House of Eratosthenes

And you’ve had enough of Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, that old guy, and He Who Is The Enlightened Being. We still have two months to bicker about it. For now, think about things that are fun to eat & drink; it’s good fer ya. Then go outside. And maybe go shopping.

1. My barbeque sauce recipe

I’m glad that web page is still there after all those years so I can give proper credit. I downloaded that for the first time seven years ago, and have been hooked ever since. The addiction has spread to everyone with whom I have shared the results.

This is a magical recipe. Tastes like something specially built for beef when you put it on beef. Tastes like something specially built for pork or chicken when you put it on pork or chicken. That’s not an easy feat at all in the art of barbeque-sauce-recipe-inventin’.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. ground oregano
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup vinegar
1 cup molasses
1 cup ketchup
1 cup prepared mustard
2 tbsp. oil
Combine sugar, oregano. thyme, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in enough vinegar to make a paste. Combine molasses, ketchup, mustard, oil and remaining vinegar; add to herb paste. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool completely. Pour into a glass jar; cover tightly.

2. Moselland Riesling

3. Chimay Grand Reserve, Blue Label

For extra-special occasions.

If you can store a plain pint glass in the freezer all day long, and then fill it with Chimay all the way up to the rim with no head…you’re a real man.

4. Tri-Tip From Bel Air, marinated in BBQ flavor

Yup, you can buy it that way. They’ll dump the whole mess in a plastic bag for you and you can take it home marinating like that.

Pour the excess marinade in a sauce pan and place on low heat while the roast is cooking. When ready to serve, slice in thin slices and dunk each one in the sauce pan, once with each of the two sides facing down.

5. Basic Crepes

Had an awesome recipe for these, too, which used vanilla, cooking oil and cinnamon. Can’t find it anywhere. I have a nine-year-old Palm Pilot database that has been ported over to four or five different platforms, intact, at least in theory intact…it was in there somewhere, and now no longer is. Double-dog damn. Oh well, I’ll have to get ahold of another one.

Favorite fillings: Cherry pie, apple cinnamon, powdered-sugar & butter.

6. St. Pauli Girl

For when there isn’t enough money in the kitty for the Chimay Grand Reserve.

Thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, of course.

7. Villa Mt. Eden Tall Trees Cabernet Sauvignon

8. Pineapple

It’s on the list of things that make me smile, Item #23.

9. Big planks of salmon with my “mudbutter” recipe slathered all over it

1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) of butter
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Place contents in large mortar, smoosh together with pestal. Leave skin on the salmon flank, smear this all over the other side. Wrap in aluminum foil, put over high flame for a total of 15 to 20 minutes (adjust for weight), turning every five minutes.

10. Homemade biscuits

11. Home pride buttermilk bread

12. Three Pecker Billy Goat coffee from Raven’s Brew

Whole bean, of course. Ground up into the consistency of fine-milled flour, seconds before the piping hot water hits it, while the birds are still snoozing away.

For basic crepes it’s hard to beat the Joy of Cooking’s recipe. And for pineapple, my friends cut em fresh and dip the pieces in a mixture of salt and fresh chilies hammered together in a mortar and pestle.
Have to try your BBQ sauce though.
- Tom The Impaler | 09/08/2008 @ 03:05
If you can store a plain pint glass in the freezer all day long… and Thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, of course.

Ah. Let us now quibble. From that web site you linked… …the Magnum is a must for the connoisseur who will not forget to serve his beverage at cellar temperature in “Gourmet” glasses…

You have ICE in your cellar, Morgan? Beer is served at 45 degrees Fahrenheit, NO less, and often times warmer. I learned that at many fine (and not-so-fine, too) pubs in Ol’ Blighty, where I also learned to enjoy beer (before that time I was never much of a beer-drinker). And these days I consistently drive barkeeps and waitresses nuts with my mandate… “in a room-temperature glass, please.” I WILL refuse beer that has ice floating in it, especially after I’ve given specific instructions on how to serve my beer. Old age and inflexibility, I suppose. But life’s too short to accommodate anything other than what’s right, eh? 😉

Nice change of pace post!
- Buck | 09/08/2008 @ 17:27
Now, you are in some good company in quibbling with me here. I am outnumbered, in particular, on the subject of chardonnay in which my preference for freezing-temperature beverages not only finds disagreement, but at times appears to personally offend.

I deploy the Buck-Pennington FLA on this — Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV). I don’t know why I have this weird trait about me. I like ’em ice cold, all of ’em. Mixed, beer, wine. I figure if the Good Lord didn’t want ’em at thirty-two & below, He wouldn’t have put alcohol in ’em.

Funny thing is, I’m drinking Chianti that’s been stuck in the freezer for an hour, as I type this. So there ya go. 🙂 At any rate, James Bond’s on my side in this thing. “My dear girl, there are some things that just aren’t done, such as drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs.” — Goldfinger.
- mkfreeberg | 09/08/2008 @ 18:47
I’m going to try the BBQ sauce recipe, and next time I do fish, I’m trying the mudbutter. Jus’ cause. Well it sounds really good!

I’m a big fan of Cabernets, and am always looking for another good one.

I’m in the Buck camp when it comes to beer temperatures. I’m drinking a Sam Adams Octoberfest right now, and I got it out of the fridge early to let it warm up.

That being said, with light American lagers, the colder the better. Bud, Bush, Coors, Miller, anything “lite”…. that’s the only way to drink those. I used to brew beer. I finally got over my beer snobbery and can actually appreciate them when I’m in the mood now.

I’ve not met a Sam Adams I don’t like, but Boston Ale is my favorite of that reliable brand (not the much easier to find Boston Lager). And all of those I prefer at about 50 degrees.

My very favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, though there are many others that are about equal.

All that being said, I have some of the rare Shlafley Pumpkin Ale, 8% … waiting for fall to get here to be served in brandy snifters at 50 degrees. (yeah, he’s a carbon-credit buyin’ Liberal greenie, but … he makes good beer.)

And when Buffalo Bill’s Pumpkin Ale comes out, it’s now my modus operandi to buy 3 cases so it lasts through Thanksgiving and I have plenty to share.

Oh, and St. Pauli Girl Dark was the first beer that I actually liked way back in my college days. Obviously, I’ve expanded from there 😉
- philmon | 09/08/2008 @ 21:26
My wife makes “The Joy of Cooking” crepes. They’re quite good, I agree.

If ya need it, lemme know.
- philmon | 09/08/2008 @ 21:28
Morgan: Vive la difference, eh? I can see where your habit of ice-cold chardonnay would… or could… offend, given the part of the world you live in. I don’t think I’ve ever met as many wine snobs as there are running around loose in NoCal. That said… one of my absolute favorite day-trips (and stock “first date”) when I was in the Bay Area was a jaunt up to Napa for a day of wine tasting and hitting a new restaurant. There are SOME things I miss about SFO. 😉

Phil sez: That being said, with light American lagers, the colder the better. Bud, Bush, Coors, Miller, anything “lite”…. that’s the only way to drink those. I used to brew beer. I finally got over my beer snobbery and can actually appreciate them when I’m in the mood now.

Agreed… and you’re also a better man than I, Phil. I’ve held on to my beer-snobbery for quite some time now. That said… I’ve been known to drink one of those unholy four from time to time, but only when offered out of a friend’s fridge, and only if he has nothing else. “Man Rules,” and all that. The only decent light beer I’ve ever encountered is Labatts Blue Light… and that was The Second Mrs. Pennington’s beer of choice. A LOT of that particular beer went thru my house back when she was still around. “A LOT” is quite the understatement, too. That girl could drink me under the table if she had a mind to. A sterling quality in a woman! 🙂
- Buck | 09/09/2008 @ 03:04
Ha! Yeah, it was “man rules” that got me drinking some of those again. We had such a social neighborhood for a while and a lot of “lowest common denominator” beer was served. Unfortunately the denominator was pretty low. I started stocking it for guests after that, though most of my guests actually like good beer.

From my brewing days, I know that it is actually quite difficult to brew a beer with no color and no flavor 😉

If I’m drinking for thirst, or for “the long haul”, I’ll drink ’em. Cold.

But if I want a real beer, Bud Lite ain’t what I’m grabbin’.
- philmon | 09/09/2008 @ 08:36
[…] is Item #1 at my list of One Dozen Yummy Things, where you’ll find the full […]
- House of Eratosthenes | 07/05/2010 @ 16:25

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Sunday, September 7th, 2008