CHARCUTEPALOOZA CHALLENGE #8: SOMEWHERE, BECAUSE OF ME, THERE’S A PIG WALKING AROUND WITH A PEG LEG
I like pig’s feet. I eat pig’s feet. I have never made pig’s feet. Now that I have, I may no longer like pig’s feet. I was excited about the idea of making a terrine out of pig trotters for Charcutepalooza for this month’s challenge. I called a great local farm to table place in Houston to source some pig’s ...
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THE UNDISPUTED KING OF TEXAS BEEF
I learned to cook brisket from a man with one thumb. Actually it was half a thumb. Three quarters if you count the bony protuberance at the end of it. The other one was intact, but his brisket thumb had been pulled off by a mule. Or bitten off in a bar fight . Or sacrificed in disgrace after a brief but disappointing ...
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CHARCUTEPALOOZA CHALLENGE #7: THE ART OF MAKING HOT DOGS, IN WHICH I BATTLE A DEAD POSSUM
A brief primer: I am a writer at an ad agency. That means I’m one of the people who makes up and writes the TV ads, billboards and magazine pages that people do their best to ignore. I work with a variety of clients, and over the years, the people I’ve written ads for have included a few food and/or beverage companies. To ...
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CHARCUTEPALOOZA CHALLENGE #5: SALSICCE, BY ANY OTHER NAME
There’s a picture of my grandfather, I think it’s probably taken in the 1970s, standing in a friend’s basement, smiling with a sausage grinder by his side and many, many links of tubed meat hanging from the rafters around him. I’ve always loved this picture of him, and when he died my mother found his old sausage ...
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SANTA MARIA TRI TIP: BARBECUE’S MOST DESERVING STEP CHILD
Living in Texas, I’ve been privy to many, many debates on the true origin of quality barbeque: Central Texas, West Texas, East Texas. Then usually some unfortunate soul mentions some other state or town in the south and is shouted out of the room. Texans are dogmatic about their barbeque, and admittedly I am no different. ...
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CHARCUTEPALOOZA CHALLENGE #4: THE PIGANATOR HAS LANDED
For Charcutepalooza challenge #4 we confronted hot smoking, and I got to spend some time with an old friend, my New Braunfels style vertical smoker. When my wife gave it to me as birthday present years ago, I can’t imagine she realized the Faustian bargain she had entered into. Sure she enjoys the quality eats with ...
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CHARCUTEPALOOZA CHALLENGE #3 ADDENDUM: A PASTRAMI SANDWICH
Staring into the waiting arms of death, Warren Zevon dished out one of life’s more salient pieces of advice: “Enjoy every sandwich.” This is one for Warren: homemade pastrami on rye with imported Swiss, spicy okra pickles and Stadium Mustard. It goes best with “The French Inhaler” played at inappropriately high ...
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