JerzeeTomato » Food

If this is a cult, then I’m drinking the Kool-Aid

jerzeetomato — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 21:56:48 +0000

When I moved to Atlanta in 1987, I lived a stone’s throw from the Pachinko House named in the lead to the NYT’s article on the BGE. I never ventured into the store in the eight years I lived there, although I was intrigued. It must have been the heat. But a couple of years later some friends in DC started raving about the Egg. Particularly after one gave the other a BGE as a wedding present. And then one of those friends, my BFF, GAVE me an egg for my 45th birthday. (I don’t know, he doesn’t have kids, I’ll never be able to reciprocate). The rest as they say is history. As anyone who has tasted my version of Zack Palaccio’s Fatty ‘Cue Ribs can attest.

You really can cook just about anything in the BGE. The Principessa’s Pizza is legendary around these parts. As is the fire roasted tomato sauce.

Steak Out

jerzeetomato — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:37:55 +0000

Growing up, Saturday nights in the summer meant one thing: Dad searing a chuck steak on the grill. And not just any marinade would do. It had to be the one below. The smell of this marinade causes serious olfactory deja-vu for me. And the best part is, if you reheat the marinade it makes a great steak sauce.

The cut of steak is also important for my deja-vu’ing. It must be what is known as a “7 bone steak” to trigger the memories. Mom bought it back then because it was cheap. We buy it now because we like it. The 7 bone steak is not named this because it has 7 bones but, because one of the bones in it resmbles a “7″. Mmm-kay. If you say so. But the great thing about this steak is that it gives you a bit of many different cuts and great flavor to boot. It may be a bit chewier than other cuts but the flavor is worth it.

The marinade/sauce will work on other cuts of steak. If you must.

Saturday Night Chuck Steak Marinade

2/3 cup catsup

½ cup water

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 tsp. celery seed

1 TBS. Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. Tabasco sauce

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. onion powder

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool. Marinate a bone-in center cut chuck steak for at least 2 and up to 8 hours. Remove steak and reserve marinade. Grill!

Simmer reserved sauce for 5 minutes and either serve warm with steak or allow to cool.

Boo-hoo

jerzeetomato — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:15:22 +0000

Not sure why it had to be done but it has. The NYT has combined all their Dining and Drinking blogs into one blog. I only really read Bitten but now I will have to sift through the others to get to him. I suppose I will check out the other posts but enjoyed the unfiltered variety of blog.

Melting Faces (and butter)

jerzeetomato — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:12:08 +0000

Our current favorite band excels at face-melting bluegrass music. But it turns out mandolin player Jeff Austin is also quite accomplished in the kitchen. We should have known when we saw them last summer they talked about the great restaurant down the street from the venue. A restaurant a friend had recomended to me and we passed up. Just think! We could have dined with the band!

Great interview on Epicurean Musician.

Lean Times

jerzeetomato — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:08:37 +0000

The recent cold weather in Florida has caused a major shortage of tomatoes in the rest of the country. This has caused some fast food restaurants to stop using tomatoes in their food unless specifically asked to. Not that this is a bad thing based on how bad those tomatoes usually are.

On the bright side, I’ve ordered my seedlings rather than starting seeds this year. With so many varities available as live plants it seemed like too much trouble to start my own. But the snow had better melt soon as I asked for a “first half of April” delivery.

What was I thinking?

Pho Sure!

jerzeetomato — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:44:12 +0000

We were saddened last November when our favorite Vietnamese restaurant Little Saigon closed. Great food, great Pho and really close by in Montclair.

To our delight we received word last weekend that, as rumoured, they’ve reopened in nearby Nutley. Same menu same smiling faces welcoming us. For those of you who are nearby they’re at 358 Passic Ave in Nutley (sorry, no website).

And somehow in the process of figuring out where they were I stumbled upon this wonderful site: Pho Fever. Primo’s already got his eye on a “Pho Shizzle” t-shirt.