It’s about getting down and dirty. You’ve got to get hands-on, get stuck in and extract the most from the food in the most primal way. Use your hands to crush and combine the fresh herbs, garlic and spices. Massage the marinade into the meat, and press the seasonings in with your hands instead of using a brush. I show you how to improvise and impart the best flavors possible with using something as simple as a bunch of mixed fresh herbs tied to a wooden dowel with twine. Discard the roasting rack and other exotic equipment — you won’t need it. Sometimes restraint can be difficult, but even if you are limited by your ingredients, it doesn’t mean you’re limited in the flavors you can produce. — Adam Perry Lang in the Introduction to BBQ 25.
I’m not sure I have a BBQ idol, but if I did it would be Adam Perry Lang (APL). Over the last couple of years no single person has influenced me more in my BBQ techniques than APL.
I can remember one of the biggest “I’ve just got to do that” moments was after watching an episode of the Food Network’s “Th Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Today I can’t remember who the host of that particular segment was, but I do remember they were raving about the smoke beef ribs at APL’s restaurant in New York City.
Continue reading Adam Perry Lang’s “BBQ 25″
My British BBQ friends at Dobbies.com have come up with a few informational BBQ Guides you can download. Download this free Barbecues Guide from Dobbies.com to learn absolutely everything you need to know about barbecues, just in time for summer.
Find out the essentials of barbecue safety, including how to ensure children stay out
Continue reading … Barbecue Guides from Dobbies
When I started this blog three years ago I only wanted to write about my adventures smoking and grilling in my backyard. Little I know that it would lead to joining the gang from Char-Broil at the Memphis In May World BBQ Championships. Char-Broil has asked The BBQ Grail to join CB Martin, Julie
Continue reading … Memphis In May With Char-Broil
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly you can become the life of the party when people find out you have a big interest in BBQ. People love BBQ and love to talk about it. It’s just another example of just how important BBQ is to our culture.
Savage Barbecue: Race, Culture, and the Invention of America’s First Food
by Andrew Warnes is not your normal everyday BBQ book. And it’s certainly not a BBQ cookbook. With words like etymology, and quoting the plays of of 17th century English playwright Aphra Behn, this is not going to be a book you’re going to read laying in your hammock while tending your stick burner on a Saturday afternoon while performing some low & slow mastery on a pork shoulder or brisket.
The origin of the barbecue cooking process along with how the word came about is debated around bbq pits all over America. I don’t think anyone person can explain it the same way any other BBQ enthusiast might.
There probably isn’t a BBQ forum on the internet that has not been turned into a fire storm of contention and arguments over how, when and where barbecue started. Because of cultural and regional pride no one has probably ever had their mind changed during the inevitable spats that occur whenever this subject is brought up. Warnes tosses all the normal assumptions out the window with a well researched and highly scholarly examination of the origins of America’s first food.
Continue reading “Savage Barbecue”: The etymology of the word BBQ
The following interview with Top Chef contestant Kevin Gillespie was originally published in Smoke Signals magazine, the new online publication of The BBQ Brethren. It is republished here with the permission of Smoke Signals magazine. The original interview was conducted prior to the winner of Top Chef – Las Vegas being announced.
Imagine, if you will, a young high school senior from a small school in Henry County, Georgia receiving the letter almost any parent would be happy to have their child receive, a letter of acceptance, with a full-ride scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Flash forward about 8 years and that student is about to, possibly win one the biggest prizes in his field…Bravo TV’s Top Chef competition.
Kevin Gillespie, one of this year’s final three contestants turned down the full-ride MIT scholarship to go culinary school instead. With a smile on his face and simple, yet elegant meals, Kevin has become one of the fan favorites to win this competition.
As the Executive Chef and part owner of the Wood Fire Grill in Atlanta, Georgia, Kevin has combined his love of southern culture with casual dining to create a menu that doesn’t quite fit the mold of most restaurants in the area. “I believe food should be simple and approachable but still packed with surprises,” he said in explaining his philosophy for cooking. “We change the menu every day. We don’t write a menu and then place an order for ingredients. It’s the other way around. Every day we tell the suppliers to bring us whatever is best and then we write the menu from there. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” continued.
Continue reading Talking BBQ with Chef Kevin Gillespie
Each month Foodbuzz hosts a cooking and blogging even known as 24, 24, 24. It consists of 24 bloggers from all over the world. Each of the 24 bloggers cooks a meal (24 meals) and posts to their blog about the event (24 hours). Each month we are treated to an array of spectacular cooking/eating
Continue reading … Exploring Texas BBQ with Tasty Eats At Home
It’s about getting down and dirty. You’ve got to get hands-on, get stuck in and extract the most from the food in the most primal way. Use your hands to crush and combine the fresh herbs, garlic and spices. Massage the marinade into the meat, and press the seasonings in with your hands instead of using a brush. I show you how to improvise and impart the best flavors possible with using something as simple as a bunch of mixed fresh herbs tied to a wooden dowel with twine. Discard the roasting rack and other exotic equipment — you won’t need it. Sometimes restraint can be difficult, but even if you are limited by your ingredients, it doesn’t mean you’re limited in the flavors you can produce. — Adam Perry Lang in the Introduction to BBQ 25.
