Kosher Blog

20th Annual ASBEE/Kroger BBQ

I can’t think of a more appropriate press release for the July 4th weekend:

On September 7, 2008, Anshei Sphard-Beth El Emeth Congregation (ASBEE), a Memphis, TN Orthodox congregation, will host the 20th annual ASBEE-Kroger Kosher BBQ Cooking Contest and Festival. The festival will take place from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on the grounds of the synagogue, and features teams from Memphis and around the country vying for top honors in the world’s largest kosher BBQ contest. Prizes are awarded for the best beef ribs, beef brisket, beans, team name and team booth. It’s a major family event which includes children’s rides and games, food for sale by the ASBEE Sisterhood gourmet cookers, the ASBEE-Grizzlies 3-on-3 basketball tournament and the 6th annual pickle eating contest. Last year, the festival hosted 40 teams and more than 2,000 attendees. For details on team and event registration, sponsorship opportunities and general information, go to www.asbeekosherbbq.org, or contact the synagogue at 901-682-1611.

As you know, I competed in the ASBEE BBQ last year, and I’m going back this year. It’s all about thousands of people coming together for fun and Kosher BBQ. This year is a special one for the ASBEE BBQ and I encourage all the BBQ enthusiasts out there to come out and compete. Teams should be in Memphis starting September 4th, for orientation and meat selection. Shabbos accommodations will be available for any Shomer-Shabbos contestants. I’ll answer any questions posted in the comments, or you can contact ASBEE directly at the website or phone number above. Let’s make the world’s largest kosher BBQ contest even bigger!

Potato latkes fried in duck fat

Yes, you read that right. potato latkes cooked in animal fat. Specifically, duck fat. I did it. I ate it. I loved it.

Why? I realize that the miracle of Chanuka didn’t involve duck fat. I don’t even think that ducks were available in the Middle East at the time. But if I already use other non-miraculous oils to cook my Chanuka foods, I didn’t think a little duck fat was blasphemous.

But, why? OK, the idea wasn’t originally mine. CHOW.com published a recipe for Potato-Turnip Duck-Fat Latkes, and I was hooked. I didn’t use their recipe, though. I used the Kosher Blog Master Recipe, which I happen to love. On a side note, have you ever read any of the articles about the best french fries being made with horse fat? Don’t worry, I’m not going to be trying that.

Where did you get duck fat? I’d like to say that I make duck often enough to have a plentiful supply, but I had to go shopping for this one. Besides for being an excellent steakhouse, Le Marais has a butcher counter where Dominique will sell you a variety of French cuts and dishes. Tubs of duck fat (about a pound) cost $8. I bought 2 and only needed 1/2 of one. I guess I’ll use the rest to make confit, or something.

Aren’t you worried about your health? I take good-enough care of myself the rest of the year. Chanuka is only 8 days and I don’t do much frying during the year. Besides, I have great genes - no heart disease in the family and my cholesterol has never gone over 130, no matter what I eat. Sure, I’ll spend more time on the elliptical when it’s all over, but for now I’m going to enjoy myself.

So, how did it taste? The duck fat imparted a richness of flavor to the latkes. Well-rounded flavor. Meaty. It was a good recipe before, but now it was amazing.

No pictures? Nah. If you’ve seen one latke, you’ve seen them all.

Hang in there - one more night and day left.

BBQ Brisket at the ASBEE Competition

I had this final bit of coverage of the ASBEE BBQ Competition that I was holding on to, but today seems like a brisket-day, so here it is. The BBQ Railroad team, from the Baron Hirsch Men’s Club were the winners in the brisket category. Here were their responses (through David Schlesinger) to my post-game questionnaire:
Continue reading BBQ Brisket at the ASBEE Competition »

Barbecue brisket from an electric smoker

This was my first attempt at smoking brisket, but for the Kosher Blog’s foundational post on the subject, please see sweinberger’s Adventures in BBQ: Brisket from June 2005.

That’s enough Thanksgiving turkey — let’s talk about beef.

I discovered the Brinkmann electric smoker this summer as my coworkers talked me out of building a smoker from a galvanized trash can. For about the same price as the home-made parts, I walked into a nearby home improvement superstore and bought this guy (and a big bag of hickory chunks) on sale for a cool $60.

It’s construction is pretty simple. There’s a basin at the bottom which you fill with lava rocks, and an electric heating element sits on top of that — a few soaked wood chunks get nestled around the element. Atop the base you place the large metal cylinder which supports a drip basin and two cooking racks. A metal lid tops it off. The racks and basin clean up easily in the dishwasher, and it all comes apart for easy storage or transport.

Continue reading Barbecue brisket from an electric smoker »

The BBQ is over…

The winners of the 2007 ASBEE-Kroger Kosher BBQ Competition were announced at 3:15pm. I didn’t win. I didn’t place. That’s OK, because I had an amazing time. I made many friends - the ASBEE community is comprised of some of the friendliest, most welcoming people I have ever met. This weekend, I discovered that my self-taught, NY-style BBQ is at least as good as BBQ that you’ll find in Memphis, Tennessee - and I tasted lots of that delicious BBQ today. Hopefully, this won’t be the last they hear of me. Incidentally, my team of one was called ‘I flew in from Brooklyn, NY for this BBQ and boy are my arms tired’. We’re looking for recruits for next year. I’ll be back home tomorrow night, and I’ll work on getting some of my photos up as soon as I can.

Live-blogging from Memphis

As I write this, teams around me are preparing their briskets, ribs and beans. Luckily, ASBEE has wireless internet. Last minute adjustments are being made, tasting and seasoning is going on all around. The cooking starts at 6:00am tomorrow - don’t expect any live-blogging tomorrow. My beans are done and in the cooler. My rib-glaze is done and in the cooler. I’m eating some of the left-over ingredients (pineapple), in lieu of dinner. Wish me luck….

Update From Memphis, #3

I have a few hours free before Shabbos, so I’ll tell you a little more about what’s going on here. As a side note, I did what will likely be my last bit of sightseeing in Memphis (The Mississippi River Museum and The Memphis Cotton Museum). I also took a few minutes to stop by the kosher aisles at the local Kroger - the major sponsor of the BBQ.

There were no BBQ related activities today, but I’ll elaborate more on what happened last night. (Again, when I get home, I’ll provide photos to make it all clear.) When registering for the BBQ, everyone had to submit an ingredient list that covered all the ingredients you need, for all your recipes. (The categories to compete in are brisket, ribs and BBQ beans, in case you forgot.) The $125 application fee covered the purchase of all your ingredients - minus the meat. Upon entering the shul social hall, each team’s supplies and ingredients were set out on tables. First order of business was to insure that all your ingredients were present. A community table contains some of the more common ingredients (spices, sauces, juices, etc.) and each team is expected to take from that to fulfill their needs. Any shortages or missing items are reported to a volunteer, and it’s on to meat selection.

Teams can pre-order as many briskets and rib racks as they want when they sign up. On orientation night, a team representative lines up at the outdoor, walk-in cooler, where they will get a chance to choose which briskets or ribs they want. As I said, meat isn’t included in the application fee, so at this point teams pay the shul for the meat they have chosen.

Cooking is not required on orientation night, but many teams do. The most common preparation that takes place is the marinating or dry-rubbing of meat. I threw together my dry-rub, covered my brisket and ribs with it, then sealed them in foil and put them back in the cooler, with a team-name tag.

I wasn’t expecting to do any cooking last night, but I got caught up in the frenzy. Unfortunately, the shul kitchen doesn’t expand when more teams apply to compete - and this year has the largest number of teams, ever. Fortunately, many people are working on tasks that don’t require cooking, so they can work out in the shul social hall. I put together some of the ingredients for my grill-glaze. I’ll combine the components tomorrow night and finish their cooking. Before signing up, I was concerned that I wouldn’t know the right-way to prepare/cook for the competition - not anymore. Every method was represented. Some people were pre-cooking their meat, so they could just put a char on it on the day of the event. Some were slathering meat in marinades or dry-rubbing (I was one of them) and leaving them raw. Whatever preparing was done, at the end of the night every team wrapped their product in foil and put it back in the cooler.

I get a lot of questions about the BBQ-beans category. Each team is given a large can of Bush’s Vegetarian Baked Beans. The trick is to improve the beans by adding things - spices, seasonings, fruits, vegetables, whatever. You’re just trying to offer the judges the best baked-beans they even tasted.

There’s so much more to discuss, but it will have to wait for my next posts. I’ll leave you with a question - I seem to be marking myself as a fanatic, by traveling from NY to Memphis, just to cook in a BBQ competition. Are there more nuts like me out there? Would you come out here to compete? Next year will be the 20th annual BBQ, nudge, nudge. Thanks to all my supporters out there and have a good Shabbos.

Update From Memphis

I wish I could post some pictures for you, but my laptop doesn’t have the software for photo-editing. I’ll work on it when I get home. Sorry.

Anyway, my first full day in Memphis has come to an end. I started my day with some sightseeing (Graceland, The Peabody Ducks, The Rock & Soul Museum and the Belz Museum of Asian & Judaic Art). At 6:00pm, there was a BBQ Orientation, followed by our first cooking session. Before I go on, I need to clarify that I am working this competition alone - unfortunately, Jabbett wasn’t able to make it. Let me also explain that working this competition alone is sheer lunacy. Especially on your first time competing. I am so overwhelmed. As long as we’re all clear on that. (I won’t start whining here - the BBQ staff read this ;-) )

By 9:30pm I had selected my meat, insured that I had all my ingredients, put my dry rub on my meat and stored it in the fridge, and done a small part of my food prep. I still have much work to do. I’ll go into more detail when this weekend is over - right now I need to catch some Z’s.

HOWTO: BBQ for 100

I’ve been involved with my shul’s annual barbecue for about four years now, and this is the first year we ran out of food. I won’t say it was only because of its skilled preparation — the beautiful weather and ideal mid-September scheduling played large parts in drawing out more attendees than we could feed — but a few people asked for recipes, so here goes. (Remember that these are effectively institutional recipes, prepared in a practically unequipped kitchen, so don’t hassle me for using bottled barbecue sauce and dehydrated onions.)

BARBECUE CHICKEN
The quantities on this one aren’t important, just the technique: precook dark-meat chicken in a flavorful, slightly acidic sauce, then finish on the grill for great flavor and crisp skin.

• 1 institutional jug Cattleman’s Smokey barbecue sauce
• 1 smallish bottle apple cider vinegar
• 50 lb. case of chicken legs, preferably Canadian, split into thigh and drumstick portions
• 10 half-size, full-depth aluminum steam pans with lids

Preheat a large convection oven to 300 degrees.

Pour about 1 cup sauce and 1/4 cup vinegar into an aluminum pan and mix. Fill each pan with about 10 pieces of chicken, coat both sides of each piece with sauce as you load the pan. Cover pan tightly, and repeat until all the chicken is used.

Place sealed pans into oven and bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven. If not cooking immediately, refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare six-foot grill with one bag of lump hardwood charcoal. When hot, remove cooked chicken pieces from sauce and place on grill. Give the chicken a little char (about five minutes on each side) and serve.

KUFTA
Adapted from epicurious.com. Using dehydrated onion instead of fresh actually makes forming the kufta a heck of a lot easier, since there’s less moisture to contend with, and the little shortcut didn’t detract from the finished product’s flavor.

• 20 lb. ground beef
• 1 1/2 cups dehydrated minced onion
• 2 cups dried parsley flakes
• 2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. ground coriander
• 1-2 Tbsp. cayenne powder (your preference)
• 2 Tbsp. powdered ginger
• 2 Tbsp. cumin

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemon juice

Reconstitute dehydrated onion with warm water just to cover; let sit for five minutes.

Mix rehydrated onions, beef, parsley, and spices thoroughly.

Form small handfuls of meat into sausage shapes (about 5″ long, 1″ diameter) and refrigerate or freeze in foil trays until ready to cook.

Prepare six-foot grill with one bag of lump hardwood charcoal. When hot, cook kufta until lightly charred on all sides and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Splash cooked kufta with a bit of olive oil and lemon juice. Serve.

The Best Kosher Steaks for Grilling

Neighbor and Kosher Blog reader Ari hosted a steak tasting at his home a couple weeks back. Here is his report.

We recently held a taste-testing of 4 high-end, USDA Prime kosher steaks available from Gordon & Alperin in Newton, MA. Unfortunately, Filet Mignon and other cuts from the rear of the cow are not available kosher in the United States (due to the difficulty of removing certain parts of the cow found in the hindquarters), so we tasted Center-Cut Ribeye steak ($32.99/lb., also called “eye of the prime,” the king of kosher steaks, available at a very royal price), Ribeye Cap steak ($19.99/lb., also known as the “tail of the prime”), Hangar steak ($19.99/lb., also known as “hanging tenderloin”), and filleted Blade steak ($16.99/lb.).

(I wanted to roll and tie individual portions of ribeye cap to make rolled ribeye cap steaks, but the quantity of meat we received wouldn’t allow it once cut into 14 pieces. Thus, instead we grilled the RC flat on the grill, and served it sliced.)

All meat was lightly seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper on both sides. The seasoning was prepared by mixing 3 tablespoons of kosher salt with half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. All meat was cooked to medium (about 150 degrees F), although the thinly cut blade steaks may have been accidentally ventured towards medium-well or well-done (one thin piece registered at 172 degrees F).

Taste-testing forms were provided to each guest, and 13 forms were received back. Participants were asked to rate each of the steaks from 1-5 in the following categories: tenderness, beefiness, saltiness, and appearance. Participants were also asked to provide an overall score for each steak on a scale of 0-10. Results are summarized below. Mean scores are reported first, followed by standard deviations.

TENDERNESS
Hangar: 4.08 / 0.49
RC: 3.69 / 0.75
Blade: 3.46 / 0.66
CCR: 3.85 / 0.90

BEEFINESS
Hangar: 3.69 / 0.75
RC: 3.23 / 0.83
Blade: 3.85 / 0.90
CCR: 4.76 / 0.43

SALTINESS
Hangar: 4.85 / 0.37
RC: 3.38 / 0.87
Blade: 2.31 / 0.63
CCR: 2.54 / 0.78

APPEARANCE
Hangar: 3.92 / 0.75
RC: 3.00 / 1.08
Blade: 4.31 / 0.48
CCR: 4.46 / 0.52

OVERALL
Hangar: 8.08 / 1.12
RC: 6.77 / 1.17
Blade: 6.92 / 1.44
CCR: 8.54 / 1.39

A few results stand out. The Hangar steak was universally regarded as the saltiest steak by far. This is probably due to the fact that it has many surface openings (due to a widely spaced grain) into which the salt used in the kashering process likely entered but did not exit. Thus, kosher Hangar steak should probably be cooked without any added salt. The remaining steaks had much more reasonable saltiness scores, more in-line with what a typical person would consider desirable.

Also, the CCR had the highest beefiness score by far (with high agreement). This is not surprising, given that the rib section typically produces the “beefiest” cuts. The other three cuts provided roughly similar beefiness scores as each other, well below the CCR. Surprisingly, the RC, which is also from the rib section, had the lowest beefiness score.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Hangar steak had a higher tenderness score than the pricey CCR (although the small difference might not be statistically significant, especially given the high deviation in the CCR tenderness score). Also surprising was the fact that the Blade steak had the lowest tenderness score, contrary to its official description. This may be due to the fact the Blade steak was overcooked a bit. In my previous experience, Blade steak has generally been recognized as extremely beefy and tender by my guests, so it is very important not to overcook it!

People seemed to prefer the appearance of the CCR and Blade steaks. I thought this category would provide very divergent resluts because appearance is such a subjective category, but with the exception of the RC, the standard deviations were on the low side.

Overall, people preferred the pricey CCR, followed by the Hangar steak. A signifcant drop before the 3rd place Blade steak and then the 4th place RC. However, the data was divergent. It should be noted that 5 of the 13 testers rated the CCR as a perfect 10, while another 5 testers gave it only a 7. However, only 1 tester gave the Hangar steak a perfect 10, while only 4 testers rated it as a 6 or 7.

The big surprise in this test was the relatively cheap yet highly-regarded Hangar steak. The similarly-priced RC did not fare nearly as well (although perhaps it would have come out better rolled). The cheaper Blade steak had moderate scores, but this may be due to overcooking. While the CCR scored the best, this was to be expected from the king of kosher steaks, and its exorbitant price will make it suitable for only the most special occasions.