With barbecue, much like with good sex, technique makes all the difference. Put the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time and you end up with a bad taste in your mouth. Dr BBQ’s, Flavorize, hones in on a topic barbecuers spend years trying to perfect: the techniques for getting the best flavor into ‘cue. Not cooking itself (although there is plenty of that in the book), but the marinades, injections, brines, rubs, and glazes that bring great flavor to barbecue. I pinned down Ray “Dr BBQ” Lampe for a quick Q&A about the book. Here’s what he had to say.
2015 Bartels Harley-Davidson Chili Cook-off
I finally took the plunge and broke my chili competition cherry. Not only that, this was my first time making chili that didn’t magically appear when I opened a can labeled “Hormel.” Or, I should say, “chile” since I made a chile verde instead of the red stuff. Bartels Harley-Davidson held their annual chili cook-off in Marina del Rey yesterday and I thought I’d buck tradition with a little mean green.
Firewater: Beverage Etiquette Solved at Last
The other day Burn! barbecue contributor extraordinaire Mike Stines and I were talking about The Pope of Peppers and just how much more he knows about chile peppers than we ever will. Dave never ceases to surprise me and now he’s solved a modern problem faced by many a chilehead: what beverage in the blue Hell is right to serve with spicy food?
Hot News
This week’s Hot News is pretty heavy on the barbecue side, from a trans-fat ban to your worst day’s grilling ever.
Hot News
Ghost peppers and rock music. That’s this week’s Hot News. It’s short, but sweet. Happy National Hamburger Day.
Engineering the Perfect Brisket?
Pitmasters labor their entire careers to make the perfect brisket but a Harvard engineering class seems to have done just that in a single semester. It’s the sort of problem I would have loved to have faced in a college class. Unfortunately, my biggest post-high school food problem was what to mix with the day’s ramen noodles so that it tasted less like prior day’s ramen noodles.
Hot News
Memphis in May kicks off in a few days and while I won’t be able to go, I do have three quick news items of a barbecue nature for you. If you’re going to Memphis, please know you have my envy.
