I am unable to post any reviews or updates this week. You have two alternatives: be strong and persevere during this one week drought, only to be fully rewarded upon my return with huge strength and knowledge generation, or live a life of despair. I recommend option 1.
Next week...
...I will finally post my review of Serious Texas BBQ. Preview: best brisket you will ever eat (I on the other hand have had better, in Texas, but not by much and not any place you would ever go)
...comments from the web have been flowing in, so I answer the mailbag even though I am normally opposed to interacting with simpletons and unwashed folk, and...
...review from Colorado Junior and Colorado Jane on my very own smoked brisket recipe. Preview: they hated it, but I love them still (because they were right)
Until next week, EAT MORE Q!!!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Famous Dave's BBQ, revisited
My recent blog post on the potential growing pains at Famous Dave's got some
attention from their corporate higher-ups. I had a nice exchange with
their Director of Operations, the person in charge of quality. They seem
genuinely interested in what people think of their BBQ, and went to some length
to make me comfortable with they way they operate. Of course the proof is
on the plate, but I wanted to share with you the excellent customer service I
experienced. I'll keep you informed.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Competition BBQ Chicken
Good, practical article on making competition-style BBQ chicken, with links to some very good resources. Read it here.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Hawaiian BBQ without the Luau or sand in your drink
This week we went a little unconventional but it was worth the trip. Richard the Cornhusker and I tried some Hawaiian BBQ from Windsor and had a wonderful experience. Read the latest review here.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
BBQ Critics gone wild
alternate title: When BBQ Critics' Wives Attack!
Colorado Jane (my wife) makes delicious country-style ribs, but they are prepared in a non-conventional BBQ style. They taste great, but it's hard to compare them to your traditional BBQ ribs. So as we sat down for dinner Sunday evening I told her, "These ribs are great, but Colorado Jim would give them a rating of 3." I then sprung my self-made trap even harder by going into detail on why they would rate so low. I tried to salvage my marriage by closing with, "But your ribs are really good!"
So to the 1 % of the population of married men who don't already know this, a bit of advice: if you are going to criticize your wife's meal be prepared to either (A) never have her prepare a meal for you ever again, or (B) buy an expensive piece of jewelery in the ensuing 24 hours, or (C) both, since even jewelery may not be able to heal the damage. Better yet, just keep your stupid mouth shut and chew your delicious homemade food.
Colorado Jane (my wife) makes delicious country-style ribs, but they are prepared in a non-conventional BBQ style. They taste great, but it's hard to compare them to your traditional BBQ ribs. So as we sat down for dinner Sunday evening I told her, "These ribs are great, but Colorado Jim would give them a rating of 3." I then sprung my self-made trap even harder by going into detail on why they would rate so low. I tried to salvage my marriage by closing with, "But your ribs are really good!"
So to the 1 % of the population of married men who don't already know this, a bit of advice: if you are going to criticize your wife's meal be prepared to either (A) never have her prepare a meal for you ever again, or (B) buy an expensive piece of jewelery in the ensuing 24 hours, or (C) both, since even jewelery may not be able to heal the damage. Better yet, just keep your stupid mouth shut and chew your delicious homemade food.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Why BBQ is BETTER than sliced bread
I originally submitted this article as a guest blogger for the wonderful www.BBQHub.com, a great BBQ resource. Thought I would share it for my readers. It explains in great detail and irrefutable logic why BBQ is the most bestest thing of all, ever.
What is barbecue? Let’s begin by understanding what it is not. For generations we have cooked meat for our consumption. This is not BBQ. Barbecue was born out of a social event. Thousands of years ago Noog clubbed a rodent and threw it over a flame. Not a BBQ. One day someone happened to be walking by Noog’s cave at the right time, perhaps carrying a freshly-made batch of cole slaw or maybe a pecan pie. The first BBQ.
Barbecue is not simply preparing meat over flame for the mere sake of consumption. It means we must invite others to witness the event. It means we must painstakingly go through our specific and particular steps to prepare, condition and cook the meal. It also means that our crowd of witnesses are encouraging us and ensuring we never have an empty beer.
I tend to be a purist as to what truly defines BBQ. To me it means preparing the meat with a dry rub, slow-cooking it in a smoker, and finishing it by basting with any variety of secret sauces. It should take all day and it should not involve dunking the meat in boiling water. But that’s me. I won’t argue with someone who likes to “barbecue steaks.” If this past Labor Day you invited friends and family over to “barbecue some hamburgers and hot dogs,” I would defend your decision and choice of words from the top of the Rocky Mountains. After all, nobody less than my own beloved Father has been known to extol the virtues of marinating a top sirloin in BBQ sauce, grilling it to perfection then enjoying it with a side of, you guessed it, BBQ sauce. Who am I to tell my Father that he’s got it all wrong?
So if you want to call it a BBQ you’ll get no argument from me as long as the act is not done in isolation. For if a man barbecues alone in the forest, is he really barbecuing? And is he really a man?
To the BBQ snobs out there I say if it contributes to the collective joy of the Q then it is a good thing even if it’s sideways with your rigid idiosyncrasies. After all, life is much more tolerable because of BBQ. I believe God wants us to be happy, and BBQ is proof of that. Imagine life without BBQ, or as I call it, Hell:
The most obvious consequence of a BBQ-less world is that the earth would be run by two warring factions, Cows and Pigs. Humans would be the Manatees of that world. Odd, cute creatures relegated to zoos and shallow waters where we would be given three meals a day of corn flakes or get run over by bovine fishing expeditions. Oh sure the pigs would be sympathetic since we share some genetic material, but it wouldn’t be genuine. We all know swine are incapable of true love. I would rebel against our patronizing pig captors! Let’s all throw our feces at them!!!
Also in a world sans-BBQ there would be a radical geographic and demographic realignment. Kansas and Nebraska would be known for corn – only. Texas would be a far less proud place. The Carolinas would only come up in conversations about March Madness or Senior PGA tournaments. Memphis would cease to exist. With no Memphis there would be no Elvis. With no Elvis there would be no 1960’s counter-weight to the British rock invasion. The culinary hole left by BBQ would be filled with fish n’ chips and mushy peas. I would rather be in my cage with a steady diet of corn flakes thank you very much.
And finally, without BBQ domestic beer would be un-drinkable. I mean really, let’s be honest. You know it, and I know it. America’s worst contribution to the world was taking perfectly good beer and watering it down. Just like real BBQ uses smoke, real beer uses hops. If you don’t like craft beer because it’s bitter, then you don’t like beer period. You should stick with malt beverages made for women but inexplicably marketed to men (I’m looking at you Mike’s Hard Lemonade. You’re fooling nobody).
We all know that BBQ is good, and with my compelling and irrefutable logic I have just proven as much. So let us soldier on, Brothers in BBQ, and carry the banner high. Regardless of the region, the sauce ingredients or the method of preparation we should all “Eat more Q!” As we enter this post-Labor Day period where The Man tells us to put away the grills and smokers I make a bold declaration: MORE BARBECUE PLEASE!
Colorado Jim is a BBQ Judge and Enthusiast He lives in Fort Collins with his beautiful wife and lovely children, where he has a job that would bore you to tears You can visit his website at www.NocoBBQ.com
What is barbecue? Let’s begin by understanding what it is not. For generations we have cooked meat for our consumption. This is not BBQ. Barbecue was born out of a social event. Thousands of years ago Noog clubbed a rodent and threw it over a flame. Not a BBQ. One day someone happened to be walking by Noog’s cave at the right time, perhaps carrying a freshly-made batch of cole slaw or maybe a pecan pie. The first BBQ.
Barbecue is not simply preparing meat over flame for the mere sake of consumption. It means we must invite others to witness the event. It means we must painstakingly go through our specific and particular steps to prepare, condition and cook the meal. It also means that our crowd of witnesses are encouraging us and ensuring we never have an empty beer.
I tend to be a purist as to what truly defines BBQ. To me it means preparing the meat with a dry rub, slow-cooking it in a smoker, and finishing it by basting with any variety of secret sauces. It should take all day and it should not involve dunking the meat in boiling water. But that’s me. I won’t argue with someone who likes to “barbecue steaks.” If this past Labor Day you invited friends and family over to “barbecue some hamburgers and hot dogs,” I would defend your decision and choice of words from the top of the Rocky Mountains. After all, nobody less than my own beloved Father has been known to extol the virtues of marinating a top sirloin in BBQ sauce, grilling it to perfection then enjoying it with a side of, you guessed it, BBQ sauce. Who am I to tell my Father that he’s got it all wrong?
So if you want to call it a BBQ you’ll get no argument from me as long as the act is not done in isolation. For if a man barbecues alone in the forest, is he really barbecuing? And is he really a man?
To the BBQ snobs out there I say if it contributes to the collective joy of the Q then it is a good thing even if it’s sideways with your rigid idiosyncrasies. After all, life is much more tolerable because of BBQ. I believe God wants us to be happy, and BBQ is proof of that. Imagine life without BBQ, or as I call it, Hell:
The most obvious consequence of a BBQ-less world is that the earth would be run by two warring factions, Cows and Pigs. Humans would be the Manatees of that world. Odd, cute creatures relegated to zoos and shallow waters where we would be given three meals a day of corn flakes or get run over by bovine fishing expeditions. Oh sure the pigs would be sympathetic since we share some genetic material, but it wouldn’t be genuine. We all know swine are incapable of true love. I would rebel against our patronizing pig captors! Let’s all throw our feces at them!!!
Also in a world sans-BBQ there would be a radical geographic and demographic realignment. Kansas and Nebraska would be known for corn – only. Texas would be a far less proud place. The Carolinas would only come up in conversations about March Madness or Senior PGA tournaments. Memphis would cease to exist. With no Memphis there would be no Elvis. With no Elvis there would be no 1960’s counter-weight to the British rock invasion. The culinary hole left by BBQ would be filled with fish n’ chips and mushy peas. I would rather be in my cage with a steady diet of corn flakes thank you very much.
And finally, without BBQ domestic beer would be un-drinkable. I mean really, let’s be honest. You know it, and I know it. America’s worst contribution to the world was taking perfectly good beer and watering it down. Just like real BBQ uses smoke, real beer uses hops. If you don’t like craft beer because it’s bitter, then you don’t like beer period. You should stick with malt beverages made for women but inexplicably marketed to men (I’m looking at you Mike’s Hard Lemonade. You’re fooling nobody).
We all know that BBQ is good, and with my compelling and irrefutable logic I have just proven as much. So let us soldier on, Brothers in BBQ, and carry the banner high. Regardless of the region, the sauce ingredients or the method of preparation we should all “Eat more Q!” As we enter this post-Labor Day period where The Man tells us to put away the grills and smokers I make a bold declaration: MORE BARBECUE PLEASE!
Colorado Jim is a BBQ Judge and Enthusiast He lives in Fort Collins with his beautiful wife and lovely children, where he has a job that would bore you to tears You can visit his website at www.NocoBBQ.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Colorado's Best BBQ...
...is available in Fort Colllins, but you'd better hurry because it may not be around much longer. Go to Souza's BBQ and see for yourself. You can read the review on our website.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
we're hardest on those we love - Famous Dave's
I so want Famous Dave's to be better. It's pretty good, but I want it to be better. You may recall in my latest review the inconsistency of the brisket. I talked with a friend who just had a similar experience with their ribs. Fell in love with them on the first visit, ordered them again on a second trip and got the super fatty end cut. Now he doesn't know what to think. Has their rapid expansion come at the expense of quality control? Are their margins such that they have to improve yields by using inferior cuts of meat? Have they changed suppliers? Who has the final say on the trimming? Shift manager? Kitchen manager? General manager? Is there sufficient training for these roles? Clearly something is up here (using my sample size of n=2). Irrefutable.
And for what it's worth have you noticed that the crowds aren't what they used to be? At my last visit there was no wait at all, and we had great seating in the bar. Very unusual. A thought occurred to me as Richard the Cornhusker and I sat there: has Dave lost his mojo?
The people sitting behind us were having a conversation about Nordy's BBQ, another big chain. The adults were arguing that they didn't think it was very good. The 20-something they were talking to took a very pro-Nordy's position. "A lot of people say Nordy's isn't very good," declared Mr. Universal Knowledge, "but they just don't know good BBQ."
Wrong. My first visit to Nordy's was disastrous. It actually smelled like manure. So bad that I figured it had to be an anomaly and I would give them a second chance. The second chance confirmed the first -- boiled meat covered in ketchup, with unmistakable aroma of 2-day old manure. For the sake of my readers I will force myself to visit Nordy's a third time for a full review, accompanied of course by trained toxicologists and gastro-interologists. But what's interesting here is that this discussion was taking place at Famous Dave's. If Dave can't get his quality control in line then it won't be long until more people get tired of the awful meat trimming and we can have a serious discussion that I am pre-titling "Nordy's versus Famous Dave's: a race to the BBQ bottom."
And for what it's worth have you noticed that the crowds aren't what they used to be? At my last visit there was no wait at all, and we had great seating in the bar. Very unusual. A thought occurred to me as Richard the Cornhusker and I sat there: has Dave lost his mojo?
The people sitting behind us were having a conversation about Nordy's BBQ, another big chain. The adults were arguing that they didn't think it was very good. The 20-something they were talking to took a very pro-Nordy's position. "A lot of people say Nordy's isn't very good," declared Mr. Universal Knowledge, "but they just don't know good BBQ."
Wrong. My first visit to Nordy's was disastrous. It actually smelled like manure. So bad that I figured it had to be an anomaly and I would give them a second chance. The second chance confirmed the first -- boiled meat covered in ketchup, with unmistakable aroma of 2-day old manure. For the sake of my readers I will force myself to visit Nordy's a third time for a full review, accompanied of course by trained toxicologists and gastro-interologists. But what's interesting here is that this discussion was taking place at Famous Dave's. If Dave can't get his quality control in line then it won't be long until more people get tired of the awful meat trimming and we can have a serious discussion that I am pre-titling "Nordy's versus Famous Dave's: a race to the BBQ bottom."
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Nebraska...good BBQ...good people
Interesting read...For those who don't know - The Huskers have been carrying an American Flag onto the field after their tunnel walk at the start of this years first three games. Here's the story behind it.
Subject: The Husker Flag of 2011
One of our members shared this with me and gave me permission to share it with the group. In case you've been wondering about the significance of the flag the football team has carried out each week...here's the explanation: Typically I have no use for sports analogies to war. Sports are not war. Sports are entertainment. But in the case of Jack Riggins' American flag, I'm happy to make an exception. Riggins is a veteran Navy SEAL from Fremont, Neb. His official title is "Executive Officer for Naval Special Warfare Unit." He spent the past decade in Afghanistan fighting terrorists. There are football heroes. Riggins is a real hero. Riggins is currently back in Afghanistan, but last month Riggins was back in his native Nebraska . He was invited to speak to the Nebraska football team. He did. And how. According to players who were in the room, Riggins' speech blew them away. He was brutally honest. He told war stories. Real war stories. He talked about growing up a Husker fan. He compared some of the missions he served on to some of the great victories in Nebraska football history. He fired up the Unity Council, saying, "As the Unity Council goes, so goes the 2011 season." He fired up the whole room and by the end of it, the entire team wanted to follow him out the door. Riggins left the Huskers one gift. An American flag. And not just any flag. He presented them the flag that he personally carried around Afghanistan for 10 years. That's the flag you saw Jared Crick and Austin Jones carry out to the field the past two home games. "He let us know that that flag bagged a lot of terrorists,'' said NU senior safety Austin Cassidy, who helped carry the flag out for the season opener. "He told us to do what we wanted with the flag, just don't let it touch the ground." The Unity Council met with Assistant Athletic Director Jeff Jamrog and decided to make the flag the Huskers' flag for 2011. The team will carry it out to the field in both home and away games. During games, it's on the team sideline, in a stand. During the week, it hangs in the locker room. "It's a cool reminder that there are a lot bigger things going on," Cassidy said. "His talk was one of the best talks I've ever heard in my life. We have some very proud Americans on our team. They are very patriotic. That fired up team.
Subject: The Husker Flag of 2011
One of our members shared this with me and gave me permission to share it with the group. In case you've been wondering about the significance of the flag the football team has carried out each week...here's the explanation: Typically I have no use for sports analogies to war. Sports are not war. Sports are entertainment. But in the case of Jack Riggins' American flag, I'm happy to make an exception. Riggins is a veteran Navy SEAL from Fremont, Neb. His official title is "Executive Officer for Naval Special Warfare Unit." He spent the past decade in Afghanistan fighting terrorists. There are football heroes. Riggins is a real hero. Riggins is currently back in Afghanistan, but last month Riggins was back in his native Nebraska . He was invited to speak to the Nebraska football team. He did. And how. According to players who were in the room, Riggins' speech blew them away. He was brutally honest. He told war stories. Real war stories. He talked about growing up a Husker fan. He compared some of the missions he served on to some of the great victories in Nebraska football history. He fired up the Unity Council, saying, "As the Unity Council goes, so goes the 2011 season." He fired up the whole room and by the end of it, the entire team wanted to follow him out the door. Riggins left the Huskers one gift. An American flag. And not just any flag. He presented them the flag that he personally carried around Afghanistan for 10 years. That's the flag you saw Jared Crick and Austin Jones carry out to the field the past two home games. "He let us know that that flag bagged a lot of terrorists,'' said NU senior safety Austin Cassidy, who helped carry the flag out for the season opener. "He told us to do what we wanted with the flag, just don't let it touch the ground." The Unity Council met with Assistant Athletic Director Jeff Jamrog and decided to make the flag the Huskers' flag for 2011. The team will carry it out to the field in both home and away games. During games, it's on the team sideline, in a stand. During the week, it hangs in the locker room. "It's a cool reminder that there are a lot bigger things going on," Cassidy said. "His talk was one of the best talks I've ever heard in my life. We have some very proud Americans on our team. They are very patriotic. That fired up team.
Monday, October 3, 2011
latest update
Amanda Knox is free, the Broncos stink and the funniest Rick Perry video I have ever seen is available directly below. Check out our feedback section for new content. Also we have two reviews this week: KT’s BBQ in Boulder and Souza’s BBQ in Fort Collins. They will be available Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
Check it all out at the website.
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