BIG APPLE BBQ IS HERE AGAIN

The Big Apple BBQ is coming. In fact, the BBQ is tomorrow and I would feel terribly irresponsible if I didn’t remind you all about the event. I bought a fast pass last year (a good idea if you’re going with friends) and me and a group of five friends pigged out on tons of delicious BBQ.

While it is easy to eat yourself silly, the Big Apple BBQ is one of those rare chances to get food that you can’t otherwise get in NYC. I think its safe to say that BBQ in other parts of the country (where there is actual outdoor space) differs from the kind we can get at our NYC establishments such as Blue Smoke, Hill Country etc. regardless of how good our NYC pitmasters are.

Our goal last year was to try as much out of NYC BBQ as possible and to leave the stuff from the NYC guys alone. I think that over the course of an afternoon, I had two beers, two pulled pork sandwiches, two orders of ribs, cornbread, coleslaw, sausage, brisket, and one nice long nap. The best food I had was probably from Mike Mills of 17th street Bar & Grill and Michael Rodriguez of The Salt Lick BBQ in Texas, I actually still think of that brisket and sausage.

Anyway, if you don’t have plans for the weekend, or even if you do have plans and have a couple of hours on Saturday or Sunday you should definitely find some friends and make an effort to stop by the Block Party.

Party Time

A friend of mine threw a house party this past weekend that had me thinking about how I define the word party. Most parties thrown by people in my age range (22-26) seem to be not too evolved from the typical college parties that we all went to not so long ago. There is usually some music, a spattering of six packs, maybe a keg, bottom shelf liquor, mixers, bags of cheap snacks and a do-it-yourself bar. I love these parties, but ultimately they all end up being very similar.Someone commented that this is the best corn they had ever eaten. It will be in season for only one more week, so hurry over to the farmer's market and pick some up.

That’s why when my friend Jeremy throws a party I’m always happy to step in and help. Once every couple of months we get together and throw a party that really blows other house parties out of the water. Not only do we have all of the typical 22-26 year old party amenities, but we pay very special attention to food and drink (food obviously being a key for me.) While parties are fun, there aren’t a whole lot of things I like more than eating. Any time there is a party with good food I think the guests end up being happier and the party ends up being better.

Pork Butt! Since a smoker was unavailable, we slow roasted this beauty int he oven for 7 hours. We then served it with my makeshift cracklins and home made cole slaw that was brought by one of the guests. The coleslaw was so good that I was actually a little jealous.

We threw this party with that in mind and with special attention to the bar. Guests who came between 7 and 9 were treated to a menu of:

Pulled pork sandwiches
Dry Rubbed pork spare ribs
Burgers
Hot and Sweet Italian sausage
Duck and Garlic sausage
Grilled corn rubbed with smoked paprika
Corn bread with blistered Shisito peppers
And my favorite… Bacon wrapped Honey crisp apples, grilled and brushed with maple syrup

There was also a cheese plate provided by Murray’s and a couple of VIP’s were able to sample some of my home made Maple Ice cream (it was really good)

Ribs. Since we only had one oven, we cooked each rack of ribs over the roasting pork butt for 2 hours then set them aside, lightly brushed them with BBQ sauce and finished them on the grill.

In addition we had someone serving as bartender for the entire night who was incredibly well prepared to serve delicious drinks. Not only did I spend a good hour cutting lemons, limes, oranges, and kiwi’s for mixed drinks but our bartender also brewed his own sweet tea (awesome) and squeezed fresh fruit juices for mixing. We even served drinks with cinnamon sticks for aroma and garnish.

In the end I think everyone really appreciated the tasty food, the delicious and somewhat unique mixed drinks. The attention to detail and taste in regards to set up, (the back yard was very inviting) food and drink really made the party more of an event than the parties I usually attend. Bacon wrapped apples waiting to be grilled. A Real crowd pleaser.

I suppose my reasons for writing about this are to give a shout out to a friend and to let everyone know that delicious things can really bring any sort of gathering to a completely different level. This is just another instance of how good food and good friends can make any night really spectacular. I’m looking forward to it.

Grilling

I spent the second half of my weekend visiting my friend in medical
school in Philadelphia. While part of the reason I went down was to see
my friend, the other part was that he had a grill and I would have the
opportunity to do some cooking. I love grilling, but living in
Manhattan, the opportunities to BBQ are few and far between. Whenever
someone mentions the word grilling to me I start to salivate and
instantly make plans to be wherever it is said grill might be. I even
got on the Amtrak train this past Friday with a backpack full of frozen
meat and zucchini purchased at the Union Square farmer’s market

Our medical school BBQ included one farmer’s market porterhouse, a pack of bacon, one pack of green onion sausages, one pack of beef sausages, two packs of hot dogs, 3 kinds of zucchini, grilled corn, and hand made hamburgers.


Here are some pictures of the porterhouse I
bought at the farmer’s market. I coated it generously with salt and
pepper and grilled it over high heat for 6-7 minutes until it was
slightly charred on both sides and let sit for another 8-10 minutes so
that it could cook a little more. The result was a perfectly medium
rare steak that went fantastically well with our Columbia Valley
Cabernet.

I have also noticed that people at the last couple of barbeques I’ve been at really enjoy my burgers so I thought I’d provide an outline of how I go about making them.

Ingredients:

Worcestershire sauce
Coarse grain mustard
A little ketchup
Onion chopped very fine
Garlic chopped very fine
A little bit of Jack Daniels

I dip lumps of meat in the marinade then form the burgers and let them
sit in the fridge for a couple of hours before throwing them on the
grill so that they are less likely to fall apart. You can vary the
proportions of ingredients however you want but definitely do not add
too much whiskey. I once made that mistake and had burgers that tasted
like JD they were not enjoyable. Happy eating!

BIG APPLE BBQ THIS WEEKEND!!!

(Pictures are from Egullet)

The Big Apple BBQ Block Party is tomorrow and I’m psyched! I’ve paid my money for the fun pass (it lets me skip every line) and I’m going to go drink and listen to music and eat an unhealthy amount of barbequed meats. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday and even if you don’t go for the food it should still be a really large crowd and a fun time all around—I just wish it wasn’t smack dab in the middle of the day. Anyway, I thought I would post this today to try to inform anyone who isn’t in the know about these kinds of things. Click on the link above, see everything they have to offer and go enjoy some outdoor grilling this weekend because really, who wouldn’t want to eat some pig products prepared by Ed Mitchell?