Cocktail Confessions

This footage was shot at the same time I was filming my series on ‘How to prepare a Beef Brisket for slow smoking.’ and thought it was important content to share as well.  Yeah, I know it’s a little lengthy, clocking in at just over eight minutes in length, however, there’s a lot of information packed into these 8 minutes.  You should think of this as a ‘supplementary’ episode (i.e. episode 2.5).

The content here in “Rubs & Marinades” is broken up into four sub-categories and I spend a few minutes on each one:

1. Marinades: generally liquid based with some sort of acidic base, whether that be a natural juice such as orange juice, or vinegar.  Talk about pre-packaged spice packets, or bottled varieties.  The key thing to remember here is timing.  Most acidic based marinades should not be left on the meat for more than 10-12 hours.  At that time, there is an actual process of the meat breaking down and starting to lose its natural flavor.  Personally, I like to marinade 6-8 hours if possible in the refrigerator, turning over only a few times.  Bring your meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before your ready to cook it help it get up to room temperature.  Also, the more acid the less time you need.
2. Injection – I discuss and show a large gauge needle specifically designed for injection.  A good rule of thumb is .5 oz of liquid for every pound of meet.  Try and evenly disperse injection points throughout the surface and slowly depress plunger and also slowly remove needle.
3. Salt & Pepper – It is very important to take this step seriously.  Avoid at all costs both iodized, granulated table salt and pre-milled pepper.  Try and use fresh peppercorn and either Kosher salt or sea salt crystals.  A little bit can go a long way, and salt & pepper, done right, will improve your flavor and char crusts ten-fold.
4. Dry Rubs – Whether it’s pre-packaged or a homemade concoction there’s a few simple guidelines: A) Try and use fresh herbs and spices.  This ensures natural oils and the strongest flavor.  Spices do in-fact degrade over time and can lose their intensity if exposed to too much air, light, heat, and moisture.  B) A mortar & pestle, or separate coffee grinder is the best way to grind fresh spices. C) Know your side-dishes and audience!  A very spicy southern rub may not be appreciated by those that are used to tamer flavors.  Curry is nice for Mediterranean dishes such as lamb, but not so good for a Texas BBQ with ranch style beans.  The spices and rub you use for your meat should compliment and enhance everything else at the table as well.

Well, here I am with Part II of 4-part series on how to prep and smoke a beef brisket.  I realize the first video was a little on the lengthy side (about 8.5 minutes), so I trimmed this down to a more digestible five minutes.

In this segment, I talk about cleaning up the meat, taking note of the grain, trimming the fat-cap and brisket in general and some ‘scoring’.  In brief, you’ll want to rinse your brisket off under the sink and pat dry with a paper towel to remove as much excess water as possible.  With a sharp knife, you’ll want to cut off or trim any dangling meat ‘flaps’ on the underneath of your brisket and any pieces of errant fat. 

Now flip the brisket over so that the ‘fat-cap’ is on top, and again, with a sharp knife try and trim the fat cap to a uniform thickness of 1/8″ to 1/4″.  Since you’ll be smoking or grilling fat side up, this fat will begin to melt at a certain temperature and gravity will allow it to penetrate the meat downwards during the cooking process.  This is what helps keep your brisket moist and adds a ton of flavor, so you don’t want to trim all the fat off.

The next optional step is to ‘score’ your fat.  I make diagonal cuts about an inch apart in both directions only as deep as the fat cap itself.  Try to avoid actually cutting into the meat.  By doing this cross-hatching, it will allow you to get that spice rub to penetrate just a little bit more and provide a little additional surface area for your dry rub to adhere to.  Like I said, it’s totally optional, but this 30 second step I think is a no-brainer and I personally believe helps the taste out in the long run.

Finally, take note of the grain of the meat.  You’ll want to make sure you know which way the muscle fiber is running, because once you smoke your meat for 6+ hours and get that nice dark crusty bark on the outside, it’ll be hard to tell which way the grain is running.  And why do you want to know this?  Because you are going to slice your brisket ‘AGAINST’ the grain, not with it when it comes to serving it up.

Okay, Part III should be ready in a few days, and here’s where we get down to the good stuff.  It’s all about the rub, the injection, the marinade, and the flavor.  So stay tuned, because I’m actually really proud of that segment

Well, It’s finally here.  Part 1 of my long promised “How To” series on smoking a beef brisket.

After my wife brought home a Brinkman smoker from her 10-year anniversary with working for her company, I was chomping at the bit to try my hand at smoking a brisket.  The good news is was that it turned out pretty darn good and everyone who tried it loved it.  Even better, it was a perfect excuse to use my Kodak Playsport and record all the footage from my preparation, trimming, and rubbing with my own spices, to actually doing a time-lapsed capture on the smoker itself and finally finishing it up on the oven.

When it was all said and done, I had enough footage to string together a basic “How To” video series that I’m in the process of editing and posting to both YouTube and here.  I initially thought I could break it up into three videos, but after this first one clocked in at just over 8 minutes in length, I decided to break it up further into 4 videos.  I think most people can absorb interesting information in smaller 4-5 minutes chunks as opposed to fewer and longer 8 plus minute pieces.

So while I understand you may think this eight (8) minute video may be a little long, I promise that the future installments will be smaller in size.  This first segment talks about selecting a beef brisket, what to look for at the grocery store or butcher, a bit of the anatomy of the meat and initial preparation.  Things really start to take shape in Part II (already edited as of this writing) with Parts III and IV on rubs, marinades, injections, wood, bastings and finally the smoking and revealing of the finished brisket itself.  I promise, it gets better.

Anyway, in this video series you will see an amateur no-holds barred, step-by-step instruction of me smoking a 6.62 pound USDA hand picked beef brisket over hickory wood (not mesquite as I mentioned in the video) in my Brinkman Bullet.

Continued from Part I…

Amongst our party this is what we ordered: 2 orders of paella (to be split amongst 4 of us, me included since I love paella), 2 pork tenderloins, 1 chipotle short ribs, and I think 1 order of Camarones (sautéed jumbo shrimp).  Other than the paella, all the dishes were pretty much served with whipped potatoes and spears of asparagus.  The main dishes themselves were a mixed bag of reviews amongst us.

Michelle said the short ribs were good but a little spicy for her.  They looked good yet the side of potatoes and asparagus seemed a bit paltry for all the dishes that received them.  The good news is that the girls all ordered the single dishes and felt fine afterwards, but for the four of us guys, these potatoes and asparagus wouldn’t be enough.

Monica had the chili citrus glazed pork tenderloin and was satisfied with it.  It was tender, (as I had a taste of it myself) and pleasant, but nothing special as far as pork dishes go.

Monica's Pork Tenderloin Medallions

Alicia had the Camarones (shrimp) served on a bed of red rice and ratatouille, but again, while good, wasn’t anything exceptional or noteworthy.

Finally the four of us guys split two orders of paella amongst ourselves.  This dish was the biggest letdown.  While the platters themselves were indeed very large, hot, and filling, they were very inconsistent.  The one Sam and I shared had a lot of clams and very little chorizo (I could only find one piece myself) whereas Brian’s and Chris’s platter had practically no clams at all.  We all noted that the bacon was undercooked as well, as if the chef actually forgot it until the last possible second and thought the carry over heat from the dish would cook it.  The spices themselves seemed mild and I requested that our waitress bring us some hot sauce (they had Tabasco) to liven it up. 

In the end, we all thought that while the paella portion size was good, we had all had better paella experiences elsewhere.

Paella - El Cid style

Desert was not included, but you can choose either flan or chocolate mousse cake.

The dinner show itself was good, but not great.  On stage were two female Flamenco dancers, one guitarist, and one singer.  The show itself lasts for about an hour and the two female dancers have a pretty good workout there up on stage.  Personally I enjoyed the guitarist and singer, but in other shows I’ve been too at other establishments the men were a bit more active and even danced whereas they didn’t here.  Even though the stage lighting was a bit on the low end, I was able to record some pretty good excerpts using my Kodak Playsport.  I shot unobstructed video at 720p and feel they came out fairly well, especially the sound. Overall, I shot about 22 minutes of raw video which I broke up into 3 separate YouTube video segments that I have edited and uploaded.  I’ve embedded one video here, but you can see the third one on YouTube via this link if interested.

After the show we all made our way outside to the patio once again for a final drink under the stars as the staff then converts the entire restaurant into a Hip-Hop club that open at 10pm.  No, I’m not making this up.  They seriously remove all the floor tables leaving only the booths and make way for a dance club.  I thought it very strange that a Hip-Hop club shows up at a Spanish restaurant later in the evening, but we didn’t stick around to see the clientele.

So overall, I rate El Cid a solid ‘3’ on a scale of 5 (breakdown):

Ambiance: 3.5

Food: 3

Dinner show: 3

Value: 3

Well, for right now I’m holding off on getting a new Droid phone.  As much as I would like to get the Droid X, my current Motorola Droid (gen 1) is only 9 months old and I can’t justify in my mind spending the money on a new flavor just to say I have the latest and greatest.  I’d personally feel more grateful internally if I can last a whole year before I actually upgrade, and I may even get lucky and get the Droid X at a slightly cheaper price anyway.

But as these things go, I suppose as soon as I get the Droid X, a new Android phone will be announced that will even be better.  On the bright side, the long awaited update, Froyo (aka 2.2), is supposed to drop OTC this week which mean Flash is just around the corner.

And despite all those people that have the iPhone, a report was issued today stating that in North America, out of all the smart phones, that the Android OS is the most widely distributed.

Doesn’t Lady Gaga look like Marilyn Manson?  I don’t know why, but in this pick I can’t help but think that she does.  I don’t think she’s all that great looking, but she has a new spread in Vanity Fair this month, and it’s the best I’ve ever seen her (BTW: this isn’t one of the pics).  Me thinks she had plastic surgery in the past…..in the nose region.

Had a wonderful smoked brisket this weekend.  It was a lot of work, but my friends seemed to enjoy it pretty well and gave me accolades for my efforts.  It’s definitely a social thing though, and would benefit a group of guys hanging around sharing a case of beer and stories all day than doing it solo.  I took plenty of video’s and pictures of the process, and I hope to have those up soon here and on YouTube.

Speaking of which, my friend Brian made an excellent potato salad with blue cheese, chipotle, and smoked paprika amongst other ingredients and it was delicious.  He said he’d give me the recipe and I’ll post here in the future as well.

Er, why does Lindsay Lohan get released after 14 days of her 90 day sentence?  If it were any Joe Blow or Jane Doe, we’d serve the full time.  Pisses me off, this double-standard crap that so-called spoiled celebrities get to take advantage of.  It’s crap on all levels.

Worked on a HO structure model this Sunday during my personal down time.  I love my hobby of model building for trains.  It’s fun and relaxing, although it can be a long and arduous process.  Wish I had a bit more money so I could start my benchwork for my layout.

Started a new book: “The Art of Racing in the Rain”.  It’s a novel whose story is told through the eyes and soul of a 13 year old yellow Labrador.  Very touching and moving.  Dare I say I’ve already been moved to tears after the opening chapter?  I’ve been reading more books lately based on animals and have been enjoying them immensely.  I just finished ‘Dog Town’, based on true account of the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah.

Finally, I really need to start my diet as of yesterday.  I have approx 2.5 months to drop close to 15 lbs for a wedding in which I am the best man.  I had an excellent meal and beer fest this past Saturday, so the last two days I’m just drinking water, coffee, and ice tea.

Here is the Earthbox video that was originally going to be included in Part III, but for some unknown reason had numerous issues no matter what video conversion package I tried.  So instead of wasting any more time on it than I already had up to that point, I just decided to go with the raw Kodak .MOV format.  If this portion and Part III were combined as planned, the video would have been closer to 7 minutes long, but instead, bother are closer to their 3 minute and change lengths.

In its raw form, it looks and plays just fine, although the very simplistic editing software that comes with the Playsport doesn’t allow you to do too much in regards to effects or titles.  That being said, the title background is black, the font white and no other altercations have been made. 

Anyway, please enjoy this next installement.  I can tell you that we are using both the jalepeno and anaheim peppers quite regularly now from salads and sandwiches to additional ingredients in side dishes and entrees.  As a matter of fact I’ve been slicing up the peppers and sweating them along with some white onions in a pan of butter over low-medium heat with a little garlic salt, and then using this combination with fresh grilled beer brats on toasted rolls and a little provolone cheese.  Delicious!!

This is part 3 of my continuing series of planting and replanting an Earthbox with my good friend Albert.  This video is a little short (just over 3 minutes) as I was having some technical hiccups with the second portion of this video which would have brought it closer to 7 minutes.  The audio track on the second half is really good, but it appears the video portion is randomly skipping and thus either freezes the video playback, or the lip-syncing is way off track.

I’m also using a new video converter here as well called Prism that I downloaded the trial version over at Cnet.com.  The good news is that that it eliminates the watermark that was in the previous videos, however, I notice it’s slightly more pixelated overall.  It’s always something it seems.  I’m surprised how expensive these downloadable video converters are.  I’ve got about 3 of them now to test, but once the trial version expires, they want anywhere from $29 to about $46 to purchase.  It’s a real shame that both Kodak and Sony don’t have a good converter for their hand cams right out the box, seeing that 80% of the those that are buying them are pretty much using a Microsoft base PC and thus need to convert them to .WMV files.

Anyway, enjoy the 3rd video in the Earthbox series, and I’ll try to get the others up sooner than later.

This is more or less a quick entry on the state of affairs over here at my blog.

I’ve got a few things lined up in the coming days and weeks including some additional video’s and a podcast I just recorded with my buddy Brett who visited from Idaho this past week.  I’ll have some new recipes up soon, including Cuban burgers (that were a hit at this Friday’s last BBQ), grilled zucchini boats with a bacon gremolata, a new cocktail recipe dubbed ‘The Camel Toe’ for you vodka and tropical drink lovers, and a refreshing watermelon sangria.

I’ll have a few stories to share that took place with my friend Brett, especially our afternoon visit to Turq’s in Dana Point where we get talked to death by druken senior citizens, some additional video of the San Clemente Pier, a review of the Original Pedro’s tacos, some random shots at Cook’ Corner, Dana Point Harbor, S.C. Pier, and more.

This upcoming weekend, my wife and I are going to the Huck Finn Jubilee up in Victorville, CA with our friends Brian and his fiance Shea as well as my college friend Sam and his wife Alicia.  We’ll be there for the beer, food, and good ‘ole bluegrass music and banjo championships.  I expect to get some good vittles there and hopefully taste some good brews.

On the technical side of things, I just upgraded the NextGen Gallery here to v1.5.3 and I also finally purchased a ‘shoot & share’ video camera in the form of the purple Kodak Playsport along with a 8GB SD card.  I’ve posted a few videos up at YouTube, and I hope to not only use it this weekend at the Jubilee, but also do some grilling recipe and preparation “How-To” videos here in the future.  I also have to finish the Earthbox series that I began a few weeks back.  I already have some great jalepeno peppers and tons of cilantro that we are using.

I did have one bummer issue that happened over the weekend.  This past Saturday my Behringer 502 USB mixing board died on me.  I was actually right in the middle of recording a podcast with Brett and at about the 40 minute mark there was a slight pop in my earphones and when I looked at the screen for status I noticed a flat line on Audacity.  The board is just over a year old (March ’09)  and I purchased it through Amazon.  Of course I don’t have the box anymore, so I’m gonna try and get an RMA straight from Behringer, and looking at their support website it appears that they make you jump through hoops for repair. *Sigh*.  The good news is I picked up my Zoom recorder and was able to finish our podcast, but I’ll have to mash the two files together and do some additional editing before I get the next episode posted….maybe in another week since this weekend is already claimed.

My Earthbox after just 1 month

About two months back I posted Podcast Episode 17 - Earthbox’s with my buddy Al. If you listened to that episode, you’ll also remember that I shot some accompanying video using a Kodak Playsport flash camcorder and I said I’d eventually get around to posting some videos once I figured out how to convert the raw footage and edit them.

Well, wait no further. This past weekend I was able to download a free shareware version of ‘Total Video Converter’ from Cnet.com to see how hard the process was to covert from native .MOV to .WMV formats.

To my pleasant surprise it was actually quite easy. However, because this is freeware, the videos I converted also have a small watermark which is present in the upper left hand corner of the finished video. If I go ahead and decide to buy the full registered version once I decide on getting my own flash camcorder, then the watermark will disappear.  Once in .WMV format, I used Microsoft Movie Maker to edit them further, adding the credits, transitions, text call outs, and finally splicing and trimming them together.  Now I know this is all nerdy, geeky, tech stuff, but now that I have explained it this first time, I won’t tell you about my future endeavors behind the scenes.

To get to the meat, or in this case, vegetable of the matter at hand, I have included two finished video here’s both totaling an approximate 13 minutes if viewed together introducing and showing off an Earthbox and replanting one.  I think it’s very educational, and in the end I hope to have some really good jalapeno and Anaheim peppers along with some very fragrant cilantro.  You can plant just about anything you want given the right soil, weather, and seasonal conditions.  Albert has planted squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplant, various lettuce, and much more just to name a few.  But you can easily plant flowers, other herbs, or whatever.

In the above picture that starts off this post you will see a top down picture of my actual Earthbox that Albert and I planted together and is the subject of this video.  After only about a month, I can say we use the cilantro quite a bit and the pepper plants have almost tripled in size and have just begun growing their fruit. (i.e. jalapenos).  In a few more weeks I should be able to harvest my first home grown peppers and enjoy them on the BBQ, homemade salsas, and much more.

Video #1: Approx. 5 minutes.  Shows an empty box side by side with one that has finished it’s growing season. 

Video #2: Approx. 7 minutes in length and we look at the plants I am about to use, the individual parts and construction of an empty Earthbox, and the concept on how it works.

Future videos in this series will appear shortly as I need to go through the process of converting and editing them.  Look for parts 3 and 4 in the coming weeks.

My neighbor Chip (not his real name) has a genuine soul.  Sometimes a bit rough around the edge’s, once you get to know him, he’s just a tattooed teddy bear.  I’ve known him for almost six years now, and he’s just as interesting now as he was on my skeptical first impression.  We’ve talked about doing a podcast together, and it’s juts a matter of scheduling to get him in to sit down.

He enjoys his music, he family, surfing, good conversation, skateboarding, and a mean drink.  I think his drink of choice would be beer followed closely with a tall screwdriver (orange juice and vodka).  We’ve been to bars together, backyard parties, neighborhood BBQ’s, and he always brings a special brand of entertainment, whether he means it or not.

Once you get past the colorful language and initial intimidation factors, you’ll recognize that you want Chip to be your friend.  He’s solid, through and through, very genuine and means what he says.  Granted he’s had a colorful history, his stories of years past raising hell will captivate just about anyone.  But in time, I suppose we all slow down.  His priorities is that of his family first, and to be an excellent neighbor, always willing to lend a helping hand.

However, as I alluded to prior, he can be quite entertaining, especially when libations are involved.  Chip got the nickname ‘Ozzy’, (a nickname I coined for him and take full credit for) one evening after a raucous round of imbibing around the fire that was blazing in the portable pit in my driveway a few years back.  The neighbors had all come down as we collect occasionally on a Friday night after work.  Chip was in rare form (or perhaps not so rare if I think about it) hitting the sauce a lit harder than usual.  Maybe it was just an empty stomach, or the way my wife tends to pour drinks, but as the night wore on, Chip’s speech became more and more incomprehensible to the point where it literally sounds like mumbling from a mouth full of greased up marbles. 

Chip walking home

At one point he tried to walk home down the street, a total of 50 yards or so and it seemed to take all of 15 minutes.  We watched him walk away, trying ever so hard to walk a straight line from point A to point B, his home, however, it looked more like a dashed line that Billy from Family Circus would take.  There were multiple false starts and finishes, bobbing and weaving to the left and then to the right.  Zigs and zags aplenty as we all watched in marvel and he continued to mumble on and on to himself in the quiet of the night. 

It’s as if he were channeling Ozzy Osbourne himself.  A train wreck in comedy that you just cannot seem to take your eyes off of.  And thus when I muttered something in reference to his behavior and that of Ozzy, a nicknamed legend was born.

Not to long ago, the boys had decided to go out for hot wings and a few brews so we all hopped in my car to pick up my friend Jon.  Jon is in the business of IP based security systems, and thus has a few camera’s strategically placed around his house that are always active.  In the videos below, you’ll see a sober Chip discovering one of the camera’s and letting his playful side come out.  How often to get to witness a man in his mid 40′s let down his guard and interact like a little kid making faces and comedic gestures to the camera?

Video #1 (Doesn’t he look like Andy Capp?):

Video #2 captured shortly thereafter: