Chill With The BBQB Muddle-less Mojito

Do you have a pot overgrowing with mint? Do you grow just so you can make mojitos all summer long? I do and if you don't I suggest you get plantin'.

I am not huge mixed drink fan but I do drink the big three "Gin and Tonics", "Margaritas" and of course "Mojitos". I don't understand why people order those drinks that taste like juice or something. And then they say "Oh my gosh, it tastes just like orange juice!". Well, if I wanted orange juice I would just drink it. I want my drink to taste like something a bit more adult.

Now that my rant is over, lets get back to my muddle-less mojito. Muddling is a pain in the a$$. Too much work and if you have a crowd over then it simply takes too long. Hence, why I do the muddle-less mojito.

Here what you need. The recipe is for each drink. Multiple it as necessary and make it all at once:

1. 1-2 shots of white rum
2. Juice of half a lime
3. Bunch of mint
4. 2 Tablespons of simple syrup
5. Seltzer water
6. Ice
7. Blender

Place the rum, lime juice, syrup and mint into the blender and go to town. You blend just a little or a lot. I tend to blend the hell out of it because I like the "Ecto Cooler" look.

Next, add the blended mixture to an iced glass and top off with selzer water. Now that is the perfect way to start an afternoon!

Birthplace of the Waffle Dog

Many of you have probably heard of 'chicken and waffles', but many of you probably have not heard of the 'waffle dog', first invented in Menlo Park, California. In all fairness, for you to know you would have had to have been with me at my niece's 4th birthday party yesterday where I invented it.
Yes, I am aware that the picture above sucks...but let me piece it together for you. As with most inventions this one was invented due to necessity. Yesterday, my brother threw a big party for my niece. He even had a big inflatable bouncy house for the kids (and adults) to jump around in. To feed all the little rascals he had plenty of pasta salad, watermelon, and grilled hot dogs and sausages. He even had the BBQB manning the grill. The one thing we didn't have enough of was hot dog buns. Supplies started running low about 30 minutes into the party. I began looking around for alternatives. Could I just use sandwich bread? Of course I could, but that is so lame. It was then when I noticed the pile of waffles that my sister in law had made early that morning. They were the thinner type of waffle and they had hot dog bun written all over them. Due to the semi-sweetness of the waffle I decided to for-go the mustard and stick with a naked dog. Needless to say, the BBQB saved the day and started wrapping the dogs with waffles.

Reader Submitted: Ribs! with Country Bob's Sauce

Here is a posting from one of my blog readers...

Hey little brother, you asked Bob to send me some of his Country Bob's BBQ sauce. So I decided to try it out on some pork ribs from Safeway.

I basically followed the directions on the packaging. I boiled the ribs for 30 minutes in a big pot. Then I put them on the grill with Chicago Steakhouse seasoning and extra salt.

BEFORE

Then I lathered on the sauce. The first striking thing is that the ribs look a lot more appetizing with the sauce on them. I grilled them for about 8 minutes per side .

AFTER

Here is a picture of my nice romantic dinner for three.

The ribs were darn good if I may say so myself! The meat was tender and came off the ribs nicely. I probably boiled all the nutrients out of them (I know you are a bit of a closet health nut), but they were good.

Keep posting your stuff!

Ow! Products - West Chester, PA

I mentioned these guys briefly before but I thought I would quickly write about them again. The Ow! Products company is based out of West Chester, Pennsylvania and they specialize in extremely hot chili powders. In February they even showcased their Bhut Jolokia Blend down at the Fiery Foods Festival in Albequerque, New Mexico. The primary ingredient of their chili blend is the Bhut Jolokia which they grow right here in Chester County. Each can is hand numbered and the BBQB was even lucky enough to get the 2009 can #0. I can attest that this stuff is no joke. A little pinch of that will get your motor running. I believe they still have some supplies left. They sell the blend on-line, so check out their website at http://www.owhot.com/ .

Let 'em know the BBQB sent you!

FYI - One of my favorite ways to enjoy Ow! is to dust a little bit on top of a celery stick covered in peanut butter. But then again I've got issues...

Prince's Hot Chicken - Nashville TN

Here's my latest Hot Chicken story. Last week I finally had the chance to head down to Nashville to eat some hot chicken. I was supposed to fly to Nashville on the first flight of the last Wednessday. On the way to the airport though my engine decided to blow up. Evidently the piston actually cracked thorugh the engine block. Needless to say, I didn't make that flight. I was however able to reschedule for the 6pm flight out of Philly. With an estimated arrival time of 8:15pm, it would leave me plenty of time to get some hot chicken before Prince's closed at 10pm. I arrived at the airport around 5:00pm and saw that my flight was already delayed 30 minutes. Ok, no problem. That would still put me into Nashville early enough. We boarded at around 7:20pm and everything was looking good. That's when it all started to fall apart. My plane We ended up sitting on the runway for about 1.5 hours. My dream of eating Prince's Hot Chicken was starting to fading away. Eventually we did take off and touched down in Nashville at 9:25pm. I quickly whipped out my phone, called Prince's and ordered a half-chicken hot and a leg quarter extra hot. I was in business. I ran from the gate to rental car area, rented my car and arrived at Prince's at 9:55pm...strong work. I paid for my chicken and then drove over to my hotel where I proceeded to indulge in the greatest fried chicken Earth has to offer. Though this was my taste of the "extra-hot" I was able to power through it with no problem. that was not case when I returned the next day.
Day two: Once you get the taste of hot chicken on your lips you can't stop thinking about it and the only logical thing is to go back. And go back I did. Not being to wait for dinner, I decided to hit Prince's for lunch the next day. Feeling invincible, I decided to just jump into a extra-hot leg quarter and some fries. After 30 minutes my order was up and I walked up to the counter to get my chicken. A nice little lady gave me the chicken but then said with a grin "Good luck!". I smiled back and thanked her. It was then that I looked down and saw the deep dark red of my chicken. I was in trouble. I brought my order back to my table and started eating. It was hot. It was extra hot. Holy cow, I started to doubt if I was going to be able to finish it or not. The problem is that it is so darn good that once it hits your lips you just can't stop. The only way to cool the burn is to eat more. I'll spare you the details but needless to say, I made it through lunch but my battle was far from over. In all seriousness I think I gave myself an ulcer that day. ...ha, but nothing that 6 weeks of Prilosec can't cure! I can't wait to go back!

Nathan's vs Rutt's Hut

I don't normally like to brag but I do consider myself a little bit of a hot dog connoisseur. Therefore I decided to finally answer man's age old question "Who's hot dogs are the best: Nathan's or Rutt's Hut?". To find the answer, I dedicated last weekend to the hot dog. My quest started Saturday morning. My goal was to eat Nathan's on Saturday and Rutt's Hut on Sunday. This way I would be equally as hungry for each. I left West Chester late morning and trucked on up to Manhattan in my Civic Hybrid. I had to pick up some friends before heading over to Coney Island, the home of the first Nathan's joint and of course to the hot dog eating contest held every July 4th.

Earlier in the I had checked out Nathan's menu on-line and knew what I was going to order before I even got there: 1 Chili dog, a corn-dog (staple of mine), and a Corona Lite (to keep down the calories). My first bite into the Nathan's dog explained why these guys have been around for decades. The dog had a wonderful snap to it and the chili had a nice subtle flavor. I was hooked. Feeling like I gave them an fair shake, I then proceeded to ride the Coney Island Cyclone, power down a fried Snickers...and a fried Twinkie, before finishing my day at Coney Island by playing "Shoot the Freak". I paid $10 bucks to shoot a "freak" with a paintball gun. That was fun. I wonder what they pay the "freak".

Sunday morning I awoke in my buddies apartment on the Upper East side of Manhattan giddie with excitement to try Rutt's Hut. Rutt's Hut is located in Clifton, NJ. For those of you who have never heard of Rutt's Hutt, they are famous for deep frying their dogs. They are so famous that the Travel Channel, PBS and the Food Network have all done multiple shows on them. I had to go and figure out why.

I arrived at Rutt's Hut at around 11am. The place was a bit quiet as I had just beaten the lunch crowd. This worked out perfectly because I was able to meet the manager and he was kind enough explain everything about their Rippers (hot dogs). The name Ripper refers to how the dog's skin cracks open in the deep fryer. As far as I can remember, you can order your dog in the following ways:

1) In and outer. The dog is only put into the fryer for a second to warm it up

2) Medium. A little longer

3) Well Done. A little longer

4) Cremator. This is where it gets a bit more interesting. The dog is kept in the fryer so long that the out skin gets a bit crispy and almost has the consistency of crispy bacon. Oh baby, come to papa.

After the explanations I was left with no ther choice but to try them all. As the Cremator takes a bit longer to cook, I was first served the others. To compliment the dogs, Rutt's Hut provides a nice delicate mustard and an incredible relish. The relish is unique that it does not overpower the taste of the dog. I loaded all of my dogs up with a lot of both. I can't begin to explain to you how happy I was at that moment. And, when the Cremator was finished I only got happier. I started ordering more dogs and in the fog of war I actually lost count on how many I ate. I do believe it was in the neighborhood of 5 or 6.

So now for the verdict. In terms of pure taste, I will say that both joints offered a fantastic hot dog. They were both so good that to choose between the two would be like picking your favorite Weiss Beer. Therefore, we will call the tastes even. However, if you were to ask me which one I would go back to first....well thats easy, Rutt's Hut. There is something special going on in Rutt's Hut. You simply cannot get a better hot dog for less than $2. The taste, combined with the style of the joint, combined with the reasonable price, combined with the owner who was cool enough to give me a little history about the place makes this one of coolest places I have been.

P.S. After eating the hot dogs I went down to the Philadelphia Bike Race where my buddy cooked up some sauerkraut and hot dogs. Those were pretty darn good too!

Mo's Rhythm Kitchen, West Chester ,PA

I finally got the chance to check out Mo's Rhythm Kitchen in West Chester, PA. Ever since I saw their menu outside stating that they were going to sell spicy fried chicken, I've been walking by their shop anxiously awaiting their opening. Tonight I'm here to say that it was worth the wait.
I have to admit that I had decided to go to Mo's earlier this morning and had been thinking about it all day. I had spicy fried chicken on my mind. My initial impression of Mo's was immediately positive. It a small little joint cranking out homemade food.
To satisfy my spice crave I dialed up a couple of chicken breasts, thighs and a Jamaican chicken jerk skewer. Hands down, the jerk chicken was incredible. I'll be ordering dozens of them in the future. The fried chicken was also top notch. It has a super crunchy batter and the meat was perfectly moist. I ordered the chicken spicy but next time I will have them kick it a few more notches. I need the excessive burn.
I'm looking forward to trying out their ribs on my next visit.

P.S. Though the owner had never heard of Nashville Hot Chicken he promised to research it to see if could reproduce it. I'll keep you posted.