We’re prepping to smoke a 12lb brisket tomorrow. I went looking for my copy of Beer Advocate, where I pulled the rub recipe from, to freshen up my addled mind. I couldn’t find it. This made me annoyed with me. Why can’t I put stuff back where it’s supposed to go? Seriously, this would make life easier.

By adding this post here, now I don’t need to put the magazine back where it’s supposed to. Problem solved.

1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup black pepper
1/4 cup paprika
1 tsp cheyenne
1 tbsp cocoa powder (I added this as an experiment this time. We’ll see if it makes any difference, better or worse)

I use all that on the brisket. Makum some good bark. 12ish hours at 225* later and you’ve got carnal carnivore delight.

That is all.

I was just talking yesterday about how I wanted to wreck my finances and buy a Big Green Egg. The ceramic of the egg holds the heat very efficiently, giving you temperatures upwards of 800* allowing you to grill, smoke, and even cook pizzas. Unfortunately, the Big Green Egg costs >$1k generally.

I’m pretty pleased to have found instructions on building a DIY alternative to the Big Green Egg, the Little Blue Egg. Seems like you can build this thing for under $200 in about 10 hours give or take. Not bad at all.

Summer is officially in full swing which means barbecue season. We here at OA love our BBQ, in fact my doctor would argue that I love it too much. Unfortunately, this summer the price of beef is through the roof, not just because of the BBQ demand but also because of a shortage of animals being killed in other parts of the world.  This means it’s up to American Beef producers to fill the void and American consumers to dig deeper into their wallets. That being the case I thought it a good time to share the bit of knowledge I’ve ran across over the years in hopes of helping people save some money and dine deliciously.

Now for starters, the cow pictured above, that’s a dairy cow. (See the size of the udder.)  The only thing you’ll get out of her once she’s through milking is hamburger.  The anatomy, however, is the same as a beef cow and thusly the picture will work for our purposes.

Let us begin by just walking around the beast a bit and then we’ll get to some money saving tips.

The first thing to think about when looking at the animal is where certain cuts come from and why they produce the meat they do.  It stands to reason of course that the portion of the animal extending from its legs would tend to be less tender.  These are, after all, the muscles used most by the animal.  Which is why the brisket, which lays at the top of the front leg, is best when prepared slow and low as in BBQ or salted as in Corned Beef.  Above the brisket lies the chuck, this part of the animal can be a bit confusing as the names of the cuts can vary a lot and from time to time and change as slaughterhouses process the animals differently  in an attempt produce cuts that better serve customer demands.  Commonly this area produces many roasts, the kind one likes to place in a pot, but it also can be cut to produce beef chuck shoulder tender, neck off chuck roll or clods.  All of which are commonly used by restaurants in producing steak dishes that are not steaks.  Think stir fry’s, burritos and the like.  The shoulder is also home, perhaps most deliciously, to the short ribs.  A cut that is not a rib at all but rather a fatty deliciousness that has in recent years become quite popular and surprisingly expensive.

Moving to the middle of the animal we start to see cuts that are more familiar.  The rib, of course, gives us the ribs.  Which while perhaps less delicious than those given us by barnyard brethren, the pig, are still quite popular.  This area also gives us the rib roast, which in its state of platonic perfection becomes the Prime Rib.  A phrase,  I must admit, just caused my eyes to tear up a bit.  Below the rib is the plate, the plate provides the skirt steak, very popular throughout Mexico and down through Central and South America.  Certainly it’sd a staple of the new wave of Brazilian steakhouses.

Next to the plate lies the flank, which surprisingly enough gives us the flank steak.  A widely seen cut of meet, largely because of its low price.  It can be very flavorful and while I’d gladly dine on it at a friends house it will never find its way to my table.  Above the flank and into the back we enter the blessed zone.  This is the short loin, Uncle Sam territory, the place where all of the great steakhouse steaks are produced.  Here you will find the Porterhouse or T-Bone as well as its constituent parts the Strip and Tenderloin.  These, along with the sirloin, which sits next to it, are the biggies and man are they good.  You’ll notice that this is not a very large part of the animal,  the main reason for the high price and demand, particularly if it grades prime.  The sirloin, as I said, sits next to the short loin and produces both top and bottom sirloin.  If you’re picking, pick the top.  The sirloin also holds a variety of  tender roasts and the ball tip, another commonly employed cut in cheaper steak dishes.

After the loins it’s similar to  what’s in the front of the animal only often with less fat.  I have made some delicious beef sandwiches and beef bourguignon using bottom round but this area generally requires heavy manipulation and does not stand on it’s own two feet.  To be honest I’m rather exhausted after the paroxysm that was the short loin.  Let’s move on shall we.

Here some money saving tips:

1) Buy in bulk.
That means getting away from your local supermarket and enjoying a trip to a butcher or wholesale processor with a factory store.  There are several of these in Chicago, particularly in the Fulton Market district. I’ve had good luck at Peoria Packing or if you have a hook up Restaurant Depot, just don’t go on a weekend it gets a bit busy. If you don’t live near anyplace like this some things can be found at Sam’s club but don’t give those bastards any dime you don’t have to. By buying in bulk I don’t mean purchasing a whole animal, which while it can be a good and cost efficient option requires a lot of freezer space and a deep and abiding love of hamburger and roasts. What I’m speaking about specifically is buying whole loins or rib roasts and cutting your own steaks.   If you happen to find the loins in cryovac packaging it also provides you an opportunity for wet aging which while perhaps not as good as http://www.goodcooking.com/steak/dry_aging.htm can really help enhance the flavor and tenderness of your steaks.

2) Know what to look for and what you like.
When buying in bulk the meat will not only appear different than what you are used to seeing in the grocery store but it may also have a slightly different name. For example the New York Strip steak you’re used to seeing is actually a cross section of a strip loin which will be a long sort of parabola and weigh probably 8 to 12 lbs. While the Filet Mignon you love so much will either be called  Tenderloin or PSMO (peeled side muscle on) Tenderloin and will be a long cylinder weighing 5 to 8 lbs. Regardless of what you buy engage your butcher, they can help you to better understand what it is your looking at and may even have preparation ideas. Also, it is best to stick to USDA choice or prime beef. Always steer clear of select product and only buy ungraded meat if you’ve had it and know it to be of good quality.

3) Get creative, have fun.
A great way to save money and feed lots of people is to find ways to make cheaper cuts delicious. There are three primary methods of doing this. 1) Cook it slow and low. 2) Tenderize – either with marinade or by pounding. 3) Cook it light and slice it right.
- Number one is obvious enough and has been practiced and perfected the world over. We can’t all be kings but learn how to slow cook a brisket or slowly braise a roast and you can eat like one.
- Number two works great for those steaks that aren’t quite the steaks you wish they we’re. A good marinade can not only add flavor but help to break down the connective tissue. Maybe you remember mom pounding steaks as a kid, I know I do. Well the theory is simple, beat it until it breaks down maybe toss some flour on it and drop it in a pan. If your really feeling gluttonous batter that thing, fry it, whip up some country gravy you’ve got a chicken fried steak. Further proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.
- Number three is real fun but not always practical. The best example that I can think of is the Tri-tip . It’s a cut that comes from the bottom part of the sirloin and when cooked medium rare to rare is delicious. That is assuming of course that you cut it against the grain, cut it with the grain and you get the sort of thing a cobbler would throw away. Sliced properly this meat will melt in your mouth and provide all the wonderful flavor that comes with high fat content.

I suppose fear of running into Guy Fiorre is a solid reason.

We will overcome.

It’s 70* and sunny right now in Chicago which means, among other wonderful things, it is officially time to melt your face on some fires. Too bad some fucking scrapper hopped our fence and stole the copper bowl from our fire pit last summer. Thanks dick.

Fortunately though, Instructables has published a nice piece on building your own backyard fire pit. I suppose I should get busy on this thing ASAP as that late night conviviality, with all it entails, just isn’t the same with the proper light from an open, crackling fire.

Can anybody – other than my wife, my landlord or my neighbors – give a a good reason not to build this bad mammy jammy?

Don’t lose hope dear internetting ones, we still have every intention of launching the full Outsider’s Almanac website in the near future, it just won’t be quite as soon as we had hoped. We’re pretty insanely busy these days, between writing projects, client needs, body/mind/spirit rehabbing and the pursuit of winter in it’s many splendered and distracting forms, but you should expect to see the site live by around April 1st, 2010.

We’ve got our sites on making Outsider’s Almanac the most exhaustive and user friendly site for all Outsider activities by combining tutorials with expert articles, videos, web based and mobile communication apps, up-to-the-minute live and critical information on sites and conditions, gear reviews, site reviews, events, and so much more.

Like you, we love the Outside, it’s beautiful out here, and boy is it easy to get distracted. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

Jim Baldridge was a man of many talents and, before his untimely passing, a good friend of my fathers. I remember him from boyhood, traveling through the empty dust of dirt roads to attend livestock sales with my father. Jim would auctioneer as dad worked the ring and I sat in the stands reading through the program trying to guess what each lot would go for and wishing I could bid on one. As I recall he always had a ready smile and contagious laugh but my most concrete memory of Jim is a vision from the ubiquitous diner that is often connected to sale barns.

It’s a surprising memory and I’m not sure why it stuck with me but I can still see him, sitting across from me, joking playfully with the waitress and eventually getting around to ordering a hamburger without the top bun or maybe he took the top bun off, either way he didn’t eat it.   Then a little while later, he would call the waitress over agian and order another hamburger, doing the same thing with the top bun. I was never sure if he did this because he thought if he skipped the bun it was fine to have two hamburgers or if he just liked less between him and the flavor of the beef. I’ve decided, whether it’s true or not, to believe that it was the latter of my two concocted possibilities. Which I think stands to reason given his great contribution to humanity and deliciousness, Jim Baldridge’s Secret Seasoning.

It was around this seasoning which the legend of Jim Baldridge grew in my head, ever since I was a young boy, probably eleven or twelve, a piece of beef never struck the Shirley table without first being generously bathed in Jim’ Baldridge’s Secret Seasoning.  We even took it with us on the Lake Vermillion fishing trip.  Here’s a visual testimonial of how Bucky feels about Baldridge’s:

So Good We Still Ate Them!

To this day, I don’t make steaks, burgers or chops without it and ever since I can remember anyone who tastes it asks me to get them some. Well, stop asking me and get it here: Buy Jim Baldridge’s Secret Seasoning, just make sure to tell them OA sent ya.

This here’s my Dad, Jim Shirley, just retired VP of The American Angus Association and man of many meats. He’s been a good father and as such made sure that our table was never hurting for delicious cuts.

To show our appreciation and congratulate him on his retirement we recently bought him a Char-Griller – Outlaw Smoker, complete with the side fire box for proper Texas style smoking with indirect heat.  Seemed right and natural to get a fella with some time to kill a smoker.  I was also  secretly counting on him coming up with some recipes which we could try – lo and behold here is the first.

Here then in his own words are the results:

“I started with three racks of baby back ribs.  I removed the membrane on the bone side of the ribs by peeling it back at one corner with a knife until I could get a grasp of it and then pulled it back. A pair of pliers might work well to grasp the membrane but it can easily be done with your fingers.

After removing the membrane I coated the ribs with this rub:

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup paprika

2 tbsp sea salt

2 tbsp garlic

1 tbsp crushed red pepper

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tbsp black pepper

I mixed the rub and coated the ribs very generously then wrapped them in cling wrap and kept them in the refrigerator over night.

The next morning I took the ribs out and allowed them to reach room temperature while the smoker was readied and reached 200 degrees. The smoker was fired by Kingsford charcoal and dry hickory chunks were added around the coals.

I placed the ribs on the grill bone side down and smoked them for two and one half hours at a pretty constant temp of 200 degrees adding coals and hickory chips as needed. I opened the cooking chamber once to rotate the ribs end for end but did not turn them over.

After the two and half hours I prepared an aluminum foil pouch for the ribs. In the bottom of the pouch I placed a layer of applesauce, not so much for flavor but more for moisture. Once the ribs we’re in the pouch I completely sealed the pouch taking care not to puncture the pouch intending that all of the moisture stay inside.

I then returned the ribs in the pouch to the smoker. The temperature was retained at about 180 to 200 degrees (hickory chips were not used once the ribs were in the aluminum foil). After a little over an hour and one half (actually closer to two hours) I opened the top of the pouch and exposed the ribs still in the pouch much like in a pan. I then lightly brushed two racks of the ribs with OA recommended Captain Curt’s Shazaam Boss Sauce and left the third rack dry. I left them all on the smoker in that manner for about one half hour.

The ribs were served with Captain Curt’s Boss Sauce on the side and in minutes the table looked as if a pack of coyotes had eaten. Every bone was clean and we were all smiles The drinks perhaps had some effect on the smiles but I really believe it was the ribs.

One thing that you might want to vary is the cooking time, The ribs were so tender that they fell of the bones when I removed them from the aluminum foil pouch for serving. Experiment with the cooking time but I believe that they would have been great with two and one half hours smoking and one and a half hours in the sealed pouch.”

Happy Eating!!!

Wandering through the super market the other day looking for a BBQ sauce to flavor up my already moist and tasty smoked pork butt, I stumbled across a real treasure in both BBQ sauces and Chicago culture.

I was immediately struck by the bottle, a color saturated photo of Curtis Briggs, no-doubt the bottle’s namesake, smiling back at me. The Captain’s got a red cape thrown over one shoulder and, on the other breast of the cape, the words ‘cooking genious’ are stitched. Turning the bottle over you’re given a quick bio on Curtis and his aptly named ‘Boss Sauces’ and, I guess in case you have any questions, Curtis Brigg’s phone number. Seriously, the 773 prefix and all. I have every intention of calling this number one of these days, most likely at the end of a decent smoke when I can appropriately extrapolate on my enthusiasm for my man Capt. Curtis’ amazing Boss Sauce.

I bought his Hickory flavor and was pleasantly surprised in the richness of the sauce, so much more flavorful than the other 2 store bought brands I picked up (Open Pitt and Sweet Baby Ray’s). The folks over at BBQ Sauce Review agree with my enthusiasm for the sauce, though they seem to be less fond of the packaging than I was.

A quick googling the following day turned me on, not only to the video below, but also to the fact that Curtis has a restaurant on Chicago’s south side, the aptly named Captain Curtis’ Shazaam Restaurant located at 8210 S. Cottage Grove Ave., where his famed BBQ is dished up with live Jazz and R&B until 1am every morning. My trips to the south side are far too infrequent, but every time I head down to our richest source of Chicago history I am fed well and plenty and left rejuvenated having engaged again with so much of my city’s rich historical roots. The Captain’s restaurant is next on my hit list and I promise to offer a full review after my visit.

The name of our site, Outsider’s Almanac, has several important meanings to me not the least of which is the effort to get outside of one’s comfort zones, one’s home and one’s neighborhood. In Chicago it can at times be as hard to find an event outside – like biking or hiking or snowboarding – as it is to find the motivation get outside of your own 4 block confine. Every part of Chicago is so rich with great food, great people and amazing history that it’s often too easy to become rote in well-worn tracks. But, as the Captain now stands testament to in my mind, there are too many riches outside of what I know to stay comfortable or predictable for too long and, so, it’s time once again for me to get down to the south side and try some of Captain Curtis’ Shazaam BBQ.