Nobrainer’s Think Tank

This past weekend I made my first foray into barbecue, or at least it was some kind of flame-based, low-temperature, long-time pig cooking. And it was good.

While what I did may not fit into classical definitions it was, I’ll say again, quite tasty. Basically I got a 4lb picnic ham (aka a pork shoulder, as in part of the pigs upper arm and ball-and-socket joint), which I cut into approximately equal chunks, leaving the skin in place. I then added a rub consisting of (mostly) equal parts salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and sugar. The seasoned pork then went into my grandma’s old cast iron dutch oven. Water was added to a depth of about 1 1/2 inches. Then it was covered with the lid askew and placed on my grill (in this case, a gas grill because it is what’s here) over low heat. Water was added occasionally. Some smoke chips were smoked. After about 4 hours those hunks of pork fell apart.

The recipe came from Rachel’s dad. He of course recommends using charcoal, which I swear I will get to eventually. He also provided a sauce recipe, which I will skip here because the pork was, as I believe good barbecue should be, so delicious and juicy that sauce couldn’t have made it any better.

I’m also looking forward to moving up to the 7lb. shoulder, as more pork is always better. I highly recommend this as a weekend project.

… or given, neatly condensed into one little video.

Orac calls it the best scientific talk, ever, while the Unapologetic Mathematician considers it the best lecture ever. Sunclipse has it as well.

It’s always nice to see a good show and its leader get rewarded.

Alton Brown, star of the Food Network series “Good Eats,” has won a Peabody Award for his “goofy, tirelessly inventive series” that educates viewers about food, science, history and culture.

Friday afternoon Rachel and I set out from Charlottesville to drive to Athens, GA to watch some college baseball. We made it down and back and Oregon State swept the Dawgs in their own pen. It was an all around success.

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“WARNING: Failure to follow these instructions could result in fire or explosion which could cause property damage, personal injury or death.”

It’s too late for Thanksgiving, but here’s the Alton Brown instruction set for frying a turkey.

A hint for the ladies: men will gladly learn to cook when trips to the hardware store and blueprints are involved.

I woke up this morning with a hunger for one thing: a Zaxby’s Kickin’ Chicken sandwich. The juicy-crispy-spicy sandwich is one of my favorites. BUT since the nearest location is somewhere in North Carolina, I tried a new alternative.

And boy was I disappointed.

Unlike Zaxby’s, they don’t do wings. This isn’t too much of a problem since I didn’t want wings, but it means I have one less reason to go back.

Raising Cane’s has a cute dog mascot. Unfortunately for Raising Cane’s though, they don’t even do their chicken fingers well. The little things look good, but they have roughly zero flavor and they’re dry.

Put something tasteless and dry on a bun and you have basically created an overly elaborate bread sandwich. No thanks. There was some special sauce involved in this fiasco. Unfortunately I could barely taste it and probably wouldn’t have known about its existence had I not seen it. Zaxby’s doesn’t use a bun. They use two pieces of buttery Texas Toast and add enough of their spicy Zax sauce that some of it constantly oozes out.

So I’ll say this, Raising Cane’s sucks. Maybe it’s because this location hasn’t been open long. But today’s lunch was a major letdown. That’s what I get for having expectations I suppose.

The undisputed chicken-finger sandwich champion remains Zaxby’s.