Antimatter and BBQ

Our favorite show is Star Trek, whether the original series, next generation, or the movies (sorry, most of the series expansions we could skip).  And pervasive in Star Trek is the mixture of matter and antimatter that, when mixed in the correct proportions, gave the boundless energy the Enterprise used for power, warp speed, and so forth (lets skip the dilithium crystal details for the blog).  Even in today's real life it is believed that the combination of matter and antimatter would result in an explosive release of energy plus various basic universal particles.
But this leads to an interesting question.... is the opposite of matter antimatter?  Let's look an another possibility.  Doesnotmatter.  And look at the similarities:
Ever been to a meeting where the presenter is hammering home bullet after bullet of their presentation while most of the room ignores them in favor of their laptops, blackberry, iphones, and tablets? Can you feel the frustration level rise as the presenter has to repeat things or those not paying attention seem not to understand?  Or how about any one of the current events of global climate change and politics.  Watch someone passionately argue their position while the other, to whom it doesnotmatter, disagrees, debates, and plays devils advocate. The combination of matter and doesnotmatter creates an explosion just as matter and antimatter.

All musings aside, this combination of opposites is just as applicable to food.  Consider the explosive flavor of sweet and sour sauce, hot and sour soup, and the sweet spiciness of BBQ sauce.  Cole slaw is great example of opposites working together.  Successful execution of (most types) cole slaw uses the sharpness of vinegar or citrus to cut through the creaminess of the oil.

SkippyP's Catering employs this success principle on many of our favorite dishes.  From the lemon vinaigrette dressing for our curried chicken salad and the sweet heat of our BBQ sauces, to the amazingly sharp and creamy cole slaw we mentioned, let us demonstrate explosive flavor when we combine culinary opposites for your life events.  For out of this world flavor and a universal appeal.... Engage ;-)

Evolution of an Operation BBQ

I get asked how SkippyP’s started the Operation BBQ For Our Troops at Ellington, and when I tell the tale people are surprised… so I thought I’d recount it here.

Late July 2005, after the birth of our daughter Rachel (who is now number 3 of 5), we found ourselves in the waiting room of a pediatric urologist in the Houston medical center. Just days before her birth we had shipped some product to another Op BBQ and with time on my hands I was lamenting that there wasn’t something more I could do. Too bad Ellington was a reserve base. What else do you do while trying to be occupied in a doctor’s office?

I picked up a newspaper- which I never do, preferring to read online- and there, bigger than life, was an article about the reservists deploying. Really? Ellington? Why wasn’t this a big deal locally?

Next day I spent over an hour calling the base, mostly getting transferred around and disconnected. As a last ditch effort I called Major Jose Kalil who I knew from work at NASA JSC. He knew the number of the command office’s secretary. Late that day I figured I’d leave a message and call back the next day. But when I called he answered- he being the base commander, Colonel McNeally. From there it’s mostly history. I explained what I wanted to do, he agreed, and we worked with their homecoming committee to make it happen. That year nearly 2,000 soldiers from the 147th Fighter Wing and their families had a terrific BBQ meal at no cost to them.

That year was perhaps the most ‘grass roots’ of any we’ve done at Ellington. With sponsors from David Klose (BBQ Pits by Klose) to Texas A&M Galveston Aggie Corps, out of state anonymous donors, other local businesses, and yours truly (SkippyP’s) we had a blast cooking and serving our buns off! Special thanks to Greg Poeppl (GregNJersey) and Scott ?? (Texylvania Smokehouse) who came in from back east to help. It was truly a labor of love.

Since then SkippyP’s has organized and executed several more events at Ellington- Op BBQ events in 2007 and 2009, plus various support efforts when hurricanes hit. To date we’ve served more than 10,000 plates at Ellington and supported nearly a dozen other Operation BBQs across this great nation. We do what we can given our economic situation.

And to think it started with a cold call to the base.

MEATabons and Memories

Do you have kolaches where you live? Back in Ohio they didn't when I lived there... and judging by my family's comments they still don't. Depending on who you ask, they are either of Polish, Czech, or east German origin with varying spellings and pronunciations.

Regardless, they are basically rolls with a hotdog “sausage” in them. Sometimes with cheese or jalapeno and some places make them sweet with fruit inside. They're everywhere in Texas since there was a huge migration from Germany and Poland a century or so ago. Some are good, and some are boring, and rarely do they taste like they are advertised.

...insert wavy memory fade here.... the first time I tried them here in Texas I got one with sausage and cheese. What could be more awesome for breakfast than good bread stuffed wth sausage and cheese? So imagine my disappointment when I chomped into grainy bread with a HOTDOG in it. Not Jimmy Dean links or anything resembling sausage, but a HOTDOG with a piece of cheese wrapped on it. Holy smokes! Now I'm pretty luke warm on hotdogs anyway, but my fantasy breakfast had just been flushed by this horrible deception... but I'm digressing....... fade back to blog...

A couple of years ago I came up with a bada$$ recipe for kolache bread and made bbq kolaches. I've stuffed them with just about anything I can: pulled pork, chicken, chopped beef, and any other combination sometimes with cheese and/or jalapenos. Unfortunately making all the little dough sheets and filling them was SO time consuming and just not practical to do on a larger scale. It would take ALL day to make 8-10 dozen of the things.

Well, I spent the better part of my late high school years with my best friend (Rob Walton, Desert Storm Hero) who worked at the Town Mall cinnabon in Middletown, OH. I would shoot the bull with him while he made them- basically weigh everything out and make the dough, proof it, roll it out into big rectangles of a specific size, spread on the ingredients, roll it up, cut it into servings, proof, and bake. Over and over, all day long.

A couple weeks ago I had a hankering for kolaches but not the heart to make them. So I harkened back to those days and decided to try making them like he did cinnabons. I think the pictures speak for themselves. I made 5 dozen in under an hour (sans profing time, of course)! Some are ham and cheese, some are bacon and cheese, some are breakfast sausage, and some are chopped beef/chopped beef and sweet pickled jalapenos.

…and so kolache doesn’t fit anymore. We’ve started calling them Meatabons! And this time I cooked them out in the smoker cause I can’t handle the oven fighting with the AC in this heat.

Thanks to my buddy Rob for the great memories. Funny how things sometimes come around.

Enjoy!

First Annual Channukah Dinner

So this is the year where Channukah steps up to the plate. Several reasons come to mind, among them are the older kids are starting to ask about God, the year has been full of mixed blessings that got my attention and, of course, the xmas tree got ruined by hurricane ike so we don't have one :0 .

Coincident with all this we've been invited to a Channukah dinner party at the home of Randy and Chadisty Pauly. In BBQ circles Randy would be known as the head of the Holy Cow Cookers competition team, and Chad is his new bride. This evening we're off to light the candles for the last night of 2008 and see what kind of tradition we can ignite.

As for food, we have no idea what's in store. We plan to bring BBQ'd beans, some bean soup, and an apple pie.

Good food, family, and friends to you in 2009!