the combination of ingredients, “Tabanero Hot Sauce has a base of carrots and key lime juice that provides a zesty flavor.  The heat comes from the Habanero pepper.  The heat is balanced by the sweetness of the Agave nectar.  Agave nectar actually accentuates the flavors and allows the complex flavor profile of the Habanero to be appreciated,” he explained.

Okay, I get the key lime juice, if you’re not going to use vinegar you need something to give the hot sauce some tanginess.  But carrots?  Really?  I never would have put those two ingredients together, and we all know I’ve tried some weird ingredient combinations before.  It works though.  Habaneros are often described as having a slight citrus flavor so the key lime also makes the Habanero flavor stand out.

Look, as I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, I’m not a hot sauce expert.  I don’t know much about peppers or pepper combinations.  But I do know what tastes good.  And this hot sauce is one of best condiments I’ve ever eaten.  It’s just that good.

And if great taste isn’t reason enough to use Tabanero the company, CDS International Holdings, is a company that tries to do good things  for others.  Kevin Peake explains:

“The founder of Tabanero is Carl De Santis (CDS International Holdings). Carl is a passionate entrepreneur with an affinity for embarking on interesting and philanthropic projects. He once developed a beer called Chillie Beer which had an actual chile pepper in it. It was a dream of his to create an amazing hot sauce that could also do some good! We knew that we wanted this sauce to be authentically from Mexico and we wanted to create a unique hot sauce. As we began our search for the right ingredients, we gravitated towards the state of Tabasco in Mexico for a couple of reasons,” Kevin said.

“One reason was the influence of the Mayan culture on the birth of hot sauce. The second reason was that Tabasco gets the most rainfall in Mexico, making the land extremely fertile and providing amazing and flavorful peppers,” he continued.

“We wanted this to be a project that would give back to the community so we have made contributions to help build orphanages along with a pledge of giving back a percentage of all sales to the state of Tabasco. Our first crack at this was in 2005, we were developing the product and created our first batch when in 2007 Tabasco was devastated by floods that washed away the majority of the crops. This set us back a few years. In 2009 we were able to begin redeveloping and it was at this stage that we decided to add Agave Nectar into our recipe which is our key ingredient. We got our first batch of our revamped Tabanero in 2010 and launched it in Los Angeles in 2011.”

“Tabanero Hot Sauce” is available in a limited numbers of stores in California, Florida and North Carolina.  Some of the stores I’m sure can ship this fantastic hot sauce directly to your door.  And you really should do your best to get some of this hot sauce.  It will be well worth the effort.  You can find those stores on Tabanero’s website.

Need another reason to purchase Tabanero Hot Sauce?  Then check out this recipe from their website.

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“Stephane Reynaud is the chef and owner of the restaurant Villa 9 Trois in Montreuil, a suburb of Paris. His restaurant specializes in pork, and Reynaud comes from a family of pig farmers and butchers. His cookbooks have been translated into several languages and received widespread praise; his 2007 PORK & SONS won the Grand Prix de la Gastronomie Francaise. Originally from the Ardeche plateau in France, he now lives in Paris with his wife and three children.” –Author’s Bio

I love this cookbook.  For those who nitpick about things, like the difference between barbecue and grilling, this book is really a grilling book.  Not a lot about traditional American low and slow barbecue techniques.  However, as a self-professed nitpicker, I’m going to make some allowances.  It is after all a cookbook written by a French chef and translated into English so I’m going to be a little less critical with the title. If you like to experiment you can certainly “convert” some of these flavor profiles over to your smoker instead of your grill.  Otherwise, just break out the charcoal, and if you have to gas, grill and enjoy some great recipes.

Chef Reynaud has written a cookbook that is full of interesting recipes from appetizers through dinner.  With chapters on Burgers, Sausage, Skewers, and seafood to name just a few there is something for just about anyone who wants to grill up something special.  There are no ordinary recipes here.  But just because the recipes in “Barbecue & Grill” might be a little more “gourmet” than your normal grilling cookbook it doesn’t mean they are hard to do.  There are recipes for every grilling skill level.  There really isn’t a better way to improve your cooking skills than to try something out of your comfort zone, and this cookbook should get most backyard grillers out of their comfort zone.

The cookbook starts out with a chapter on “Equipment & Sauces.”  This chapter provides the novice with some good basic information on grills/barbecues before moving into accessories and other cooking tools.  I found the section on flavored salts to be especially interesting.  I’ve already mixed up a couple of them and have used them several times.

There’s a bit of a whimsical feel to the cookbook with illustrations for many of the recipes that are more of a cartoon than anything else.  They don’t add anything to the recipe but it’s kind of fun to skim through the book and check out the pictures.  The photography is simple but in a museum/art sort of way.  There is even a chapter on Barbecue Bloopers and even a few outdoor cooking cartoons at the end of the book.

The feature in this cookbook that I find the most useful  are the flavor profiles and flavor combinations that you don’t normally find in your traditional grilling cookbook.  Whether it’s rabbit or merguez sausage you just are not going to find another grilling cookbook that provides the variety found in “Barbecue & Grilling”. If you are in a grilling rut this cookbook will help you bust out your cooking boredom.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

I am in so much trouble!  I have always feared what would happen if I found a really good BBQ restaurant either near where I live or close to where I work.  I mean just how hard would it be to have great brisket or pulled pork so close that I could eat it anytime I wanted to.  It would sure throw off my dining out budget, or at least there would be the risk that it would.  So far I’ve not been very successful in finding decent, yet alone good BBQ in the Sacramento area.  Imagine my surprise to find some tasty smoked meats right down the road from my new office.  And the place is located in a gas station to boot.

Eagle Bar-B-Que is going to be hard to stay away from.  I’m not sure about the ribs, pulled pork or sausages…yet, but the brisket is first-rate.  Darn near perfect if you ask me.  There are a variety of features that make this a great BBQ establishment.  First, the atmosphere.  There really isn’t any.  I know this might sound a bit of a contradiction but for those that know BBQ restaurants they know that no atmosphere is the perfect atmosphere.  There are no tables inside, just a couple of tables outside.  There isn’t any really parking to speak of, I had to park at the Home Depot next door and walk over.  You’ve got squeeze past all the counters, chewing gum and candy bars to get to the back where the BBQ is.  If you know classic BBQ then you know this is a perfect BBQ restaurant atmosphere.

The other sign of good BBQ potential is actually smelling smoke AND finding a wood pile.  Eagle Bar-B-Que is owned and operated by Bob Akbari and it didn’t take very long to recognize some real BBQ pitmaster skills.  Bob is a living example of the saying, “It’s not the pit, it’s the cook.”   Bob cranks out some great BBQ on a couple of Char-Broil off-sets.  No fancy expensive pits, just a normal backyard pit in the hands of a master.  Bob has turned out BBQ since the 1970′s.  He was owner of Eagle Bar-B-Que in Dallas, Texas and has brought great Texas BBQ to Sacramento.

When I first walked into the gas station I asked if the meat was pre-sauced.  Bob just looked at me and his eyes said, “of course not.”  I ordered the brisket plate with beans and cole slaw.  The brisket was fantastic.  Didn’t need much of the sauce.  Instead I got to enjoy great smoked meat flavor.  Bob seasons his brisket with salt, pepper and garlic.  That’s it, no fancy rubs.  The brisket is smoked to perfection with a great bark.  The brisket comes “pulled” and I’d prefer it sliced, but I’d rather have great shredded brisket than the over sauced sliced mush I’m normally get in local BBQ restaurants.  For those that enjoy sauce with their brisket it comes one the side, where it should be.  The sauce is flavorful and tangy.  A real Texas sauce.

The sides were outstanding too.  No doctored up canned beans.  Nope, these are scratch Texas style chili beans.  I’d have been happy with a hunk of cornbread and bowl of these beans.  I also ordered the cole slaw.  And this may have been the best cole slaw I’ve ever eaten.  It was perfect.  Just the right amount of dressing.  A hint of mustard and pepper makes this an awesome slaw.  I can’t wait to go back get me a pulled pork sandwich topped with the cole slaw.

Eagle Bar-B-Que is located in the Shell Station at 8090 Folsom Blvd in Sacramento.  They are open from 10:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. everyday.  I don’t get to say this very often, but you’ve got to give them a try.

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After using the rub a couple of times I found that I wasn’t less conflicted at all.  Many of my readers know that Neil Strawder is one of my all-time favorite BBQ community people.  As my dad used to say, “He’s just good people.”  So when I make a statement like Bigmista’s Perfect Pork Rub might possibly be one of the best rubs ever to hit the market I didn’t want people to think I was just saying that because Neil and I are friends.

At the same time I didn’t think it was fair to Neil that I didn’t tell people how fantastic this stuff was.  So yes, Neil Strawder is my friend, yes Neil sent me the rub for free and yes…Bigmista’s Barbecue’s Perfect Pork Rub is some of the best rub I’ve ever used.  This stuff rocks and if you have not tried it you really should.

“It took me over five years to perfect our pork rub,” Neil told me recently when I had a chance to ask him a few questions about his rub. “There were lots of trials and error that went into developing this unique blend of spices,” he explained about the time it took him to master the flavor profile.

And as soon as you open the package you realize, with the first whiff, that it is a unique blend of spices.  “The special thing about this rub is that it uses some spices that aren’t usually associated with pork. There is a bit of cinnamon in there and that is usually used in sweet dishes and desserts. The brain usually associates cinnamon with sweets but it isn’t sweet on its own. It’s a great addition for meat,” Neil continued.  I have to admit I smelled the the cinnamon immediately and my first thought was that Neil could be nuts.  But the flavor it adds to this rub along with the other spices is amazing.

Bigmista’s Barbecue is the King of Los Angeles area BBQ since this is the same pork rub they use on their pork and ribs you can get a bit of the taste that has people all over Southern California raving about his food.

I’ve used the rub on pork chops that were just simply grilled on my Weber kettle and now I can’t wait use the rub as a base for a pork brine.  But the best use was the recent chopped rib meat sandwiches that I made recently.  The flavor of the rub changes when it’s on the smoker for an extended period of time.  It doesn’t really lose any flavor but it doesn’t mellow a little and when you’re going to add a little sauce to the meat the mellow flavor really works to enhance everything, both the meat taste and the sauce profile.

For the most part, I’ve learned over the years that almost any rub designed for pork should also work for chicken and sometimes even fish.  I can’t wait to try this rub on a whole roasted chicken and also on some salmon.  I’m thinking it’s going to be good.

Bigmista’s Perfect Pork Rub can be ordered from the man himself at Bigmista’s Barbecue.

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If you’ve read The BBQ Grail for very long you know by now that I love BBQ sauce but only in a way that compliments the meat.  I know from experience that when people say I love the flavor of BBQ they usually mean they love the BBQ sauce that was served.  When I try a sauce you won’t find me drenching the meat in sauce. Because I use so little sauce it’s important that the flavors pop without being over powering. For me, it’s all about the meat, not the sauce.

Dimples BBQ Sauce is one of those sauces that has great flavor yet it doesn’t make you wonder where the meat went.  There is a nice fruity taste with just the right amount of vinegar to tingle the tongue.  The initial combination of flavors is a bit strong but since it fades off the tongue you don’t get the feeling that it’s coating your tongue.

This is a tomato based BBQ sauce.  It appears from the ingredient list that the tomato base is from ketchup.  This means one of the ingredients is high fructose corn syrup.  I mention this only for those that are on the no HFCS bandwagon.  For me I don’t care if it’s in my BBQ sauce.  As a matter of fact that’s probably why I like the sweetness in the sauce so much. (Note: If you’re on that no HFCS bandwagon I mentioned please don’t leave me comments about it.  I’ll just delete them…) (New Note: Since publication Dimples has informed me that the next batch will no longer contain HFCS)

My normal process for testing a new BBQ sauce is with ribs.  I try to keep the playing field equal so I have a fair comparison between the different sauces.  And because I really love ribs.  This time around I, sort of, varied from this process.  I had some rib trimmings in the freezer from the last time I cooked ribs.  So I did use ribs I just pulled the meat off the bones and chopped it up for chopped meat sandwiches.  Dimples tasted great on the sandwich and I especially liked the pourability of the sauce.  One of the things I noticed about the sauce was that it didn’t turn into a watery consistency when heated.  It stayed someone “firm” and didn’t just soak down through the meat.  For me this is how I want my sauce on pork sammies.

There are two reasons to buy Dimples BBQ Sauce.  The first reason is it tastes good and I think you’ll like it.  The second reason is that Dimples BBQ supports “Operation BBQ” a great organization that provides meals for those who have suffered at the hands of natural disasters.  Dimples BBQ Sauce is available in a variety of stores in North Carolina or online.

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I recently purchased a copy of  The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook: A Treasury of Timeless, Delicious Recipes and it wasn’t  long before I had picked out a recipe to try.  One of the things I like about cooking with cast iron is that I can use many different outdoor cooking devices as a heat source.  As a Boy Scout Scoutmaster I used traditional dutch oven techniques to teach the Scouts how to cook outdoors.  But now I think you could consider me a little non-traditional in my cast iron cooking.

What do you do when you want to cook a steak outdoors on a cast iron skillet and you don’t have any propane for the sideburner on your gas grill?  You use charcoal, of course.  And there’s no better way, in my book, than my charcoal chimney for heating up a cast iron skillet.  I’ve use this technique once or twice before and for me it is a practical and cost-effective way to cook with my skillet for small cooks.

Cooking with your charcoal chimney as the heat source is that it gets really hot, but it does take a while to get up to temp.  It is vital you get the charcoal in the chimney burning completely before putting the skillet on top.  You need to have lots of air flow to get the charcoal hot so make sure you don’t do anything to restrict the air flow.  Placing the chimney on the top grill grate of my kettle works great.  You get top and bottom air flow and the charcoal will get blazing hot.

Using the rosemary sprig as the brush for the infused olive oil is a great way to impart a subtle flavor into the meat and clean up is much easier too!

This steak was fantastic.  There isn’t much in this world that’s better than a great steak cooked outdoors and then basted with melted butter.  One of the things I liked best about the The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook: A Treasury of Timeless, Delicious Recipes is that many of the recipes can easily be adapted to cooking on the grill with very little effort if you don’t have a cast iron skillet.  And with an entire chapter on Corn Bread this cookbook should be on every outdoor cooks bookshelf.

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What do you do when some competition BBQ fanatics come to visit and want to go out to eat?  Do you take the safe route and suggest a good non BBQ establishment or do you go for broke and try a BBQ restaurant.  Well that was my dilemma today.  John and Rhana McGee, from Wine Country Q in Duvall, Washington were on their yearly trip to the Napa wine country and I always try to make it over and have a meal with them when they visit.  John and Rhana were the 2011 Pacific Northwest BBQ Association Team of the Year.  They are two of the finest people I know and they know BBQ.  Along for the ride was my buddy @Sirporkalot who knows a thing or two about BBQ himself.  There was a lot pressure on this restaurant choice.

But…

I knew BarBersQ in Napa was a good choice.  I’d eaten there once before and was very impressed.  I mean how stupid would it have been to suggest an unknown BBQ restaurant.  It was a chance I just couldn’t take.  BarBersQ is probably the most unusual BBQ restaurant I’ve ever eaten at.  It’s also one of the best.  It’s unusual because it’s what can only be described as an upscale restaurant.  It’s not upscale in the white table-cloth sort of way, even though they save some really nice white paper napkins, it’s just got that Napa upscale kind of look and feel.  The restaurant has a fantastic atmosphere and the service is first-rate.

BarBersQ website describes their cuisine this way:

American Heritage Cooking featuring authentic Memphis style barbeque. The BarBersQ menu follows seasonal direction, embracing and fostering our close relationships with Napa and Sonoma Valley purveyors, farms, gardens, dairies and wineries; ‘the people and places of the Napa Valley’. Our menu offers the casual diner organic and sustainable local products; grass-fed beef, free range poultry raised on vegetarian diets, food free of antibiotics and hormones. We use local vegetables, fruit and herbs which are fresh from the garden to your table at BarBersQ, often the same day from our own Napa gardens. –BarbersQ

We started our meal with a couple of appetizers. We had some wonderful deep-fried Boudin Sausage balls with a Creole Mustard remoulade (left).  Boudin is not a spicy sausage, but it had enough flavor to not be overpowered by the creole mustard.  These were some tasty appetizers and were a great way to start a good meal with good friends.

We also had some spicy chicken wings.  What I liked most about the wings was the “smoke fried” wing method I like to use is also used by BarBersQ.  The wings are smoked on their Old Hickory pit using cherry wood for a couple of hours.  After a good smoke they are flash fried and then glazed with a Tabasco and honey mixture that was perfect.  The heat was nice, not overpowering and the honey added just the right amount of sweetness.

The sides were fantastic.  One of my favorite BBQ side dishes are greens.  The collard greens with ham hocks at BarBersQ are flavorful.  They’re cooked to perfection, not soggy or mushy, with just the right about of texture.  All they needed was a little vinegar pepper hot sauce to splash on them.  The cornbread is made from a course ground cornmeal from a local Northern California gristmill.  It’s about as good as cornbread gets.

Because @Sirporkalot and I have hearty appetites we split the “Taste of Q for Two” combo meal.  This is one big plate of meat.  Brisket, pulled pork, sausage, chicken and baby back ribs all cooked  about as good as you can get. It was almost cooked to perfect…almost.  Normally, when BBQ comes to the table already sauced I expect to get bad Q.  Not the case here.  Even though the brisket and pulled pork comes with sauce it’s not ladled on, resulting in soaked meat.  My thought was that the sauce was added more as a garnish than anything else.  It’s actually done in a way that compliments the meat and doesn’t take over the flavor profile.

Look…let me cut right to the chase.  This is some fantastic BBQ.  The pulled pork had flavor and wasn’t mushy at all.  The brisket was tender, moist and tasted like beef instead of all seasonings.  The chicken was, simply, amazing.  I can’t believe how good this chicken was.  Normally chicken that has spent a couple of hours on a smoker ends up with a gummy texture to the skin.  Not at BarBersQ, they achieved the long sought after and rarely achieved “bite through” skin.  The sausage may have been the best meat on the plate.   The sausage comes from Caggiano Sausage Company in Petaluma, California and has a serious buttery flavor that just melts in your mouth.  I’ve got to find a local source for this sausage.

The ribs were the “almost” to perfection part of the meal.  The ribs are prepared in the traditional Memphis style.  BarBersQ has not fallen prey to the “fall off the bone tender” cooking methods that many restaurants have.  These baby backs are tender, come off the bone with just a little tug of the teeth, just as they should.  They are seasoned well and just lightly glazed.  The only problem was the membrane wasn’t removed.  Not sure why our ribs had the membrane since our server said they normally remove them.  Fortunately the membranes were bite through and didn’t take away from the overall enjoyment of the meal.

John ordered the roasted vinegar chicken with brussels sprouts and white rice.  His meal was also just as good as everything else.  Yes, @SirPorkalot and I ate our food and some of John’s.  The sauce on the vinegar chicken was a beautiful reduction full of flavor and actually very little flavor or tang of vinegar.

(Rhana ate a salad…I didn’t take a picture of it…)

If you want some great BBQ when you’re in the Napa Valley this is the place to go.  It’s a little pricy for a BBQ restaurant, but not for a good Napa restaurant.  I don’t get the chance, very often, to recommend a BBQ restaurant but in the case of BarBersQ I get to do just that.  Eat at this restaurant…

BarBersQ is located at 3900 D Bel Aire Plaza. Napa California 94558.

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Unforgettable is a very bold claim when it comes to a BBQ sauce.  I’m always skeptical of products that boast of being “world-famous” or “world’s best” so David’s Unforgettable Balsamic Barbecue Sauce was a product I just had to try it.  And I was skeptical of the unforgettable claim…at least until the sauce arrived.

I love balsamic vinegar and if you think about it the sweet and tart vinegar taste should be perfect for BBQ.  And the Balsamic Barbecue Sauce from David’s Unforgettables is a sauce that I am looking forward to using again.

There are two “flavors” of “David’s Unforgettables Balsamic Barbecue Sauce,”: Mild and Spicy.  I gave both a try and for my tastes the Spicy is the only way to go.  The combination of pepper along with the some mustard enhances the tang of the balsamic vinegar.  The vinegar flavor is not overpowering, but you are able to taste it.

Balsamic vinegar is normally made by aging unfermented grape juice in barrels for several years.  The aging process concentrates the flavors and not only produces a vinegar flavor but because of the aging process the sweetness of the grapes is increased.  It’s this sweetness, when combined with some added molasses, gives the barbecue sauce a unique flavor that will enhance almost anything you have on your BBQ pit or grill.

The sauce not only tastes good, but it looks good on ribs too.  I know for a lot of people the look of the food put on the table is important.  The eyes “taste” the food before the taste buds do and the balsamic BBQ sauce from David’s Unforgettables provides a nice caramelized look (and flavor) when cooked.  One of the next things I’m going to do is onions caramelized in this sauce on a grilled burger.  I’m pretty confident this is going to taste as good as the ribs do.

Is the balsamic vinegar BBQ sauce from David’s Unforgettables actually unforgettable.  It’s pretty darn close.  Every since using it I’ve thought about it a lot.  There aren’t many sauces in my sauce refrigerator that have been good enough to get to thinking of interesting ways to use it.  So I guess in a manner of speaking it is…unforgettable.

David’s Unforgettables Balsamic Vinegar Barbecue Sauce is available online.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian