Rants – BBQ Food

Cole Slaw: the critical component to any BBQ. Start with fresh crisp cabbage sliced thin, coarse sea salt, fragrant oil, fragrant acid and let it sit. Feel free to add other root of crisp vegetables like celery root or fennel, or seeds like caraway or cracked coarse peppercorns. Cole slaw should be as refreshing as a glass of ice water. It should be crunchy and loaded with bursts of flavor and allow for everything to be more digestible. If you slice it and then soak it in ice water for a few minutes it will stiffen up real nicely then proceed with your dressing. And for gods sake people don’t just soak it in Mayo. Jeez

On to Potato Salad!
Start with a creamier style of potato like red bliss or Yukon gold, or, if you’re feeling daffy, maybe even fingerlings. Cook them until soft with NO crunch. Incorporate a smoky fat like bacon or brown butter. Serve it at room temperature or slightly warm. Give it texture with some raw vegetables like peeled celery, or onions. Give it a snap with some vinegar and coarse pepper. Try using a fragrant oil like almond or hazelnut. Make sure the water you cook the potatoes in is WELL salted! And the final product has a killer saltiness. A great salt to try is a Norwegian Smoked Sea Salt.

Now for Greens! A great mix of kale, collards, watercress, arugula and some good spicy EVOO with coarse salt and lemon is healthy and works well with charred meat! The key here is to take all chewy stems out of the greens so you can eat them raw. Its more pleasant than you think and with nice salt and a killer olive oil you have a damn good combonation rit dere fer dat dere meat mattie!
I like to serve the HOT MEAT (come on don’t fuck this up this is key now)  right on TOP of the greens evenly mixing those meat juices up with the simple dressing is something really special.
Enjoy your Labor Day, folks! The sadness of Summer gone is somehow for me squelched by the promise of Fall!