FLAVORWOOD

“Fumee Aromatisante Pour Bar-B-Q” What does it mean? I have no idea, but it sounds impressive on the label of our ‘Flavorwood Bar-B-Q Grilling Smoke” natural compressed wood canisters. The good people at ‘Camerons Products’ sent me a couple samples of this smoking wood in a can for our barbeque. This product is a small can filled with specific woods for smoking on your grill. Place this can on a heat source and smoke will fill your cooking vessel. This package had three different flavors of wood; Apple, Hickory and Mesquite. We are going to sacrifice a chicken to test this product.

I actually read the instructions. I know, who needs to tell you how to barbeque. ‘Remove all the paper labels from the can.’’ Place on grill or coals 5 minutes before grilling’. The instructions were followed precisely and lo and behold, “Smoke”. Once this baby got hot it hissed and spew out a flume of smoke. Today, we used hickory and it smelled lovely. We place the lid on our kettle and let the magic happen.

These cans of wood should last an hour with proper usage. We had a very hot fire and it smoked for about 40 minutes. This was plenty of time to smoke our chicken. Our chicken was cooked and smoked to perfection. This meat will be used in a chicken pot pie that we will cook later. Flavorwood smoking cans are a great product. No fuss, no muss! Just follow the instructions and instant smoke. These cans of smoking wood would be great for camping or that tailgate party at the ballgame. Convenience is the selling factor of this product. It is clean and easy to use. Flavorwood will receive the ‘Mad Meat Genius’ seal of approval.

Cameron Products

HERE COMES THE JUDGE

You too can become a certified ‘Kansas City Barbeque Society’ judge. If you are located in Northern California, a barbeque judging class will be offered in Corning on March 5. This is a highly informative and fun class. You will learn about the three categories; presentation, taste and tenderness, that are used in competition. This is a hands on class. Once the classroom presentation of rules and regulations is completed you will actually have barbeque samples to practice your new knowledge. Now, that is my kind of class.

We have completed this class and will recommend it even if you have no desire to judge. Barbeque knowledge galore will be gained from this experience. Once you have completed your class you will be eligible to judge KCBS sanctioned BBQ contests. These contests are held throughout the nation. If you have been a Mad Meat Genius fan you will know how much fun we have had. See you there!

KIMCHI BURRITO

What exactly is Kimchi? It can be many different things to many people. Generally it is a fermented Korean dish made of vegetables and spices. Napa cabbage, onions, radishes, cucumbers, garlic, green onions, chile powder and salt are typical ingredients. These vegetables and spices are mixed together and left to ferment for varying lengths of time. The results are a funky, spicy and sometimes hot dish that is used as a condiment. It just so happens that we have a Korean acquaintance that generously gifted a jar of home made kimchi to our pantry. It sat in our refrigerator for a while because I had really no idea what to serve it with. Kimchi burritos have been the buzz in the local food rags and it sounded intriguing to me. What the heck!

Some thinly sliced beef short ribs were marinated in soy, ginger, garlic and honey. They then were grilled over a hot mesquite fire. This would be the protein for our burrito experiment. Thinly sliced carrots, cilantro sprigs and some avocado would accompany the kimchi and grilled beef. The ingredients were rolled in a fresh flour tortilla.

Kimchi has a very distinct funky odor. It can be a little off putting if you are not used to it. The first bite into our burrito was a flavor explosion. The marinated short ribs were yummy, rich and delicious. The kimchi cabbage was crunchy, a little sour tasting and salty. The pepper heat was not overpowering but a welcome compliment. This condiment was a good balance to the rich and flavorful meat. I now understand why Kimchi burritos are the talk of the town. They are a non traditional flavor treat. I am now a Kimchi convert. I am looking forward to trying it with some other dishes.

BRUTAL HOT SAUCE

What is in your pantry? Brutal hot sauce stands out on my hot sauce shelf. Brutal hot sauce is another gem from that hot sauce genius ‘Larry from Peppahead’. ‘Painfully Delicious’ claims the label of this limited vintage brew. Larry grows a lot of his own peppers and creates some wonderful sauces. These are bottled in limited numbers and sold at farmers markets or mail order. Let’s take this sauce off the shelf and give it a try.

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CENTRAL FOODS

Sometime there is a great Meat Market located right in your own backyard. Central Foods is located in El Sobrante California. That is only a hop skip and jump from our abode. Central Foods is a small independent market that thrives and survives with competition from the large Wally-Marts. There just so happens to be a great meat market inside Central Foods. They carry meat from Niman Ranch and make several different types of sausages. This meat market sells stuffed chicken breasts. I also noticed a beef roast that was stuffed with yummy ingredients. There are meats that are pre-marinated to make your meal easier. Chicken apple, chipotle chicken, Italian, chorizo are several flavors of sausage available. Our shopping cart was filled with these sausages and we returned home.

The grill was fired up to cook our tubes of meaty flavor. We also roasted some vegetables to create the base for a chile-verde stew. These sausages were full of flavor. Some New Hatch chiles were removed from the ice cave to make our meal over the top delicious.

I have lived in this area for around 20 years and never have visited Central Foods. We have driven by and never stopped. People have mentioned that we needed to stop by and check out the meat market. Well it took me 20 years but now I am going to be a regular customer.

Central Foods
4352 Appian Way
El Sobrante, CA 94803-2296
(510) 223-4532

LARRY HAMILTON

Chilebrown, Charlie, Larry
80's

Generous, Loving, Mentor, "Meatmen" Dutch Oven team,Vietnam Veteran, Awesome Cook, and my "Best Man". Larry, I have missed you for a long time!."  R.I.P.

NEW MECCA CAFE

Let’s all jump in Ms. Goofy’s ‘Formula One Racing Honda” and speed on over to Pittsburg California’s ‘New Mecca Cafe’ to continue our journey to find the ultimate chile verde. The New Mecca is an East Bay institution. Guillermo Muniz opened this Mexican café in the mid sixties and it has become a destination restaurant ever since. The New Mecca has deep ties to the Bay Area. They are caterers to the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. This restaurant is a good and maybe the only reason to ever visit Pittsburg. The City of Pittsburg has awarded the New Mecca 2.34 million dollars of redevelopment money to enlarge and modernize the restaurant. They are open while the construction progresses.

We almost did not recognize downtown Pittsburg. The redevelopment has transformed a once scary neighborhood into an inviting warm shopping, dining and entertainment district. We had to maneuver around some construction to enter the New Mecca. Once inside it was like meeting an old friend. The interior looks like an old fashion soda shop with its small booths and round stools surrounding the counter. The one thing that was missing was the crowds. This is the first time ever that we have not had to wait for a booth. It is a good thing because Ms. Goofy was beginning to drool from the wonderful aroma of Mexican food wafting from the kitchen.

Chile Verde

The waitress immediately brings over menus, chips, bean dip, and two different types of salsa. (Ask for the optional hot sauce). Be careful that you do not fill up on the bean dip because the plates to come are generous. Chile verde is always our quest but Ms. Goofy wanted carnitas. Two huge plates of pork were delivered to our table of swine morsel anticipation. The chile verde was moist, juicy and tender. The chile was mild and not a big taste factor in this plate of comfort. Your choice of tortillas was available to sop up the juices of green pork stew. Oh wow! This was tasty, filling and a prescription to rush to the couch.

Carnitas

Ms. Goofy’s plate of carnitas was full of crisp and chewy pork love. The chile verde was very decent. The pepper flavor that I crave and search for was lacking. The dish was still comforting and satisfying. ‘New Mecca Cafe’ has all the comfort Mexican dishes we all love. There is local history at New Mecca that will be preserved and carried on to new generations. If you are in the neighborhood give it a try.

New Mecca Café
324 Railroad Ave
Pittsburg, CA 94565
(925) 432-7433