"gawrsh!" , "ah-hyuck!" , "hoo hoo hoo hoo!",

It is Ms. Goofy's Birthday this weekend. We are traveling to Lake Tahoe California to celebrate. We are going to have fun in the snow, gamble, see a show and eat in some high faulitin restaurants. It is snowing as I verse. Once we make it over the mountain pass we will celebrate this glorious occasion. We also are throwing in a couple of 'Meat Adventures' on the way back. Talk to you soon!

ASPARAGUS & ARTICHOKE PIZZA

It was another beautiful Spring day. It was a good excuse to makes some Aritchoke heart and Asparagus pizza. The sauce was a grilled green salsa. This roasted salsa had tomatillas, green onions, white onions 'California Long Hots' and garlic. This was spring at its tasty best. I think leftover pizza would be perfect for lunch.

KINGSFORD CHALLENGE

Today we will have a taste test using two different Kingsford charcoal briquettes. We are comparing the Competition versus the Original brand charcoal. Two chickens seasoned only with salt and pepper will be baked in a kettle grill. They will be cooked exactly the same amount of time and with equal amounts of charcoal. Some maple cranberry bacon corn bread will be cooked in a Dutch oven using the Competition brand charcoal. Let’s recap the burn test and start cooking.

The Competition charcoal ignited very fast and spiked with heat. The Original charcoal took longer to light but eventually surpassed the Competition in heat and longevity. How will this play out in a controlled kettle cooker environment? Seventy five Original charcoals were lit in a chimney starter. It took approximately 20 minutes to achieve an ash over the coals. They were spread evenly over the floor of a Weber kettle. The chicken was sitting on a throne of a ‘Weber Poultry Roaster”. {The Weber Poultry Roaster is a must have item. You will never buy a store bought rotisserie chicken ever again after using one of these. It is so easy. Season the chicken; build a fire, one hour later you have one killer roasted bird.}. One hour later the chicken was cooked. The kettle was cooled and we repeated the process with the Competition charcoals. The Competition charcoals were ready to cook in only 13 minutes.

After one hour both chickens were properly cooked. The chicken cooked with the Original charcoal had a nice brown skin. The Competition bird was properly cooked but did not have the crisp brown skin that we crave. A thermometer showed that the Original charcoal held a pretty even heat of 375 degrees for the hour. The Competition spiked at 400 degrees but dropped fairly fast to about 360 degrees.

Original

Competition

Some corn bread was cooked in the Dutch Oven using the Competition charcoal I was a little concerned because towards the end the charcoal looked pretty spent. The cornbread only has a 40 minute cooking time. The cornbread was cooked properly but once again it did not have the browning effect that we crave.

Both the chickens and the cornbread were tasty. The Competition charcoal was an under achiever in my opinion. It lit fast and spiked in heat but did not come through in the home stretch. We would have had to use more Competition charcoal to achieve the same effect as the Original. I do not really see any advantage to using this charcoal. If I was using this in a Dutch oven competition I would have to adjust my fuel usage. One important question that was not addressed was price. I am not sure if this charcoal is priced higher than the original. If I have a choice, I will stick to the old faithful Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquets.

KINGSFORD COMPETITION BRIQUETS

‘Kingsford Competition’ charcoal briquets are a new companion product to the 'Kingsford Original', ‘Blue bag’ “K” charcoal. It is not really a new product. It has been out for over a year but this is the first time I have seen it offered in the Bay Area. We picked up a couple of bags at our local warehouse store. We are going to conduct an unscientific comparison of ‘Kingsford Competition’ v ‘Kingsford Original’. We will have a burn test to see how fast, hot and long they will burn. Next weekend we will conduct a taste test. Does one burn faster or hotter? Will we notice a difference in flavor? This should be interesting.

What is so different about the ‘Competition’ charcoal? The regular briquettes have had the same profile since 2006. This was supposed to be an improvement from the old Kingsford charcoal. These new charcoal had grooves stamped on the surface to improve air flow for lighting and burning. This year the regular briquettes have been changed slightly again. The grooves are deeper and longer. The ‘Competition’ briquettes are not supposed to replace the regular but are meant to be a companion. What does that mean? What is so different about the Competition? This is what ‘Kingsford has released about the ‘Competition’

Kinsford Competition Briquets

• "...high heat that's ready to cook on fast for grilling, searing or slow cooking."
• "Lasts The Same As A 15 lb Kingsford Original Bag"
• "...Kingsford's latest innovation."
• "These new briquets offer a unique combination of the high heat associated with lump charcoal and the consistent burn of briquets..."
• "100% All Natural"
• "High Heat"
• "Ready to Cook on Fast"
• "Kingsford Competition Briquets do burn hotter than Kingsford Original charcoal."
• "The Competition Briquets will be ready to cook on faster, so be ready to place your food on a little earlier than with Kingsford Original."

We weighed 8 briquettes of both brands. The Competition weighed out at 6 ounces. The Original was 2 ounces heavier at 8 ounces. The Competition briquettes were smooth and consistently shaped. The Original was rough and some briquettes were missing little chunks of material. The next step in our observation would be ignition of these 16 pillows of charcoal. We decided to soak a paper towel in lighter fluid and place at the bottom of the briquette stack. The only problem is I do not use lighter fluid. Luckily my neighbor loaned me some of his mesquite flavored lighter fluid. Every 15 minutes, I would point a laser thermometer at the middle of the stack and take a reading. Let’s step into the Ring of Fire, the Ring of Fire.



COMPETITION- TIME- REGULAR

800 degrees, 00:15 minutes, 512 degrees
910 degrees, 00 :30 minutes, 850 degrees
880 degrees, 00 :45 minutes, 820 degrees
690 degrees, 1:00 minutes, 780 degrees
606 degrees, 1:15 minutes, 650 degrees
510 degrees, 1:30 minutes, 550 degrees
400 degrees, 1:45 minutes, 500 degrees

Fifteen minutes passed and the Competition had a nice layer of ash and was already at 800 degrees while the Original was still igniting and only registered 512 degrees. The Regular caught up in the next 15 minutes. It then held and beat the competition for heat and longevity. One hour and forty five minutes I stopped taking measurements. The Competition looked pretty spent but was still putting off some heat. The Original looked like it had a way to go.



The Competition charcoal was ready to cook faster and had an initial higher heat. This might be good if you need to cook a steak fast. There are so many other questions that need to be answered. Do these charcoals give a different flavor to your protein? We will examine that in the next post. Will the competition charcoal give a consistent heat in a controlled air environment? (smoker or any cooker with air control). How about using them with a Dutch Oven? This weekend we will try to answer some of these questions. We are looking forward to the taste test. See y'all later!

SPRING IS HERE

Today is the official first day of spring. It is a beautiful sunny day in California. It is a perfect day to fire up the bbq. Asparagus is priced under a dollar a pound at the local Wally Mart. The hardest decision is what to barbeque today. What a dilemma.

'STOKER' BUTT

The first trial run of the Stoker has been completed. Last night an eight pound boneless pork shoulder was placed in the 'Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. All the Stoker probes were inserted and positioned in their proper place. I used my 'Nu-temp' thermometers as a back up and to verify temperatures. The cooking process started at 8:00 pm last night. The pit temperature was set at 245 degrees. Both the Stoker and the Nu-temp were in sync. I stayed up and watched re-runs of Captain Kangaroo. It just kills me when Mr. Moose tells his 'knock-knock' jokes.

I turned in around 1100 pm and tried to get some sleep. It was like Christmas Eve waiting for Santa. I wanted to get up and check the new toy. I did get up once just to make sure it was still cooking and take a photo. At 600 am. the Stoker alarm went off. The butt had reached the internal temperature of 190 degrees. The butt looked fantastic. Not once did I have to do anything to the smoker. The Stoker worked like a charm.

Well it is 700 am and I think I need to take a nap. Later today we will makes some rolls and some Cole slaw. We are going to use a vinegar/pepper sauce and have some sandwiches. The stoker has passed its first test. I have not hooked it up to the computer yet. Eventually it will be wireless and on the web. It is a little involved in the set-up and I will probably need some help. There will be plenty of time for more smoking later. Goodnight!

joe’s #1 jalapa

Ol’ Benito is on center stage today. We will be entertained by some “joe’s #1 jalap”. This should be fun. It is the beginning of spring and a green jalapeno hot sauce should be the perfect compliment to the fresh artichokes, asparagus and other vegetables of the season. Did I ever tell you I love artichokes?

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P.S. Here is a picture of my parents in their television debut. They are in the audience of the "Yan Can Cook" show. (1980's)