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The Raichlen Thanksgiving Menu

UP IN SMOKE
The Raichlen Thanksgiving Menu
November 12th, 2013

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving always brings with it a healthy dose of nostalgia, and this year, I’m feeling the passage of time with particular edge. My friend and mentor, Anne Willan, has just published her memoirs under the title of One Soufflé At A Time: A Memoir of Food and France. The story begins in 1975 with the opening of La Varenne, Anne’s cooking school in Paris. And I was there at the beginning. Yikes!

Anne may not have the name recognition of the latest Food Network diva these days, but if you came of age in the 1970s and 80s and you loved food, there was no other place on earth you wanted to be more than in class at La Varenne. If Julia Child inspired the first generation of Americans to dream about French cuisine, Anne got them on a plane to learn how to do it Paris.

Which brings me in a roundabout way to the 2013 Raichlen Thanksgiving menu.

French turkeys are leaner than their American counterparts—and were even more so back then. One of the coolest techniques I learned at La Varenne was stuffing the bird under the skin with thin slices of pork fat and truffles. It was sort of cool and sort of gross: you wormed one finger between the skin and breast meat at the neck, then a second finger, loosening the skin from the meat. You continued, gently and carefully, until you hand inserted your whole hand, loosening the skin from the breast, thighs, and legs, taking care not to tear the skin. Then you inserted bards du lard, thin slices of French salt pork (fattier than its American counterpart), and jet-black disks of truffle. Truffle, you’ll recall, is an incredibly aromatic—and incredibly expensive—subterranean fungus. Together, they made the meat supernaturally moist and flavorful.

In fact, it’s the memory of that turkey that led me to team up with my pals Amy and Thierry Farges to create a Planet Barbecue Truffle Grilling Butter (no pork fat needed).

Amy and Thierry’s truffle butter is also available at select Whole Foods and Fresh Market stores under the brand name of Aux Delices des Bois.

Grill the turkey using the indirect method, basting well with the pan juices.

Here are the highlights of the Raichlen menu for Thanksgiving, 2013:

Does your family’s Thanksgiving menu have a live-fire twist? We’d love to hear about it—send photos and details to the Barbecue Board.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Pie on Fire—Pizza Hits the Grill

UP IN SMOKE
Pie on Fire—Pizza Hits the Grill
October 29th, 2013
 


Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

I’ll never forget the day I discovered grilled pizza. It was back when I was the restaurant critic for Boston magazine. The restaurant in question was Al Forno in Providence, Rhode Island. The waitress delivered an uncut rectangle of dough—cracker-crisp at the edges, blistered and charred on the bottom, moistly chewy in the center. Puddles of fresh tomato sauce dotted the fire-darkened surface, along with shaved cheese and torn fresh basil leaves. Simple, yes, but not simple-minded. The smoky aroma damn near drove me mad.

It was, in short, everything pizza should be—and less—boasting the puffy moistness of freshly baked pita and the smoke flavor of Indian naan. More importantly, it was mercifully free of the gloppy melted cheese or pooled pepperoni grease that mar commonplace pizza joint pies. I summed it up in one short, sweet phrase: love at first bite.

Grilled pizzas have become big business since then, turning up at progressive restaurants and home grills across America and around the world. And with them comes considerable confusion about the best way to grill a pizza.

Do you cook the dough directly on the grill grate over the fire, as they did (and still do) at Al Forno? Or should you use one of the dozens of models of pizza stones now available for use on the grill? Raw crust or pre-cooked? Direct grilling or indirect grilling? And how do you infuse your grilled pizza with the blessed scent of wood smoke?

This week on Barbecue Bible, it’s all about grilled pizza.

There are 8 steps to direct grilling the perfect pizza and 6 steps to “grill-baking” one on a pizza stone. Can you guess them? Refresh your memory.

Want my recipe for the best three-grain pizza dough?

For the ultimate Margherita pizza, make a variation of my pizza recipe from How to Grill. Add extra smoky flavor by grilling the tomato slices instead of frying them and substituting in smoked mozzarella.

And here, in appreciation to you, Up in Smoke readers: five of my favorite toppings for grilled pizza cooked by either technique. Guess which one I’m using this weekend.

  1. Cooked bacon and thinly sliced cooked potatoes with caramelized onions and sour cream (fresh chopped rosemary is optional)
  2. Grilled vegetables with fresh herbs (basil, oregano, mint, or marjoram) and coarsely grated ricotta salata or Pecorino Romano, or if you prefer a melting cheese, Taleggio
  3. Thinly sliced fresh or grilled tomatoes, sliced fresh or smoked mozzarella, olive oil, and basil (an almost classic pizza Margherita)
  4. Pistachio pesto, thinly sliced mortadella (imagine the best bologna you’ve ever eaten), fresh mozzarella and Pecorino Romano
  5. Sautéed or grilled wild mushrooms and leeks, roasted garlic, baby arugula and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Tell us about YOUR adventures with grilled pizza. Post photos, recipes, and comments.

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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An Apple a Day … Keeps Boring Barbecue Away

UP IN SMOKE
An Apple a Day … Keeps Boring Barbecue Away
October 15, 2013

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Johnny Appleseed never attended Barbecue University. But if the apple evangelist lived today, we’d welcome him with open arms. John Chapman (his real name) spent 40 years crisscrossing the fledgling United States, collecting and disseminating apple seeds and building nurseries. If the apple is one of our most popular fruits and its byproducts—apple wood, apple cider, cider vinegar, and applesauce—are essential barbecue flavorings, we have this singular American folk hero to thank.

Incorporating apples into barbecue adds a subtle sweetness to meat and the meal and helps you think outside of the box when it comes to flavor. Instead of opting for the usual vegetable or starch as a side, use apples as an alternative. They’re especially tasty and abundant in October, which is National Apple Month.

There are a number of ways you can enjoy whole or sliced apples on the grill or in your smoker:

  • Make apple “steaks”: Slice a firm apple crosswise into 1/2-inch thick steaks. Brush with melted butter and crust with cinnamon-sugar or our Best of Barbecue Dessert Rub, then direct grill over a hot fire until darkly browned. Great for dessert and as an accompaniment to grilled or smoked pork.
  • Stuff whole cored apples with your favorite pork sausage. Smoke or indirect grill until the apple is soft and the sausage is cooked through (the internal temperature of the latter should be at least 160 degrees.) Use our Best of Barbecue Grilling Rings to hold the apples upright.
  • Grate a peeled, cored cooking apple like Granny Smith or Golden Delicious on the largest holes of a box grater into ground turkey or venison for burgers (about 1/2 apple per pound of meat). The apple adds an intriguing fruit flavor, and more importantly, helps keep these lean meats juicy.
  • Make “baked” apples Barbecue University-style. Partially remove the core using a vegetable peeler or melon baller (leave the bottom intact). Make a simple stuffing with butter, brown sugar, gingersnap cookie crumbs, and cinnamon. Stuff the apple and top each with a half marshmallow. Indirect grill over a moderate heat with apple chips tossed on the coals to generate wood smoke.

Check out my Cider-Grilled Pork Porterhouse, which features apple cider in the marinade and apple syrup in the sauce.

Looking for an interesting, flavor-packed slaw for a pulled pork sandwich? Make the vinegar slaw in BBQ USA, adding 1 apple, cored, and cut into matchstick slivers.

Do you have your own apple recipe you’re fired up about? Share the details and photos on the Barbecue Board!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Brew Meets ‘Que!

UP IN SMOKE
Brew Meets ‘Que!
October 2nd, 2013

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

It’s Oktoberfest! Not that this barbecue community needs an event to honor the inviolable bond between beer and barbecue. Germans celebrate the connection with Oktoberfest—two raucous weeks of beer drinking and partying in Munich, which paradoxically (and for reasons I’ve never quite understood) starts in September (this year, September 21 to October 6, and for planning purposes, September 20 to October 5 in 2014).

If you’re lucky enough (or foolhardy enough) to attend Oktoberfest, you’ll experience some distinctly German versions of barbecue, which haven’t quite yet made it to the U.S. For example, ochsenbraterai — a whole steer roasted on a spit over an open wood fire. Orsteckerlfisch—a whole fish (such as bream, trout, or mackerel) stuffed with garlic and herbs, basted with oil, skewered on a steckerl (stick or branch in the Bavarian dialect), and grilled camp-style over a wood fire.

I’ll never forget my first Oktoberfest in Munich (although there’s a lot I can’t remember). The year was 1976; I had come to Germany to study medieval cooking in Europe as part of a Watson Foundation Fellowship I won upon graduating from college. I remember finger-thick bratwurst grilled over pinecones at a street fair on the way to Munich. (So much for the cardinal rule of grilling only over hardwoods.) I remember schweinshaxen, Munich’s famous juniper- and mugwort-marinated fresh ham hocks roasted on a charcoal-burning rotisserie at the landmark restaurant Haxenbauer. (Read all about it in Planet Barbecue!)

I remember drinking Bavarian beer by the mass, one-liter gray earthenware stein, served by muscular waitresses decked out in dirndls. (I also remember the bizarre feeling being a Jew surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Germans in the city where Hitler rose to power.) I drank another mass, then another, and the next thing I remember was waking up the next day in a strange hotel without the faintest idea how I got there.

All of which is a lengthy prologue to the theme of this newsletter—beer and barbecue—and how they work together. I’m not just talking about drinking beer at a barbecue — the beverage of choice at grill sessions from Biloxi to Buenos Aires to Bali. No, I’m talking about how people around Planet Barbecue use beer in their smoking and grilling.

 

CLICK HERE to read about 7 flame-tested barbecue techniques featuring your favorite brew.

To celebrate Oktoberfest:

And here are three luscious beer-based recipes to whet your palate:

How do YOU grill or barbecue with beer? Share your photos and recipes on the BBQ Board.

Raising a cold one to your health!
Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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FREE Tailgating Video & Tips! Plus, Get a FREE Raichlen’s Tailgating! E-Book

UP IN SMOKE
Gold Plate Tailgating Video & Tips!
Plus, Get a FREE Raichlen’s Tailgating! E-Book
September 17th, 2013
 

BARBECUE UNIVERSITY™ LIVE VIDEO & FREE TAILGATING E-BOOK!

Join Steven Raichlen on Sunday, September 22, 2013 at 4 p.m. EST / 1 p.m. PST for an exclusive and live online video event, powered by Shindig, where he will demonstrate how to make four ultimate tailgating recipes. Those who RSVP and attend the online event will receive a FREE copy of Raichlen’s Tailgating!

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Football fanatics across the country are in their “happy place” now that college ball is underway and the NFL season has officially started. And you know what that means: Stadium parking lots shrouded in low-hanging clouds, probably visible by satellite, of intoxicatingly fragrant smoke generated by the fiercest competitors on the planet—tailgaters. More than 20 million of them, according to the American Tailgaters Association. Time to gird thy loins for battle! Because the real contest is on the asphalt, not the Astroturf…

Tailgating, a distinctly American tradition, has come a long way since November 6, 1869, when fans lowered the buckboards of their horse-drawn wagons to serve picnic lunches from hampers at the first intercollegiate football game, Princeton vs. Rutgers, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. For those keeping score, Rutgers won, 6 – 4.

But you don’t have to be a legacy title-holder to Parking Space A-10 to enjoy the competitive bonhomie that tailgating fosters. The scarcity of parking spots has created a new subculture of tailgaters—people who unapologetically entertain like-minded sports enthusiasts at home, where the best seats, high-def screens, and access to instant replays are.

Regardless of where you host your tailgating party, the food must impress. Gone are the days when burgers and dogs made the cut.  To bring your “A” game to this contest, practice what I like to call GPT, “Gold Plate Tailgating.” No, this doesn’t necessarily mean bringing your best table linens or a margarita machine powered by a car battery to the stadium. You can if you want to: Hey, candelabras look cool at night games.

Here’s a glimpse of my playbook:

    • Build your GPT menu around a large hunk of meat that serves lots of people, such as prime rib or The Ultimate Cheesesteak, a whole butterflied beef tenderloin stuffed with poblanos, onions, and provolone cheese, then grilled and served with chipotle sauce.

 

    • Bring two grills if possible, one for direct grilling appetizers like pepper Jack or Cheddar cheese quesadillas, and another for foods needing lower, slower cooking times, like barbecued onions or pork shoulder. While I personally prefer charcoal or wood-burning grills, there are a number of good portable gas grills.

 

Click here for 5 more tailgating tips to help you warm up for the game on a full stomach!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen


Back to School with Barbecue University™

UP IN SMOKE
Back to School with Barbecue University™
September 4th, 2013
 

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Laptop? iPad? Smartphone? September is back to school month, of course, but the checklist of essential school supplies has changed a lot since the name “Raichlen, Steven” appeared on a class roster. Believe it or not, there was a time when the word “tablet” referred to a pad of lined paper.

If this time of year makes you nostalgic for school, enroll in the learning adventure of a lifetime—Barbecue University™ at The Broadmoor—for one of our May/June, 2014 sessions.

You may remember the old song about school days:

Reading and writing and ’rithmetic
Taught to the tune of a hick’ry stick…

Well, Barbecue University™ is all about hickory sticks. And apple wood and cedar planks, too.

Accept the challenge, and we promise your school supply list will be short: Bring your curiosity, your enthusiasm for live-fire cooking, and a hearty appetite. BBQ U will provide everything else—the tools, fuels, and more than 30 grills and smokers to help you take your barbecuing and grilling skills to graduate level. And talk about classrooms! Our students start class in an indoor amphitheater with state of the art video and do their “lab work” in a vast outdoor burn area with dramatic views of Colorado Springs.


Photo courtesy of Rob Baas, class of BBQ U 2013.
In case you’ve been playing hooky for the last decade, Barbecue University™ is the 3-day workshop I teach annually at the luxurious Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs. (Think of it as parochial school for people who’ve found barbecue religion.) Our students come literally from all over the world, with a large percentage of repeat students reluctant to cut ties to their alma mater. Each year the menu is different and these were some of the recipes the BBQ U class of 2013 made this past summer:

There is no homework, no summer reading list (beyond my book Planet Barbecue! and my Barbecue! Bible cookbook series), but as at the Harvard Business School, class participation is essential. And yes, we do give a final exam on the last day of class, but in my 15 years of teaching BBQ U, no one has failed it.

The course is very hands-on (everyone cooks) and no matter how much you think you know about grilling and smoking, you will learn something. You will come home with many recipes you are dying to make, and you will likely be the most popular backyard cook in your neck of the woods – for years to come.

Larry Olmsted, Forbes.com
Barbecue University™ alumnus

 

The theme of our 2014 curriculum is Adventures on Planet Barbecue™, focusing on the most eye-popping recipes and jaw-dropping techniques from around the world’s barbecue trail. You’ll master the ABCs of global grilling. A for Australian shrimp on the barbie. B for Balinese roast suckling pig. C for Caribbean cabrito. And so on.

We’ll also give you a refresher course on the icons of American barbecue, from Memphis dry ribs to Texas brisket to Carolina pork shoulder.

As for the “new math” at BBQ U, you’ll learn:

  • The 5 Methods of Live-Fire Cooking
  • The 4 Ways to Determine When Food is Done
  • 3 Techniques for Grilling Fish Without it Sticking to the Grill Grate
  • 2 Ways to Make a Rub
  • The 1 and Only Recipe You’ll Need for Spit-Roasting a Whole Prime Rib

Barbecue University™ at the Broadmoor, a Forbes 5-Star and AAA 5-Diamond resort, is not only an education-enhancing activity for individuals: It’s also a great program for husbands and wives, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, friends, co-workers, etc. It also makes an unforgettable gift for a special occasion. Classes fill quickly, so register without delay.

Barbecue University™. Where the only marks you get are grill marks. The details:

  • Packages start at $2,100 for three nights based on double-occupancy.
  • For more information, go to the Barbecue University™ page on BarbecueBible.com where you can also check out a student’s perspective of BBQ U 2013, as well as get details on how to make a reservation.
  • You can also reserve directly with The Broadmoor by calling 855-634-7711 or going to The Broadmoor’s website.

PLUS! DON’T MISS THIS:

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Labor Day BBQ! Hold the Hard Work

UP IN SMOKE
Labor Day BBQ! Hold the Hard Work
August 20, 2013
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

If you want a symbol of how much attitudes about grilling have changed in recent years, consider Labor Day.

When I was a kid, Labor Day marked the end of summer barbecue season—a sort of last hurrah of smoke and fire before you mothballed your grill for the winter.

These days, most of us grill well into the fall (hey, isn’t that why they invented tailgate season and Thanksgiving?), and a growing number of Americans (45 percent at last count by the industry watchdog Hearth and Patio Barbecue Association) keep firing up our grills all year long.

In upcoming issues of Up In Smoke and in our blog posts and social media, we’ll keep you posted on how the BarbecueBible.com crew grills for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year’s, Boxing Day, Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, and Steven’s birthday in March. (Hey, we don’t need much excuse to light the grill.)

But back to Labor Day. For all you history buffs out there, when did Labor Day become a national holiday? The answer is 1894, when Congress officially honored the achievements of American workers on the first Monday of September (Oregon—progressive as usual—made it a holiday in 1887.) Today, Labor Day marks the end of summer, the return to school, and the last day when those fashion plates among us consider it permissible to wear linen, seersucker, and white shoes.

And the best way to celebrate Labor Day? With a barbecue, of course.

But what exactly are you supposed to cook on your Labor Day grill? You grilled hotdogs and hamburgers for Memorial Day. You cooked salmon and ribs for the Fourth of July.

Many magazines and websites take an ecumenical approach, proposing everything from soy marinated baby backs to Mexican grilled corn. Others trot out the classics, such as beer can chicken and barbecued beef ribs.

Here on Martha’s Vineyard, we often prepare a grill-top clambake for Labor Day, using sweet local lobsters and clams I dig myself in Cape Pogue Bay. (We’ll tackle that grill-top clambake in a future newsletter.)

But this year, we’re celebrating Labor Day with a menu that’s the opposite of labor intensive. We figure you’ve been grilling hard all summer long. So why not serve a Labor Day menu that’s big on flavor and drama and light on actual work? You saw that coming: This September 2nd we’re going primal, and you don’t even need a grill grate.

That’s right, this Labor Day, you’ll cook your entire meal caveman-style—directly on the embers. Good for you if you own a charcoal grill. Even better if you own two. If you happen to be a gas griller, this is a good excuse to invest in an inexpensive charcoal grill.

The menu? Five Raichlen caveman classics:

Ember Charred Salsa with Chips: Inspired by the classic foodie movie Tortilla Soup, tomatoes, onions, and fresh jalapenos and poblanos are charred directly in the coals for gutsy, chip-worthy flavors.

Fireman’s Corn: Roasted directly on the blazing embers until the husk and silk are charred and blackened and stripped off. The sauce: melted salted butter.

Caveman T-bone with Bell Pepper Hash: A dish I developed for Primal Grill on PBS and always a hit at Barbecue University™. The eye-popping steaks with garlicky pan-roasted peppers (pictured at top) will be the talk of your Labor Day get-together.

Ember-Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Roasting in the embers imparts an incredible smoky flavor. Finish the spuds with Maple-Bourbon-Cinnamon Butter, and you’ve got a recipe worthy not only of Labor Day, but of Thanksgiving and the rest of the year.

Uptown S’mores: A childhood favorite gets an adult makeover.

PLUS, CHECK OUT THESE NEW BLOG POSTS ON BARBECUEBIBLE.COM!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Cool Things to Do With Hot Peppers on the Grill

UP IN SMOKE
Cool Things to Do With Hot Peppers on the Grill
August 6, 2013
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Quick: Name something you can pick up at any produce stand or grow in your garden that can be used as a weapon. Hint—it’s not the club-like zucchini your neighbor leaves on your doorstep in the dead of an August night. The answer is—drum roll, please—a chile pepper.

Weapon? Yes, the colorful fruits of the chile pepper plant have actually become part of at least one country’s military arsenal. In addition to being the active ingredient in pepper spray used by law enforcement and vigilant women, chiles’ volatile compounds have now been incorporated into non-lethal grenades in India. If you have ever inadvertently touched your eye or other sensitive parts after handling chile peppers, you can imagine how a chile pepper attack would stop you, er, cold.

Where does that tongue-searing, sinus-clearing burn come from? Chile peppers contain a compound called capsaicin and related chemicals, collectively called capsaicinoids, which bind with pain receptors in the mouth and throat and send a message to the brain that something hot has been ingested. In humans, the heart rate increases and beads of sweat—called “gustatory perspiration”—appear on the forehead. Sweating, of course, is the body’s way of cooling itself, which is one reason hot peppers are so popular in the steamy tropics, particularly within 20 degrees of the equator. With record-breaking heat afflicting much of the U.S., you can test out this theory at your next barbecue.

Victims of chile pepper pain often reach for water, beer, or soda pop to quench the fires. But in fact, these liquids make things worse as they spread the hot oils around. Dairy products—milk, cream, yogurt, etc.—are a much more effective antidote as they break the bonds between the pain receptors and the capsaicinoids.

If you are a discerning taster, you’ll discover that beyond a chile’s heat are other flavors, sometimes described as sweet, floral, citrusy, etc. In fact, the high dry heat of the grill generally sweetens chile peppers, tempering their incendiary tendencies.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy chili peppers on the grill is as poppers (stuffed jalapenos). Try making these Bacon-Cheddar Jalapeno Poppers with my Best of Barbecue Chile Pepper Roasting Rack. Its unique design holds 18 peppers upright so the filling doesn’t spill out, and it comes with a handy tool for coring the peppers.

Make them at your next cookout along with this recipe for fiery Jamaican Jerk Chicken. You can find more recipes that feature chiles in my book Planet Barbecue! And in the meantime, here are 15 sizzling chile pepper facts and grilling tips for impressing people at your next cookout!

CHECK OUT THESE PRODUCTS FOR GRILLING CHILE PEPPERS!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen


Barbecue Sauce Road Trip

UP IN SMOKE
Barbecue Sauce Road Trip
July 23, 2013
BBQ Sauce
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

Most people think the landscape of American barbecue sauce is as flat as the drive from Toledo to Omaha. Their description of it? Rusty red. Decidedly sweet and ketchup-y. Too thick to pour without pounding the bottom of the bottle with the flat of your hand.

The quintessential American barbecue sauce? Not on your life.

In fact, tell me the kind of barbecue sauce YOU like, and I’ll make a pretty accurate guess where you live. There are almost as many unique regional barbecue sauces as there are distinctive accents, y’all. Every aspiring pit master should be familiar with them. Or at least know how spill them strategically on his laminated map of the U.S. of A.

The sauce described above? That’s pure Kansas City. Where ketchup and molasses officially entered into holy matrimony. Sweet with brown sugar, piquant with vinegar, and punctuated with a generous dose of liquid smoke, this popular style of sauce was one of the first barbecue sauces to be sold in stores. (Believe it or not, 100 years ago, you could not buy commercially bottled barbecue sauce.) It has a flavor profile familiar to almost all Americans born after World War II—people who have eaten ribs or chicken grilled in the backyard slathered with KC Masterpiece.

Rich Davis
If this sweet smoky condiment comes to mind when you say “American barbecue sauce,” there is one man to thank: Dr. Rich Davis. The child psychiatrist turned sauce mogul had a lifelong fascination with barbecue and he tinkered with the family sauce recipe for decades. His sauce, KC Masterpiece, went on sale in 1977. (It was subsequently purchased by Clorox, which still manufactures it today.) Delectable in its own right, the stuff is infinitely customizable: On my website BarbecueBible.com and in my book Barbecue! Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, for example, you’ll find Dr. Davis’ Chinese-inspired “Great Wall Barbecue Sauce“—made with anise seed, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and, you guessed it, KC Masterpiece.

Commercially, it proved to be much more successful than another Davis creation—”Muschup”—a mustard and ketchup blend that did not resonate with the grilling public. Which goes to show that while lightening might strike once, it very rarely strikes twice in the same place.

Memphis BBQ
Now if you’re burning rubber in search of sauce, take I-70 east or west or I-35 north or south out of Kansas City, and you’ll find 7 more must-try regional barbecue sauces.

Are these the only sauces popular in the U.S.? No, and in a future Up in Smoke, we’ll look at the barbecue sauces served in Santa Maria, California, Upstate New York, and my winter stomping grounds, Miami. After that, we’ll take up the barbecue sauces of South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. For barbecue sauce is a big subject—so big you could write a book on it. In fact, I did! It’s called Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades (Workman Publishing), available as an e-book, too.

Too tired or busy to make barbecue sauce from scratch? Sometimes you just want to open a bottle. Which is why I created the Best of Barbecue sauce line, loosely based on regional American classics.

Best of Barbecue Lemon Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce is my family’s favorite—a tangy and smoky sweet-lemony sauce in the tradition of KC Masterpiece that goes great on everything from chicken to ribs to pork shoulder. GET IT NOW!

Best of Barbecue Chipotle Molasses Barbecue riffs on the chili-blasted sauces of Texas and the Southwest. Brisket and beef ribs would be sorry stuff without it. GET IT NOW!

Best of Barbecue Smoky Apple Barbecue Sauce pays homage to Missouri-Indiana apple country barbecue. Apple cider, brown sugar, and a hint of cinnamon make this a perfect sauce for barbecued chicken and baby back ribs. GET IT NOW!

Best of Barbecue Smoky Mustard Sauce is what results when a Yankee takes on South Carolina mustard barbecue sauce. I’ve yet to meet a pork shoulder, whole hog, chicken, or grilled salmon that wasn’t glorified in its presence. GET IT NOW!

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Green Meets Grill

UP IN SMOKE
Green Meets Grill
July 9, 2013
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

A woman I know (she may be my wife) observes the following about barbecue and gender: “Let’s see, I pick the date for the barbecue, invite the guests, do the shopping, prep the ingredients, make the salads, and set the table. My husband lights the grill and chars a few steaks. Then I do the clean-up, package the leftovers, and send everyone on their way. So who’s really the family grill master?”

Well, ladies, this newsletter will lighten your load: Next time let us grill the salad.

Grilling Romaine
Grilled salad? Crisp cool greens over fiery coals? It sounds like an oxymoron. But you know the BarbecueBible.com credo: If something tastes great raw, roasted, or tossed, it probably tastes better grilled. And in my barbecue world, we cook the entire meal—even the salad course—on the grill. Plus, grilled salads just look and taste so compelling. In fact, one of my favorites is this grilled Caesar salad—inspired by Walt’s Wharf restaurant in Seal Beach, California. If you think a conventional Caesar salad tastes good, wait until you singe halved heads of crisp fresh romaine lettuce over a hot fire, infusing the leaves with sweet scent of wood smoke.

Grilled Pepper Salad
Another salad you have to try is one of the innumerable variations on a theme of grilled pepper salad. Argentineans dress up flame-roasted red bell peppers with garlic and anchovies (check out the recipe from a La Brigada in Buenos Aires), while Sicilians dust their pepper salads with pine nuts and capers.

Grilling Vegetables
You can roast peppers on a gas or charcoal grill, but my favorite method is caveman style: grilled directly on the embers without the grill grate. Char them until coal black on all sides. (Arm yourself with extra long tongs and heavy-duty grill gloves. This method is especially well suited to beginners (or the grilling impaired), because the blacker you roast the peppers, the sweeter they will be. Transfer the peppers to a metal or earthenware surface (never plastic or wood, lest stray embers burn them) to cool, then scrape off the burnt skins with a paring knife. Leave a few bits of black for color and flavor.

Of course, for a more substantial salad, you can always pair grilled greens or vegetables with grilled proteins, like steak, chicken, shrimp, tuna, etc.—a combination that’s particularly inviting on a hot summer day or night. And at least once this summer, you should try Thailand’s electrifying yam nua yang—spicy grilled beef salad—which is assertively seasoned with chiles, mint leaves, fish sauce and peanuts.

Greens meet grill. The next time you make a salad, fire up your grill. Who knows, maybe your wife will even let you take the credit.

Do YOU have a grilled salad you’re fired up about? Share photos and details on the Barbecue Board!

Last, don’t miss this Twitter chat this Thursday! Join me and Weber Grills to discuss Grilling Dos and Don’ts with Jamie Purviance on 7/11 at 8pm ET. Use hashtag #grillitright on Twitter to join the conversation.

Yours in righteous grilling,

Steven Raichlen

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Grilled Pound Cake
THIS JUST IN!

Here’s a special surprise for the mother of all grill masters: Enter Workman Publishing’s “Summer Berry Bonanza Sweepstakes” on the TheMom100.com site for a chance to win $100 in coupons from Driscoll’s Berries! Imagine what you could make with all those berries? Hmmm, how about this Grilled Pound Cake with Berry Salsa and Tequila-Whipped Cream!


Steven Raichlen’s Ultimate July 4th Menu!

UP IN SMOKE
Steven Raichlen’s Ultimate July 4th Menu!
Plus, Enter to Win a Sweepstakes

June 25th, 2013
Roasted Berry Crisp

Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

No, your eyes haven’t deceived you: You’re staring at a Smoke-Roasted Berry Crisp (pictured, above). It’s just one of the sweet yet smoky surprises we have for you this Independence Day. In honor of the Fourth of July, we’re also offering you the chance to win a sweepstakes with a grand prize (pictured, below) that includes my Best of Barbecue® spices, grilling tools, an eBook set of my books Best Ribs Ever; How to Grill; Barbecue! Bible: Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades; BBQ USA; and Secrets of the World’s Best Grilling (only available for the iPad), and much more. Click here to enter the BarbecueBible.com Sweepstakes now!

Sweepstakes
We had to do something special for Independence Day, the busiest day of the year for firing up the grill. If you want to keep step with tradition, try my three twists on America’s three most popular July 4th foods—burgers (try The Great American Hamburger), hot dogs (try these “Hot” Dogs), and steaks (try these Tucson T-Bones). And let’s not forget our primal hunger for ribs, ribs, ribs, prepared in a number of regional-specific ways across the U.S. With this First-Timer’s Ribs recipe and these 22 expert tips, you’ll always make perfect ribs.

But what you may not realize is how long our country has been celebrating July 4th with barbecue or how diverse the “traditional” July 4th menu really is.

History buffs know that our modern word “barbecue” comes from barbacoa, the Taino Indian word for a wooden frame built over a fire for smoke-roasting game and seafood. By the 17th century, barbecues were so popular in colonial Virginia, laws were passed to prevent the reckless discharge of firearms at pig roasts. (Even back then, we Americans had a dual obsession with guns and smoked meat.) Here’s how Englishman Isaac Weld described a Virginia barbecue in the late 1700s:

“It consists in a large party meeting together, either under some trees, or in a house, to partake of a sturgeon or pig roasted in the open air, on a sort of hurdle over a slow fire … it generally ends in intoxications.”

In fact, George Washington was no slouch when it came to “barbicue,” attending as many as he could. (His diary records one particularly memorable grill session in Alexandria, Virginia, that lasted three full days.) Decades later, when the triumphant general accepted the surrender of British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, spontaneous barbecues were staged all over the country to celebrate America’s independence.

Here at the Raichlen home on Martha’s Vineyard, my July 4th barbecue has deep personal significance. I’m always on tour during May and June, so it’s the first time in weeks I get to spend time with my family. We build most of our menu around local and seasonal foods: clams dug in Cape Pogue Bay that morning; organic chicken from The Farm Institute, in Edgartown, Massachusetts; asparagus from Morning Glory Farm, also in Edgartown; and blueberries picked from the bushes that line our driveway.

There’s one dish you might be surprised to find on our menu: planked salmon. July was once prime salmon season in New England during the Colonial period, and July remains prime time for the gorgeous wild Sockeye, Copper River, and King salmon of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

So here’s the Raichlen family menu for July 4th, 2013!

Clams
We hope it inspires your family’s menu. In the meantime, we wish everyone a star-spangled—and safe—Independence Day.

Grilled Littleneck Clams with Linguiça

Planked Salmon with Maple-Mustard Glaze

Barbecued Chicken

Lemon-Sesame Asparagus Rafts

Smoke-Roasted Berry Crisp

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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FREE Barbecue! Bible® eBook, Plus More Discounts!

Up in Smoke
FREE Barbecue! Bible® eBook,
Plus More Discounts!

June 11th, 2013
Dear Up in Smoke Subscriber,

We’re in the heart of grilling season, and Father’s Day is this Sunday, June 16th! To celebrate, we have blog posts on what three barbecue masters plan to teach their kids about live fire cooking and 10 tools you need for Father’s Day. Plus, Workman Publishing has some very special deals for our BarbecueBible.com community, too.

All month long, Workman is offering a FREE eBook download excerpted from my book Barbecue! Bible®. See below for details.

Grilling with Veggies
One Free Veggie Primer from Barbecue! Bible®

Whether you’re hungry for artichoke, mushrooms, potatoes, or eggplant, vegetables belong on the grill. This sampler teaches you how to grill them perfectly every time.

To receive your free download, sign up for Workman’s Blue Plate Special by clicking here. You’ll be sent a newsletter once a month informing you about a hunger-inducing selection of discounted eCookbooks. You can unsubscribe at any time, but we’re confident the newsletter will whet your interest and appetite. Check it out here.

But that’s not all! Throughout the month of June, we’re also slashing prices on the eBook editions of three of my most popular cookbooks as part of Workman’s Blue Plate Special. No matter what device you use to connect to the Internet or your favorite online retailer, you’ll be able to purchase these books, all month, for the can’t-be-beat price of $2.99 each. Tell your friends. Tell your family. But definitely don’t tell any competitive grillers near you. And don’t forget to get one or more of these eBooks for Father’s Day as a gift for your dad, your husband, or for yourself!

If you already own hard copies of my books, chances are they’ve gotten a little sauce-stained or seared around the edges. This is a great opportunity to back them up with mobile versions you can consult at the grocery store, the office, or wherever your travels on Planet Barbecue may take you.

Three Cookbooks for $2.99 Each*

How to Grill How to Grill
A classic and international bestseller. My step-by-step, photo-by-photo primer that covers all the essential techniques of barbecuing and grilling.GET THE BOOK
Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo | Google | Sony
Sauces Barbecue! Bible® Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters & Glazes
My round the world collection of barbecue sauces, rubs, and other flavor-builders—plus, learn how to balance acid, oil, and aromatics in your homemade sauces and marinades.GET THE BOOK
Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo | Google | Sony
Best Ribs Ever Barbecue! Bible®Best Ribs Ever
One hundred of the most lip-smacking, mouth-watering, crowd-pleasing, fall-off-the-bone recipes for every kind of rib.GET THE BOOK
Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo | Google | Sony
And finally, in celebration of the fact that one of my James Beard Award–winning cookbooks, BBQ USA, recently became available as an eBook, here’s a recipe for Bourbon-Brined Chicken from the heart of Kentucky. BBQ USA

Yours in righteous grilling,
Steven Raichlen

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Chat with Steven LIVE!
On June 26th from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST, join @SRaichlen and host @JohnTEdge on Twitter to learn more about regional grilling and BBQ around the USA — and get your questions answered LIVE! Click here to find out more.


World's Best Grilling
*A note to readers outside the United States: At the present time, your ability to purchase the featured eBooks will vary depending upon your IP address and the given retailer. If you are having difficulties purchasing a discounted eBook, please try ebooks.com; if you are having problems downloading a free eBook, please send an email to webmaster@workman.com. BARBECUE! BIBLE® is a registered trademark of Steven Raichlen and Workman Publishing Co., Inc.


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