Disabled List

The images above were taken yesterday during our son Courtland's surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The labrum is a lip-like ring of cartilage that helps hold the arm in the shoulder socket.

Courtland damaged his during a high school baseball game in the spring during an at bat (at least he got a hit, and a big one at that). At first, we thought it was a simple dislocation and he continued playing in that game as well as the next. But it was clear that something was wrong. We went to the doctor and had it diagnosed. Not overly serious, but not good either. With the doctor's blessing, he continued to play baseball all summer long, but was only allowed to pitch and play in the field. His batting for the year was through until we got the surgery. He ended up having a very good summer (here's a link to a nice story about him and his team), but he really missed getting in his licks at the plate.

The photos above are one of two pages of scope-shots taken by the surgeon during the procedure. They're a little hard to see unless you click on the photo to bring it to full size. The scenes are magnified 6.5 times. The top two rows show different angles of the shoulder. It's in the third row where you really start to see the damage and how it was repaired. Row three, column one shows the labrum torn away from the shoulder socket. Same row, second column shows the tool used by the surgeon to start anchoring the sutures, and the fourth row shows the sutures being pulled through to lace the labrum back to the scapula.

Post-op was an interesting experience for us, too. Courtland is a high school senior and isn't the most talkative kid around. But as he came out of the anesthesia, he was amusingly chatty. It was kind of nice to have him open up.

His left arm is now immobilized in a sling that he'll have to wear for at least three weeks. He's now learning how to get through the day using just one arm and it's been an education for all of us to realize how inconvenient that can be. Just putting on a shirt or pulling up pants has required more strategy than you might think.

If all goes well, the sling will come off after three weeks. Then he'll begin some simple isometric exercises as he begins to rehab. Following that comes physical therapy to build up strength in the shoulder. Our target is for him to start throwing a baseball again in mid to late December. We hope he'll be able to start swinging a bat again sometime in January. That puts him on pace to be ready for his senior baseball season in the spring.

It's pretty amazing to me that they've got the ability to diagnose something like this. And maybe even more so, to go in and knit the thing back together. But I'm grateful that they can.

Pulled Pork

The prodigal bbq blogger returns for a report on the annual pulling of the pork.

The summer has been incredibly, but enjoyably, busy with the kids' baseball and softball tournaments filling up just about every weekend. But now softball is over and we have a weekend of no games before the final baseball tournament. Wayne, the baseball coach invited the team and families over to his house Saturday night for a cookout and party, so with the extra time on my hands during the day, I volunteered to smoke a couple of pork shoulders for the event.

At 6:30 in the morning I was out back, setting up the grill for indirect heating of two, 7-lb. pork shoulders. Because they took up so much space in the Weber, I had the coals and chips on only one side of the kettle, with a drip pan taking up the other half.

I used a recipe for the Lexington Pulled Pork Shoulder Rub out of Steven Raichlen's BBQ USA, but doubled the batch because of the amount of meat I was preparing. Here's the single-batch recipe from the book:

4 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 to 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

By 7:15 a.m. I had the meat on the grill. I'm not sure how many neighbors awoke to the aroma of smoking pork, but I received no complaints.

While the meat was cooking, I mixed up the old family recipe for Kentucky BBQ Dip, a perfectly peppery vinegar-based sauce that my dad used to mop on ribs, chicken, pork and mutton when I was growing up.

I checked the kettle about once an hour, adding more charcoal and soaked wood chips as needed, then started checking the temperature of the meat at about four hours in.

The photos above show the shoulders at one and three hours in. And I've discovered that they also repulse the Remarkable Marcy, who is a great fan of pigs in any form but food.

At noon, the meat thermometer in one of the shoulders surpassed 190 degrees and I pulled it from the grill. I brought it inside, covered it with foil for about 30 minutes, then began to pull it apart. By 1 p.m., the second shoulder had cooked to the proper temperature and it also came inside for cooling and pulling. When both shoulders had been pulled, I put the meat on a cutting board and chopped it up.

The pulled, chopped pork went into a foil pan where it was topped and mixed with about two cups of the bbq dip.

A couple of hours later, with the pork, additional dip, buns and a couple of side dishes, we went to the party. There were the standard burgers, dogs and sausages, but the bbq added a bit of southern flavor and class to this bash.

Spring

It's officially spring today. For me, anyway. Today, my current hometown team, the woeful Orioles, play their first game at spring training. But today they're not woeful. Not yet anyway. No teams suck yet and everybody has a chance.

The other day on the radio I heard two baseball analysts saying the Cubs and Indians could be in the World Series this year. And they weren't kidding! If that happened, it could signal the end of the world, or at the very least lead to the end of my marriage (Marcy is a cradle-Clevelander and I've been a Cubs fan since the mid-1960s).

On this day, it's not far-fetched to consider a Cubs-Indians series match up. Heck, you could even be optimistic about the chances of the Orioles on this day. No losses yet.

Hooray for baseball!

Rerun - Boog's Hot Sauce

One more dip into the archives before I return to posting. Today's golden oldie is Boog's Hot Sauce, a spicy recipe along with a story of one of my favorite introductions of all time.

I'll be back with you in real time tomorrow.

Oct. 29, 2007, In the News

The baseball season came to a clunking end last night as the Boston Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies in the World Series. No offense to any Rockies fans out there, but the only suspense in this series was seeing how many records the Red Sox would set before it was over. Congrats to Red Sox Nation. That's two titles in four years. That means you're ineligible to use the term "long-suffering" ever again.

The results of the lAtest micro-poll show A is cleArly everyone's fAvorite vowel. A wAs the overwhelming fAvorite, pulling As mAny votes As All other vowels combined. As of yesterdAy Afternoon, the ArrogAnt And overrAted e hAd been shut out in the voting. But A lAte sympAthy vote cAst by someone who might hAve been my wife, pulled e into A four-wAy tie for runner up.

The new poll is up. Thanksgiving is approaching and you can vote for your favorite side dish. Between now and Thanksgiving, my weekly Mailbag post will give way to Side Dish Saturday starting this coming weekend. Feel free to share your favorite recipes, especially if you vote for the "Something Else" category.

And now, the news:

Koreans are spicing up their lives. An item on Dave DeWitt's Fiery-Foods site reports that a study found that the amount of capsaicin in kimchi has doubled in the past five years.

He must reeeeeally like that sauce. A Rhode Island man is sentenced for breaking the door of a fast-food restaurant when they forgot to include the "zesty sauce" with his order.

That may be the least disgusting thing in a processed sausage. Australian food maker recalls BBQ sausages after finding bits of rubber mixed with the meat.

Unusual recipe of the week:

Halloween is a couple of days away. While I don't recommend handing the following out to the neighborhood kiddies who come trick-or-treating at your house, it might be fun to munch some of this Hot Pepper Candy on your own. From the Pepper Fool site.

Have a great week everyone!

Mailbag, Oct. 27, 2007

So, the World Series has (finally) started and none of our teams are in it. Neither, it appears, are the Colorado Rockies. Maybe they'll show up tonight in Coors Field. I hope they win at least one of the next two games. There are few things sadder than the baseball season coming to an end on a Sunday night.

Even as the series winds its way to a close, there are big baseball questions still unanswered. Who will replace Joe Torre? Will A-Rod be a Yankee next year? Is there a difference between Stadium Mustard and Ball Park Mustard?

I can't help you with the first two, but we should soon have the definitive answer on the third. As mentioned last Saturday, Rich the Killer Cameraman sent us a bottle of Ball Park Mustard. This weekend, my colleague Ron is in Cleveland, where he promises to pick up a bottle (or two, or three, or...) of Stadium Mustard. We've scheduled a side-by-side taste test and will report on it sometime this week. Stay tuned...

Speaking of Rich the Killer Cameraman, he wrote with a clarification to Monday's post about Dreamland Bar-B-Que. He says that while the satellite locations offer various side dishes, the original location in Tuscaloosa still only offers slices of Sunbeam bread and banana pudding.

Take My Word For It

Here are a few favorite posts this week from my Good Friends and Cool Places links.

Sweet Loretta's Ragtime Pie (The Chef From Hell)

Spicy Sweet Soy Sauce Marinated Chicken (Jason's BBQ Adventures)

Fact: Beer, Elephants and Electricity Do Not Mix (A Good Beer Blog)

Enjoy your weekend!

Oct. 22, 2007, In the News

Damn goat. Oh, wait. Wrong team.

With the Red Sox taking their third straight game from the Indians last night, our interest in the rest of the baseball season has rolled right off the edge of the table. There were four inches of snow in Denver yesterday. Even winter has decided not to wait until the end of the season to get going.

Enough with the sour grapes.

The results are in from the most recent micro poll and Treat beat out Trick by a single vote. To tell you the truth, I was a little surprised. If asked, I would have guessed that you readers were a little more mischievous than this. I suppose deep down you're a good-hearted lot.

The new poll is up. Vote for your favorite vowel. Will the overrated e continue its domination, or will i or u sneak in to win?

Eat Here

I thought I'd break form a little bit today. From time to time I want to feature one of the nation's great restaurants serving bbq or comfort food.

Today we start with Dreamland Bar-B-Que of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. This recommendation comes from Rich the Killer Cameraman, who's no doubt in a post-baseball funk today and could use a little Dreamland bbq to cheer him up.

Rich visited the 'bama institution a few years back and remembers it not only for its great ribs, but for the "No Beans. No Slaw... Don't Ask!" slogan. He said the only sides he remembers the restaurant offering were slices of bread and banana pudding.

Checking Dreamland's Website, the place does now offer beans, slaw, potato salad and some other sides. Much of its main fare, ribs, sausage, pulled pork, chicken and sauce can be ordered online, along with hats and t-shirts with the "Don't Ask!" slogan.

Mr. John "Big Daddy" Bishop opened the first Dreamland back in 1958 in Jerusalem Heights, just south of Tuscaloosa. Today there are eight Dreamland locations.

For a place that uses a slogan pegged to not having any side dishes, the Website has a recipe page that mostly features, ironically, side dishes. There are a couple of soups (white gazpacho, beef and barley), some salads (layered cornbread salad, veggie pasta salad, sweet and sour salad with barbecue vinaigrette) , shrimp cocktail, chicken wings and more.

If any of you have dined at Dreamland, let me know what you think. Or if you have suggestions for other classic restaurants, let me know that, too, and I'll try to work them into future posts.

Have a great week!

Mailbag, Oct. 20, 2007

The American League Championship Series drags on with the Remarkable Marcy's Indians holding a 3-2 edge going into tonight's game against the Red Sox in Boston.

Meanwhile, I'm still getting incoming comments, photos and swag on the Cleveland mustard postings from last week. Rich the Killer Cameraman took the photo at the left during last Monday night's game at the Jake, then sent us the featured bottle of Ball Park Mustard. I've also heard from a couple of other native Clevelanders who have promised to share their opinions on the issue at some point.

Take My Word For It

Here are a few favorite posts this week from my Good Friends and Cool Places links.

Cranberry Meringue Pie (Tummy Treasure)

A Food Blogger's Daydream (The Chef From Hell)

Simple Salmon (Barbecue Bachelor)

Comfort me with banana pudding (Homesick Texan)

Enjoy your weekend!

Cleveland Indians Mustard

With my Cubs out of contention, I am bound by marital contract to root for the Remarkable Marcy's hometown team, the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe opens the American League Championship Series tonight at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox.

It's debatable whether Clevelanders are as passionate about the Indians as Cubs and Red Sox fans are about their teams. But here's an indisputable fact: Tribe fans are unsurpassed in their allegiance to their mustard.

The sweet and spicy brown mustard served in the old Municipal Stadium and now at Jacobs Field is unlike mustard you can find anywhere else. It really is out-of-this-world good. But there's a little controversy that goes along with it. There are actually two different mustards that have been served in the Cleveland ballparks, both claiming to be the original.

One goes by the name, "Stadium Mustard." The other, made by a company called Bertman, is called "Ball Park Mustard." Some fans think they're one and the same. Some, while acknowledging they're two distinct products, say they're pretty indistinguishable. Yet others swear by one or the other.

To clear up the mystery, I sent out an URGENT QUESTION yesterday to some of my Cleveland friends - Jeff, Jeff and Ron (aka Jeff). I asked them if there was a difference and if so, what is it.

Here are the answers I received.

Ron, a work colleague: "I have never had Bertman's Ball Park Mustard because I swear by the Stadium Mustard. When I go back to Cleveland, I pick up a supply so I have it. There is at least one in the fridge and one in the pantry at all times. I always thought Stadium Mustard was an original."

Jeff, a frat brother from Ohio State: "Many have pondered this and few agree, however the mustard connoisseur in me and a user of both say no. NO. They are pretty much one in the same."

Jeff, a friend from Columbus who now lives in Chicago: "Huge difference. They are different products from different companies. Stadium Mustard was shut out when the Tribe moved to Jacobs Field and got new vendors. I think it also was shut out of the Cleveland Browns Stadium, too. I recall a fair amount of fan fuss when this occurred, but it was muted and short-lived because the Indians were so successful and Jacobs was such an improvement over Municipal Stadium."

The research I've been able to dig up bears out Chicago Jeff's answer. Two companies, two mustards, the point of differentiation came with the 1994 move from the old park to the new one.

I've had both and quite honestly, I couldn't tell you if there is a difference without a side-by-side comparison. Both are delicious and indigenous to Cleveland. But they're available online and worth the purchase price. Slather some on top of dogs, sausages or burgers. They're also good on crackers and/or cheese.

I'll end with a musical tribute to the Indians. Here's a fuzzy-looking YouTube offering with photos set to Randy Newman's "Burn On."



Go Tribe!

Food for the Soul, Oct. 7, 2007

Damn goat. Ugh.

The Cubs went three and out in the first round of the playoffs. Frankly, it was a merciful show on their part. I was fully prepared for them to go up two games, come within one or two outs of making it into the World Series, and then collapse.

Next season marks the centennial celebration of their last World Series title.

I'm hopelessly addicted to this team, even though I don't much like them anymore. I saw my first major league game at Wrigley Field in 1967, a Cardinals-Cubs game. I still remember my first glimpse of the field, with both teams on it during warm ups. The colors - green, red, blue, white - were so brilliant that they seemed unreal.

That Cubs team of the late '60s and early '70s had great players - Ernie Banks, Ron Santo, Billy Williams (my favorite), Don Kessinger, Glenn Beckert, Randy Hundley, Fergie Jenkins. They should have had a couple of championships. But they were the Cubs, and they gave me my first real lessons about life, disappointment and foolhardy optimism. The term "June Swoon" was invented for this team.

For better or worse, I've dragged my family into my obsession. The Remarkable Marcy, a Clevelander beset by her own sports woes, understands my sickness. Our son, Courtland, was barely five weeks old when he attended his first Wrigley Field game. His first complete sentence was, "Mets are bums." His painful lesson was learned during Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series, when the Cubs were a mere five outs away from going to the World Series. It wasn't the Steve Bartman interference play, but the subsequent bobble of a routine ground ball by shortstop Alex S. Gonzalez, that led me to put my arm around my son and explain, "This is what being a Cubs' fan is all about. I'm sorry I've done this to you."

The late Steve Goodman knew the pain, too. The Chicago folksinger was a tremendous Cubs fan, who wrote at least a couple of songs about the team, including "Go, Cubs, Go" and the depressingly funny, "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request," which follows below.

And now, about that goat. Maybe I should have offered this earlier.

BBQ Goat (courtesy of the Food Network)

4 guijillo chiles
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon ground cloves
10 allspice berries
1/3 cup Mexican oregano
12 sprigs fresh thyme
6 garlic cloves
1 Spanish onion, roughly chopped
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 (12-pound) goat, quartered or 1 (6 to 8-pound) lamb shoulder
Salt and pepper
1 (2-pound) package dried avocado leaves

Toast chiles, cover with boiling water in a deep bowl, and set aside for 20 minutes. Grind cumin, cloves, allspice, and oregano in coffee grinder. Drain soaked chiles, puree in blender the chiles, ground spices, thyme, garlic, onion, vinegar, and 1/2 cup of water. Process until smooth Push mixture through a sieve, season goat with salt and pepper. Rub paste all over the meat. Arrange in a bowl and allow to marinate for 4 hours, refrigerated.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a deep roaster pan scatter half of the avocado leaves on the bottom, place meat on top of the avocado leaves and scatter the remaining leaves over the meat. Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil. Cook the goat 6 to 7 hours until meat is falling off the bone. If using lamb shoulder cook for 4 hours.

***Fresh avocado leaves are toxic, they must be dried to be used for cooking.

Thanks for sharing my pain. Wait until next year!

Joe Perry's Boneyard Brew

Last week I started the discussion of celebrity hot sauces and whether or not they were genuine or gimmicks. I scrounged up a few dollars and decided to find out.

The first celeb sauce to arrive was Aerosmith Guitarist Joe Perry's Boneyard Brew. The Brew is one of two sauces (along with Mango Peach Tango) sold through "Joe Perry's Rock Your World" company.

I tend to be skeptical about stuff that needs the help of a celebrity endorsement to sell. But this Boneyard Brew was a very nice surprise, starting with the chuckle it generated when I discovered it's bottled in a hip flask. Those crazy rock n' rollers!

But the sauce itself was considerably better than I had anticipated, too. It has a smoky, slightly sweet flavor with a satisfying amount of kick - not too much, not too little. Goldilocks would certainly approve.

The ingredients are all natural. There are red bell peppers, onion and lime to present the sweet taste; Chipotle peppers for the smoke; and Habaneros for the kick. I was impressed that Joe, or his appointed sauce master, had resisted the urge to add sugar to the brew, which makes it safe for anyone out there watching their carbs.

The only gripe I have is that the bottle is too small - only 3.75 ounces. What sort of flask is that for a hard core rocker?

But Boneyard Brew earns a definite recommendation from this blogger. I'm not a big mango sauce fan, but based on this one, I'm inclined to try Joe's other sauce down the road.

The other celeb sauces mentioned last week were the trio made by comedian/actor Cheech Marin. Those arrived in yesterday's mail and I'll report on them in next Wednesday's post.

I did try to find out whether or not former Yankees' pitcher Ron Guidry makes a hot sauce. Chef JP commented last week that he thought Guidry, who was nicknamed "Louisiana Lightning", made and marketed a sauce by the same name. When I Googled "Ron Guidry hot sauce", ironically the first result was JP's comment on my blog. Kind of cool, but not very helpful in answering the question. There is a sauce called "Louisiana Lightning Strike", made by a company called Cajun Power. I wrote to Cajun Power asking if Guidry had any connection to them, or if they knew whether he had ties to any other sauce companies. I'll let you know what they say.

Friday Fun, Sept. 28, 2007 - Curse of the Billy Goat

The baseball year is coming to an end and my Cubs are doing their best to kill me. They're dangerously close to losing their division lead with only three days left in the regular season, and bedeviled Cubs fans like me are wondering if the Curse of the Billy Goat is at work again.

The curse can be traced back to the Billy Goat Tavern on Lower Michigan Avenue. It's a historic bar and grill that's literally under Chicago's Magnificent Mile.

The Goat, as it's familiarly known, was the model for the old Saturday Night Live's Olympia Cafe skit. They really do shout, "Cheezborger! Cheezborger! No Pepsi - Coke!"

As in the skit, patrons line up in front of the lunch counter where their orders are taken and then famously called to the cooks. The food isn't great, but is sufficiently greasy to coat your stomach in defense of the many glasses of Schlitz or shots of Early Times (or both) you can drink in the perpetually dark, underground bar.

The Goat has long been a hangout for Chicago's journalists, many of whom are memorialized on the walls. The late, great columnist Mike Royko was a regular and his "Wise Guy's Corner" is still there.

During our 11 years in Chicago, it was one of my all-time favorite places to drink and socialize. But there's that darn curse.

The curse started when the Cubs' owner, P.K. Wrigley, prevented the tavern's owner, William Sianis, from bringing his pet goat to game 4 of the 1945 World Series. Sianis was so upset, he cried, "The Cubs ain't gonna win no more!" Well, it was effective. We're still waiting to get back to the series for the first time since the curse was invoked. You can read the full history of the curse and more about the Billy Goat Tavern here. And my former colleague, Rick Kogan, wrote a terrific book about The Goat, called "A Chicago Tavern: A Goat, A Curse, and the American Dream."

Now excuse me while I curl up in the fetal position for the rest of the weekend.

Go Cubbies!

Food for the Soul, Sept. 23, 2007

In the wake of this week's news out of Jena, Louisiana, I thought I'd share the following short, but relevant tale.

I'm currently reading David Maraniss' excellent biography of Roberto Clemente. In it, Maraniss tells the story of Clemente's fellow countryman, Vic Power, who was the first black Puerto Rican to play in the Major Leagues.

Here is a passage about Power's clever and graceful approach to dealing with racism:

What he did, often, was use humor as a shield to protect himself from deadly serious discrimination. His stories about how he confronted racism in the South have become a part of baseball lore, accurately reflecting social conditions in 1950s America even if some might shade into apocrypha. When a waitress told him that her restaurant did not serve Negroes, Power replied, "That's okay, I don't eat Negroes. I just want some rice and beans."

Boog's Hot Sauce

"Boog, Mo. Mo, Boog."

It was the most fun I'd ever had making an introduction.

The scene took place at Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards in 2006. It was before a game and I was walking down the outfield promenade with my youngest, Mo, when we saw Boog Powell, the hulking former Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians first baseman. He was sitting outside his bbq joint, a popular ballpark eatery.

Boog is frequently on site at his place, signing autographs for all who ask. And he did so, graciously, for Mo, who was delighted. Afterward, she begged for my cell phone, called home and announced to the rest of the family, "I got Boot's autograph!"

Well, she's a little young to know much about Boog as either a ballplayer or a bbq maven. But I remember him as a player - a power hitter and All-Star on some great Orioles teams of the '60s and '70s. Late in his career, he was traded to the Indians at an unfortunate time in the game's history when ugly polyester uniforms were in vogue. After seeing him clad in the Tribe's all-maroon uniforms in 1975, someone referred to him as "the world's largest blood clot."

After his playing days he returned to Baltimore and now he's a permanent fixture at Camden Yards. During game telecasts, you can see smoke rising from Boog's Barbecue, just beyond the right field bleachers. To be accurate, Boog's bbq is really pit beef, Maryland's version of smoked meat. It's brisket - or turkey or ham - that usually has some sort of rub and that's about it. Sauce, if used at all, is squirted on after meat hits bun. Just as often, Marylanders opt instead for a horseradish sauce. I'll have more about pit beef in an upcoming post.

Away from the ballpark, Boog grows an impressive assortment of peppers. A few years ago my Baltimore Sun colleague Rob Kasper wrote a story about Boog's pepper garden and the story included the big guy's recipe for hot sauce. Here it is:

Boog's Hot Sauce

1 1/2 cups white vinegar
3/4 cup water
3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 cups cayenne peppers, stemmed and chopped

Put all ingredients into a pot used solely for cooking peppers. Bring to boil, then cut back heat to just below boil and let mixture cook until peppers soften, about 30-45 minutes.

Drain cooked peppers and liquefy in blender, running at high speed for 1 to 2 minutes. Strain, pour into bottles.

Thanks, Boog!