Recipe #5 - Sides - Killians Beer Baked Beans

OK, been awhile since I posted a recipe. This is one of my best, and will become a staple if you are a smoker. There is a huge advantage to smoking beans while smoking your meat... Moisture.

A smoker naturally draws moisture out of your meat. Much like Arizona, it is a dry heat (so's a blow torch up your ass, but that is a story for another post). By placing the beans in the smoker, the vapors will help to keep your meat moist. So, these go in during the first 4 hours of your cooking session. My first smoker was an offset design. The firebox was set on one side of the cooker. The heat flowed from left to right, and the temperature difference was about 30 degrees from one side to the other. Additionally, the first 6 inches of cooking space right next to the firebox was ALWAYS to hot to smoke meat. BUT, putting the beans right next to the firebox, in that first few inches, got the beans to cooking, dispersed the heat better AND added moisture. In addition to a great side dish, this is a dish that will make your smoked meat better. A win win win!

The basic recipe comes from a cooking class I took at the Culinary Center of Kansas City, taught by Richard McPeake. It is included in his book, Backyard BBQ - The Art of Smokology. I changed a few items (including adding the beer), but my basic bean recipe owes a great deal to Richard's recipe.

About once a month, I will smoke brisket. I try to smoke 2. 1 to enjoy that day (well...next day). The other, I freeze to use in other dishes (Brisket Chile and this bean recipe for a couple examples). I like to use at least one of the end pieces as the scrap meat. It contains an extra amount of the rub than if I use inside slices. This rub flavors the beans better than adding chili powder, liquid smoke, garlic, etc. You can certainly add the scraps from the meat you are cooking that day, just prior to serving. But, cooking the beans for a few hours with the scraps in will add a layer of flavor.

OK, Ingredient list...

1/2 pound of smoked meat scraps, well spiced already with spicy rub,
1 large white onion, finely chopped
1 medium size red onion, small diced (about 1/4 inch square) ... save these to add just prior to serving
6 ounces tomato paste
1/3 cup Brown sugar
1/3 cup Brown Sugar ... save to add just prior to serving
1/3 cup Molasses
1/3 cup Sorghum Syrup
1 TB Dry Mustard
1/4 cup White Vinegar
1-27 ounce can BUSH'S brand Country Style BBQ Beans
1-16 ounce can BUSH'S brand Pinto Beans
1-16 ounce can BUSH'S brand Great Northern Beans
1 bottle of Killians Irish red Beer

Place all the ingredients in a heavy baking pan, stir well to blend ingredients. Add a bottle of Killians if using an offset smoker, or just 1/2 bottle if using a bottom heat source cooker to the top without mixing. Place in cooker and allow to cook along with the meat. If you are not using pre cooked scraps, and planing to add the scraps of the meat you are cooking, add a TB of Chili Powder, and a TB of the rub that you are putting on the meat. I like to cook ribs on a rack over the beans, allowing some of the flavoring from the ribs to drip into the beans.

Just prior to serving, add the red onions and stir. Then sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the top.

Lots of ingredients, but well worth the extra effort.

Chicken Wings and an Epiphany

Today was Chicken Wing day on the grill. A big success. Actually, I am trying to clean the freezer out of stuff that has been in the way for awhile. The Mrs. and I bought a bag of frozen chicken wings about a year ago as a "just in case" item to have if we are surprised by guests. Ordinarily, I avoid the frozen food aisle when I want to cook wings, and buy as fresh as I can. But it never hurts to have just in case items about ... you know, just in case.

But, a year is probably too long to have things in the freezer, so time to use them up. I was still pretty pleased with myself from yesterday's experiment with the flight of steak marinades, that I decided to repeat with another flight of flavorings. My bag contained 24 wing parts, I divided them up into 4 batches of 6 parts each. I put these parts into 4 ziplock bags and marinated.


I repeated a couple of the sauces from yesterday. The successful Garlic Power and Raspberry Chipotle were used, as well as a couple more bottles of different BBQ sauces. I had a little Stubb's Mesquite left, and was happy to empty the bottle. I also have some Sticky Fingers Carolina Sweet and use that for my fourth. I added about 1/2 cup of sauce to each bag and rubbed them in well. I let these sit for about 2 hours in the fridge hoping that the flavor would invade the meat.

OK, cooking time. Wings are simple to cook on a grill. Start with a hot grill, place the wings at a slight angle so the pretty grill marks are formed. Immediately, drop the heat to medium, and cook away. While you should never walk away from a grill while it is cooking, it is especially true for wings. The meat is very thin, and the line between undercooked, just right, too well done and burnt is not very long. Unlike a steak, where you really should only flip once, wings should be flipped several times during the cooking process.

But, this is not a how to cook wings blog, it is a flavoring experiment blog. So, how did the tastes differ?

Surprisingly enough, not a great deal. the wings were certainly flavored. I could tell the difference between the Raspberry Chipotle and the rest fairly easy. The Chipotle certainly leaves an after taste that I love. Lots of flavor, and just a little spicy. Even my resident, "be careful and don't make it too hot" wife enjoyed these alot. The other 3 sauces tasted remarkably similar. All accented the meat, flavor was there, but the extra flavor was very slight. I purposly chose to NOT brush on any sauce during the cooking process; something I generally do. I wanted to see what the marinade alone does.

I found out, and I found out something about my tastes...

I enjoy the tastes of flavor enhanced meat. I do not enjoy sauced meat nearly as much.

Let me give you a couple examples... i have friends who enjoy going to trivia night at a chain restaurant called Buffalo Wild Wings. The company is terrific, the game is fun, the beer is cold. But, the wings are awful. The menu lists 15 or 29 different sauces, ranging from sweet to painfully hot. 2 minutes before the wings are served, a "chef" coats the order in whatever sauce has been requested. They always arrive over sauced, and are just awful. I guess the theory is to offer enough choices that no one has a right to complain; as you will certainly get the wings arriving in the taste requested. But the meat is soulless.

A more complicated example is my neighbor Tom. He is also a bit of a foodie, a competitive BBQ veteran with several winning titles under his belt, with a specialty in sausage. We have a history in the neighborhood of enjoying each others cooking. Our annual chili cookoff is something to behold.

Tom is defiantly influenced by Kansas City Bar-B-Que. He makes his own sauces, experiments with them and has his favorites. The Mrs. and I enjoyed 4th of July at his place for some terrific ribs and sausage from his smoker. They were terrific, and I ate myself bloated full. But... he chose a sauce that over powered the meat. It was sweet, to the point of being almost candy sweet. Good, but honestly, let's taste the pork, and not the sauce. Back to the point of this post, he also does a great round of wings. He spends a lot of time selecting the plumpest and freshest. He has a terrific sauce with just the right amount of spices. They are terrific, but... Again, a very powerful sauce.

Well, to each his own, but the point of this blog is for me to journey into my food knowledge, appreciation and abilities. So, for me, I will flavor the meat, but will let the flavor only accent the meat.

Just my opinion

But, to each

A Flight of Marinades

In my ongoing quest to be better, I hit on an idea I have been wanting to try. OK, here's the story. For Christmas each year, I send my sainted Mother a box of Omaha Steaks as a gift. She married my father's best friend a few years ago (it's a lovely story, not a vulgar one...Mom was a widow, Dad's best friend was a widower, and she is as happy as I can ever remember her). He moved her to Arizona. During one of my visits, she commented that she had trouble finding good meat... bing bang boom, each year they get a care package of meat. Anyone who has ever order's anything from Omaha Steaks knows, once you are on their list, you get a lot of sale fliers in the mail. Some of the sales are very good, since we have a brick and mortar storefront close; we usually have several boxes of goodies in the freezer. They come sealed, defrost very quickly in warm water and are just the thing in a pinch. Well, a couple nights ago, my wife phoned early in the day that we might be having guests over. I took 4 of the fillets out of the freezer to thaw. Unfortunately, a couple hours later, she called and our company was not going to materialise. With 4 thawed steaks, I had a couple choices... Invite someone else or run a food experiment. I chose to experiment.

I always seem to have several partially opened jars of sauces, mixers, flavorings, etc in the fridge. Ordinarily, I use one extra flavoring per night. I decided I was going to flavor each steak differently. A "FLIGHT" of marinades if you will. SO, here's where I started. I wrapped each of the fillets in bacon, put them in individual ziplock bags and started adding sauces. First up came from a large jar of BOSCOLI FAMILY ITALIAN OLIVE SALAD. I discovered this gem on a trip to New Orleans. Click their website link for a great recipe for a New Orleans style Muffuletta sandwich. Well worth the effort. This jar of leftovers was large and has been in my way for months. There was not enough left in the jar for two sandwiches, and I just did not have it in my heart to make a single sandwich and cheat my wife of this treat. So, I figured, Olive oil, spiced olives ... Maybe this would make a tasty marinade. I poured the remaining @1/2 cup into one of the bag'o'meat, rubbed it into the meat a little, and sealed the bag and put into the refrigerator.

Next I used one of my favorite new finds. This little bottle of flavor came from a sale rack at my grocery store. The bottle was still sealed, but the label and foil covering was slightly damaged. Bought my first bottle for a buck. I love a deal. ALLEGRO VINTAGE RASPBERRY CHIPOTLE MARINADE is now a staple in my pantry. I have used this several times. Best thing I made so far was a grilled meatloaf using this sauce. One day soon, I will post that recipe. Another very simple recipe to use this sauce is to brush a little on a pineapple slice as you grill it ... Incredible. But, back to the task at hand; repeat the process of pour @ 1/2 cup into another bag'o'meat, rub a little, seal and refrigerate.

Marinade #3 was a gift from a friend. She has enjoyed several evening of grilling or smoking. For Christmas last year, she passed on a jar of her childhood memories. She lovingly told me of her days in Texas and her sainted father rubbing his meat with Woody's Cook-in Sauce. Texas is the home of fabulous BBQ, and some of the best pitmasters on the planet. I am sure it is also the home of some terrific local sauces. Woody's however is based in Nevada. Nothing wrong with that. I wonder if I will ever crush her memories of this local Texas gem she mailed during her visit to the childhood home. But again, I am digressing. This is a concentrate sauce, and at some point, I will use the remaining sauce to create something unique. But for this experiment, I used another 1/2 cup into the bag, rub, seal and refrigerate.

Last up is another of my favorites. I discovered this gem when I took a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. If you ever get to New Orleans (an amazing bargain for foodies, some of the best cooking you will ever get at half the prices of NYC, Vegas, Paris and even Kansas City fancy restaurants), this cooking class is a must do activity. The staff teaches local history, makes you laugh, serves you lunch ... and along the way, you will learn how to cook several New Orleans dishes. I took 3 different cooking classes during my several trips to the Big easy. these guys were the best (although next trip, I am going to take the three day class held in one of the antebellum mansions in the bayou). But again, I am digressing. This sauce, Cajun Power Garlic Sauce was on the table ready to be poured on whatever you like. As advertised, heavy Cajun Garlic taste. It is perfect to spice up the Artichoke Soup and Jambalaya you learn to cook at the class. I also love this on a burger. I long ago used up the bottle I bought in 'Nawleans, and have taken advantage of the shipping services of their home page. I have never seen this on a shelf in Kansas city, so it takes a little effort to make sure a bottle is always in my pantry. But again, for the purpose of this blog, I repeated the process, and was ready for the flight of marinades tasting.

I refrigerated over night. I grilled each to about medium. I prefer medium rare, and my wife likes more well done, so I compromise. I am working on my finger push technique of telling how well done meat is, and I came very close with these. Basic steak cooking technique is to sear each side on a high heat or flame, then indirect cook for three minutes each side. Perfect steak each time.

Here's the results...

The Olive spread was a bust. Very little extra flavor was added. Some of the olives stayed on the meat, and crusted nicely. But most of the olives fell through the grates, as expected. The extra oil certainly made the meat tender, but as far as extra flavor ... almost none.

The Raspberry Chipotle sauce was a huge hit for me. It was my favorite of the 4. Lots of extra flavor, certainly unique. It does overpower the taste of the meat, but for something different, I loved it. There is equal sweet taste of the raspberry flavoring, but also the spicy flavor of the Chipotle peppers. It left a little spicy after taste that I enjoyed, but was just a bit too much for the Mrs.

Woody's added flavor, while letting the meat taste come through. Both of us liked this very much, with it being my wife's favorite. I would not hesitate to use this again for true meat lovers. Added flavor while letting the meat speak for itself.

Finally, the Cajun Garlic sauce was a very close second for my wife, and an even closer third for me. Woody's left a more traditional BBQ meat taste accent, while the Garlic sauce left a more specialized single accent. very garlicky. Very flavorful.

A fun experiment, I may try this sometime with a small dinner party. My neighbors and friends are getting used to my experiments.

Much like matching wine to the right food

Much like pairing the perfect wine, yesterday I paired the perfect food for the perfect night...

Grilled FRESH corn on the cob, grilled brats and root beer floats.

weather in the mid 70's, no humidity, just me and Mrs. My Year on the Grill...

And half of our cats...This is Chang (our other one is Eng)

Party #2 - Recipe #4 - Entree - Grilled Pizza -Dessert Pizza

I have lots to blog from the long July 4 weekend; Lots of food activities. We started the long weekend off on Thursday with an invitation to a few of the fun neighbors to welcome a new neighbor. My food friends, Tom and Lucia were joined by my drinking friends, Jimmy and Herme. A house sold across the street and we wanted to meet the new folks. Invitations were made, and all accepted. What better way than with a party on the deck and something from the grill. I had lots of leftovers from the previously blogged about party, so I decided to use what I could as toppings for grilled pizzas! The advance work takes a little effort, but well worth it.


OK, morning before the party, get your dough ready. The original recipe came from Recipezaar that I adapted a little for my tastes (more sugar and sea salt instead of table salt)

6 Cups All purpose floor
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons sea salt
1 teaspoon yeast
2 cups room temperature water (very important, as the yeast will not work it's magic with cold water)
9 tablespoons olive oil (divided)

Mix the dry ingredients in your trusty Kitchenaid mixer (what would we do without it). Add water and 3 tablespoons of the oil. Mix at low to medium speed with the Captain Hook bread attachment, until dough forms a rough ball and the sides of the bowl are scrapped off. Should be about 5 minutes. You may need to add flour or water to get a good dough ball.

Take out of the mixer and let it rest for about 20 minutes. NOTE: this measurements are max to fit in my mixer. It easily feeds 6, but I was having 10 people, so I made a second batch while the first was resting. The remaining instructions are for one batch at a time.

OK, after the resting period, mix the dough once again for a couple minutes until the dough is smooth but not sticky. Now, take this dough and roll into an even tube, divide that in half, and then divide each half into three equal amounts, making six total equals.

have six small ziplock bags open and ready. Then pour a little oil in your palm and form each dough into balls, making sure that the entire ball is oiled...repeat.

Seal the bags and let sit for about an hour. Then Refrigerate each bag for at least three hours. About two hours before you are going to cook, let them return to room temp! Also, at this time, it is a good time to take the fresh mozzarella cheese out of the fridge and let it get up to room temp. For ease, I found a brand that comes precut into slices. They are a little thicker than I prefer, but work well enough.

These balls keep in the fridge for a couple weeks, and I have some in the freezer for whenever I get a bug up my butt to make these. Like I said earlier, they are perfect for left overs. Take a couple out of the fridge 3 hours before dinner time, and you have a great pizza in less than 30 minutes (better than Dominos).

OK, I like to cook while the party is running, as opposed to having everything cooked and ready to serve when guests arrive. These are just the right size for a personal grilled pizza for each of your guests. BUT, in order to keep things moving, an hour of prep time prior to arrivals is needed.

First, have drinks ready. I know from experience that most of my neighbors are beer drinkers. Tom and Jim bring a small cooler with what they like. Since I was having strangers, and I didn't know their drinking habits, I made up a pitcher of Mojitos prior to their arrival. It only takes 5 minutes, has a great presentation (fruit and mint flouting in the pitcher) and is a light refreshing rum drink...perfect for a summer evening. I have a pretty well stocked bar, and can make up something if they ask, but if I have a pitcher of something ready, a cooler of beer (Killians for me) and a bottle of wine open (MRS My Year on the Grill's drink of choice), I have never had someone ask for something different. BTW, it is cheaper, prettier and tastes MUCH better if you build the drink from scratch. Do not buy one of those premixed drinks in a bucket. In addition, I had a dozen beers in the cooler being iced down. Drinks are ready.

OK, 55 minutes to party time, and time to start chopping. From my party a week ago (see previous blog post) I had most of the ingredients ready...just not in pizza form. I had red onions. I was going to saute them prior to putting on the pizza, so they will be nice and sweet and caramelized. No need to buy the vadalias for this. I also had gone to KC's farmer's market and bought a bunch of sweet peppers. For last week's party, I had stuffed them, wrapped them in bacon. But I also held back a dozen or so for this party. I chopped my onions a little course. Each piece about the size of a quarter. Same with the peppers, after I had cut the stems off and cleaned the seeds out. These I put in a large saute pan with a little olive oil and simmered them while I got the meat ready.

That took about 10 minutes. So, 45 minutes to arrival. The meat I was using my leftovers from last week (see the theme...cheap party of 10). I had some of my spiced smokey fatty sausage (only about a pound, goes a long way spread on the pizza). I also had ribs! Debone the ribs and chop coarsely...again, the size of a quarter. In separate saute pans, with a little oil, get them warmed up. The only real short cut i took for this night was to use a jar of premade pizza sauce. In another life, I should have made that up (it also freezes). I actually thought I already had some, turns out, I didn't. Don't you judge me. I dumped the jar into a small sauce pan and warmed it also.

Here's a tip...I warm up all my ingredients prior to putting them on the pizza. It helps the cheese to melt, and your pizza will be served completely warm.

Only ingredient left was mushrooms. I have found that these taste best fresh and near raw. Just cut them (quarter size) and be ready to put them on as is.

OK, another ten minutes gone, go back to your saute pans and make sure they are hot (but not burned. I transfer these into my large cast iron skillet. 1/3 of the skillet onions and peppers, 1/3 holds the rib meat, 1/3 holds the sausage. Keep them separate as best you can, but having them on one pan makes them easy to handle.

I leave these on the burners on low and get my grill fired up. For this, I use my propane grill. Easier to control the temperatures, but simple enough to use charcoal if you prefer. Once the grill is hot, I clean whatever leftovers stuck around from last session, and oil the grate. Use canola or peanut oil, takes the heat better than Olive oil.

Move the sauce pan with the sauce and the skillet with the onions, peppers and meats out to the grill. Move them to the side, just enough to keep them warm. Bring out your room temperature dough balls, cheese and mushrooms.

It is now about 20 minutes til guests start arriving. It takes about 10 minutes for each pizza. My plan is to make a personal pizza for each guest, and I can make three at a time. So, in order to have everyone eating together, time to get cracking. I get started. taking one of the dough balls and forming it into a circle. Mine actually form into an oval, about a foot long and 6 inches wide at their widest part. Thicker crust will form smaller, but I like each to be only about a quarter inch thick. Then, either brush on a coating of canola oil, or take the easy efficient way out, and use the spray can of canola oil and coat each side. This helps for even cooking, nice marks and prevents burning. Next, slap on the hot grill over medium direct heat. I have a large grill that allows me to have room for my pans on the side, about half set for direct medium heat and 1/4 of it set for low indirect heat. While this first is cooking, I start forming the next ball...like an assembly line. by the time I get three pizza doughs on, it is probably time to flip the first. The dough stiffens up, and I like the grill marks to show (having a hot grill to start makes that work). keep an eye, and make sure they do not burn, but you want them to look like they came off a grill.

OK, 10 minutes to guests and time to start building the 'za... Take that first pizza, flip it over onto the indirect side of the grill and start building. I like to have a cheese pizza ready, so...a little sauce, and 4 slices of the mozzarella and move it back to the direct heat side of the grill. let it cook for about 5 minutes (keep an eye, you will know when it is done). I build the other two while the first is finishing. I make an everything and also a mushroom only.

This works well with a second person to do the entertaining while you are doing the cooking. I have all three of my starter pizzas ready when the first guests start arriving. My lovely and talented wife does the cutting into slices (6 slices per 'za). She also makes sure that the drinks start to flow. The starters are just there as appetizers. As the guests arrive, in order of arrival, I start taking orders. Have them belly up to the grill and explain their options. Keep the line moving. always have a dough base started, a flipped pizza being built and a finished pizza being cooked. Should be about 10 minutes total for each.

Everyone arrived timely, but with my system, I was able to have everyone with their individual choices made by 45 minutes after the party started. Our new neighbors brought a sister and brother-in-law. Happy to have them, and was ready for this contingency. Only real thing I needed was the pizza dough. I had extra in the freezer. I am going to make a desert pizza, so I took the extra dough needed for that out of the freezer as soon as I knew I was going to be short. They were not room temperature, but in the hour, they were good enough (hopefully the drinks will improve their taste buds enough not to notice).

They were a huge hit! lots of time to talk, greet meet and enjoy!

But, my work was not done. Once the entrees are finished, clean the grill of the sauce and skillets pans. I set up a double boiler to melt some semisweet chocolate. I also melted some white chocolate. should be about 10 minutes to melt. This was my drinking and mingling time...and the chance for the guests to rave over my cooking (isn't this why we do this?).

OK, dessert...make three more pizza doughs. I make these a little thicker than the "real" pizzas. I want them chewier. Oil both sides, and cook as you did the originals. While these are cooking, mix in a couple tablespoons of cream with the chocolate. This makes it creamier, and easier to drizzle. Once you reach the flipping stage, put a couple tablespoons of softened butter on the uncooked side. it will melt quickly. Sprinkle generously sugar and Cinnamon on the butter. Move over to the hot side and finish. Once it is toasted, transfer to your cutting board and drizzle generously the dark chocolate. Contrast this drizzle with a drizzle of the white chocolate. Cut into six pieces and serve immediately!

OK, here was my only failure for the night. For some reason, my white chocolate caked up and would not drizzle. I ended up putting just a glob on the top. It worked and tasted OK, but in the past, the drizzle of white over dark was much prettier.

The night was a huge success. The new neighbors were welcomed, and we will see them again. My old buddies in the neighborhood were well served and had a great time. six of us stayed until 1 am sitting around the firepit and laughing, talking and sometimes singing along to my ipod mix.

Give it a try. My longest post ever, but MUCH easier than the length of the post would imply. It must be easy. 10 guests, each having individual items cooked, desert and drinks, and all finished in an hour!

Paul Kirk ...My very own personal cook ...Kind of

greetings. well, it has been a busy holiday weekend, and I have lots to blog about next week. But let me get to one of the highlights of the week (month and so far year).

A couple of notes to help you appreciate this story from my point of view.

• I used to live in New York City for awhile. I learned to appreciate food and chefs there.
• I now live in a suburb of Kansas City. Nice, but the food options are not the same. The contrast between KC and NYC was a part of what made me want to become a better cook.
• One of my favorite bloggers is PIGTRIP.NET . He is a terrific writer, and is a must read for any fan of 'QUE and lives in the northeast. I especially like to read about his trips through New York City looking for the great BBQ.
• PIGTRIP highly recommends a joint called RUB, and he has written several reviews and stories of his trips there.
  

OK, that's enough background...here's the story.

MRS. MY YEAR ON THE GRILL is aware of my love for Bar-B-que, as well as my desire to become a better cook. She told me about a month ago that she had a surprise for me, and I was to keep the evening of July 1st open. So, on the night, I got in the car, and she drove to a beautiful location... Chef RENEE KELLY's AT CAENEN CASTLE. It is advertised as, "A private event venue serving flawless fresh cuisine". It is one of those places we have driven by a hundred times, and wondered what the inside looked like!

At this point, as she drove into the parking lot, I was handed the advertising brochure for the evening...

July 1, 2009 Wed.

Grilling Challenge Dinner with Paul Kirk

6 - 8 pm

Join Chef Renee Kelly and Chef Paul Kirk for a grilling competition, informative class and irresistible camaraderie as they compete for the people's choice award. Through 4 rounds of cooking, mystery baskets will be unveiled. Witness the classic timeless wisdom of the BBQ Barron vs. The Nuevo French Griller. You be the judge!

The setting was wonderful, the back patio of the castle. We arrived early enough to tour the restored castle. There was a couple planning their wedding reception being given the grand tour, and the MRS and I tagged along. Getting a brief history and more details about what this amazing venue could offer. Not enough could be said about this wonderful gem in my own back yard.

We made a brief stop at the bar, and I was pleased to find they kept Killian's Irish Red as one of their premium beers (my favorite). Certainly a precursor to come of an evening tailor made for me!

I am ashamed to tell you that the name Paul Kirk did not really ring a bell. And to be honest, Kansas City is filled with BBQ experts, most self proclaimed glorified rub or sauce salesmen. But, as soon as I saw him, I recognised him from one of my favorite cookbooks...Paul kirk's Championship Barbecue! THIS WAS GOING TO BE GREAT! For those of you not in the know, Here's the scoop on Paul... (cut and pasted from his website) ..."Paul Kirk, a.k.a. Barbecue Guru, Ambassador of Barbecue, Order of the Magic Mop, Certified Master Barbecue Judge, Kansas City Barbecue Society Board of Directors, Inductee into the KCBS Barbecue Hall of Flame and 1990 Chef of the Year-Greater Kansas City ACF Chapter. All these titles are honors that have been earned and bestowed by colleagues." Additionally, Paul gave us additional details on his resume. Partnered in a NYC restaurant, RUB (see, told you the details I gathered from pigtrip.net would pay off). In his career, he has cooked for Presidents, the entire Congress, Julia Child and now for ME (plus about a dozen new friends). Paul is old school BBQ champion. In my quest to be better, Paul is exactly what I want to spend an evening with!

Once I figured out who was sharing their expertise with us, it dawned on me how small the crowd was. The cost of the evening was about $80 a person. Not cheap, but certainly not outrageously priced. We were greeted by the chefs and their incredibly efficient and friendly servers with a sangria. My glass was never more than half empty before the pitcher arrived to refill (and I did try).

While we relaxed on the patio with our drinks, we got a brief introduction from the chefs. Chef Renee Kelly is a local girl, classically trained in French Cuisine. She spent a year in medical school, before finding her passion. Then cook (he informed us that he was a cook, not really a chef) Paul Kirk gave us his resume. He is not a braggart, and basically just told us that he has been cooking for 50 plus years. Fortunately, the audience was peppered with people in the know who asked the right questions to get more of his background. I was especially interested in his stories about cooking for Julia Child's charity. Thanks to PIGTRIP.NET, I was able to ask a couple of relevant questions that brought out his personality. I asked of his opinion of Justin Timberlake (Justin is partnered in a less flatteringly reviewed restaurant in NYC), and got a feel for the difficulties of opening a TRUE BBQ joint in Manhattan (20 plus story smokestack among them).

After about 20 minutes, we got to the cooking. Two disappointing parts of the evening should be addressed...First, my fault, MRS. MYYEARONTHE GRILL and I selected the worst seats in the house. In the shade, but in the back. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to hear everything and to follow the recipes. In the future, I would suggest the the tables should be brought closer to the action. There really were only about a dozen of us, simple enough to have only 3 or 4 tables, all front row. As I said, this gripe was all my fault. BUT, the only portion of the evening I would suggest for improvement would be a handout with the menu and recipes. The evening was advertised as a class. A couple handouts would have helped the memories. But, they didn't, so you will have to rely on my memory.

We started with a cold gazpacho soup. Grilled tomatoes, peppers, onions and lots of other stuff. It was served in a drinking glass and was excellent! It was a little too spicy for my wife, but I loved it. If I had the recipe, I would certainly make it for guests on a hot summer night. Going to have to start experimenting to get this one right. This was followed by a simple bacon wrapped bunching of three asparagus stalks, served with a blue cheese garnish. Simple, but FABULOUS. Next up was some grilled greens. At this point, I was enjoying the sangria and the company at my table that I missed some of the recipes and instructions, but the greens were great!

NOW, we got to the grilling! The chef/cookS both made the same items. A Skirt steak and Salmon. I won't go through the recipes, methods or names of the dishes, as I am sure I would mess them up or leave something out. Same basic main dishes, each prepared by the chefs in their own way. After dishing them up buffet style, we enjoyed and got a chance to vote on our favorites! For me, it was a wash, as I loved Chef Renee's steak, but really could not get enoough of Paul's salmon. The evening was capped with a little ice cream and grilled peaches. It was a fabulous evening, and a bargain at twice the price. A big thank you to Renee and Paul for making this evening special. The website for Renee Kelly's advertises several different specialty evenings. I am sure I will not be a stranger. Anyone local to the Kansas City area should check this unique opportunities the venue and chef offer.

I now am faced with a problem. I found out the night was a summer series of events, all featuring Paul Kirk as instructor/cook. Unfortunatly, I missed the first night of the series. But equally unfortunatly, here is the advertising for the next and final night of the series...

July 18, 2009 Sat.

Grills Gone Wild!

5:30 – 8:30 pm

Ladies get ready to rub down some meat, stoke coals, and smoke wood! This class will offer the basic BBQ 101, concoct your own rub and experiment with playful sides. At the next BBQ, you will be able to show the men a few tips and tricks of your own. Bring your grilling tools, apron, and of course some sass to add to the sauce!

$45 per student

OH NO...A hands on cooking lesson, and the only way I am invited is in drag! What to do, what to do.

Recipe #3 - Sides - Blue Cheese Potato Salad

This is a real crowd pleaser. It is the first recipe that I changed to make my own, just because i thought I could make it better (to my tastes). It has become a standard offering when I smoke ribs. As a nod to my Church Basement Ladies friends, this is also a great dish to take if you are invited to a pot luck dinner.

The original recipe comes from Richard McPeake, and a class I took at the Culinary Center of Kansas City. The original recipe was published in "Backyard BBQ The Art of Smokology". This is a terrific book, and a must have for beginner and experienced smokers.

OK, back to the recipe... the original calls for Chedder Cheese instead of Blue Cheese. I love a good cheese, and a tight Stillton is among my favorites. After years and years of marriage, my wife knew I loved cheese, knew I loved Blue Cheese, but insists on experimenting with low cost ingrediants. She had bought a package of ...I believe the brand name is something like Athos. already crumbled Blue Cheese. 8 ounces. Certainly was not the freshest, not the best quality, but I figured what the heck... Let's us it up. I figured it works better to cook with, as opposed to paired with a Granny Smith Apple and a nice Zinfindel. And it did!

5 Pounds Red Skinned potatoes, 3/4" diced, unpeeled (healthier, adds texture and appearance)
8 ounces Blue Cheese (one of those pre-crumbled packages)
3 hard cooked eggs, chopped
1 medium size finely chopped onion
4 TB fresh chives, minced
2 TB Salad Sprinkle, McCormick brand
1 TB fresh ground Black Pepper
2 TB Ground sea salt
3 TB Pourable yellow mustard, French's brand
3 cups Mayonaise

Cook the potaotoes til just done, cool immediatly. Combine all the other ingredients into your kitchenaid mixer and mix on low for about three minutes. Once the potatoes are completely cooled, mix in about 1/4 of the potatoes and 1/4 of the goo in a serving bowl. Then add about 1/2 the remaining potatoes and goo, mix that layer, then the final layer. Cool in the refrigerator for at least three hours prior to serving, preferably over night.

A word about cheese quality. Ordinarily, I believe that the better quality cheese, the better quality your food will be. This is NOT the case with this recipe. I made this once with a top quality Blue Cheese, and the taste was overpowering. just a word of warning, the package seems to be the right mix