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Food Thread: Ovens...A Poor Man's Grill?

Yes, yes, I know. Grilling and barbecuing is always preferable to cooking in the oven. Except that isn't really the case, especially when it is spitting rain and windy and altogether unpleasant.

Can I grill or smoke or barbecue in the rain? Yes.

Do I enjoy it? No.

And when there are excellent recipes for such standards as pulled pork or barbecued chicken that work quite well in the oven...why not give them a try?

Last night I made chicken thighs. Yup! Plain old chicken thighs, and not from the fancy end of the display case. No, these were the commodity thighs that were minimally trimmed. And that's how I like them, because I get a bounty of several ounces of chicken fat and skin that is just perfect for a small portion of chicken cracklins, or in Chez Dildo...Gribenes.

To be fair to my very good local supermarket, their commodity chicken is miles better than the big chains' versions. But still, fancy it ain't!

I salted the thighs a couple of hours before cooking them, then dusted them with my own dry rub (sound familiar? I wrote about the grill version a couple of weeks ago) and put them on a rack in a baking sheet, then into a 300 degree oven for about an hour. Sort of a reverse sear! Then out, painted with my own barbecue sauce (thank you again, Bluebell), and into a 425 degree oven for 10 minutes or so, just until they got nice and brown.

The advantage of the outdoor grill and smoker is obvious...all of that delicious smoke and byproducts of fat combustion that flavors the meat. But the oven version is solid, with the advantage of being able to control the temperature very easily. From summer to winter I'll bet my grill high-end temperature varies by 100 degrees!

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California restaurants will have to disclose food allergens on their menus under new law

The law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Monday applies to businesses with at least 20 locations. They will have to disclose ingredients including milk, eggs, shellfish and tree nuts when they know or "reasonably should know" that they are in their products.

Wow...of course it is California, and if this new law doesn't sound like a gift to the plaintiff's bar, I'm not sure what else the legislature could do to make California even more sue-happy.

I am confident that there are people, somewhere, probably in California, who are allergic to every food known to man. With eight billion people on the planet, I am sure that there are lawyers in California who will dig them up!

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The Hidden Cost of Over-Refrigeration

I despair of a generation of Americans who need to be told this sort of thing. Did nobody pay attention to what their mothers and grandmothers were doing in the kitchen?

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Something from the archives...10 and a half years ago! Where did the time go?
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Tall drinks are often watered down and tasteless, and the worst offender is often the venerable Gin & Tonic. But with a little care and some reasonably good gin (but don't splurge on the expensive stuff....it's a waste) it can be a grand and glorious drink; just perfect for that first day of spring when you sit in your lounge chair on the patio and tell your kids how to clean up the yard after this long, dark winter.

The Muddled Gin & Tonic

2 limes -- room temperature
8 ounces good gin. I use Broker's, but any good London Dry gin will work.
16 ounces tonic. There are fancy (expensive) ones that are, unfortunately, really good. But Schweppes or Canada Dry are fine. Just make sure to use a fresh bottle...flat tonic is disgusting and will give you warts.

Roll the limes a bit to loosen the juices up. Slice them into quarters, and drop them into two pint glasses.

Using a muddler or the handle of a heavy wooden spoon (a hammer will work too), press the limes into the bottom of the glass, making sure that you press on both sides of each chunk. The goal is to express the juice and get some of the aromatic oils out of the skin. Just don't press too hard and break the glass!

Add a handful of ice, then four ounces of gin to each glass.

Carefully pour eight ounces of tonic into the glasses, trying to preserve as much carbonation as possible.

Top off with ice and drink immediately.

The ratio of 2:1 tonic:gin is a guideline. If you like yours more or less tonic-y, play with the ratio until you get it just right for your palate.

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Well, I was discussing Jambalaya and how it differs from Gumbo, so why not? Hank Williams is great, so really, any excuse to listen to his music is good!

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Who in the World Was the Real Betty Crocker?

”After a century in media, Betty Crocker has become a fully vested American symbol of family, hearth, and home that many generations treasure and look up to," says Margaret J. King, Ph.D., director of Cultural Studies & Analysis, a think tank that advises businesses on their fit with culture and cultural values. "Her image is solidly emblematic of the middle-class, productivity, and women as homemakers."

Oh...shut up. You sound like an over-educated retard.

Betty Crocker is an advertising symbol. Yes, it represents an old and possibly respected brand, but inculcating "her" with magical cultural properties is silly.

Although...the risque topless versions were much appreciated by young boys in the 1970s!

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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!