It's Playoff time in Football, (Playoffs?!? You kiddin me? Playoffs!?-That will never get old..) and since I hadn't had a chance to roll with my big brother Cass in far too long, we were talking the other day about new appliances in my kitchen, and I mentioned how I know nothing about barbecuing and reminiscing about the old days in Oakland fiending over Flint's Bar-B-Que joint. If you lived in Oakland or Berkeley in the 70's or 80's and wanted some barbecue, you went to Flint's, everything else was a step down. At any time of the day on Shattuck Avenue where it was there were two constants: There was ALWAYS a long line out front, and there was the aroma that could make you wreck your car.
Once they closed down, I have been completely underwhelmed by barbecue because I was spoiled and didn't know how good it was, until it was gone... I've tried several places here in Sacramento over the last couple of years, and nothing stands out. In fact most were half-assed at best, and at worst just lethal...
So instead of sitting here beefing, (get it "beef"-ing? Thank you! I'll be here all week!) I decided that I would try and re-create the magic of Flint's in my kitchen. The first thing I did was give Cass a call as, as previously stated, I know nothing about barbecuing. And I turned to Big Bro because he is a true Grill Master, so the first thing we talked about was what I wanted to accomplish, I told him "Flint's", to that he said "You don't aim low do you?"... So the first thing was to decide on the type of sausage to use, Flint's always used a coarsely ground sausage, and that pre-packaged stuff in the grocery store simply will not get it done. He told me that I needed to get freshly ground sausage from my butcher, and let them know that I want it coarsely ground, and once I did that he would come up and show me how to smoke because that was how they did it at Flint's, smoking the links long over low heat. I asked him what I needed for Smoking since I had no idea, he said wood chips, either Mesquite or Hickory, some coal, a sauce of my choice and we are ready to go!
The first thing I did was head over to my butcher at Corti Brothers, the lovely Lacy, and I asked her about ground sausage for smoking and she said "I have just what you need Sexy....", and she ground and cased me 2 pounds of Hot Italian Sausage and 2 pounds of Mild Italian Sausage, and I also picked up some Bratwurst for variety, then I picked up some Mesquite wood chips and sauce and was ready to rock!
Cass got here and we assembled the grill and let the chips soak in water for about 30 minutes, then the first thing I noticed was how he spread the coals on the grate of the grill, he took two small piles of coals, and put them on opposite sides of the grate, and when I asked why he told me that we are doing indirect heat which is the key to smoking. After we lit the coals, and let them get hot, then we took a handful of wood chips and spread them on the coals, and since they were wet, they created the smoke. We placed two groups of links on the grill, after spraying the top grate with Pam to ensure the links don't stick, we placed them on the grate and covered and watched the smoke pipe through the opening, from there we let them cook for about 8 minutes per side, then used the digital thermometer to check the internal temperature and once it hit 160 degrees they were just about done, but not quite... as they simmered, Cass brushed some sauce on them so they could absorb that extra flavor. Then we removed them from the grill and placed them on the cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes, then I sliced them on an angle like they did at Flint's back in the day, and slathered them with sauce and placed them in the oven, covered with foil, for 10 minutes on the "warm" setting. That was to allow the sauce to infuse the links on the inside as well and retain their moisture and juices. And once they were removed from the oven...yes! Cass had re-created the past! All the local BBQ places are bullshit...yeah, I said it! I defy them to step their game up, show some passion, and make something like this. THIS is what I've been trying to get! THESE are the flavors that have been missing from my barbecue experiences. And from a equipment and supply standpoint, it's not difficult, so there is no excuse not to reproduce this. And some of these so-called barbecue places need to learn that hot dogs ARE NOT hot links...
Now that I have the knowledge and training as a part of my arsenal, I definitely will be doing this more frequently. It's too good not to...!
As we were cooking, Cass and I start talking about doing a "Iron Chef" or "Top Chef" challenge to see what's up, I'm thinking we'll ask some friends to suggest some things and we will each do our slant on them. Or let people decide the main ingredients and let us do the rest. It's in the planning stages now, but why not? Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a problem with words like "quit" ,"can't", and "no". Lets do what we want to do and damn what the naysayers think! I will keep you posted on the Big Sexy vs Cass "Top Chopped Iron Throwdown" cook-off in the near future.
Editors note: As I wolfed down my barbecue this afternoon, Cass and I watched a GREAT playoff game between the Saints and 49ers, and as much as it pains me I have to give it up to my 49er fans... So Rosanna, Vlade, Jeannine, and Alexis, enjoy the day, your team earned it...
Until next time troops,
Big Sexy
