STATE FAIR

The California State Fair comes around once a year. It is a good time for all the Counties and Vendors to show their best. There is a lot of comfort food to be had. It is a time to show off the best that California has to offer. There is a Midway to ride the rides. You can take a chance on the games to win a stuffed toy. There is music and shows to be seen. Of course there is some livestock. It is America at its best. We were proud to be a part of it today. Of course we sampled some very fine food . We had a 'Deep Fried White Castle Burger'. It was very special. We also had some soft tacos from a stand that claims to have served from 1947. I tell you what, We had FUN!!!

Future Bacon
Yes, they do have deep fried twinkies!This stand has been serving soft tacos for a long time. They were very good. I think they thought I was the Chief of Police. "Make those donut's with extra grease, This batch is for the Chief of Police" (Pop of Pies)

SPAM PIZZA

There is a contest at the Pragmatic Chef. Spam Pizza is my entry. You can read more at http://www.thepragmaticchef.com/

DEVIL'S TONGUE

The peppers are beginning to turn some beautiful colors. This plant is called the 'Devils Tongue'. This will be the first time I have ever tasted this pepper. It will be tasted with a glass of milk standing by. It is described as being a Habanero type pepper that is outrageously hot. Here we go. We will cut it in half and cut a sliver out of the middle. The sample will be approx a 1/8 round of seeds and membranes. The whole effect must be experienced. There is no fear involved. Maybe I should wait till after I walk the dogs. You know I just remembered I have to mow the lawn. Okay I will stop stalling. It has a fruity smell. Here goes! So far so good. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHGG!

I cannot feel my face. Bring me the milk. I have to leave the room for a minute.

I am back. That was really good. Once you get over the initial bomb of burn, the Devils Tongue has a lot of fruity flavor. It is very unique.

You may be asking,'Why is Chilebrown eating Super Hot peppers at 8:00am in the morning?'. I am doing this in the name of research. The Rodeo Chili- Cook Off is less than two weeks away. This is proof that I am serious about Chile. There will be no Devils Tongue pepper in the competition chili. If you stop by, there may be samples of Devils Tongue, if you dare. There will be a car show and musical entertainment. The best part will be the chance to sample various chili. It will be a competition and every vote counts. I hope to meet some of you. Stop on by and say hello!. (look for the 'Mad Meat Genius Logo')

Rodeo Chili Cook -Off

Rodeo, California Saturday Sept. 6 10:am - 4:00pm

Chili tasting begins at noon

PICKLES

Today we are going to try an experiment in making refrigerator pickles. There is not a lot to making pickles. A little salt, sugar, vinegar and spices. There will be a little Chilebrown twist. I am going to use Mexican Sour Gherkins. The seeds were sowed last May. There is a nice little Gherkin patch in the backyard. Mojo and Oscar have discovered they like cucumbers. I had to harvest them quick before my dogs got into a pickle with me. Mojo and Oscar get fed twice a day with premium chow. They both supplement their diet with grass and any apples that have fallen. I am sure glad they do not like tomato's or peppers.

1. 1/2 cup sugar
2. 1 cup of vinegar
3. 2 tablespoons salt
4. 2 jalapenos
5. 2 pounds of cucumbers
6. 2 cups of water
7. 1 tablespoons red pepper flakes

There are countless versions of pickling recipes. This is a basic guideline. You can double the recipe if you need. You can add more sugar if you like your pickles sweeter. You may have notice my Chilebrown twist of Jalapenos and Pepper flakes. I had to do it.

Wash your pickles and place in gallon jar. I take the vinegar, sugar, salt and water and bring to a boil. It is only to combine and mix these ingredients. I let the liquid cool and add jalapenos and pepper flakes. Pour the liquid into gallon jar. Place in refrigerator and wait a week. Next week I will report back with the pickle scoop.

CHILE RELLANO

Once a year our local supermarket gets a shipment of New Hatch New Mexican Chile's. This is the King of Green Chile. It is not organic , not local, but very special. New Hatch chile's are known through out the Chile World as the best in the country. They usually have a kick to them. They are bigger than our local Anaheim's. The climate in New Hatch is special for this breed of chile. It is like Napa Valley being special for grapes. When these Chile's come to town, I grab as much as I can. Tonight we are making Chile Rellano's.

These chile's will be roasted over a mesquite fire to remove the skins. They will then be stuffed with a pepper cheese and coated with an egg mixture. They are fried in oil and served with a chipotle tomato sauce. The chipotle sauce will be made with home grown tomato's and home smoked chipotle's.

Build a nice hot fire with some charcoal. When the fire is smokin hot, place the chiles on the grate and blister the skins. Remove from heat and let cool. When it is cool remove charred skin. Just use a damp towel to remove skin. If you run it under water you are removing the good juices. Take a sharp knife and gut the suckers. Run a slit down the middle and remove all the innards of the chile. Replace the innards with a rectangular block of cheese and reserve.

Sauce

1. 8 tomatoes quartered
2. 1-2 dried chipotle chopped into pieces
3. 1 teaspoon of sugar, and salt
4. 1 teaspoon of oregano

Place all ingredients into sauce pan and bring to simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes, Let cool before using processor. Process until mixture is smooth. Run mixture through a fine sieve and reserve.

The next step is to coat your chile's in an egg batter. The chiles are dipped first into flour and then an egg mixture. The egg mixture is created by separating 6 eggs into yolks and whites. Beat the whites until a stiff peak forms. Mix the yolks with 2 tablespoons of flour. Fold the yolks into the beaten egg whites. This is your egg mixture. Dredge your stuffed chiles through 1 cup of flour. Then dip them into your egg mixture. These baby's are ready to fry in 1/2 inch of 350 degree oil. Fry for approximately 4 minutes on each side. When they are golden brown remove them to some paper towels to absorb some of the oil.

Serve these beautiful golden egg covered New Hatch Chiles with your sauce and the usual accompaniments. This is one special dish!!

Ammazzo Chile's

JUDGEMENT DAY

This is about the day in the life of a barbeque judge or how I survived eating 6 pounds of meat in two hours. Yesterday, Dr. Biggles, Ms Goofy, and Yours Truly spent half a day at the Tomato Festival in Fairfield California. We were invited to be judges at a barbeque cook off. How could we ever pass this opportunity by. What fun! We had visions of free food, cold beverages and passing out a couple of ribbons. Well we did get the free food and a lesson about competitive barbeque.

Competition Barbeque is serious business. This event was sponsored by the Kansas City Barbeque Society(KCBS). The people who enter this event spend a large amount of time, money and commitment to compete. There is a lot of prize money involved. If you placed in this event, You would be eligible to compete in future and larger invitational events. Barbeque Competition is a lot of fun, but there is a lot of responsibility to be a judge. We experienced this close up and personal. I have the heartburn to prove it.

We were asked to get to the fair at 9:30am. The first step was to check in. There were 60 other judges. Some were novices like ourselves. There was a group of experienced judges. They have taken a class from the KCBS and have judged other events. We were broken into groups of 6 with a mix of eperienced and novices. Each group got a table. We received a small class in rules and regulations for the competition. There is a specific ritual to marking of a score card and placing the meat on your score plate. We were told what to look for in the food and how to score it. It basically broke down to Appearance, Taste, and Tenderness. You would assign a number from 1 - 10 . Nine would be most excellent. 2 would inedible. We would sample 4 different plates of 6 meats. The plates were Chicken, Pork Ribs, Pork Shoulder or Tri-Tip and Beef Brisket. We went over some more rules. There was one rule that was a little disappointing. No carbonated beverages or alcohol may be consumed while judging. I told you it was serious. We even were seated facing away from the competitors when they brought their food in. I am not going to guess the reason for that. We then took an oath. Bring on the Food!

The actual judging started around 11:45 and went to around 2:00pm. We took our judging responsibilities seriously. We tasted some very good meat. We also had some not so very good meat. Overall it was a blast. This was an opportunity to go behind the scenes at a barbeque competition. I think we might enroll in the KCBS judges class. But first, would you pass the Rolaids.

PULLED PORK

Dr. Biggles, Ms. Goofy and Myself are judging a barbeque competition today. I needed to prove to myself that I am worthy of judging. Pulled pork was just the ticket to prove my worthiness. To cook an eight pound pork shoulder to fall apart goodness is a two day commitment. Thia roast can take anywhere from 12 to 15 hours to smoke properly.

The first day, you need to Rub your Butt. (I still get a kick out of saying that) I am using a not so secret rub. Let the rubbed roast sit in refrigerator for a couple of hours. The next step is to get the barbeque ready. I am using a Weber Rocky Mountain Smoker. Kingsford briquet's and sugar maple wood chunks will be the fuel of choice. I started my fire at 10 o'clock in the evening. The proper smoking temperatures are 225-250 degrees. Once the roast was tucked into the smoker it was time to get some shut eye. I only got up once to check on this baby. I was awaken by the delicious smell. Fast forward to 12:30 the next day. The internal temperature of the roast was holding at 192 degrees. It had been on the grill for over 14 hours. I put it in a pan and placed some foil loosely over the top. I let it rest for 30 minutes.

You may have heard of people talking about the bark. This roast had some serious bark. This was achieved by never wrapping it in foil. This bark had a chewy jerky like consistency. You could taste the rub. It was pork nirvana. We kept grabbing little samples. I finally had to tie up Ms. Goofy so we would have some left. We were going to serve this beauty as Pulled Pork sandwiches. We were going to try two different sauces. One was from Memphis Minnie's. The other was a simple sugar, vinegar sauce. We took about 3 cups of meat and place it in a bowl. We took two forks and shredded (pulled) the meat. It was so tender and so very, very great smelling. We added about 1/2 cup of sauce to the two different bowls. They were then served on rolls with some cole slaw.

This was some serious barbeque. We are ready to judge some fellow barbeque enthusiast. Bring them on!

Vinegar Sauce

1. 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
2. 1 cup of water
3. 2 tablespoons sugar
4. 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
5. 2 teaspoons salt
6. 1 jalapeno chile sliced

Combine all ingredients and stir until blended.

BACON REVUE (ANGELO'S PEPPERED BACON)

We have a very famous actor in the theater today. He is well known in the Sonoma area of California. He is Angelo from Angelo's Meats. We have been visiting Angelo for close to 20 years. We always look forward to a visit with Angelo. He will always have a story to tell. When you purchase some meat, he will give you explicit cooking instructions. He runs an old fashioned smoke house in Petaluma, California. Fisherman bring him salmon to smoke. His beef jerky is to die for. Angelo has a line of rubs,sauces, and pickles. He has catered to dignitaries at the Bohemian Grove. His credentials are as large as the Man himself. Every time we visit Angelo it is like visiting an old friend. Today on stage is some of his Peppered Bacon.

Today we have a guest taster. James Campers is an award winning Chili Cookoff Champion. His knowledge and experience will add some expertise to this review. This is some good looking bacon. The fat to meat ratio leans to meaty. We will be using our trusty cast iron skillet to cook some of this cured delight. If this pan could talk. It has cooked bacon's from all over the country. Back to the bacon. There is a rind on this slab. It is only a minor fault. It is like when a Olympian Gymnast takes a little step.

How does it taste? We have a Winner! It is not salty.(Angelo gave me the secret). It has just a hint of smoke. It is not sweet, but that is the secret in good bacon. It has the right balance. This is a bacon worth searching out. You will have to visit Angelo and listen to a couple of stories. The score of this bacon was a Unanimous 4 stars out of 5.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Cost: 4.50/ppound
Where: 2700 Adobe Rd.
Petaluma, Ca. 94954
1-800-631-4796

INDIAN LOVE SONG (YOSEMITE)

These are the words to the 'Indian Love Song'.Why am I singing this ballad. I do not have true pitch. My dog's do not howl too much. This is a song that brings back a lot of memories. It is the song that was sung during the Fire falls. If you remember the Firefalls you experienced a very special event. I am going to sing for you.

Indian Love Song

I am calling you
I will answer too
That means I offer my love to you
If you refuse it I will be blue
And waiting all alone
But if when you hear my love call ringing clear
And I hear your love call echoing so near
Then I know our love will come true
You'll belong to me
I'll belong to you
When I will call our love will come true
You'll belong to me
I'll belong to you his i

I am calling you
I will answer too
That means I offer my love to you
If you refuse it I will be blue
And waiting all alone
But if when you hear my love call ringing clear
And I hear your love call echoing so near
Then I know our love will come true
You'll belong to me
I'll belong to you
When I will call our love will come true
You'll belong to me
I'll belong to you

BACON REVUE (COOKIECRUMB)

Tonight we are having a special 'Bacon Revue'. This a one time only performance. If you are late to the show you will not be seated. Have a seat and experience the feeling! What is Cookiecrumb bacon? It is a bacon made by a fellow food blogger. You can view all of her Genius at 'I'm Mad and I Eat'. Cookiecrumb took the initiative to Crank(y) out some bacon. We were lucky enough to be gifted a precious sample. This sample also included pears and plums. The pears are circling the wagon, so lets get to the Revue.

Today's bellies were procured from Prather Ranch. They were cured from a recipe from the book "Charcuterie" by by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. The first thing that was noticed about our sample was the fat to meat ratio. Our slices were a little on the obese side with future lard. We rendered out of all this goodness in a cast iron skillet. It crisped up very nicely. The anticipation of reviewing a friends Meat Product was a little nerve racking. Luckily the bacon crisped up very nicely. It was time to have a taste.
The first bite was very good. It did not taste salty. The sweetness was present but faint. We took a second taste. The texture was crisp with just a little chewiness. The smoke was there. YES!. Where did this bacon come from Ms. Goofy asked. I told her it was from Cookiecrumb. She exclaimed, "Now I know why this is so good!". We finished off our little sample and were very pleased. Today's Bacon will receive a 4.5 stars out of 5.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Price: Priceless

Where: Cyberspace for now!

HOW TO GET IN TROUBLE WITH YOUR WIFE!

Mad Meat Genuis is going to share a recipe with you that I really do not recommend trying. The way I prepared it has put me in the Dog House. I am posting this from the neighbors. The actual meal is very good if you do not mind eating it by yourself. Let's cut to the chase. This is a Chile and Chicken Mole recipe with a Chilebrown twist. You just have to make sure that you do not use the twist that I used.

Ingredients

1. 1 chicken with the back cut out and flattened
2. 6 dried chiles (2 Anaheim,2 chipotle 2 pasilla)
3. 3 cloves garlic
4. 1 onion sliced into thirds
5. 3 cups of chicken broth
6. 2 corn tortillas
7. 1/4 cup of rub
8. salt & pepper to taste
9. 4 peppers to taste (Hot and Sweet from the garden)
10. 2 slices of bacon
11. 1 teaspoon cumin and oregano
12. 1 teaspoon sugar
13. 3 tomatoes

Rub the chicken with rub and set aside. Take a Cast Iron Skillet and lay all ingredients except chicken,spices,sugar and broth on bottom of pan. Lay the chicken on top, skin side up, on the vegetable tortilla chile mixture

Build a medium hot fire in a Weber. Lay the coals evenly throughout the kettle. Place the Cast Iron Pan in the middle of the grate. Put the lid on with all vents open and cook for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove chicken and reserve. Take all the ingredients in the bottom of the skillet and place them in a food processor.

TIME OUT

The next step is how to get in trouble with your wife. I do not recommend this to anybody. Place all the Hot ingredients in a food processor. Add a little broth and let it whirl. WARNING step back. This sucker is going to blow. The ingredients spun for 20 seconds and all of a sudden the lid came off and sprayed the kitchen and Myself with hot liquid. It is a good thing that I was wearing my safety sunglasses. This was not a pretty site. There was liquid all over the kitchen. The ceiling, walls, stove, refrigerator, dogs and the floor were covered with food. I went outside and told Ms. Goofy what had happened. I have been outside ever since. I heard dinner was pretty good from what was salvaged. I will tell you the rest of the recipe, but be careful.

Add broth and vegetables to processor. Place mixture back in pan and simmer. Cut chicken into 8 pieces and add to simmering mixture. Add your spices,sugar and cook for 15 minutes. Serve over rice and enjoy if you are not in the Doghouse. Can I come over to your house to shower?, Please!

MAKIN BACON IV

'When Pigs Fly'. Where did this saying come from? There is a new mascot at Mad Meat Genius. It is the flying pig. It was picked up at the Gravestein Apple Festival. The flying pig was present during the smoking of the latest bacon. This bacon was cured with salt and maple sugar. It was then smoked with Sugar Maple Wood chunks. Boy oh Boy!, the sweet smoky smell of bacon permeates the house and patio. The results are in and we are more than pleased.

Makin Bacon III started the process last week. On Sunday the salt was rinsed off of the bellies. They were placed in a big pot of water and soaked for a couple of hours in the refrigerator. They were rinsed again and dried. I put them back in the refrigerator on a cookie rack. They were left overnight. The next day they were removed and brought to room temperature. I fired up my Weber Rocky Mountain Smoker and brought it to hot smoking temperature. (225-250 degrees). They were smoked for a couple of hours until the internal temperature reached 150 degrees. They were then cooled on cookie racks. While they were cooling you could smell them through out the house. WOW!

We of course had to try the bacon on a BLT. It passed with flying colors. The soaking really made a difference. It was not overly salty. You could definitely taste the Maple flavor. "When Pigs Fly". They sure did at our house.

GRAVESTEIN APPLE FESTIVAL

The price of gas has dropped in the last couple of weeks. Gas is such a bargain priced at under 4 dollars/gallon. This could mean only one thing. Roadtrip! Our Destination today is the Gravestein Apple Festival. It is located about 1 1/2 hours from the Bay Area in Sebastapol California. I have a Gravestein apple tree in our backyard. Hopefully, some inspiration for recipes and ideas will be gained from our excursion. I hope to run into Angelo from Angelo''s Meats. He is a character that can really lighten up a festival. He also happens to make some of the best bacon on the West Coast.

The Apple festival is a local event that showcases local artists and growers in the Sonoma area. Sebastapol is famous for growing Gravestein Apples. They still grow a lot of apples, but are turning to wine like everybody else in California. This event is held in a local park. There are plenty of food booths and craftsmen to satisfy all appetites. We sampled some of the local apples and had a Microbrew from Lagunitas.(Petaluma, Ca.). We found a crafts person that created a new mascot prop for Mad Meat Genius. Willy Birds were selling their Huge, Giant Turkey Legs. We found a booth that told us to be a pig.Yeah!

We did run into Angelo. He was in prime form He was managing his barbeque fire and booth with the help of his Daughter. Of course Angelo had time to give me a lesson or two. It is very important to listen to the Master of Curing and Butchering.. He has a lot of experience and a lot of stories to tell. He was selling Tri Tip sandwiches from his booth. He was using a medium direct fire. He was standing over that fire constantly. He was turning his beef and watching for hot spots. He had an instant read thermometer in his hand. Once these Choice cuts of meat reached 120 degrees, he would put them into an ice chest for final cooking. The confidence in Angelo showed through and through. The line was 6 deep to get one of these sandwiches. Angelo told me his rub is award winning. He shared with me, that to use his rub and get a successful product, is to use a good meat and cook it properly. Those simple instructions are so true. There are no guarantee's in good barbeque. To see a Master (Angelo) at work is a treat.

OLYMPICS

EASTER ISLAND

We are smoking and cooking in preparation of the Olympics. The Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics is a much anticipated event. It just so happens that Ms. Goofy and I have the next week off. We will be glued to the Boob Toob 24/7. I always dreamed that I could compete in the Olympics I could do an Iron Cross on the Rings. I would need a lot of help to reach the rings. Oh well, lets just keep it a dream.
These are statues guarding an area of my garden. They have been collected over the years. What do they have to do with the Olympics? Not much!