The Meatwave

Oh glory of glories, it's Carne-val time once again, the celebration of everything that is meat! While last year's feast focused on many varieties of meat, this year honed in on the swine, and a lot of it. A whopping 27 pounds of raw hog—divided equally between ribs and butts—went into the smoker and emerged many hours later as some of finest barbecue one can find (at least around these city parts). Despite some rainfall, most made it out to revel in the meat and make this year's Carne-val fantastic.

More after the jump >>]]> Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:30:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Meatwave http://www.meatwave.com/blog/carne-val-2010 Watermelon and Haloumi, So Happy Together http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-watermelon-and-haloumi-salad Watermelon & Haloumi Salad

It's kind of embarrassing that my recipe reserve currently out numbers what's actually on the blog. I'm sure you can understand that's hard to find the time to actually write about something when the grill sits just feet away, constantly beckoning. Being more prolific in cooking than writing, I often forget all of those photos laying dormant in Lightroom, just waiting to see the light of day. It's thanks to super Meatwaver Lindsay that this little gem came out of the closet.

She was talking up some exciting changes to a local bar at our Meativersary and got into how they even have a watermelon and haloumi salad, although it didn't compare to the one I had made a couple years back. With that, all the fond memories of this simple and wildly awesome salad came back, forcing me to spew out words to you describing the deliciousness a salty cheese and sweet melon can create when combined together.

More and recipe after the jump >>]]> Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:50:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Grilling Recipes Salad Fruit Cheese Greek http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-watermelon-and-haloumi-salad Sauced: Butterscotch Bourbon Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/barbecue-sauce-review-blackjack-barbecue-butterscotch-bourbon-sauce Blackjack Barbecue Butterscotch Bourbon Sauce

Blackjack Barbecue Butterscotch Bourbon Sauce

Sauce Stats

Name

Butterscotch Bourbon Sauce

Produced by

Blackjack Barbecue

Cost

$6.99 at BBQ Pro Shop

Ingredients

Ketchup, butterscotch, bourbon, white vinegar, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, soy, dry mustard, black pepper

Color

Smokey light red

out of 10

Pretty Damn Good

More Sauce Reviews

Read the full review after the jump >>]]> Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:25:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Sauced Reviews Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/barbecue-sauce-review-blackjack-barbecue-butterscotch-bourbon-sauce Invasion of the Meatwads http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-meatwads

There are some people that are just pure genius, my good friend Chris falls into that category. Being separated by the distance between New York and Chicago, we don't see each other much, but when we do, it's often life changing. The last time he was in New York, way back in 2003, he told tales of how the Windy City was experiencing a full on Meatwave, and from that came all of this. He stopped by for a quick visit this winter with another nugget of brilliance, explaining the concept of the meatwad, leaving me once again bowing to his greatness. So without further adieu, I'm ready to drop some Meatwad my knowledge unto you.

More and recipe after the jump >>]]> Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:27:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Recipes Grilling Beef Cheese Bread http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-meatwads Meativersary http://www.meatwave.com/blog/meativersary

Whew, time has flown! It was only a year ago that I was wed in Holy Meatrimony, and our first Meativersary in already upon us. Sounds like a call for a party to me! Party down we did this past weekend, Meatwave style, with one wave of grilled party food after another in celebration of the union between of husband, wife, and meat.

More after the jump >>]]> Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:45:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Meatwave http://www.meatwave.com/blog/meativersary Meatopia: An Ode to NYC Barbecue http://www.meatwave.com/blog/meatopia-bbq-nyc-event-review

For years I've always looked forward to drooling over the meaty masterpieces that come out of food writer extraordinaire Josh Ozersky's birthday parties, appropriately dubbed Meatopia. Sinful amounts of meat, each one looking more delicious than the next, it's like a long lost twin of the Meatwave. So when I first found out that Meatopia was expanding from private birthday party to all out meat festival this year, my enthusiasm was unbridled. I quickly bought two six-tasting tickets, and before I knew it, I was setting sail to Governor's Island, hoping to return with a belly full of some of the best meats NYC has to offer.

Prior to arrival, what excited me most was that the event was being branded as "NYC BBQ." As convoluted as the way us northerners use the term "barbecue," so is what's considered barbecue in NYC now-a-days.

It wasn't long ago that New Yorker's best hope for good barbecue was the annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Leading up to and following the first Block Party, there were only a handful of restaurants serving true barbecue, most focused on the imitation of a distinct regional style from somewhere else in the country. As we got comfortable in our barbecue skin, and with the usual ribs and brisket territories well covered, barbecue in the city seemed to quickly go to no-holds-barred—as long as it's smoked or grilled, it can be barbecue in New York. Large swaths of country probably cringe at this, but I'm in the business of embracing it, which is why Meatopia was so exciting. I thought of it as a State of Barbecue in NYC, which has room on its plate for everything from La Caja China roasted pigs to smoked duck tacos.

It's unfortunate that the event ended up being a less than ideal setting for getting the best NYC barbecue fix possible, mostly due to a few shortcomings. I'm dubious of any new event, as it usually takes a couple years to really work out the kinks, and Meatopia was not safe from those first-year mishaps.

I started getting nervous about the crowds when we had to wait 45 minutes on a hella long line to board the ferry over. Once there, I was actually surprised with the organization— tickets were being handed out quickly based on last name, and much like the fast pass at the Big Apple Barbecue Block party, the Meatopia passes eliminated the need to bust out cash for que, which keeps lines rolling.

After a lap around the event, where not all the stalls were exactly where the map said they should be, the three of us decided to divide and conquer. While the lines were long, it only took 15 minutes for use to reconvene and dive into our first three samplings. With a taste of what's to come, we quickly went off for our next three plates, but by this time—around 2pm—some of our must-haves were already gone. We settled on a few alternative items, then went off for round three. Now it was about 2:45pm and it seemed as if at least half of the vendors were sold out, thee-hours into the event with 2 hours to go. Those still with meat started to have lines prohibitive for the less patient.

I convinced my band of now un-merry men and women to stick it out for one more round, where we waited on now half-hour lines to get food that didn't hold the most interest to us. After that round, and over two hours in the heat and a little rain, my crew was done, and I relented and headed back to the ferry with two tastings still available on my ticket.

It seems that despite a great effort in organization, New Yorkers' insatiable hunger for meat was underestimated. Even so, in the two and half hours I was there, I sampled eleven different tasty meats, even if they weren't all my number one choices.

So what's NYC BBQ today? Here's small tasting that was dictated mainly by supply and demand.

More after the jump >>]]> Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:20:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Event Reviews http://www.meatwave.com/blog/meatopia-bbq-nyc-event-review Sauced: Maple Mesquite BBQ Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/barbecue-sauce-review-williams-sonoma-maple-mesquite-bbq-sauce

Sauce Stats

Name

Maple Mesquite BBQ Sauce

Produced by

Williams-Sonoma

Cost

$12.95 at Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients

Ketchup, water, brown sugar, pure maple syrup, bbq spices, Worcestershire sauce, natural maple flavor, apple cider vinegar, natural mesquite smoke flavor

Color

Reddish-brown

out of 10

Above Average

More Sauce Reviews

Read the full review after the jump >>]]> Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:45:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Sauced Reviews Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/barbecue-sauce-review-williams-sonoma-maple-mesquite-bbq-sauce Sauced: Barbecue Sauce Reviews http://www.meatwave.com/blog/sauced-barbecue-sauce-reviews Barbecue Sauces

I’m a DIY type of guy. As a youngster I spent endless hours constructing engineering marvels with Legos, which morphed into a short-lived stint in an extremely indie band, then into a master of darkroom chemistry, and now that spirit lives on in my barbecue and grilling. With a long history of constructing things from scratch, I’ve been a big advocate of bringing that philosophy to barbecue sauce. I can argue endlessly about how throwing a few cupboard staples together in a pot can churn out a sauce that can outdo just about anything you pick up in the store. So as my grill and I have been inseparably going on seven years now, inevitably an ocean of barbecue sauce has flown out of my kitchen.

Coming with the territory of being such a barbecue nerd is the perception that I must love any gift that’s related to grilling. Barbecue sauce is up there as a top present, and as I’ve continued to crank out my own sauces, I’ve also amassed a nice collection of unopened bottles. In an effort to reclaim my cabinet space, I decided it was time to put those sauces to work, giving them some proper credit and good use in the form of barbecue sauce reviews.

I will still preach that you’ll be better served making your own sauce, but I also relent, knowing that for most Americans it’s the bottle or nothing. There are some great sauces out there, and with my years of sauce making experience, I’m happy to provide some guidance on differentiating the excellent from the horrid along with some best use pointers.

More after the jump >>]]> Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:40:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Sauced Reviews Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/sauced-barbecue-sauce-reviews Hittin' the Sauce http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-how-to-properly-cook-barbecue-chicken

Oh, barbecue chicken, what a conundrum. First, it's primarily grilled and not barbecued, so the whole thing gets off on the wrong foot. Second, it's just usually not very good. Chicken marinated in sauce or slathered before being put on the grill seals an unnecessary ill fate for the bird, rendering a mostly burnt result. There's a secret to barbecue chicken though—for all those horrid pieces of bird you've probably endured, there's a way that it can actually be good, great even. So it's time to hit the sauce and make this backyard classic into something we can all be proud to serve.

More and recipe after the jump >>]]> Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:05:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Grilling Chicken Recipes http://www.meatwave.com/blog/grilling-recipe-how-to-properly-cook-barbecue-chicken Go Go Bulgogi! http://www.meatwave.com/blog/bulgogi-korean-bbq-grilling-recipe Meat-a-thon

It wasn't that long ago that I was answering to the stunned responses I got when I admitted that I had never had Korean BBQ. As such a meat enthusiast, it was dumbfounding to others that I had not experienced the greatness of the cuisine. I had no excuse for not trying it, it was just one of those things that never happened, until this winter, when the wait for Korean fried chicken was too long for my rumbling tummy and Korean BBQ was the inevitable back-up in an area of the city dominated by Korean joints.

Maybe it's the fact that I had put Korean BBQ on a pedestal after so many enthusiastically sold it to me, but I was not totally blown away. Don't get me wrong, it was damn good, just not life changing as fabled stories had led me to expect. This rang most true for the bulgogi—marinated thin slices of steak—so much so it never crossed my mind to make it at home, but during last weekend's Korean meat feast, it made the cut, and what came off the grill was not only heads and shoulders above what I experienced at the restaurant, it immediately stole the show from all other meats that day.

More and recipe after the jump >>]]> Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:40:00 EST barbecue bbq grilling foodblogs foodblog nyc new york city meatwave Beef Korean Asian Grilling Recipes http://www.meatwave.com/blog/bulgogi-korean-bbq-grilling-recipe