After 4 years of cooking on my large Big Green Egg, she finally has a name – Bella.
I know, “Naming a grill? You’re nutz.” But this stout girl has made quite an impression around here. She’s cooked hams, turkeys, pizza, paella, bread, steaks, ribs, chops, roasts, burgers, brats, salmon, tuna, chicken, chili, bacon, pork butt, lamb, shrimp, oysters, crab, and all manner of veggies – all with no complaints and a minimum of glitches.
Performance like that deserves a name.
To go with the name, I also have a new handle courtesy of the Lawn Ranger. Mike did a great job. This is one very pretty piece of oak and it fits the grill perfectly.
Barbecue is all about the combination of smoke, heat, and meat.
Here are some of the smoking woods that I’ve used and what flavors they impart…
Alder has a light, sweet flavor that goes well with fish and poultry. I prefer alder to cedar for planking salmon as it adds a nice touch of smoke without overwhelming the fish.
Apple is mild with a slightly sweet and fruity flavor. Good with poultry. Great with pork, particularly ribs.
Cherry has a nice sweet and mild flavor that goes great with virtually everything. Very popular smoking wood. Can turn meat a deep red.
Grapevines are good for a lot of tart smoke. Fruity, but can be heavy. Use it sparingly with poultry, game, or lamb. I like it for paella.
Guava is a fruit wood from the tropics. Very versatile. Its semi-sweet aroma goes well with beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and fish. My go-to wood for most smoking.
Hickory is the most commonly used wood for smoking. Sweet and strong, great for that heavy bacon flavor. Good with pork, ham and beef.
Maple is mellow and slightly sweet. Good with pork, poultry, wild game, and cheese.
Mesquite has a strong earthy flavor. Can be overpowering, so it’s better for shorter cook times. Good with beef.
Oak is versatile and goes with just about any barbecue meat. Strong, but lighter than hickory and not overpowering. Very good wood for beef , lamb, or pork.
Pecan is sweet and nutty, kind of a softer version of hickory. Great with beef, pork, and poultry.
I’m not big on introspection (I’m the absolute last guy you’ll find staring at his navel, trust me on this one), but sometimes it’s nice to observe mileposts and take a look around at where we’ve been and what we’d still like to do.
So, we’ve hit 100 posts with the Food & Fire blog. I say “we,” because while I do most of the writing, photography, and cooking; my dear wife does the shopping, editing, and food styling (you have to have an odd number of things on your plate and everything looks better with a little parsley). She gave me the Big Green Egg for our anniversary. Without that gift, her love, understanding, and tolerance for my geeky foodiness, this blog never would have happened.
I’ve been blogging for just over a year. In that time we’ve covered all manner of meat, a bit of veggies and fruits, more than a little seafood, and a few book and product reviews. I’ve made some new friends in the food blogger community and enjoy reading their posts. I’ve been interviewed by the Charlotte Observer and by a researcher for NYT food writer Molly O’Neil.
I’ve been gluten-free for a year and as trans fat and high-fructose corn syrup free as is humanly possible. It hasn’t always been easy, but I feel a lot better and that makes it all worth it. I will continue to make sure all of the recipes here can be easily made gluten free.
Looking down the road, there are some changes I’d like to make to the site. This has never been a commercial venture. It’s always been just me writing about what I enjoy doing, and that isn’t going to change. I’d like to post more often, but some weeks it doesn’t feel like I can run any more food through the Big Green Egg, so I’ll probably start adding posts with links to food news and other recipes that have caught my eye. I’d like to do more product reviews, since god knows I don’t own nearly enough cook books or barbecue sauces .
I’m taking some steps to improve my photography (hello early Christmas present) and will post about the changes I’ve made. I want to tweak the look and feel of this site a little. I’m looking into taking a WordPress development course. Right now I just know just enough to be dangerous.
So, happy 100th post and thanks to my wife and all of the folks who read and support this site!
It started out innocently enough – just a little container of black peppercorns. Then before you knew if I was craving turmeric and juniper berries and scoring Ceylon cinnamon in the 1 pound bag.
As the title suggests, the book focuses on wild game dishes – crayfish, rabbit, elk, boar, etc., prepared in ways that enhance the natural flavors, not cover them up.
The book is organized into nine sections: Sea, Stream, Air, Land, Not-So-Wild Game, Campfire Cooking, Showstopping Dishes to Impress Your Friends, Sensational Sides, and The Sweet Finish.
While the focus is on the entrees, care has been taken to ensure that all of the side dishes and desserts are designed to “fit with what you’re fixing.”
Now, there are lots of great game recipes out there, but this book is more than that. There’s a strong theme that runs through every recipe of doing the best with what is fresh. I’ve always thought that the best way to test a cookbook is to make a full meal from it, so I (and my dear wife) put together five recipes to create a feast for some of our foodie friends. Continue reading →
In celebration of Earth Day, I’d like to take a break from talking about grilling meat to talk about, well… grilling local meat.
Becoming a localvore – a person dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally – is one of the best ways you can contribute to a healthier environment. Eating locally:
Creates less pollution – fewer fossil fuels are burned getting the food to you.
Benefits the local economy – a dollar spent with a local farmer generates twice as much income for the immediate economy.
Is more sustainable and self-sufficient – when our community can grow its own food, we are less vulnerable to being manipulated by the big guys who don’t always have our best interests at heart.
Is healthier – locally grown food is fresher and requires fewer preservatives.
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Commander’s Palace has been a fine dining institution in New Orleans since 1880. Executive Chef Tory McPhail and managing partner Ti Adelaide Martin have mined this restaurant’s extensive collection of recipes to coauthor the 
