The Musings of a Wannabe Foodie and Oenophile: May 5

This week’s topic include my Precious, how to avoid an Edward Scissorhands imitation, my knives, a blissful food coma, the best breakfast in Reno, a question for both readers of this blog, and a sign which every mall restaurant should have.

What am I working on? As I mentioned in my inaugural blog, summer is around the corner and that’s the time when a man’s thoughts turn to BBQ and for me, my pellet fed barrel smoker (aka “Precious 2”). The 5 burner Jenn-Air gas grill is simply called “Precious.”

This weekend I fired up Precious 2 and tried my hand at beef ribs, which you simply don’t see much of outside of Texas. Here’s a picture of them going into the smoker.

I used a basic beef rub (chili powder, brown sugar, kosher salt, garlic powder, and cayenne), and a basic beef mop (apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and cayenne). I cooked them using Mesquite pellets for about 6 hours at 190-210 degrees. The review? A pretty good start, but not world beaters. Nice and tender, with a healthy smoke ring. The rub was tasty. However, the mop had a little too much Worcestershire sauce, which imparted a distinct flavor into the meat. I liked them, but they could be better.

A competition secret for all of you backyard smokers. Competition smokers often coat beef products with a very thin layer of yellow mustard before they rub the meat. Actually, when you do this, you don't rub the meat. The mustard almost glues the rub to the meat. Also, the mustard is so thin that it's pretty much undetectable after hours on the smoker. Nice trick.

What is the most important kitchen tool? It’s not pots, pans, a good cooktop, or even a rocking convection oven. If you’re really going to cook, you need a good set of knives. You can cook fairly decent food in pretty crappy cookware and bakeware. I did it for many years. However, it’s hard to do much without good knives. Plus, crappy cookware won’t hurt you. Crappy knives can easily hurt you because you use more force to force the knife to do something it should do easily. The knife slips because it’s dull and you’re checking into the ER as Edward Scissorhands' house guest.

Also, there is only one serrated knife you should have. A good bread knife. Otherwise, grab all of the crappy, cheap, and serrated knives (the ginsu types) that you have stashed in a drawer in your kitchen and throw them away. You know who you are. Just because your mom bought it while watching an infomercial doesn’t mean you have to keep it. Just thrown them away.

Get yourself a good chef’s knife and a paring knife. Truthfully, that’s all most people need.

My knives? My first decent set of knives was a Chicago Cutlery set. Nice, solid, German-style knives. However, as I started to cook more, I felt the need to upgrade. Yes, I wanted new toys. What’s your point? Plus, I have a borderline knife fetish and, frankly, I’m not sure it’s borderline.

I now have some Shun Classic knives. Beautiful, aren’t they ?

From left to right: the steel, 10” chef’s knife, carving knife and fork, 8” chef’s knife, boning knife, and pairing knife. Shun knives are made in Japan and are absolutely crazy sharp. When we got our first one, the Red simply would not use it for a while. You need to have a healthy respect for these knives, but I have come to absolutely love using them. Best knives I’ve ever used, by a fair margin.

However, what I really want (note that I didn’t say ‘need’) is a Nenox Ironwood knife, though one is clearly out of my price range! Nenox Ironwood Oh baby...

A note on sharpening. The steel is the thing on the far left. It is NOT a sharpener. All it does is true the edge. Think of your knife’s blade a straight line that turns into a squiggly line as you use it. The steel will true the blade back to straight, which will make the blade pass through food easier. However, it does not remove any steel from the blade and therefore doesn’t actually sharpen the blade.

I use my steel about once per week (ish) and I sharpen my knives with an electric sharpener a couple times per year. You could also take them to a professional knife sharpener. However, you will eventually need to sharpen your knives and anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

Best Breakfast in Reno? There are those that argue that Peg’s has the best breakfast, and it’s hard to disagree with that.

However, for my money, it's P.J.'s on Wells. They make some fabulous food, it’s all scratch-made, and nothing is small. If a restaurant has scratch-made chicken fried steak on the menu (not the frozen, breaded, mystery meat they just fried), I’m ordering it. Every time. P.J.’s is served with scratch made sausage gravy, 3 eggs cooked your way, and some red potato home fries that have been cooked and caramelized for hours on the griddle. I ordered my eggs poached, medium.

If you don’t like that, there’s something wrong with you. Yes it has 9 billion calories and yes it puts you into a blissful food coma. However, it’s damn good, it’s a great coma, and I’m not suggesting you eat like this all the time. Once in a while and enjoy it when you do. Note the fresh squeezed orange juice….

A Question for Readers. Yes, both of you. For next week’s blog, I’m considering preparing detailed instructions on how to make a basic Paella, with pictures. Anyone interested? Bueller?... It would give me a good excuse to cook Paella for Mother’s Day.