Hungry Hound: Focus on BBQ

I enjoy many of the local news specialty segments. One I enjoy a great deal (when I can see it) is "The Hungry Hound", seen locally on ABC 7 Chicago. So this time around, I decided to share some of the segments he featured on BBQ. At the very least, you may get some inspiration in your cooking. Here are some of the segments (some more recent than others). Steve Dolinsky is the host. He had some huge shoes to fill when he replaced the late James Ward. He was the right guy for the job, having won James Beard Awards for his work on radio and tv.  Since he took over this Friday evening staple, he's done a fantastic job. I hope you like these segments. All the locations are located in Chicago.

Lilly's



Chicago Q, featuring KOBE Beef Brisket. I REALLY hope to try this soon.



Honky Tonk BBQ. I ate here about 1 1/2 years ago & liked it. It's pretty informal (as opposed to the more formal Chicago Q listed above). I had the St Louis Ribs and liked them.

Paulina Market, a good place for smoked meats (not just BBQ alone). It's been about a year since I went here but this is a good source to get some good sausages. If it's a type of meat you want, chances are you'll find it here.

Well summer is over

I had planned on posting a few more adventures and meals but only one problem. My digital camera went totally on the blitz. In fact, I was getting ready to use a picture for this blog's new background & everything went crazy!! I would turn on my camera and it would either freeze and shut off, not take a picture or wouldn't even turn on (even with a full charge). So now, I need to either get it fixed or buy a new one all together. I hope to do this soon because there are some good things I would love to share. Sooner than later, I hope to fix this problem. Thanks!!!!

Healthy Eating Cookbooks

This is a different angle than I normally write about. I've shown different foods and places I've enjoyed eating at (normally not "healthy" as some may say). Contrary to what you may see here, I generally eat well and understand cooking with good health in mind. This post diviates from what I normally write about. I decided to take 4 cookbooks I own and discuss them. Is this a review? Not really though you could say it is. You may notice something that stands out. Of the 4 books I'm discussing here, two of which are from well-known spas, one by a Doctor, and the last in partnership with a major health facility and major retailer. I like all of them but I will rank them by how I eat. All the books do a great job when it gives VERY detailed nutritional information. These books were all released between 1995-2000.

"The Gourmet Prescription", Deborah Friedson Chud, MD, Bay Books, 1999.

Of the four books, this one reflects what my diet looks like. One thing I will say is that this book is very red meat friendly. In fact, ostrich is also featured in this book. The intention is to provide high flavors and lower carbs meals. I think it did the job well. You could easily remove the "low carb" emphasis and most probably would never know the difference. If you recall "The Zone Diet" by Dr Barry Sears, this book was inspired by that. Eventually, Dr Chud and Dr Sears worked together on fine-tuning the Zone Diet. Most of the things you use already (such as ingredients) will be used in this book. There are no needs for exotic or hard to find items, though you can take some liberty here. One side I liked was the black-eyed peas with greens and smoked garlic (pg. 189). The book uses collard greens but I prefer mustard (not quite the same bite with mustard). This book also received glowing reviews from Ronald Arky MD (distinguished Doctor and Professor at Harvard) and Steve Reichlen, BBQ master and host of "BBQ-U" and "Primal Grill" as seen on PBS. I think that alone may get someone's attention. There aren't very many pictures in this book, but the writing style flows very easily.

"The Mayo Clinic-Williams Sonoma Cookbook", Mayo Clinic,Williams Sonoma, John Phillip Carrol, 1998.

If you're looking for a perfect marriage, this is one such example. What do you get when you take one of the finest medical facilities in the country and combine it with a specialty foods retailer? The result is this book. Whoever thought to create this book was pure brilliance if you think about it. This book does deliver and I'll give the radio edit version. Like the "Gourmet Prescription" book, this book doesn't use a great deal of obscure ingredients or items that would be hard to find. One thing that stands out is they actually have meals broken down by seasons (e.g., one pot meals for winter). It also does a great job in the emphasis of using ingredients that are in season for the best results. Also great are the breakdowns in two subsections. The first, like "Prescription", does a very good job with nutritional values. The nice part is the cooking tips giving in this book. For example, the Provencal chicken and fennel calls for alcohol. On the same page, it mentions how much alcohol burns off while cooking (pg. 187). Then they go further to provide alcohol substitutes for those who do not consume alcohol (pg. 207, as seen below).

One tip that stood out was storing asparagus for the spring peas and asparagus (pg 83) if you don't use them immediately. It suggests to wrap them in a damp towel and store in a plastic bag for up to 5 days. The recipes could be a challenge to an amatuer cook but would encourage them to at leat try this book. If you can say you're at least a novice cook  or better, you should have no problems with this book at all.

"Canyon Ranch Cooking", Jeanne Jones, 1998, Harper Collins.

The next two books are featuring well known American spas. Canyon Ranch is a well know spa with locations in Arizona and Miami, Florida. They focus on the health and wellness. For the most part, this book has standard spa fair but all are pretty good. There are plenty of good alternative dressings. The detail might be a bit much for a novice cook because there is so much information in places to digest. Unlike the other two books I mentioned, this book tends to favor meat as much. While there are recipes for beef, lamb, veal and duck, the books encourages using them as a condiment (which for some could be a challenge). This book has a guacamole recipe that has no avocado (strictly steamed asparagus). I haven't tried it this. One thing I DO like a great deal is the cold pea salad (pg 106 as seen below).

"Canyon Ranch Cooking" as it relates to me, I could suggest it but might be a bit much for a novice cook. If you are a novice cook, take this book slowly and enjoy the ride. Start with the salads, sides and beverages then go forward from there.

"Golden Door Cookbook", Michel Stroot, 1997, Broadway Books.

I have mixed opinion on this book. I do like it but...just a few things that frustrated me just a bit. I did not see one recipe that included red meat but the turkey, chicken and duck recipes are also very good. Then they have things that I did like. You may consider trying the guacamole, made with one part avocado and one part peas (I have and its pretty good). There was also a roasted turkey with with parsnip-carrot sauce that I REALLY liked (pg 178, as seen below) .

 

There are many recipes that include seafood so either you can try to substitute chicken or another meat or just avoid it all together. A pretty strong Eastern influence is seen in this book, which isn't bad but may explain why there are no red meat recipes here. This book has MANY so there is quite a bit to digest. This book is not exactly for the meat & potatoes eater but there are some good things here. There are some VERY good things in this book but at times, it may be stretching themselves thin at times. There is a newer "Golden Spa" book, written by Chef Dean Rucker, who joined the Golden Door not long after this book was written. This book is pretty vegan-vegetarian friendly. I guess if I visit the Golden Door sometime soon, I might have a better vibe (ok, understanding for the grammar snobs) if I experienced this facility myself. I found enough in this book where I would suggest at least reviewing it for yourselves.

America's Dog: Chicago Hog Dog Chain takes a Different Angle

Here's another adventure. This journey took me to a place called America's Dog. What's the concept? It's pretty simple. The celebration of the hot dog- America's tasty treat. It features a hot dog as made in the various American cities. The founders went on a road trip and tried how people eat hot dogs-what way, how prepared, and most important, what's on them.

Now in Chicagoland, there's only one rule- no ketchup (at least until you turn ages 10-12)!!! Pretty much everything else is fair game. If you want a tomato based product, slice or dice some tomato or add some salsa. I think ketchup kills the texture of the dog. I tried it as a kid ONCE and never did it again. The Chicago hot dog is simple- tomato, pickle, relish, onion, mustard, onions, sport peppers and celery salt (just a dash). That's just how it is. Most people here may not put all of the above items on each time but most of them do generally appear (most common- mustard, onion, pickle, tomato seem to be the common edit to this dog). Some places will just a hot pepper in place of sports peppers to add more heat.

As it relates to suggestions, pay the extra $.50 and get a jumbo hot dog. It will be worth it. They have 17 different dogs alone including the Chicago Dog (not including the Maxwell St Polish- another treat in itself. Now, I'll get my criticism out of the way first and they are very few. First of all, Coke fans like me won't like the choice of drink (hint-hint). I'd have to say the oddest of dogs to me was the San Francisco Dog (Chili, mustard, ketchup, relish, onion, pickle, tomato, shredded, cheddar cheese and celery salt). This dog seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. The Atlanta Dog seems to have some debate. The common choices were cole slaw, chili, mustard and onion. Some, like America's Dog, have ketchup on their Atlanta style. That's a discussion for another day. If in doubt, order the Philly Dog, where you put whatever you want on it.  

I bought two dogs- the Dallas and the Baltimore. The Dallas Dog is basically a chili dog (Chili, onion and shredded cheddar cheese). Its sybling, the Houston Dog, is chili alone. The Baltimore Dog was a bit more of an adventure (Deep fried dog, with melted cheddar and grilled onions). I enjoyed both and the Baltimore was better than I expected. The texture was rock solid. I actually debated on the Baltimore and the Charleston (Cole slaw, chili, onion and mustard). Cole slaw is a southern thing but it works for me. It tastes very good. I regret not taking pictures of my food due to my camera battery deciding to die on me.

If you want to see the entire menu, here it is: http://www.americasdog.com/docs/AmericasDog_OrderForm.pdf

There are four locations in Chicago. I went to the one on Randolph Street (just east of State Street). The location is also on the north entrance of Macy's (Marshall Field building). So that location is easy to get to if you're walking downtown in Chicago. DO NOT TRY TO DRIVE THERE because there is no parking lot (free lot anyway). Out-of-towners, if you go to Navy Pier, they have a location there as well. There are plenty of other items to try as well (beefs, burgers, etc). The french fries were very appealing as well. Notice how my bag mentions being "voted #1 hot dog" but I am unsure who gave this honor. Nonetheless, this is a worthy stop and makes their own mark in a very well-saturated hot dog market. They found a niche and running with it. You may follow them on twitter- @AmericasDog.

The Grill as a Chafing Dish

The grill as a chafing dish? Yes!! It can be done. I did it and here how it worked.

This year on July 4th, I had a "ah-ha" moment. This isn't something "innovative" but something came over me to try. I decided to use the grills as chafing dishes. I guess part of it is that it was over 90 degrees that day and didn't want to heat the house up. So then, we can keep the food (ok, meat) warm by using the grills. As you can see in the picture above, most of the coals (in the coal boxes) are ash. They were still warm. I kept the fire going by adding a few more coals to keep between 150-175 degrees. The goal isn't so much to cook but keep warm or reheat. All the meat has been cooked already. I control the heat by opening and closing the openings on the top of the grill (just as you would when you grill but lower heat). Low & slow masters can do this in their sleep. 

 

If you use a kettle grill, I would have you try the following. First, use a pan like the one above. Second, keep the meat covered (I did the same with the dual-zone grill). How do you control the heat? In the kettle grill, move to coal boxes directly under the pan (direct heat) early in the warming process (to reheat). The time to reheat depends on how hot your fire is, how much meat you desire to warm up, and the temperature of the meat (directly out of the fridge or being at room temperature). This warming process can take at least 15-20 minutes but could take more. Once the meat is warmed to your liking, move the coal boxes towards the edge of the grill (indirect heat). Above are chicken legs, covered with foil.

Now if you have a grill like the one above, you can easily guage the temperature. This is a two zone grill. If you look closely, you'll notice the guages are reading between 225-250 degree mark. On the left side, I had the grill temperature at 300 at its highest point as I was still cooking some food. Ideally, if I want to "chaf", the temperature should stay under 175 degrees (200 at the very most).

Now for the fun part- the meat. My uncle made some good stuff- rib tips, hot links, and chicken wings.

More links, rib tips- ribs are a given (which is why I didn't add them). One day, I put out a rib tip post should time allow.