Barbecue All Year Long! has truly been a team effort. I get to be the guy who travels the country cooking and having all the fun, but it couldnt happen without a long list of people. After my first book, we all agreed that we didnt want to do the same old barbecue book with a different cover for my second effort. So we were bouncing ideas around when my agent, Scott Mendell, came up with the idea of a barbecue lifestyle book. Obviously Scott is more than just a great agent; hes also part of the creative team. The lifestyle idea evolved into a series of reasons to barbecue, and ultimately a series of barbecue menus for events scheduled throughout the year.
The idea made this book great fun to write. I get wonderful inspiration from my friend Dave DeWitt, The Pope of Peppers. He loves to research interesting subjects, like why you should barbecue on the winter solstice, or the true reason to barbecue on Bastille Day.
Along with Scott and Dave, the team also includes the folks at St. Martins Press, who have somehow turned a truck driver into an author. Michael Flamini deserves a huge amount of credit for everything Ill ever do in this business. He even stepped up to make the book look great by doing the food styling himself. Michael handpicked Chris Vaccaro to take the color photos at Michaels own farm.
Katherine Tiernan is way more than Michaels assistant. She has answered my questions and granted my wishes every single time Ive needed it. Katherine has a very bright future.
Thank you to Matthew Shear, the St. Martins Griffin publisher, as well as Amelie Littell, Cheryl Mamaril, James Sinclair, Ralph Fowler, and Edwin Tse, the top-notch production and design people.
Thank you to John Karle, from the St. Martins publicity department, and his assistant, Shannon Twomey They have put me in so many great places to promote myself and my books.
Thank you to all my cooking friends, known here as the Barbecue All Stars, who have given me great recipes to use. Thank youto all the other cooks who have crossed my path and inspired me.
Thank you to my good friends at Big Green Egg. I dont know what Id do without the support of Jim Nufer, Lou West, and the rest of the gang in Atlanta.
Thank you to John Marcus and Chris Lilly, creators of All-Star BBQ Showdown. These guys put me on their TV show. The show also brought me together with Steve Murello, cameraman extraordinaire, who generously shared many of the pictures you see in this book.
A team effort indeed.
Also by Ray Lampe
Dr. BBQs Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook
Anon. Cinco de Mayo. Web-Holidays.com , http://web-holidays.com , December 2004.
Anon. Lucky Food Around the World. AllRecipes.com , http://allrecipes.com , December 2004.
Anon. New Years Customs Around the World. Web-Holidays.com , http://web-holidays.com , December 2004.
Anon. Summer Solstice Celebrations: Ancient and Modern. ReligiousTolerance.org , http://www.religioustolerance.org , January 2005.
Anon. Sunset Barbecue Cook Book . Menlo Park, CA: Lane Publishing Co.,1951.
Anon. The Winter Solstice. Equinox and Solstice.com , http://www.equinox-and-solstice.com , December 2004.
Anon. Valentines Day Web-Holidays.com , http://web-holidays.com , December 2004.
Beard, James. Barbecue with Beard . New York: Golden Press, 1975.
Everett, Linda. Retro Barbecue: Tasty Recipes for the Grillin Guy. Portland, OR: Collectors Press, 2002.
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Haggerty, Bridget. Corned Beef and CabbageThe Feeding of a Myth. Irish Customs and Cultures, http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/2Kitch/aCBeefCabge.html , December 2004.
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Wedeck, H. E. Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs . London: Bracken Books, 1994.
A Pagan Celebration
T he winter solstice, usually December 22, is the shortest day of the year. It was called Yule in the days before Christianity, and that word came from the Anglo-Saxon yula or wheel of the year. The ancient pagan ritual called for the Yule log to be fired up on the eve of the solstice and burned for twelve hours. These days, charcoal, wood, or even propane will be our Yule log. Actually, the ancient Romans were celebrating the rebirth of the sun and a renewal of growth. It is just downright weird that this new growth is the official start of winter and longer days. Go figure.
At the time of the winter solstice, the Romans celebrated Saturnalia, which were feast days devoted to Saturn (god of agriculture), Ops (goddess of plenty, aka Mother Earth), Consus (god of harvested grain), and Janus (god of beginnings and gates, from whom we got January). And what, pray tell, occurred during Saturnalia? Well, it was a factio a party, of course. And since the Romans cooked their food over wood, what could be more appropriate than a barbecue to celebrate the winter solstice? See how this works? I bet most of you never celebrated the winter solstice before. Now you have a new excuse to barbecue.
Stuffed White Mushrooms
Craisined Pork Roast on a Plank
Stuffed Acorn Squash
Whiskey Peaches over Ice Cream
3 slices bacon
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeds and stem removed, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced sun-dried tomatoes, packed tightly (the dry ones)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated
Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 pound whole white mushrooms, stems removed
N owadays we have many exotic mushrooms readily available, so the regular old white mushrooms seem kind of boring to me. I figure they need a pretty intense stuffing. I like to use dried products when I feel that way, like dried apricots or sun-dried tomatoes, because they are so flavor packed. So this recipe started with white mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes and just got built from there. When you buy sun-dried tomatoes, there are typically two kinds available. One will be in a jar in oil, and the other will be dry and packed in plastic like dried fruits. The second is usually my preference; youll probably find them near the produce department. I also use the regular white mushrooms. The store may also have fancy stuffing mushrooms, which are all the same size and pretty. These are a little more expensive and they are fine. I kind of like the different sizes, though. Some guests may want a small one and some may want a larger one.
I find this to be a perfect recipe to use a separate grate-type thing that sits on top of the regular grate. These are usually sold as fish grills and come in different shapes and sizes. Some are disposable and some are heavy and coated with little holes all over. Any of them will work fine. What they do is allow you to place all the mushrooms on the grill quickly, and then when they are done you just remove the whole thing, mushrooms and all, just as quickly.
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
In a medium nonstick skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon, drain, crumble, and reserve it. Add the olive oil to the bacon grease. Add the onion and saute for about 2 minutes.
