Category Archives: Deep Thoughts

Meathenge’s Whip Cream Journey or Merry Christmas !!!

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A way back in the early ’90s I stopped off at Fat Apples restaurant in El Cerrito for a cup of coffee. 9 million years ago this was the place that was originally named Fat Albert’s, but was quickly shut down due to the illegal use of a trademarked name. I had grabbed my coffee, and poked around for the half & half. None to be found! What I did find was a container of Manufacturing Cream. Real cream in coffee?  Count me in!

Whatever it was, left a long lasting impression on me. Even today I can remember the euphoric experience in nearly detail. I searched for it over the coming day, weeks and months. But never could I find it, not even a glimmer. At some point I was told that it was a food service product, only available to restaurants, bakeries and wherever else I clearly wasn’t.

A few weeks ago I was grabbing my ubiquitous gallon of 2% at Smart & Final, a commercial type grocery store that is “open to the public”. I looked up and to the right, there she was. A half gallon of Manufacturing Cream. I wanted, no needed this magical, loaded with butter fat, container of love.

So far, everyone here at Meathenge Labs finds that whipped cream made from this stuff totally eclipses anything it’s put over.  Not only that, it’s stable as gosh.  A day later, on the counter or in the fridge, it doesn’t separate or go south. I suppose being 40% plus on butter fat probably has something to do with it, eh?

Go now, find this wonderful elixir of the gods. Make your holidays, make your Christmas extra special and make some whipped cream from Manufacturing Cream.

xo, Biggles

The Great Potato Conspiracy of 2011

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At first I thought it was just me. But then after more than a few months and an observation, I’m convinced it’s a conspiracy. I have doubts about my personal abilities, surely.  But brother, or sister, if there’s one thing I can do is cook. And one of the dishes I do exceptionally well, is a good serving of creamy mashed potatoes.

Starting more than a few months ago, and even up until last night, I’ve been failing at cooking potatoes. What I mean by this is that both baking them and boiling them to mash isn’t working like it used to.  400 degrees for an hour on 1 medium potato is rendering me a mostly uncooked potato.  A large rapidly boiling pot of whole medium potatoes for 45 minutes is rendering me uncooked potatoes.  Sure, poke them with a fork and it glides in and out without resistance. But when it comes time to open the suckers up, when it comes time to mash them?  Hard as a rock.  So far, 9 out of 10 times is a tear jerking failure.

For the first dozen times, I thought that maybe I was just off my game. Maybe I set the the timer wrong, maybe the oven was off, maybe I’m just getting too old to boil a potato. I’ve even gone so far to try russets from different stores, ones in bags, tubers hand picked from the bin. Nothing rendered me success in the arena of baking or boiling potatoes.

It wasn’t until last night that I remembered a recent episode of Top Chef, can’t remember which one exactly.  A chef went home because her gratin wasn’t cooked.  She served raw potatoes. And at her level, this should never have happened.  Even if she had chosen to cook them on the day of and not the day before. Making a gratin is Cooking 101 for anyone. How could this be? I’m not the only one cooking and serving raw potatoes!

I am now solidly convinced that there is a potato conspiracy going on here in these United States. From large to small, from bulk to a la carte, we have a problem. It’s not going away, in fact it could be spreading across our great nation.  Is it international? I don’t know yet, but I can tell you for sure, I’m now doing research in this field. This needs to be unearthed, we need to locate the root of the problem and halt this Great Potato Conspiracy of 2011 at any and all costs!

xo, Biggles

Reading versus Comprehension

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Have you ever spent so much time watching cooking & food shows on tv that you begin to salivate, daydream, then move along to actually getting off your ass to cook something similar? I wanted something gumbohey, something with bold flavors, something I could cook for a Tuesday evening.  Chuck Taggart’s Simple Chicken Gumbo was a clear choice.  I used it once before years ago, what could possibly go wrong?

Me.  I spent an evening, then the the morning after making my lists.  I wanted to make his Creole Seasoning too, wanted it oh so special. I got the veggies all neatly diced, got the meats all browned and set aside.  Heated up the cast iron French oven and made a badass roux, all dark and smoky. Dumped in the veggies for the 4 minute sweating, stirred and scraped. Then fell stupid quiet, jaw on ground.  The realization hit me, while looking at the nearly full pot of veggies only, “It’s not all going to fit”.

Dumbass.  Duh, 4 quarts of liquid, huge amounts of veggies and 4+ pounds of meat going in to a 5 quart pot? Dumbass.  I was all ready to put everything together and get it in to the oven!  Nope. And you know what?  I had no other oven-ready pot to put it in. Dumbass.

Then I remembered I have several shelves of cookware in the garage, a-way out in the back, that might contain something I could use.  I dragged in my camp dutch oven, the one with the 3 legs. It didn’t sit so well on the stove, all cattywompus.  But it was good enough to get everything up to temperature, then get it in to the oven, on the pizza stone. Good thing for the stone, eh? Without that I would have had another problem with those legs sitting all funky.

Instead of 1 hour, I did 1.5 hours at 375.  And even after my goof, dinner came out wonderful and on time. Remember, simply reading a recipe is completely different than actually paying attention to what you require to get the job done.  Dumbass.

xo, Biggles

Cookin’ – Recycled Gourmet Appurtenances

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Back in March when Meathenge Labs hosted a small, impromptu Dutch Oven Gathering a used cookware store in San Francisco was talked about.  Me being the backwoods hillbilly that I am hadn’t heard of it. I was promised that some day in the future we’d all go and have some fun.  It took more than a few months, but we finally did it!

Tiny E and I headed out from sleepy little Richmond with hope in our hearts and a whopping 10 dollars in our pockets. Was fine though, it was more about the adventure than coming back with a truckload of jewels, goblets and fry pans.  We found and parked at Kajsa’s & Cameron’s apartment with fair ease. We had to hike in about 9 million miles, but such is the burden of living in a large city with very little available parking.

Cookin’ is housed in a bitchen old building with rough wooden floors directly located on Divisadero. While it’s organized to the teeth, it’s an exceptionally packed solid type of organization.  Floor to ceiling type of packed.  Floor to ceiling with probably more than 80 years worth of kick ass cookware and related implements.

Need a Griswold cast iron skillet? Enamel cast iron oven or pan? Solid copper sauce pan? A Farberware whatever to fill a hole in your mother’s collection? It’s there in spades. Huge spades, huge bucktoothed spades.

I noticed it was going to take probably 2 to 3 runs through the store before my eyeballs and brain were able to make any sense of what was and what it might be. To discern if there was anything there that I just had to have, something I couldn’t possibly leave behind.

Nah, ol’ Biggles’ kitchen is pretty well stocked and I wasn’t able to find anything I had to have.  I was interested in a few of the old cake holder container rigs.  You know the ones, right?  Put cake on platter, then a nifty cover goes over said cake to keep it fresh for a day or two?

The owner had half dozen or so, but they were priced way, way, way out of my price range. We’re talking a thrift store find for 8 to 15 dollars and she was asking 40 dollars and more.  Not interested. In fact, the entire store is priced at maybe solid ebay prices for collector pieces.  I looked, but wasn’t able to find one deal to be had. She knew what she had and priced it accordingly. That’s fine, it’s not as though you can walk down the street to the next recycled cookware store and buy the same thing for less. She’s got a corner on the market and is acutely aware of it.

All in all we greatly enjoyed the afternoon out and I would certainly stop by again in the future.  If you truly need something soon, then by all means stop by and get it!  It just has to be in there, somewhere. But if you’re not crazy hot to have it right now? Give yourself a breather and keep your eyes peeled at local thrift stores, garage sales and deals on the internets. That and gifts from friends and family is where most of my gear came from.

xo, Biggles

Cookin’ – Recycled Gourmet Appurtenances 339 Divisidero San Francisco 415.861.1854

Forgetful Entry #19 – A / wtf?

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And, Dang. I know it’s been a while, but dang. A few moments ago was cleaning out the folders on my desktop and ran across a few pictures I’d taken a few months ago for a post. Yet another meal that lingered, then fell by the wayside. It took me nearly 5 minutes to sit with the pictures and the name of the jpg before I could remember anything about the meal. Shake those cobby webs Biggles!
Chilebrown of Mad Meat Genius gifted me a bottle of Kansas City Cowtown BBQ Sauce, and apparently I smoked a chicken, then glazed the sucker with the sauce. See?
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Um, I don’t think ol’ CB knew what he gave away. Or maybe he did realize the gift he gave me and I apologize for it taking me 2 months to post about it. But this BBQ sauce is hands down, among some of the best bottled BBQ sauces I’ve ever had. Heck, it’s a better BBQ sauce when compared to some of the ones I’ve made or been served over the years. The damned stuff is really good, tangy with a finish of sweet, smoky goodness and thick enough to stay put. Sure there are the purists and the elitists who won’t do sauce, but sometimes sauce is good. Sometimes I like having sauce with my smoked goodies and if and when I decide it’s time for sauce, dangit, I’m going to have some sauce! Even makes an impression 2 months later.
Hmmm, or maybe it could very well be that I only had a bowl of cereal for dinner and I’m hungry. Either way, if you see this sauce on a shelf or online somewheres, it’s Meathenge Approved. Hungry or no, it’s a solid contender.
xo, Biggles

Happy Turkey Day Everbody !!!

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Happy Turkey day every one and all! Meathenge Labs is still here, been doing a lot of work to the outdoor kitchen area. Tore down the existing thatched roof and put in a real bamboo roof, 3 separate outdoor power outlets, lights, gardening, refinishing wooden-top work areas and related. Even had a new back door put in. It’s all had tendencies towards goodness.
All things considered, and I do mean all, am doing well. The sheer volume of tasks I need to complete on a daily basis puts me up before the sun and am spooning out delicious meals from the crockpot for the most part, by about 8pm or so. I even had to start organizing personal paperwork and had to purchase an accordion looking item to keep them all in order. After 46 years, this is a first for me. For crissakes I don’t even wear a watch, nor do I keep a check register!
If you’re interested to see some of the pictures and business I’ve been up to, I do tend to use flickr more often now that I have myself a fancy smartphone handy. So, if’n it matters, step on over to Meathenge’s Flickr Account and have a snoozing gander.
xo, Biggles

Rogue Wordless Wednesday !!!

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Wordless Wednesday, yer doin’ it wrong. Not only am I not on “The List”, am using words.
Still here, still kicking, should have stopped by and let ya’ll know I was “On Holiday”. This means I’m a lazy ass and haven’t been cooking much. The boys and I have spent most of our summer in front a computer screen, or plinking cans with a BB gun of some ilk. We’re doing okay, school starts next week. We can hardly wait.
Happy Wordless Wednesday!
xo, Biggles
ps – Thems is slow, hickory grilled chicken breasts. Slow cause they gots no skin and no bacon. Gotta take it slow, they were so darned juicy!

Just for fun, on a Thursday evening, smoked pork ribs.

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Biggles having some fun today, is all.
Blind Melon – No Rain
Ooooo-oo-oo-oo-oo, oo-oo-oo-oo
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watching the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two
And speak my point of view
But it’s not sane, it’s not sane
I just want someone to say to me no, oh, oh, oh
I’ll always be there when you wake, yea-ah
You know I’d like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I’ll have it made
And I don’t understand why I sleep all day
And I start to complain that there’s no rain
And all I can do is read a book to stay awake
And it rips my life away, but it’s a great escape
Escape……escape……escape……
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
You don’t like my point of view
You think that I’m insane
It’s not sane, It’s not sane
I just want someone to say to me no, oh, oh, oh
I’ll always be there when you wake, yea-ah
You know I’d like to keep my cheeks dry today
So stay with me and I’ll have it made
And I’ll have it made
And I’ll have it made, oh
Lord no no
You know I’m really gonna, really gonna have it made
You know I’ll have it made
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh
What fun! Love you all, Biggles signing off.
xo

Pissy Wednesday – One is a flavor, one is a bear.

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The English language and I have been at war since the beginning, it’s a love & hate thing. I’m one of those word snobs (I didn’t say I was good at it) and really try my best to make sure I use the correct their, they’re & there. See my point? I would never say the whether is turning cold early this year or I’m knot going! On the other hand, I don’t like rules. So, the outcome can sometimes turn in to a mess. A fun mess, but a mess all the same.
Well, I’ve had enough! There’s a great, huge and quite large faux pas going on right under our noses and it’s making me crazy. The poopetrators do it every day. This would be misspelling one, specific, little word. One version is a flavor and one is a bear.
Can anyone guess what this little word might be? I’ll count to ten, 1 2 3 4 6 … .Uh listen folks, the word is smoky. Smoky flavors !!! The word Smokey is either Smokey Bear or a slang term for a police officer. You don’t get smokey flavors from your smoker !!! GAHHHHHHHHHHH. (Picture Biggles swatting the air and stamping his boots).
Quidit.
Pissy Man has left the building.
ps – I smoked an 11 pound turkey last night in the new outdoor cooker I’m about to review.
xo, Biggles

Meathenge Lab’s Moldy Update

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Yeah !!! Some of you may remember late last year I was going through some real hell with moisture problems here at the lab, mostly my bedroom. In 1 month I ended up having to gut and scrub my bedroom for mold twice, moisture content out of this world.
This has been an ongoing problem for years, but it has been getting progressively worse. I didn’t have the money or the skills to install a French Drain. I made do with dehumidifiers in several rooms of the house with a mobile hygrometer to see how things progressed day and night. Even with the balmy weather and dry winds, I’d have to start the dehumidifier in my bedroom at 3am and shut it down at 6am. In 2 to 3 days, I would collect 1/2 gallon of water. Just so you know, that’s a lot. Heavy moisture in, around and under a home is not a good thing, it’s bad. Real bad. It’ll destroy a foundation before you can raise a child.
After months and months of saving, I finally got enough pennies to have a French Drain installed along with a sump pump. I live on the flat lands and gravity flow is of no help here. Today the most awesome group of guys started digging. I found Manuel’s company on google a year ago locally for Richmond California and he’s turned out to be the most responsible, skilled and able guy I’ve met in a long time. The trench is not only dug perfectly & properly, but it’s smoothed out as though they were Aztec Gods.
As with previous jobs, I have no doubt that within a few days that Meathenge Labs will be moisture free for years to come. I can finally decorate my bedroom and install clutter as I see fit without worry of moisture that transforms to mold. Ain’t it great? Now I can spend more time sleeping, napping and cooking.
Jaripeo Landscape
Manuel Jasso, owner
New lawns, Fences, Trees, Concrete, Drain Systems, Hauling, Retaining Walls, Stump removal, Sprinkler Systems, probably more.
License #876389, References available
510 620 0998 Office
xo, Biggles

Do you have any idea what’s the life span of meat?

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Rarely do I post anything that points to something cool or interesting on the web, figure you got that taken care of by now. But this is so great, and I just know you haven’t read it already, I had to stop by immediately to give you the scoop.
It’s a short story by Terry Bisson and I’ve only known about it for less than 10 minutes. It’s so good (and short, that’s good for you Twitter Heads), I couldn’t resist
Terry Bisson
They’re Made out of Meat.
xo, Biggles

Want to listen to music on your iphone? No earbuds? Meathenge can help.

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I spent most of today doing chores, many of the to-do items required driving long distances. By 3pm the boys and I were pretty bushed, we reclined to TV, movies and video games. Z had some homework to deal with and settled on the living room floor for a while. After running a load of laundry I came in and found his iphone in his mouth.
He was listening to the Dead Kennedys, mouth open, volume down a bit. I offered that maybe if he turned it up, and put his teeth (gently) on the iphone that it might improve it.
It did! Said it was running through his skull, sounded like a real speaker or earbuds.
So, if you don’t have the earbuds to support your music habit on your iphone, put it in your mouth and hold it steady. There’s 20 bux saved! Not sure how your friends, family or anyone near you will react when they realize you have an iphone in your mouth. And, not convinced this move would be covered under warranty, so be careful. I have contacted Apple with this method, so maybe it will be approved!
xo, Biggles