There are some things that even the best grill – gas or charcoal – just can’t do well. Like make a hamburger with a nice crust on the outside. Or make hash browns. The usual way to overcome this flaw is to use a pan or some sort, like a cast iron skillet. Or to get a fancy new grill with a side burner and some kind of cheap accessory griddle. My grill came with one – it’s about the size of two postage stamps and has a cheap non-stick surface that barely browns anything.

And those are the major problems with most solutions that try and address this issue: they’re either too small or they don’t really brown things. What I’m talking about of course is a real restaurant style griddle. Having one of these really opens up cooking possibilities – especially if you can use it with your grill. I mean, a lot of things that are typically cooked on a griddle can be stinky or spray grease, so all the better if they can be cooked outside. Especially in the summer.

Enter the Little Griddle Company, makers of the Griddle-Q and Sizzle-Q grilltop griddles.

These are advertised as restaurant-like griddles for your grill. I first heard about them on the BBQ Source message boards that I frequent and a few guys there have them liked them. So this summer I took the plunge.

I looked at the Griddle-Q site and almost choked … the smallest one costs $169.99! for a 12″ x 16″ surface. Whoa! I understand that they are thick stainless steel and have a lifetime warranty and all, but wow. For some reason that was just more than I was willing to spend. And, the sizes didn’t really work for my current grill. The 12″ x 16″ was too small for what I thought I’d be cooking and the 21″ x 13.5″ was a bit too wide.

Fresh on the Sizzle-Q

Thankfully, they also make a model that is much less expensive: the Sizzle-Q. 18″ x 13″ for $69.99 MSRP. Now we’re talking. I looked around online to see if I could find it anywhere less expensive and I did – on EBay. I picked one up, brand new, for $59.49, shipping included from a seller called CSNStores.

So- how does it work? Great. Exactly as advertised. My first meal was a couple of frozen hamburgers and they turned out just as I hoped. Medium rare but with a nice crust on the outside. On a cheap white roll they are the perfect all-American diner burger. There’s a picture of them on the left. Later I also made an ambitious meal of grilled sausages, peppers, onions, and hash-browned potatoes. Although this size is somewhat constrained in space, it did an admirable job with the peppers and onions – certainly better than anything I could have done on the grill itself.

Even though the Sizzle-Q is the cheaper model, it feels and looks plenty sturdy to me. All the welds look well done and the finish is very good. I honestly can’t imagine that the Griddle-Q really improves much in this for almost three times the price.

My advice is this: if you like to cook outdoors and are looking for a way to expand what you can do, the Sizzle-Q is a great accessory. On my grill it covers about 3/4 of the grill surface so I still have some area left for regular grilling. The stainless surface of the Sizzle-Q cleans up easily just by spraying it with a little water and hitting it with a scraper. And the stainless surface really browns and cooks food much better than any non-stick surface out there and cleans up just as easily. Is this really that much better than a cast iron pan? I think so – the squared corners and larger surface make moving food around a little easier, and the clean up is easier. I’m satisfied that this is worth the $60 I paid for it. But I still balk at the $190 or $200 prices of the Griddle-Q models. I’m not sure those can be justified.

So I say go ahead and get a Sizzle-Q and expand your cooking options. Happy grilling.

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My New Favorite BBQ Accessory

24 quart Party Stacker

I wrote a little while ago that finding equipment for handling full-size bar-b-que cuts of meat can be a royal pain. Not to mention finding insulated containers for all your bar-b-que’d goodness when you want to take it to someone else’s place. For prep work I’ve been a big fan of using commercial food containers and pans I’ve collected from EBay and other places. But while I was browsing through my local BJ’s Wholesale Club the other day I saw a special on Coleman “Party Stacker” coolers. The bundle came with a 24 quart and a 33 quart model together and was only $38.

And I have to say I love these things. For carrying food or drinks, these things are perfect. For serving drinks, they’re pretty good, but other coolers may be better.

Coleman claims to have designed these with beverages in mind. The smaller cooler holds 12 cans (and some ice) or a couple of 9″ x 13″ pans stacked. The larger cooler holds either 12 longneck bottles or 24 cans (or again, a few 9″ x 13″ pans stacked). Pretty good sizing, but I wish they could accommodate standard steam table pan sizes rather than home baking dish sizes. Oh well. A 1/3 size steam table pan might fit, though it might slide around a little.

What makes these coolers so good for handling food? First the lids are completely removable, so getting things in and out is easy. Second, there is no drain plug to leak and therefore no grooves or channels to have to scrub out. The inside is smooth and easy to clean. The lid is also well designed – not only does it securely hold other Party Stacker coolers, but it’s flat and has a good drainage notch so it can be used to hold wet stuff while it drains.

The 24 quart size is great for brining large amounts of chicken or holding ribs while the rub is working. They’re great for holding all kinds of food after it comes out of the smoker and is resting.

So – get yourself some of these. They’re great and inexpensive.

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There’s nothing like several weeks without rain and the first heatwave in 17 years to make this growing season in the garden the exact opposite of last year.

The official NWS report of the heat we’ve been having for the last week says this:

                  JUL 4   JUL 5   JUL 6   JUL 7   JUL 8   JUL 9

CENTRAL AND WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

WORCESTER ASOS     87F     92F     96F     93F      -
  FIRST OFFICIAL HEAT WAVE SINCE AUG 26-28 1993

Coupled with the fact that it hadn’t rained in nearly two weeks and we have the opposite summer from last year. And the garden shows it. Nothing will fight back suspected late blight like two weeks of non-stop sunshine and dry weather.

I’ve managed to keep ahead of the heat with relatively little water, because I use a drip irrigation system. I can soak the plant roots deeply with relatively little water and none wasted. My garden system consists mainly of 1/4″ dripline tubing from Dripworks. I have about 50 total feet which according to specs should emit between 30 and 40 total gallons per hour. I usually give the garden a couple of hours of watering  every few days in this heat. And though that may sound like a lot of water, all of it goes to the roots. Compare that to a traditional sprinkler which can put out over 300 gallons per hour and which will soak the leaves and stems creating conditions ripe for fungal diseases.

So this year, I might harvest something! The tomatoes are setting fruit, the cucumbers are coming, and the basil and dill is doing great. And my pumpkins and watermelon (planted late) is doing well too.

Overall a much improved season from 2009.

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I was craving tamales, one of my favorite foods and was taking stock of the ingredients in my cabinet. Unfortunately, I had run out of the all important Maseca flour needed to make the batter. And a trip to the supermarket yielded no results. But I did have  several cans of hominy in the cupboard. So I asked myself if I could turn canned hominy into the masa needed for a good tamale.

Since I searched for this question and found it asked all over the internet but never found it answered, I’ll answer it here. Yes, you can make tamales using canned hominy ground in a food processor.

If you’re not familiar with the different kinds of corn used for various Mexican foods (like tortillas and tamales) a good primer is this section of About.com. Understanding the nixtamalization process and the resulting products will help make sense of my recipes below.

I reasoned that the main difference between masa and hominy was the amount of cooking and therefore the  amount of water in the corn. The canned hominy was definitely wetter than fresh masa. But since tamale dough is really a batter where the masa is mixed with water or a broth, I figured the extra moisture present in the hominy wouldn’t hurt. I would just have to cut down on the broth I added when I mixed up the batter.

I experimented with a couple of dough mixtures until I got the recipe right. Here’s my recipe.

Basics

I usually make my tamales in two parts, over two days. I follow a basic recipe for the batter that is a cross between the recipe found in my old copy of The Joy of Cooking and in Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen.

On day one I make the filling, which is usually some form of stewed meat. I use the broth left from this phase to flavor the dough when I make it on the second day. I typically prefer chicken and pork for the filling and use whatever cuts I can find that are on special.

The Filling

Chicken With Jalapenos and Black Beans

Ingredients

• 2 Split chicken breasts with rib meat.
• 2 T Chili powder
• 1 T Kosher salt
• 4 – 6 cloves garlic
• 2 t Cumin
• 1 t Black pepper
• 1/2 – 1 can black beans
• 2 medium jalapenos, seeded & de-veined, chopped fine
• 2 T Goya Recaito
• 1 medium lime

Method

1. Place the breasts in a stock pot and cover with water.
2. Add the chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin.
3. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1 – 2 hours, until chicken is fully cooked.
4. Remove the breasts and allow to cool.
5. Strain the remaining broth and and reserve 2 – 4 cups.
6. Remove skin from breasts and shred meat.
7. In a mixing bowl, (or in the bowl of a food processor if you like a finely ground tamale filling) mix chicken meat, black beans, Recaito, chopped jalapenos, and juice and zest of the lime.

Chipotle Pork

Ingredients

• 3-4 lb. pork roast (loin roast or whatever cut you prefer)
• 3 T Chili powder
• 1 T Kosher salt
• 4 – 6 cloves garlic
• 2 t Cumin
• 1 t Black pepper
• 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• 3 T Goya Sofrito seasoning

Method

1. Place the roast in a stock pot and cover with water.
2. Add the chili powder, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin.
3. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1 – 2 hours, until fully cooked.
4. Remove the roast and allow to cool.
5. Strain the remaining broth and and reserve 2 – 4 cups.
6. Shred the meat.
7. In a mixing bowl, (or in the bowl of a food processor if you like a finely ground tamale filling) mix pork, chipotles (use a number based on your taste), and sofrito.

The Tamale Dough

Ingredients

• 2 15 oz. cans Goya hominy
• A few ounces masa harina
• 4 oz. lard (chilled). Shortening may also be used
• 1 t baking powder (double acting)
• Up to 1 C broth (I use whichever broth came from the filling I am making the dough for)
• Salt to taste

Method

1. Grind the hominy to a fine paste in a food processor.
2. Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the lard and baking powder together.
3. Begin to add the hominy, 1/3 at a time until filly mixed.
4. Once incorporated, add broth as necessary to create a spreadable texture. How thick you make the batter depends on how fluffy you want the final tamale texture. The wetter the batter, the fluffier and softer the resulting tamale. (Until the batter is too wet and then it will never set up when cooked.) Some people like their dough the consistency of modeling clay, while others (like me) prefer a spreadable, cream-cheese or even lighter texture. I like the consistency shown in this video.

After this, it’s a matter of filling and steaming.

I was impressed with the hominy version. The texture is a little coarser or rustic than dough made from dehydrated masa, yet is is also fluffier or less dense. I encourage you to experiment.

Recaito

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote that I thought Late Blight had already begun to affect my garden this year. Thankfully, the crisis seems to have been averted.

The main help was several bright, sunny, warm days in a row. I was able to get the plants into the ground and prune off anything showing signs of discoloration or disease. And I think the sunlight worked its magic and killed off any remaining pockets on the leaves.

So for now I remain blight free. Though we’ve had several days of rain lately and the slugs are coming out in force and devouring everything!

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For several years Symantec’s Norton products have made my life a living hell. Three years ago I bought my 70 year-old mother a Dell computer to replace her nearly 10 year-old Gateway that was finally too old to run Windows XP. (It actually lives on running Debian Linux in my basement.) The system arrived with the full complement of Dell bloatware, most of which I spent a couple of hours uninstalling. But since she has DSL service, I figured she should have some sort of virus protection, so I left the copy of Norton 360 installed.

Since that fateful moment, every single problem I’ve had to troubleshoot on her computer has been the result of Norton. This is not an exaggeration. My mother lives an hour away from me, so an onsite troubleshooting session is a minimum of two hours of commuting hassle. And Norton has required at least four onsite visits as well as several remote troubleshooting sessions (thank you Team Viewer and the free for personal use policy). The bulk of the problems have come after automatic updates and upgrades. Usually what happens is that the update wouldn’t successfully complete and there would be a constant security warning box that freaked my mother out until I could download an updated version and install it. Other times the problems came at the annual subscription renewal time where my mother could never get the system to take her order and the subscription would run out and the product would flash all kinds of warnings.

But the final straw happened about three weeks ago when another upgrade failed to completely install, and it caused a constant BSOD, which meant I couldn’t remotely troubleshoot it either. So into the car I went, fighting Boston traffic the whole way. Using the Windows Task Manager I confirmed that a Norton process was running when the BSOD happened . So, after the third reboot, I managed to start the task manager fast enough to get in and kill both Norton processes and then verified that the computer would actually stay running, which it did. So I started uninstalling Norton, but as anyone who had tried knows, Norton can’t be uninstalled easily. Using the uninstall option in the Norton program group left enough crap on the system that the upgrade process actually started itself and the incomplete update warning box popped up – after the program was supposed to uninstalled! So I had to download a special uninstall program from the Symantec website, because, well, because why the hell should the uninstall option actually uninstall the program? Fucking hell, Symantec, how do you assholes live with yourselves?

So I am officially done with Symantec – I’ve moved into active boycott mode. I have run Kaspersky antivirus on my own systems since it was a freeware program for Linux and I have had only one technical problem in all those years due to a bad upgrade that they posted which caused a major Windows security conflict. But they published a patch within a few hours. So my mom is now running Kaspersky too.

And I am D-O-N-E done with Symantec and Norton products.

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For Bar-B-Que That Is

If you’ve decided to tackle bar-b-que, particularly spare ribs, you will eventually run into a problem that has vexed many a home cook. That is: home cookware wasn’t made to deal with large slabs of meat. A trimmed St. Louis cut rack of ribs is more than 22 inches long. That’s wider than a half sheet pan (a large cookie sheet) which is only 18 inches edge to edge. So if you intend on seasoning a rack of ribs and giving them eight or more hours in the refrigerator, you need something substantial to hold it. And if you want to do two or three or even four racks at a time … well, you’re into commercial equipment.

My favorite container for large slabs of ribs or multiple shoulders or bellies is a commercial 18″ x 26″ x 6″ food storage box. I have a clear Lexan version but you can also get them in white polyethylene. The whole rig cost me $43.99 including shipping from EBay. The only downside is that these boxes are actually 26¼” wide. That’s a problem for me because my second refrigerator is exactly 26″ wide inside. So I need to put the box in a little slanted to fit. When something drains liquid this can be an advantage, but it is a pain in the ass. So I suggest you measure your fridge before you go and buy something like this.

But in the end, it is really convenient to have a container large enough to accommodate full racks. I recommend a little EBay shopping of you have a refrigerator big enough to hold one of these tubs. It’ll make your life easier.

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Over the holiday weekend my Dash 3G simply stopped connecting to the network. No data, no phone, no bars, no nothing. Don’t know exactly when it happened, but when I picked up my phone to go to work on Tuesday morning, I had nada for signal strength. And no matter how I tried to reboot, pull the battery, pull and reinstall the SIM, nothing helped. I began to suspect there was a widespread outage in the Northeast, but nope … it was just me.

I called T-Mobile to check and the phone tech was helpful. I was pleasantly surprised at their ability to troubleshoot a Windows Mobile phone. We tried to reset the network settings, but nothing helped. The phone tech was the one who suggested that perhaps the SIM had failed. This had never happened to me before – a bad SIM? A SIM failing for no apparent reason? I mean, it’s not like I remove it from my phone. I hadn’t opened the back in months – how the hell could it just fail?

I didn’t believe it. I searched the web and one of the first hits to come up was a thread on XDA-Developers by a couple of people running the same 3VOlution modified ROM that I am … uh-oh. Maybe a ROM problem? But the ROM shouldn’t affect the radio I reasoned – those are separate programs. But you never know … So like an idiot I hard-reset my phone and wiped everything to go back to a fresh ROM installation. It didn’t help.

When my wife returned home that night I finally got to test the SIM theory. Sure enough, my SIM was bad. If I swapped my wife’s SIM for mine (she has a Dash 3G also) she had no bars and my phone was fine. So I put them back and resigned myself to getting a new SIM first thing this morning.

When I got off the train I dropped into the T-Mobile store on Lincoln Street on Boston (near South Station). I walked in and someone asked if they could help. I told them I needed a new SIM. He asked if I was sure, I said yes, and he asked for my phone number and ID. Then he took one out from behind the counter, put the number into the computer, and told me I was good to go. Total time took less than 2 minutes from when I walked in the door. And there was no charge. I plugged it in while in the store and sure enough, my signal came right back.

After spending a couple of hours rebuilding my phone (because I had reset it like an idiot) I did notice one improvement. It seems that I now get a better signal in many places than I did. I’m not saying that I get a dramatic improvement in strength, just that I am able to hold a 3G signal in places where I used to drop to EDGE speeds. On my train ride home (thered to my MacBook where I am writing this) I’d say I’m seeing a 30% improvement. I drop out of 3G coverage less than I did. Who knew that the SIM itself could have such an effect on signal.

Anyway, T-Mobile Customer Service was very good to me again, reminding me why I stay with them as a carrier. And I’m glad my Dash is working again, even if I did have dreams of getting a new My Touch or HD2 if it was my phone that was dead. But I’m happy I saved the money.

Thanks T-Mobile.

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I’ve written before about how most bar-b-que cooks are secretive about their rub and sauce recipes. I’m not. Even if I were cooking competitively I’d tell you 99.9% of what I do. But I’m not cooking competitively (yet – I need something to save for retirement 20 years from now) so I’ll tell you 100% of how I do things and you can use my recipes as a base from which to experiment.

My wife recently had her Aunt and Uncle here in the US from Germany. For the first of several dinners I thought I’d introduce them to something uniquely American. And what’s more American then bar-b-que? I’d argue that even the Hamburger has been exported so much that it’s lost its unique American-ness. You can get a hamburger in any country in the world now. But bar-b-que? That hasn’t been exported yet.

So I decided to make real spare ribs – using a rub I’ve been working on for several months. I also did these in my Bradley smoker since I wanted to actually be able to sit and talk to my guests rather than spend my time tending a fire.

Here’s how I did it:

Smoked Pork Ribs in a Bradley Smoker

Ingredients:

• 2 racks of St. Louis cut Spare Ribs. (I buy whole cryo-vac ribs and trim them myself. See my BBQ guide for a good video link and explanation, including how to remove the membrane from the back of the slab.
• ¼ cup molasses or Grade B maple syrup
• ¼ cup BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce)
• 1 T Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
• Rib Rub (see recipe in this post, about half way down the page. Basically 6 parts Brown Sugar, 3 parts salt, 1 part other spices.)

Preparation (12 to 24 hours before smoking)

1. Pat the ribs dry.
2. Mix molasses, BBQ sauce, and 2 T vinegar together until blended. Use the brown sugar to sweeten to your taste if using molasses. Probably not needed if using maple syrup. Brush the mixture over the slabs until completely covered.
3. Sprinkle rib rub liberally over the surface of the ribs.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours and up to 24.

Smoking

I used the 3-2-1 method on these ribs. Especially because I had people eating who have never had ribs before and might not appreciate the chew and pull of regular smoked ribs. I use hickory smoke as always.

1. Remove ribs from refrigerator at least 1 hour prior to smoking and let them come t room temperature.
2. Set Bradley Smoker oven temp to 220° F. Timer set for 6 hours and 40 minutes.
3. Let smoker warm up for 40 minutes.
4. Place ribs on Bradley racks.
5. Set smoke generator for 3 hours of smoke and start. (You’ll need 11 bisquettes in the tube for this).
6. After 3 hours, remove ribs from smoker and wrap in aluminum foil. I add a splash of cider vinegar to each foil pouch at this point.
7. Put foil covered ribs back in smoker for 2 hours. No smoke during this time.
8. After 2 hours, remove foil packs from smoker. Unwrap ribs and place back on Bradley racks. Be careful to reserve the liquid from the foil pouches – collect it in a small saucepan.
9. Start the smoke again for one hour (5 bisquettes).
10. While smoking, reduce the collected liquid to a glaze by heating until reduced by half. Mix this with any additional sauce or spices that you prefer. It will be the final finishing sauce.
11. After the final hour, remove the ribs from the smoker (they may fall apart at this point, so handle carefully). Brush on your reduced glaze and serve.

They were a hit! I think I may have started a German BBQ cult. Hope this recipe works for you too.

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The first strawberries in may garden started to ripen last week while I was away in California. My wife and daughter were luckily home to begin the picking. The growing season has been weird this year, with some very warm days in April to get things started, followed by a cool period in May, and then another heat wave in the last week of May with temps pushing 90° F. So many plants seem “confused” and the strawberries are no exception.

I have three varieties planted: Earliglow (an early bearing variety), Seascape (a day-neutral variety), and Jewel (a mid-late variety). But all three are beginning to set fruit. The Earliglows have the biggest fruit by far though.

This is only the second year for the bed, so the plants aren’t dense and the berries are sparse. I cut back all the flowers and runners last year to help the plants establish themselves. This year, I’ll start to let the runners fill in the rows and make the area more dense.

They are growing this year on top of hemlock mulch. I started them last year with red plastic mulch that made it through the winter. Since I started the beds on a hillside that was pretty much weeds the year before, I wanted the plastic to help with the first year weed control. But now I want the plants to have room to set some runners.

There seems to be mild to moderate slug damage this year – probably 1/3 of the ripe berries showed some signs of being gnawed on. Time to sprinkle the Sluggo snail killer. Otherwise, I haven’t had to spray for anything.

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