Archive for June, 2010

Secrets To A Perfect Salade Lyonnaise (Poached Egg & Bacon Salad)

By Administrator, 29 June, 2010, No Comment

As the weather warms up, so does our social calendar, and that means there is suddenly a much greater need for a wider and more aesthetically versatile variety of light an breezy, yet delectably delicious dishes to serve during these awesome summer months of outside entertaining and dining. One such phenomenal recipe for such times is a classy classic known to the gourmet world as “Salade Lyonnaise.”

oking The Perfect BBQ Ribs – When Simplicity Is BLISS!

By Administrator, 21 June, 2010, No Comment

There are as nearly as many recipes to prepare barbecue ribs out there as there are people who love to BBQ, but experience eventually teaches one to go with the inherent flow of nature when it comes to making some truly mesmerizing, mind-boggling ribs.

Remember the old political adage, “K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Simon? OK, so I know that the original adage ended that sentence with the word “Stupid,” but in good conscience, I really don’t like to toss that word around too freely and call anyone “stupid” until they have had sufficient time to prove their stupidity with out any shadow of a doubt.

Anyway, when it comes to barbecuing ribs, it’s extremely important to be able to turn off that portion of your brain that assumes that “GOURMET” somehow has come to mean “complex” and “multi-faceted,” because GOURMET is a lot more about quality, purity, culinary expertise and intuition and in the case of barbecuing ribs … absolute and utter simplicity is the name of the game!

Gourmet Food Clubs Ultimate Barbecued Ribs

(Serves 4 to

Ingredients:

4 racks of Premium Ribs (pork or beef)

3 jars of Gourmet BBQ Sauce

3 Bottles of Boutique Quality Cabernet

Directions:

Lay each rack of ribs out on a sheet of aluminum foil (shiny side up) that will be big enough to fully and securely wrap the ribs up in its entirety, without risk of “drippage” or leakage.

In a large metal mixing bowl, mix 1 jar of gourmet BBQ with ½ a glass of wine. Mix well.

Slather, bathe, massage, rub and marinate your ribs in the mix for about 5 minutes per rack.

Wrap the ribs securely in the foil and place in the refrigerator to absorb and set the marinade for 2 hours.

Remove the ribs from the fridge and allow them to sit at room temp at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Give them another Sauce / Wine Massage and grill them for 1 ½ – 2 hours.

Turn and reapply BBQ Sauce Mix every 10 minutes or so, till the ribs have grilled for 90 to 120 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Now take ribs off the grill, place them once again on a sheet of aluminum foil and re-slather the BBQ Sauce before fully and securely wrapping them in foil and add now bake in the oven at 250 degrees for another 1 ½ – 2 hours.

Serve with your choice of slightly chilled wine, along with your favorite flavorful “fixin’s” … from potato salad and corn on the cob, to salad and corn-bread!

Signing off and Pigging out

Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock

For Those Not Totally Into Wine – Introducing A Simple, Satisfying Sangria.

By Administrator, 18 June, 2010, No Comment

But in reality, that couldn’t be any farther from the truth. The term “Gourmet” makes reference to the quality, class, freshness, healthiness and over-all supremacy of the food and drink itself, as well as the ingredients that go into making the food, and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the specific menu items at all.

There’s Nothing Snooty, Arrogant Or Pretentious About Gourmet Food!

By Administrator, 16 June, 2010, No Comment

One of the saddest and most unfortunate misunderstandings likely to be encountered within the topical category of food these days; is the unexplainably twisted concept that there is something presumptuously pretensions, obnoxiously overbearing and pompously prideful about those of us who enjoy gourmet food.

Perhaps it years and years of horrid stories of the malevolent misdeeds perpetrated on the rest of “US” normal, every-day folk, by a creepy and callous class of cold-hearted, self centered, arrogant aristocrats, sucking the very marrow out of the common person’s life in search of selfishly monopolizing all of the finer things in life while we peasants are left to make due with the various table scraps and crumbs left behind after the jubilant feast.

How many theatrical presentations since well before William Shakespeare, going all the way back to the ancient plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes poetically portray the grandiose and gargantuan greed of the gruesome gourmands and their gang grand, “gargoyle-like” gluttons.

Onward through the novels of the centuries, films of the past century and now even within popular TV shows, including those with funny, likable characters such as the bumbling brothers and Drs. Frasier and Niles Crane, there has been a judgmental smirk and bony nose of indignation tossed into the air when it comes to those who enjoy the captivatingly creative culinary concoctions that come together when only the choicest, premium ingredients are artfully brought together in the kitchen.

But let’s take a moment to honestly look at the evidence and see if this unfair prejudice has any reasonable logic to it at all.

Gourmet is a term that actually speaks to the overall quality, freshness and nutritional value of the food and truthfully has absolutely nothing to do with being exceptionally elegant, fancy, sophisticated or complex.

Gourmet food is actually simpler, purer, more down to earth and basic than mass produced, processed foods. Gourmet food has far less ingredients and maintains a dedicated commitment to keeping it simple, clean, fresh, natural and healthy.

Are these concepts somehow smug, selfish, stuck-up, snooty, or superficial? Are you truly opposed to simplicity, cleanliness and freshness? Does natural, healthy, down to earth, nutritional food sound like something that you and your family want no part of?

What exactly is so arrogant and cruel about all natural olive oil, coffee, fresh salsa, barbecuesauce, jelly, jam, preserves or organic popcorn?

What’s really so greedy and contemptuous about wanting to eat and feed your family a healthy, farm fresh cut of beef, ham, or pork chops?

Are small, simple enjoyments such as natural tea, honey, pancakes and olives considered the outrageously audacious and obsessive, self indulgent luxuries set aside for only the very rich and famous?

Fresh, natural olive oil, jelly, tea, pancakes, ham, popcorn, salsa honey, beef, olives and barbecue sauce … not exactly the outlandishly exorbitant, lush, lavish and luxuriously lustful excesses usually associated with royalty and blue blood affluence, are they?

Guess what? If you like the idea of fresh, healthy food without the preservatives, drugs, chemicals, bacteria, virus, disease, artificial fillers, colors, flavorings that go into most mass produced, processed foods, then you my friend … like gourmet food!

Welcome!

Signing off and Pigging Out,

Rocco “Boss Hog” Bacon

Gourmet Food Ideas For the Perfect Fathers Day Gift

By Administrator, 14 June, 2010, No Comment

In honor of Dad and that new found commitment to give only the very best to those who mean the very most to us, here is a list of some totally impressive Gourmet Food Gifts that will make Dad’s Father’s Day an absolute hit and a smiling, fond memory for years to come.