PORK CHOPS WITH BISQUITS & GRAVY (SUKIE'S COUNTRY KITCHEN)

It has been my privilege, to search for new and or old breakfast eating establishments that serve pork chops. We have found deep fried, barbequed and grilled served with eggs. Today we are traveling to an old local favorite in San Pablo California called Sukie's Country Kitchen. I received a hot tip many moons ago by a trusted barbeque ally and a pork chop enthusiast himself, Reverend Biggles. It was time to take the plunge to pork chop enlightenment.

Sukie's outside looks like any other breakfast establishment that was built in the 70's. Once you go in to this nondescript building you will be greeted by a "Cheers' like atmosphere. Everybody knows everybody. We were outsiders but were treated with a warming respect. We were seated and proceeded to go through a breakfast routine that is repeated millions of times everyday throughout our country. There was one big difference. We were on a mission to eat pork chops and share with them with you.

Two pork chops seared on a sizzling flat top accompanied by two homemade biscuits smothered in a country cream gravy were injected into my awaiting food consumption receptacle. These pork chops rocked my world. They were seasoned with salt and pepper and fried to a perfect degree of doneness. They weeped pork juice into my cream gravy. The biscuits where light and fluffy. The gravy mixed with the pork tears of joy, was the perfect medium to cover these pillows of love. Oh, and Ms. Goofy had an omelet.

Suki Country Kitchen is a comforting old time breakfast restaurant. There will be no surprises here. If you want to have an inexpensive, filling, and great breakfast come to Suki's. Oh by the by, Ms. Goofy said her home fries were to die for.

Sukie's Country Kitchen
2400 El Portal Av.
San Pablo Ca. 94806 (510) 233-5856)

PAPPY'S XXX WHITE LIGHTNIN

'Jumpin Jehosophat', Jason, from the Hot Sauce Planet has sent me a bottle of "Pappy's XXX White Lightnin" barbeque sauce. This sauce proclaims that it is 'All the Love You'll Ever Need'. We shall soon see about that. I like this sauce right off the bat even before tasting it. One of the ingredients is Bourbon. Yes, that is right we have an adult barbeque sauce that also give us a matter of fact nutritional statement; "If you are truly concerned about it maybe you should be eating tofu'. I am sold but we will give it a taste test for giggles.

This barbeque sauce has a barrel full of the usual suspects of ingredients. Kentucky bourbon is listed as being less than 3 percent of the volume. The heat is fueled by habanero powder. Seeds are present in a fairly course brick red easy pouring sauce. The first smell is of smoke.(hickory listed) and finishes as a sweet smelling tomato mixture.

The taste is smoky sweet. There is a nice little after burn that will embrace your taste sensors. This sauce leans to the sweet side but is a good mix of smoke, heat and sweet. Now, I have a personnel history of bourbon consumption but I did not taste this Kentucky staple. The real test will be on some food.

Our local fast food burger emporium has been hawking barbequed ribs. In the name of research we decided to give them a try. Wow!, was that a mistake. These ribs were expensive, salt bombs on a stick. Even Pappy's could not rescue this fiasco. The sauce did prove to be delicious as a dipping sauce for the onion rings. The sweet with the warming effect of the habanero made our onion rings fit for a Burger King. We shall give Pappys another try on some meat barbequed at our home.

A corned beef roast and some chicken were smoked on the Smokenator 1000. The sauce was added at the end of the cooking time. Pappys XXX White Lightnin was a keeper. This sauce is complex with all its flavor. Bourbon probably adds to the sweetness. What is good about this sauce is the nice balance of sweet, heat, smoke and flavor. You can order Pappy's at the good people at Hot Sauce Planet.

Hot Sauce Planet

ttp://www.hotsauceplanet.com/

BACON REVUE (CAJUN BACON WILLOW GLEN MEATS)

"Laissez les bons temps rouler." Tonight on stage is a Cajun delight with a Zydeco twist. We are going to dance to a bacon from Willow Glen Meats & Smokehouse located in San Jose California. This bacon should get your toes tapping and your body swaying. Let the good times roll.


This slab has a dark brownish red shade of seasoning and smoke blanketing the outer surface. The rind has been removed for easy slicing. Once the slab has been sliced, the meat to fat ratio is revealed. This is one meaty slab of pork belly. The bacon was sizzling away in our trusty black iron pan when it was noticed that the slices started to brown too quickly. This was because of the high sugar content. We lowered the heat and crisped up these rashers properly.


We put on some Zydeco music and let the bacon dance on the floor of our tastebuds. The balance of sugar and salt was excellent. The flavor of pork shined through with a little taste of spice. This spice had a faint but noticeable warming sensation. My guess would be paprika. The smoke and paprika were subtle and welcome combination. All of the components, sugar, salt, paprika, smoke, meat/fat added up to one delicious Cajun Bacon. Willow Glens Cajun Bacon will receive 4 stars out 5.

Rating; 4 stars out of 5
Price: 4.89/pound
Where: Willow Glen Meats & Smokehouse
885 Delmas Av. San Jose, Ca. 95215 (408) 279-4009

2nd ANNUAL SMOKIN IN THE OAKS BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP

Guns are everywhere. Penn Valley California has their own 'drive by' shooting problems. There is a huge difference between urban shootings and Penn Valley shootings. The drive bys are done on horses, in a rodeo arena and the victims are defenseless balloons mounted on a pole. After the shootings a huge championship barbeque is held to celebrate. On Saturday the ‘2nd Annual Smokin in the Oaks BBQ Championship” was held. This brought out 32 teams to compete in a KCBS sanctioned showdown. The usual suspects, chicken, pork ribs, pork, and brisket were cooked in many different barbeque cookers. Ms. Goofy and I were present to help judge these barbequed delights.

It was warm and muggy in the cooking arena. Smoke filled the air with sweet barbeque aroma. The black iron were lined up to feed the hungry mass of cooks. Some competitors had been up all night cooking and needed a rest.

I would like to point out this one cooker that is called the Bubba keg. This rig caught my attention because of its unique shape and special feature. This cooker has a special adapter which allows you to attach it to a trailer hitch on your pick-up truck bumper. You could drive your Bubba keg to work, school, church and be ready to cook. Now that is what I am talking about!

The meat was cooked and presented to the judges. When the food is such a high caliper of perfection, it makes our job of judging difficult. We were up to the challenge and picked the winners. After eating all this wonderful food it was time for a Margarita. It was a good thing one of the competiors brought a blender.

It was a beautiful day in Penn Valley. It was fun to see the shooting demonstrations. It was just like being in the old west except the bad guys were mounted balloons. Thirty two competitors all cooked some fantastic food. Congratulations to Harry Soo of 'Slap Yo Daddy' barbeque team for winning 'Grand Champion". We hope to return next year.

BACON SEEDS

If bacon grew on trees, is when pigs will fly. When we are not on Meat Adventures or cooking on one of our barbeque's we are usually puttering around the garden. Growing fresh vegetables and flowers can be relaxing and rewarding. Picking a fresh tomato and combining it with some home grown peppers is one of the highlights of summer. A lot of our tomato's and peppers are purchased as small plants from various nurseries. To find and grow more exotic and unusual varieties of plants, seeds will have to be used. It is very satisfying to take a tiny seed and witness its birth and growth to fruition.

The Bay Area has several wonderful resources to obtain seeds for free. Our local public library, has a seed lending library. The Richmond Public Library will lend you seeds for free. They only ask that you return some seeds at a later date. This will promote seed saving and make the program self-sustaining. The first step is to sign up and attend an orientation meeting. You will then be on your way to growing that special bacon tree. B.A.S.I.L. is another Bay Area organization dedicated to seed saving. I think this is a great idea and will be supporting both organizations. Let's get growing!

PIZZAQUE

Sometimes on Craigslist you can find some wonderful barbeque treasures. Somebody was selling a PizzaQue and I could not resist. A Pizzaque is a ceramic stone that is housed in a stainless steel base which has a thermometer. This would be perfect for pizza. Last night was the maiden voyage for this new barbeque tool/toy. This pizza would have all premium ingredients. The crust would be made with a sourdough starter. Four types of cheese would melt together to form a gooey delicious pie. To put this pizza over the top some sausage from Willow Glen Meats would garnish the top.

The instructions for the PizzaQue are simple. Light a fire, let the stone heat and then cook. That is what we did. I used a chimney full of briquet's. The thermometer registered 600 degrees. I am a little skeptical on this reading. We cooked our pizza for about 10 minutes. It looked oh so very good. It even tasted better than it looked. Now the reason I am skeptical on the temperature reading is because the crust bottom never crisped up as it should. It was cooked, but not to the degree our wood burning oven could achieve.

The PizzaQue will take its place in the Mad Meat Genius arsenal of barbeque tools. It is a lot of fun cooking pizza on the barbeque.

TRI-TIP

Tri-Tip is not my favorite cut of meat. It was on sale for the Memorial Weekend. Barbeque beef is nothing to be taken lightly with out a grain of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Cooked correctly you have one meat Extravaganza!

Check out my new grill thermometer!