First Contest of the Year... and the Jambo

Next weekend I'm cooking in the "BBQ Bailout" contest.  My plan yesterday was to cook a practice session in order to be ready for the competition.  But practicing for an informal, practice competition? That seemed like overkill... plus the couch looked comfortable, I had a six of nugget nectar and Godfather I & II on the DVR.

I've had a few future Jambo owners and enthusiasts email me asking for more pictures of the new Pit and its inner workings.  I'll take a bunch of pics at the Bailout this coming weekend, in the meantime here are a few more (note that the Jambo is garaged and my Jeep sits in the driveway, especially if there is an ice storm)...

  

Maine Shrimp Stew

This was a good one.

One of my favorite winter ingredients is maine shrimp.

Rendering bacon, making a broth with the shells, cooked great northerns:



Lightly sauteed the shrimp and green onion in the bacon fat.

Shrimp broth thickened with butter, olive oil and parmigiano:



Garnish with garlic croutons:

Local BBQ Joints

I cook so much barbecue at home, I rarely venture out to local BBQ joints.  One Boston area spot that I think is doing a great job is Soulfire.  Owner Wyeth Lynch is experimenting with new approaches to re-heating and holding meats... which I think is one of the most important parts of consistently delivering great BBQ in a restaurant setting.   Also, he is putting out some of the best fried chicken in the city.

Just saw a picture over on Pigtrip of some ribs at United BBQ in RI.  Those there looks like some great ribs out of a restaurant.  Looking forward to Gary's review....

http://www.pigtrip.net/

Weekend Update

Saturday we stayed in and cooked. Two dishes:

Chilean Sea Bass
ginger glaze, roasted cipollini's, shitake mache salad

Beef Ribeye Roast
baked stuffed shrimp, asparagus, fingerlings, hollandaise

Also cooked some barbecue on Sunday for a party. A kurobuta pork butt and 14lb. packer brisket cooked with oak and apple on the new Jambo pit.

Cooking

I haven't done much cooking lately.  I did fire up the Jambo for the Superbowl and cooked a few racks of ribs and some wings.  More recently we made some homemade meatballs and sauce... and last night I prepared some fresh Maine rock shrimp.   One of my favorite ingredients when in season.... if you pick these up don't toss the shells... they make an excellent broth to use with risotto or as a pasta sauce.  The dish here is the rock shrimp with orzo, feta, olives, lemon and shrimp broth.  I barely cooked the shrimp and left them almost raw in the center.

BBQ Mania

I put up a couple of BBQ packages for an auction to benefit the Hopkinton Education Foundation.  

http://www.hopkinton.k12.ma.us/HEF/doc/Auction%2009%20Web.pdf

One package has me cooking some barbecue for a private party of 12.  Another invites two people to join us for the Harvard, MA contest for the 'ultimate' BBQ experience.   The auction was off the hook... a lot of interested parties bidding... Package #1 went for $2,000 which was the highest grossing item of the entire auction and Package #2 went for $900.    There is a lot of enthusiasm and interest about real barbecue up in the Northeast these days.