Keep it simple!

I’ve messed with all types of burgers. From burgers with nothing but meat to burgers with everything including the kitchen sink. And not to brag, but I have even been told more then once (by maybe the same guy) that my burger was the best he ever ate. You can lie and say it was great, but you don’t lie and say it’s the best ever.

The problem I often run into is that I can’t repeat that same great taste every time. What and how much did I put into the burger? Was it the onion, honey, hot sauce, etc. etc..? I’m still looking to master the most popular back yard BBQ food of all time.

The burger I describe below may not be the best you have ever had because that’s a tall order and everyone’s taste buds differ (don’t let me get started on the Pizza Patrol again), but I’m getting to the point where I can continue to turn out a great product every time.

Let me start with the meat. I’ll keep this short and clean (well at least short, it may not sound clean to some of you health nuts out there). When you go to the super market you reach for the ground beef right? Ground beef; I don’t have exact details but a cow is beef and if you grind up a whole cow from tail to snout technically that’s ground beef?

Not exactly but you can use just about any part of the cows scraps to make up ground beef. More like gross beef! Do you really want to eat that shit? What do I do? That’s easy, find a butcher. I grew up a mile or two from two butchers and never stepped foot in one until this year. Why? Because I was the jerk who was buying ground beef and who needs a butcher when you have a grocery store! With the exception of a few celebrity meat purveyors (see earlier Pat La Freda post) fancy blends of beef, the foundation of a great burger is CHUCK. It is from one part of the cow and contains no fillers. It is a fatty piece of meat that is great for the grill.

You’re looking at about 70/30 fat content but that’s just how it is. And get this, Chuck cost about $3.50/lb at my butcher (as opposed to the 93% fat free revolting ground beef that my wife insists on buying for about $7.00/lb) and he grinds it in front of me. His store smells like shit but his chuck is sweet. One quick note, the sooner you get it on the grill the better it tastes. A bacterium starts to attack meat the second it’s messed with or sometime close that.

Now that you have the chuck, get the kosher or sea salt out and fresh ground pepper, turn around and put that Worcestershire sauce back in the fridge. This is not grade school.

Form a nice patty but do NOT pack the meat like a meat ball! It needs to be loosely packed.

Now it is time to get your grill rocking, you want high, hot, direct heat. Clean your grill grates and oil them up. Salt and pepper are the last things to go on. Pop that bad boy on the grill and let it rip. Flip once then put on your cheese. People get crazy with cheese and it masking the taste of beef, etc., but I can’t help it and people love it and this particular cheese will be your new secret weapon, Port wine cheddar!

I also went with the often under utilized toasted onion roll, a thick wedge of raw onion and a fist full of shoestring fries and “Voila”, a great simple burger. People will love the flavor and juiciness of this burger, especially since most people are used to eating scrap…

Stay tuned, my first attempt at smoking ribs has taken place and my famous pulled pork in a crock is soon to follow.

Enjoy!

Five Things Americans Need to Know About Barbecue

It's late July. The sun is beating down, and the backyard beckons. All Americans with a love of barbecue in their heart should feel a surge stirring them toward their grill. But, as a nation, we've been sadly misinformed about how to cook outdoors. Decades of overwrought recipes in glossy magazines, the marketing efforts of grill manufacturers and a cacophony of bad recipes and worse advice on the Internet have all combined to keep us confused about how to cook meat in our own backyard. It's really not that complicated. Here are the five basic things every American should know about how to barbecue:




1. Gas Is for Saps

I know, I know, it's so much more convenient. So why not just send out for pizza? The plain fact of the matter is that outdoor cooking shouldn't taste like indoor cooking. The characteristic taste of barbecue, real barbecue, comes not from propane gas but from the fragrant fumes of slowly burning hardwood. And all you need to produce it is one of the most common, cheap and simple cooking appliances ever invented: the basic black Weber grill. You'll need to use good lump charcoal — no insta-light briquettes, unless you want your food to taste like napalm — and you'll need to be careful about handling it. But that squat engine of meat-cookery will give you a better sear and flavor than you could ever get from gas. (Once you get addicted to the taste of smoke, you may want to get a real smoker, with an offset firebox, and then you'll really be on the varsity squad.)




2. Never Go from the Fire to the Plate

Meat needs to sear, and that's why you have hot-burning lump charcoal. But it also needs to cook slowly and to absorb smoke. So always put coals on only one side, so you'll have a "two zone" grill. One side is for attaining the burnished mahogany crust that looks so good and tastes even better; the other is for cooking to a juicy, tender interior. Grilling is just a small part of barbecuing. It's aggressive and fast, and meat needs some gentle, loving treatment as well. Basically, the art of cooking meat is the art of not doing things to it. As in, not burning it; not moving it around too much; not cutting it too fast, before the juices have had time to settle back into the muscle tissue; and not overwhelming it with weird sauces or seasonings or mostardas or compotes or chutneys or other things not made of meat. You want to draw it out, like an introvert in group therapy, and let it open up at its own pace.



3. If You're Looking, You're Not Cooking

Beginning barbecuers are often tempted to check in often on their meat, to make sure it's still there. Don't worry. It's not going anywhere. Ideally, you should leave it alone the whole time, but a kettle-style grill like a Weber requires you to periodically replace charcoal. The second you lift the lid, you lose much of the heat — and you don't get it back right away. Imagine trying to do your taxes and having to stop every 15 minutes to answer stupid questions about domestic issues like where the scissors are. That's what you are doing to your meat when you keep checking on it. Keep your interruptions to a minimum. Think of the great home cooks you know. Do they bustle nervously over every dish? No. The better they are, the less they seem to do. That's how barbecue is — times 10.



4. Salt Liberally — Then Salt Some More

It's almost impossible to oversalt meat that goes on a grill — that is, if you're using coarse kosher salt. Unlike table salt, which just makes meat salty, coarse salt doesn't melt; it becomes a crust. That crust tastes good. You know what also tastes good? Having coarse black pepper along with the salt. Both serve as flavor enhancers, rather than as competing sensations. Be careful, though. Unlike salt, it is possible to use too much pepper. Any other spices or rubs should be used sparingly, if at all. If your meat doesn't taste great with just salt, pepper, fire and smoke having been applied to it, you either need a new supermarket — or you need to step up your grill game.



5. Sauce Is the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

There's a reason that the crappy barbecue you get in mall food courts is slathered with sauce. It's because the underlying meat has no flavor. Sure, it's easier to boil or microwave ribs than it is to patiently smoke them, just as it's easier to cheat on your wife than to be faithful to her. (In both cases, the shame of the crime is shown by the hasty, desperate lies that surround it.) Barbecue sauces should be used sparingly. They should highlight, rather than envelop the meat, and they should be part of the cooking process. You might also consider mixing some of the hot meat juices in with the sauce before serving it. As for which sauce to use? Just keep trying them. I steer clear of anything with liquid smoke — an evil fluid I try to avoid like dysentery — listed in the ingredients. (It's almost as unmistakable and nasty as truffle oil.) Maybe give the high-fructose corn syrup a pass too, unless you are overly fond of obesity, diabetes and the taste of Tootsie Rolls in your ribs. Try a simple "board dressing" instead, as demonstrated by my friend Adam Perry Lang in this video. His combination of meat drippings, olive oil and fresh parsley mixed directly on the cutting board is better than any sauce. But really, you don't even need a board dressing when you come right down to it.



Those are just the basics. But the basics matter the most. You don't need a 50,000 BTU gas grill, you don't need a water pan, you don't need foil and you don't need a remote digital thermometer. If you want to barbecue — and as an American in the summer, you really should want to barbecue — then learn how to cook meat with coal. The embellishments can come later. There are any number of superb cookbooks, such as the fine ones by masters like Lang, Stephen Raichlen, Michael Stines and Paul Kirk, if you start feeling adventurous. But for my part, if I've produced a rack of smoky spareribs, a perfect half-pound hamburger or an iridescently glazed prime rib, I rarely rue the absence of a complicated recipe or high-tech tool. And neither will you.



Josh Ozersky is a James Beard Award—winning food writer and the author of The Hamburger: A History. His food video site, Ozersky.TV, is updated daily. He is currently at work on a biography of Colonel Sanders.







Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2006684,00.html#ixzz0uvbHIVjA

It is the Shit!

Delorenzo’s in Robbinsville is hands down the best pizza in the state and we all know I have been to quite a few pizzerias in my day… What else do I need to say to convince you? Go ahead throw your comments out there, I am waiting... Star (bar pie made with cheap ingredients, but has a great taste), it’s not on the same level, not even close (my wife does not agree). In fairness to her Star does deserve credit where it is due and is the best of its type of pizza.

San Marzano this; wood fired that…. De Lorenzo’s breaks all the rules. This “Tomato Pie” as it’s known in that area of New Jersey is loaded with flavor. The crust is cooked to perfection; the cheese is nothing fancy but is damn good. As for the sauce, let me tell you something about this sauce, it is where things get tricky, the sauce is a chunky fresh out of the garden sauce stepped on a few times then put on the pie OVER the cheese...

You can’t beat this sauce! Yes it’s strange but my guess is that’s why it’s called a “Tomato Pie”. The crust is nice and crisp and the sauce on top keeps the cheese from burning (I am not sure if that’s true but it makes sense). There is nothing fancy about the oven, Delorenzo’s uses a gas fired Blogget Oven. You ask, what the hell does that mean? Well it’s the same gas fired oven they are using down the street and at many other places. So why can’t they get it right? Great question, Pizza takes time and love and you can taste the difference these two special ingredients make. They are not selling to school kids on lunch break who could give two shits what it taste like or how long something was sitting in the freezer or on the shelf.

They actually don’t even open till 4, so don’t even consider trying to beat the dinner crowds by going at lunchtime. You are sure to run into an owner at each of the locations they have. In fact on my last visit the owner asked how I been and I told him that each time I visit I sit waiting for my pizza and wonder if it will be as good as I remember and it is always better, which is a great feeling! Long story, short give this place a try it is worth the drive and the wait. If you don’t like it bring me the leftovers, in fact if you don’t like it you should stop eating za’ period…

On a final note, I had a special reason to make this trip, my brother Dylan, who I learned is a little lead footed (he drove) just graduated from HS and is headed to Villanova in August. Dylan is a great student and is an awesome brother who I am very proud of. I wish him all the best when he leaves the nest. What a rhyme! I’ve been raving about Delorenzo’s to him for years and all he wanted after graduation was for a true pizza expert like myself to take him to Delorenzo’s to talk him through the process and make sure we don’t slip up when we order. We went with a cheese pie or in this case a “Tomato Pie” and a half sausage/ half roni pie. BTW, the sausage is second to NONE.

PS-Don’t forget the pitcher of birch. Gook luck Dylan!

The Fowler’s Backyard B-Day.

Generally you go to a kids birthday party BBQ you don’t really get true “BBQ”. What you get in most cases are burgers, dogs and an occasional piece of chicken. If the host is getting crazy maybe you will see an occasional wing but at this party we had true BBQ. Don’t get my wrong I love a dog and burger at a Q as much as the rest of you but I have to give props to something out of the ordinary. It wasn’t the jumpy air castle or the swing set I was there to feast on some “award winning” Q. What awards you ask? To be honest I’m not quite sure, but Local Smoke BBQ turned out some great Q.

Steve Raab the “Pit Master” from www.localsmokebbq.com cooked up some good food that consisted of (I’m going of memory here so I may need to make some corrections later); ribs, pulled pork, mac and cheese, baked beans and the star of the show, pulled beef brisket. The pulled brisket was moist and had a nice but not overpowering taste of smoke to it. The BBQ’d meat was each accompanied by a different style BBQ sauce.

With the arrival of my Smokenator 1000 earlier this week this is the kind of Q that I’ll be turning out by mid summer. The food was outstanding and brought this particular kids party to the next level. Enjoy the pics and if you are looking for BBQ catering call 732-758-1227.

Who’s Eating Over?

I just purchased my second Weber Charcoal 22.5” Gold Grill. This grill is a beast and is very versatile, no other cooking surface comes close to the taste that you get when cooking on it. The main reason I got this grill is http://smokenator.com/ . Yes people, you can turn your Weber in to a smoking machine. This product costs far less and is MUCH better then most smokers, which average about $400. Keep an eye out on future blogs about my smoking adventures (sometime after Fathers Day, hint, hint). It should be a great summer by which the end of I plan to have mastered Ribs.

Being a man I decided to christen her with beef, a filet to be exact (the most loved and hated steak). I normally would go with a well marbled rib eye but I wanted to make one cut of meat for both my wife and me. While filet is the healthiest cut of meat (we all know I’m all about health) but not necessarily the most flavorful, I found a way to kick up the flavor and make it unhealthy. Three words, Blue Cheese Butter! Just take a hand full of blue cheese and a stick of butter, plop it in the food processor and put a huge dollop on the finished product. This was a great touch, thank you Mr. Flay (not for the recipe, but for the idea).

In addition to the steaks I whipped up a quick potato recipe, which consisted of grilled new potatoes, onion, pesto and Grana Padano cheese. If you like regular grated parmesan or Romano cheese you must try Grana. It has a nuttier rich taste. It costs a little more but lights up any dish. When grilling for best results use new potatoes, they are waxy and thin skinned. Cut the potatoes in half and boil until tender, put them in a bowl with EVOO, salt and pepper add slices of raw onion. Put the potatoes and onion on the grill; get them nice and charred and crispy. When finished toss together with more EVOO, pesto and a generous helping of grated cheese. This great/easy side dish.

The only thing bad about this meal was that it was prepared under an umbrella in the pouring rain, which I can’t complain about because I was able to dry off with a delicious meal accompanied by an ice cold Stella and finished off with Maine Blueberry ice cream…

Stay tuned folks, because I plan on smoking everything from a whole turkey to beef brisket this summer. I will also start messing with my own BBQ sauce and pickles. Please post any questions, I will answer all.

A Few quick steak tips:

 When you get a good cut of steak Do Not marinade, there is NO need. If something is already good, there is no need to cover the taste.

 Take the steak out of the fridge 30-40 mins ahead of cooking time. It grills best when it is room temperature.

 Pat the steak dry with a paper towel. You must take the moisture away in order to get a good sear.

 Coat the steak in oil, cracked pepper and coarse salt just prior to grilling. More salt equals better taste and will create a better sear.

 Get your coals/grill nice and hot!!! Put steak on grill and let the fire do the work. Do not mess with it, turn the steak three times and that’s it!

 Do not poke with a fork, you will just let the juices out.

 When your steak is finished let that bad boy sit for 3-4 minutes before serving.

Watch Out!

Man vs. Food

Adam eating ice cream on PPB board walk.

Follow up and Corrections

I would like to start with my Nicco’s story. Scott Lynch was the first person to tell me about Nicco’s, John F. was the person who raved about Nicco’s chicken salad sandwich.

The Petite Café will be featured on Oprah very soon. Do you think the talk show host herself read about it on the Caged Ham? I have good information that she did. Go get your cupcakes now before the line is out the door. And remember this…. You read about it here @ The Caged Ham first!

Santillo 1957

Story to follow

For the Second Best Pizza In Hoboken, go to Jersey City

If you are in Jersey City or the surrounding areas at lunchtime on a weekday you must go to Grandma’s Pizza Truck at 3 Harbor Side. The truck is parked from 11-2:30 Tue-Fri.

I love the thin Sicilian pizza he makes after all what could possibly be the problem be with a thin crispy crust topped with sweet tasting plum tomatoes, homemade fresh mozzarella, drizzle of VOO and fresh basil?

I was told by the truck’s owner that they do a good sandwich business but you will have to take his word for it because I have not been able to get past the pizza.

The recession and demise of business in the area as a result has hurt the pizza truck but he is still rolling, so if you are in the area please give this pie a shot. It is a great tasting, straight forward pizza. This style of pizza is popping up all over now, but not all are as good as this one..

I give it 3.5 HAMS

You want the best pizza in Hoboken? Go to Jersey City.

The awesome Pizza Patrol Crew voted the Margherita Pie at

LA RUSTIQUE the best in New Jersey!

Address: 84 1/2 Morris Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302 (near Exchange Place)

Phone: 201-860-4010

Hours: Mon-Fri 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sat-Sun 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Payment: Cash and all major credit cards

The first time I tried this pizza I was blown away by how damn good it was. Surprisingly the best pies I tasted had sauce over the cheese as opposed to the norm of cheese over sauce. Some examples of this are the Palermo Pie at La Sicilia, L&B Spumoni Gardens (which is worthy of it’s own blog, just ask anyone in Brooklyn about L&B and they will tell you it is the best square pie EVER!!) DeLorenzo’s also has some sauce on top, as does Mr. Bruno’s square in Lyndhurst.

The reason La Rustique puts the sauce on top is so the low moisture, homemade mozzarella does not burn and turn brown. Some mozzarella companies put an additive in cheese for it to stay white (I find nothing wrong with the cheese turning brown). They also use San Marzano Tomatoes which I have said before and will most definitely say again are the best tomatoes used for pizza. They have great flavor, are not too sweet and hold up well on their own. Most of the time nothing is added to them and they not cooked before they are put on the pizza.

My second trip to La Rustique was on a whim as the awesome Jersey City pizza truck was not parked at 3 Harbor Side (I love the grandma pie they turn out) so I shot over to La Rustique. I luckily found a spot right across the street, being that it was 12:30 there were long lunch lines all over the place. Two fat men were eating on the lone table out front and when I walked in the side door a tumble weed blew out. The entire place was empty. That’s not a good sign. So go out and get a pie while it’s still open. Hopefully they get a big dinner crowd!

I found the pie, although still delicious may have slipped a little but trust me this pie had room to slip, which can’t be said about most. The pizza had a great texture and the San Marzano tomatoes give it a huge punch, it was cooked very well but I admittedly did find a few soggy spots that I thought tasted great. A slice of this pie will run you $3.00 but take a look at this behemoth. It might as well be $2.00. Long story short if you are in JC or anywhere in Hudson County for that matter, go give this pizza a shot. It’s damn good.

I give it 3 ½ hams.

If you have a chance VISIT AL. He is a great man.!! I like the 1964

If you LOVE pizza. This spot is a must try!!

Only if you love pizza..

(story from GQ)

The Far Side (of the Hudson)


On April 20, 2010 at 5:27 PM



Alan Richman ventures across state lines in search of the perfect pizza.


Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza isn’t far from Manhattan, maybe 15 miles, but getting there means making your way through the Holland Tunnel, past the Statue of Liberty (off to your left), over the Pulaski Skyway, and into the Historic Midtown Business District of Elizabeth, New Jersey. To a New Yorker, that’s the equivalent of crossing the River Styx into the Underworld.

To me the trip isn’t bad, because I was born in New Jersey and spent my pre-school years in Hillside, which is about three miles from Elizabeth, named one of "America's 50 Greenest Cities" by Popular Science in 2008. I don’t know why a technology magazine is evaluating greenery, but I have to concede there were plenty of cherry trees blossoming as I drove through town.

Back in those Hillside days, my family lived in the same apartment complex as a Yankee star of the ‘40s and ‘50s, Phil Rizzuto, so when I walked into Santillo’s and saw a black-and-white framed photo of the old shortstop on the wall, I felt right at home, or at least the home I knew more than a half-century ago. A pal of mine, Eric Levin, a senior editor at New Jersey Monthly Magazine, had told me that Santillo’s has the best pizza in a state with no shortage of great pizza, so between that boast and my Yankee credentials, I figured I’d have plenty of conversational material to engage Al Santillo, the owner. He took over from his father, who had taken over from his father. In pizza years, the place goes back nearly to the dawn of time.

Al couldn’t have been nicer, although I believe he found me a little uppity, not because I was a New Yorker but because I was from Hillside, which he said was “a step up from Elizabeth, kind of the suburbs.” I never knew my folks were that well off, but I guess I should have, considering that we lived near a Yankee, a really swell one. I remember walking up to Rizzuto’s apartment when I was five or six and handing him a baseball to sign. He was nice, too. You want nice, you’ve come to the right state. When I got lost finding my way to Santillo’s (Jersey signage being what it is), a stranger driving a car with a “We Support New Jersey Troopers” bumper sticker led me practically to the front door.

Santillo’s is take-out, with no tables and plenty of parking on the street. The entrance is down an alley, past a sign out front reading Santillo’s Italian Bread Pizza. You can take your pie outside and eat it on the hood of your car. If you desire more amenities, you’re welcome to bring it to Vasco Da Gama restaurant, a couple blocks away. Turns out Jersey is so nice that restaurants will let you eat the food from other restaurants.

Santillo’s was almost empty when I arrived in mid-afternoon this past Saturday. Al seemed to enjoy the unexpected company, so I hung around instead of taking my order out. We talked and I drank root beer from his cooler while he cooked. He loves to talk pizza. He showed me the table where his father had rolled out dough, lovingly pointing to a gentle indentation in the table, the wood worn away by his father’s hands pressing down hard. He pointed out small, dark scars burned into the wood by ash dropping from his father’s cigarettes. “He must have rolled a million pizzas there,” Al said.

Santillo’s is a fabulous pizzeria. I’ve never been to another quite like it. It’s attached to the house where Al grew up, and he makes every shape, size, and style of pie you can imagine, with names never before seen, and he does it without varying from the norm. No weird toppings. Only one kind of dough, made from the same ingredients that go into his Italian bread, but handled differently. Plenty of cheese, olive oil, and toppings, no skimping. Natural yeast. Herbaceous tomato sauce, very old-world. A larger-than-life brick oven dating from 1904, once coal-burning but reconfigured for natural gas. I asked Al how hot it got, and he replied, “I’ve had it to 1000 degrees—when I screwed up.”

His black steel pans, most of them dating back to near-antiquity, add a lot to the pies. I noticed a few pieces of warm, golden-brown crust sitting on one of them, baked scraps of leftover pizza dough, and they tasted rich and oily and salty, like American-style focaccia. He insisted that he hadn’t done a thing to the dough, the pan had done it all. Root beer and scraps. I could have spent the afternoon dining on nothing else.

At Santillo’s you can order in typical fashion, ask for a standard (somewhat rectangular), a round or a Sicilian pie, offered in small, medium, large, or extra-large, with a choice of 25 different toppings, which means you could spend half your life trying every combination. Or you can listen to Al. He tipped me off to the fried eggplant made by his wife, Lorraine, and I can say without reservation that I’ve never had better—it’s thin, juicy, crispy, succulent, unmatched. She also cooks up nice broccoli, which I ordinarily hate on pizza or anywhere else, but not when it’s as fresh and crunchy as hers. Have it on the white pie, and if you’re getting that combo, ask Al not to swirl the cheese and the broccoli together, which he likes to do. It tastes better his way, I admit, but it doesn’t add to the aesthetics, and Al makes gorgeous, rustic pies.

I asked Lorraine which pizza she preferred, and she recommended a 1957/'64. Allow me to explain. A lot of the specialty pies are named for the years in which they were conceived, starting with the 1940, which is a plain tomato pie without cheese. The 1957/'64 is the 1957 crust (extra thin) with the 1964 toppings (mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil). It was wonderful, but I preferred Al’s standard crust, especially when left in the oven a little longer than usual for added crispness. Al loves playing with crusts, sometimes leaving them in the steel pans until done, sometimes sliding them onto the bottom of the brick oven, sometimes cooking them a little less, sometimes a little more. If you’re taking your pie home (or to Vasco Da Gama), he will cook them a little longer so the steam that saturates the box doesn’t make the pies soggy. Al thinks creatively and intensely about pizza, the same way da Vinci thought about paint.

Al’s still a pretty young guy, born in 1957, so you’ve got plenty of time before the Santillo family tradition is no more. He and Lorraine have a daughter, Cherie, who was helping out in the shop when I was there, but she told me she has no interest in taking over the business. I asked her if she felt guilty about letting the family secrets fade away, and she said, “They won’t. My father told you them all.”



639 South Broad Street, Elizabeth, NJ; 908-354-1887



Related: "American Pie," Alan Richman's June 2009 roundup of the 25 best pizzas on earth.

— Alan Richman





Read More http://www.gq.com/blogs/the-q/2010/04/the-far-side-of-the-hudson.html#ixzz0njU2pG9B