This week’s topics include Dante’s inferno in a dish, the Griswold’s Christmas lights, a BBQ lover’s utopia, more gospel according to the WF, ribs that I would be embarrassed to serve, and the best use of leftover garlic bread, ever.
Best use of leftover garlic bread. I often scrounge for leftovers in the fridge in order to make something unique. My favorite meal for such activities is breakfast. You know the drill: “Oh look, some left over veggies… Could make a decent omelette. Potatoes – I’m thinking hash…. Steak, well, steak and eggs!”
You get the idea.
So recently I took a store-bought French loaf, sliced it lengthwise, and smeared some room temperature butter on both sides. Added some granulated garlic, a little sea salt, mozzarella, parmesan, and some parsley. Damn fine semi-homemade garlic bread.
The next morning I see the bread in the fridge and decide to make breakfast with it. Ever had Toad in the Hole? It’s where you cut a hole out of bread and fry an egg in the hole. Fabulous.
I took a thick slice of this garlic bread and scored the top with my knife so that there was an “X” which I could open up. Put it “X” side up on my griddle, let it get hot, and dropped an egg in the hole where the “X” was. A little salt, a little pepper, and let it cook for a couple minutes. You then gently flip the whole thing “X” side over and cook the top part of the egg to about over medium doneness.
Check out the food porn picture.
I’m not going to lie to you. That was a damn fine use of leftover garlic bread.
The Hottest Thing I’ve Eaten in a Restaurant. Ever. So, recently the Red and I join my friend B for lunch at my favorite Mexican food restaurant anywhere. I’ve blogged about this place – Los Dos Molinos in South Phoenix.
Everything is flippin hot here. Like crazy, this is really going to hurt tomorrow hot.
B and I ordered the spicy chorizo dip as an appetizer.
Let me first say that I like hot food and I have a pretty high tolerance for it.
This dip was like eating molten lava. Really good, but inferno hot. You truly got an adrenalin rush from eating it. I gave the Red a single bean to try and it lit her up like the Griswold’s house in Christmas Vacation.
B and I continued to eat it, but we never really got used to it. I think I personally drank the majority of a pitcher of margaritas just to cool down.
I believe they made the dip earlier in the week and as it sat in the fridge the capsaicin from the chiles slowly released, waiting for the opportunity to unleash its demonic hell-fire fury on unsuspecting customers.
And, yes, I’d order it again. No one ever said I was bright.
The Best of the West Rib Cookoff, Sparks, Nevada. This event is held every Labor Day weekend in Sparks, Nevada. Approximately 24 BBQ teams from across the country come to compete in this competition. Unlike some competitions, the teams aren’t just cooking for judges. They’re cooking to sell from their own stalls and provide food for the organizer’s money-making endeavors.
Which is where this story picks up. Each year, I try to buy a corporate table in the Rib Village at this event and invite friends and clients. In many ways, the Rib Village is my version of Utopia. All you can eat ribs from all of the cookers, plus sides, desserts, and… all you can drink. The best part is that you get to try each cooker’s ribs without fighting the crowds. The Red even made sheets for us to make notes on each cooker’s ribs. Check out my notes, like “Meh” or “Underwhelming.”
Before I get to the review, let me give you the gospel according to the Wannabe Foodie when it comes to spare ribs. The rib should stand on its own without the sauce. Nice robust rub, good smoke ring, and cooked to perfection. Bite clean off the bone, not fall off the bone. The sauce should only accentuate the rib, not ‘make the rib’.
I know there are those that will disagree and say something like “Good ribs need only salt, pepper, smoke, and great sauce.” I call those bland ribs with good sauce.
So my friend J (another foodie and avid bbq’er) go through each rib. Try the rib naked (leave it alone) and then try it with the sauce. Check out the first plateful.
Truthfully, there were only a few that were better than your drunk neighbor’s ribs from last year’s Labor Day barbeque. Most were dry, with very little spice on them. Some were more like pulled pork than anything resembling a spare rib.
The only ones that stood out for me were The Barbecue Company and Butch’s Smack Your Lips. Rumor has it that Bone Daddy’s were the best that day, but they ran out before we got some. Even the Checkered Pig’s ribs were underwhelming, and they’ve won numerous contests.
All in all, the level of barbeque was truly disappointing. I wouldn’t pay for some of these ribs and I would likely mock my friends for serving them. My personal theory is the ribs aren’t that fresh when they’re put in the buffet line in the Rib Village, and they only get worse the longer they sit there. For the money you spend on a table, you should get fresh ribs.
I also wonder if these BBQ teams strive to put their best product out for the masses in the Rib Village. Methinks not.
Name Suggestions? I really want to start my own BBQ team. I think my friend J would join me in a heartbeat, and I bet I could get some others to join in. Now only if I can convince the Red to let me buy a big pit to tow behind my truck…… Feel free to email me name ideas for the WF’s BBQ team.
Happy cooking.
WF
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