Revisiting the Beltway: One Last Trip around 695 (for the blog, that is)

As you may know, I finished the State-by-State project I've been posting up here every Sunday morning for the last few years.  For my final Sunday post, I have decided to revisit a previous project one last time: my Snacking around the Beltway series.  Due to crazy gas prices (which haven't really abated) and a total lack of time - in part exacerbated by said new project that lasted the last couple of years - I stepped away from it after examining every few exits around the Glen Burnie section of the Beltway (more or less Exits 1 - 8).

For this post, I summarize a few key spots I have visited throughout the rest of the Beltway.  Yes, I'm squeezing Exits 9 through 44 into one longish post.  This is, I admit, an inadequate way to finish it up, but it is better than nothing.

As I did in my January 18, 2009, Final Assessment post of the original series, I will again divide the Beltway up into six sections:

• the "Glen Burnie" section of the Beltway (south, Exits 1 through 8A) - I've already explored this one in more detail, so I'm not really coming back to it in this post.
• the "Catonsville" section (southwest, Exits 9 through 16B)
• the "Pikesville" section (northwest, Exits 17 through 22)
• the "Towson" section (north, Exits 23A through 30B)
• the "Essex" section (northeast, Exits 31A through 38B)
• and the "Dundalk" section (southeast, Exits 39 through 44)

This will not be a sweeping assessment of eats around the Beltway - I am exploring one, maybe two at the most, restaurants in each aforementioned section.  But these few restaurants hopefully do show the diversity of old and new eats off the Beltway, and will encourage you to further explore for ones I left off on your own.

The Glen Burnie Section (south, Exits 1 through 8A)

As I said, I have a few posts about Beltway eats in Anne Arundel County.  I will refer you to those, with one caveat: the Afghan place across the street from the Glen Burnie MVA is now a Hip Hop Chicken (map here).  I haven't visited it yet.

The "Catonsville" section (southwest, Exits 9 through 16B)

It's kind of silly to say I've "revisited" this part of the Beltway.  This is where I grew up: Lansdowne, which was home for my first 20-odd years, and Arbutus, Catonsville and such, where I got to (and still go to) frequently.  That said, I haven't really visited the newish eating establishments here lately: the new Middle Eastern place in Arbutus (Punjab Kabab & Sweets, map here), the frozen yogurt place along Maiden Choice (And what is up with this new fro yo trend?  Seriously, I don't get it), and the new Lansdowne Station shopping center, home to a Boardwalk Fries, an Italian place (Three Brothers of Lansdowne, the only Baltimore location of sixteen across the state; map here) and, notably, a new Chinese/American/sushi buffet.  That last part - sushi buffet - should send shivers down anyone's spine.

The place in question is the Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (map here) off Exit 10, near the Office Depot.  My mother told me that she took my sister here a few months ago and thought it would be a nice place to go get a sit-down meal.  Not nice as in "dressy" nice, but nice as in "Oh, you don't see us so often, it would be nice to spend some more time with you, and your sister liked this place" (full disclosure: my youngest sister, in her 30's, has autism, and it's not easy to find places that she likes beyond a set few places, so for her to like any place with Chinese food is in itself amazing to my family).

The place isn't my idea of "inviting": despite the many tables and booths, it seems quite crowded.  The mostly dimly lit interior doesn't help on that score.  Certainly though, the people there seemed to enjoy themselves, particularly the children's birthday party in the separate (and loud) meeting room next to the dessert buffet.

The Teppanyaki Grill has a bevy of the stuff you'd expect to find at a Chinese/Japanese buffet: various fried "Chinese" things, some maki rolls on ice which seemed freshly made at least (with massive amounts of wasabi sitting next to them), a section of "American things" just in case your stubborn Uncle Floyd won't eat "Asian" stuff, and large salad and dessert bars in case you are ever-so-slightly tempted to eat something healthy.

Yum.

For the price, however, this can't really be beat: all-you-can-eat for all of $7.19 plus tax ($10.39 for dinner instead of lunch; kids eat for less and very young kids eat for even less).  That said, it is a buffet, and as massive buffets go it is pretty average.  You may be thinking "Well what did you expect?" In a word: this.  I expected what I got, so I wasn't exactly disappointed.  But all the same, I don't usually enjoy this sort of thing, so I probably won't head back.  It didn't make me sick - that was a plus.

Thank God, that had me worried for a second.

The "Pikesville" section (northwest, Exits 17 through 22)

So much to choose from, so little time... And money...

Unfortunately I don't get around to Pikesville much these days.  The last time I visited was to hit up the Seven Mile Kosher Supermarket off Exit 20 (map here) for some matzah meal a year or so ago.  A few years before that, I was a panelist at the Great Tastes food show, as one of many panelists discussing food blogging in Baltimore.  I had mentioned that I was hopeful that Baltimore would see an increase in the number of West African restaurants in the area, since Charm City is fortunate to have a relatively large and increasing Nigerian-American (and overall West African) community.  Afterwards,  somebody suggested to me that I try out Peju's Kitchen and Lounge off Exit 17 in Woodlawn (map here).  I hadn't gotten the chance until recently, when I finally made the trip for take out one night.  Actually, it ended up being the very last restaurant I will have visited for this blog.  I mean, I don't exactly do these in order here.

Peju's with its large black awning occupies the large corner in the Security Plaza strip mall across from Woodlawn High School.  The plaza also features a South Asian clothing store and several halal buffets and groceries, plus a store-front Islamic center, a driving school, a handful of store-front churches and a halal Chinese restaurant (I've heard of kosher Chinese places, but a halal one is new to me, and certainly fills a niche needing to be filled).  The slightly rusty (not rustic) exterior of the whole building complex belies the gorgeous warm amber interior of Peju's, which serves not just West African specialties like jollof rice (of course), fufu and puff-puff (the West African answer to the donut.  Mmmm, donut), but various Caribbean specialties.  The warmly-lit bar and lounge area open onto the main seating area in the interior.  In other words, this ain't Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (see above).

Since I was out running errands and had to get home, I opted for take-out.  Though my eyes alighted on Caribbean specialties like jerk chicken and curry vegetable dishes ($10 each, more if during dinner), I eventually opted for the more Nigerian jollof rice with beef (also $10, also more if during dinner).  The jollof rice was certainly better than my one attempt to make it a few years ago, and I loved the thick tangy, slightly spicy tomato sauce that went with it. The two slightly tough pieces of beef I got had a nice flavor, but clearly they were a side if anything: the star of this meal was the big, heaping mound of soft, tangy jollof rice.  A few sweet fried plantain pieces finish off this meal. I will have to go back for more.

The "Towson" section (north, Exits 23A through 30B)

While I hardly get to Pikesville or Woodlawn, I often pass through Towson since I live so close by.  The problem here is that I never get a chance to stop anywhere.  The downtown Towson area has seen a few new places pop up over the last few years even as places like Towson Commons have shut down.  Yes, many old favorites like Kyodai, Kathmandu and Strappazza (just to name a few) are all still in that downtown area.  One that has been around for a while but I haven't had the chance to visit until not long ago was the Towson Hot Bagels (map here), recently voted Best Bagel in Baltimore.  Is this the influx of New Jersey and New York kids at the University making this assessment?  Seriously though, it's an efficient set up.  It has to be, since there are so many of these college kids in there!  The bagels are indeed good: chewy and filling and lovely.  I got an everything with cream cheese the one time I went there with some friends from out of town.

A few storefronts have seen some changes across the street from the library on York Road (map here: they're all close by): the Indo-Chinese place is now straight up Indian (India Cuisine), and I still haven't gotten to the Chinese place next door (The Orient Restaurant) or the 7 West Bistro Grille around the corner, all conveniently nestled not too far from Exits 26 and 27.  One place I have gotten to is the Phò Dat Thành (map here), the phò place near the Melting Pot, and one of three in the Baltimore area (with locations in Laurel and Columbia).  This once was a "pan-Asian" restaurant serving Chinese, Japanese and Thai food.  It finally settled on Vietnamese.  While they have various stir fry options available, you will probably want to go for the phò: a good, large standard bowl of phò at not a very steep price.

The "Essex" section (northeast, Exits 31A through 38B)

Sadly, I don't get around to this part of the Beltway that often anymore either.  I really should just stop between Exits 38B and 39 off North Point Blvd at the Prima Foods (map here).  This is Baltimore's premier stop for all your Greek ingredient needs, including their barrels of olives that you scoop yourself.  Closer to Route 7 and CCBC Essex lies places I have yet to get to, notably the Pizza Rustica (map here) at the intersection of crazy and crashy, er, Rossville Blvd and Pulaski Hwy near Exit 35 (seriously, why is that intersection so accident-prone?).

Ever since I last visited for the Beltway Snacking project a few years ago, I knew that Baltimore's favorite pit beef joint - and apparently the über-annoying Guy Fieri's - was in this area.  It did not dawn on me just how much closer Chaps Pit Beef (map here) is to 895 than the Beltway, so much so technically it shouldn't really be in this post.  But screw it, it's only a few miles away from Exit 35, so it's going in anyway.


For the few Bawlamorons who haven't been to this place - I admit, I was one of them until I went for this post - and for those outside the city who still aren't quite sure what "pit beef" really is, Chaps is not all big and flashing, and is even kind of easy to miss if you're not paying attention.  Plus, there isn't a large parking lot.  It is one of those places that stays small and puts out a quality product.  Okay, a lot of quality products: it's not just pit beef but various types of barbecue.  The menu is as complicated as any BBQ joint I've seen in this or other parts of the country.  But I went specifically for the pit beef sandwich, medium rare (about $6).  The meat is smoky, soft and juicy, and yes, you must bite down to get the slices of pit beef off the sandwich (but hey, that's pit beef for you).  Don't forget the many toppings along the window: horseradish, tiger sauce (horseradish mayonnaise), hots and a pickle chip belong on any pit beef sandwich.  I can't imagine eating pit beef without horseradish.  I just don't want to.

Isn't it better to imagine a nice juicy pit beef sandwich slathered with a big ol' blob of horseradish instead?

The "Dundalk" section (southeast, Exits 39 through 44)

Since family, work and friends are all in other parts of the area, I almost never get to Dundalk anymore.  And like with the Rosedale / Hamilton area it is easy to find pit beef in Dundalk.  Even easier since Merritt Blvd lost the wondrous Weenie World, one of my favorite hot dog places around the Beltway.  In its place is the Bullpen (map here), with the tagline "You can't beat our meat" (errrrrmm...).  Like Chaps and the nearby Bada Bing Bada Beef (which I did get to last time), this is also a pit beef and BBQ joint, and I will have to try it out next time I'm back down that way.

As with my much-delayed visits to Peju's and Chaps, I did finally get to the Boulevard Diner (map here).  Guy Fieri also stopped by here (my God, how many of these places has Guy Fieri infected with his presence anyway!?) for his DD&D show.  The Boulevard is your quintessential diner - nothing much different about that, except for the massive illustration of Ray Lewis (W0000000000T!!!!!) in the entryway.  Inside, it's no-nonsense but friendly and quick service.  And it has all the diner classics: the Mediterranean stuff, the burgers, the meatloaf, the desserts, and the all-day breakfasts.  I hadn't eaten lunch that day but was in the mood for pancakes - not many, but pancakes all the same.

I have my fat group, my carb group and my sugar group!

I got the short stack of two massive pancakes ($5) with two sausage patties (an extra $2).  I can't think of much else to say: they were typically tasty diner pancakes. The sausage was a little gristly but nothing I haven't enjoyed eating before.  And of course, I bathed the whole thing in butter and syrup, as you are supposed to do with diner pancakes.  Yum.

Post-Script

Had I decided to continue the blog - and had gas prices fallen again - I might have liked to get around the Beltway again.  I'm not sure I would've had the time, though: the one thing I remembered while doing the research for this post was how much time it took the first time around. So revisiting these various joints around 695 is just something I will have to leave to others.  Every exit has something worth eating (and probably something that is best left alone).  Search it out, folks.  I may not be writing about it, but I will certainly be searching for it nonetheless.

Places I visited

Boulevard Diner (diner) - 1660 Merritt Blvd, Dundalk, MD 21222; Phone: (410) 285-8660

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Yes, why not?

Chaps Pit Beef (pit beef & BBQ) - 5801 Pulaski Hwy, Baltimore, MD 21205; Phone: (410) 483-2379

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Yes, and I'd have to

Peju's Restaurant and Lounge (Nigerian / West African / Caribbean) - 1724 Woodlawn Drive, Wodlawn, MD 21207; Phone: (410) 277-9779

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Sure, especially since it's the only Nigerian restaurant in the area.

Phò Dat Thành (Vietnamese) - 510 York Rd, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 296-9118

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Maybe

Prima Foods (market / Greek) - 51 Kane St  Baltimore, MD 21224; Phone: (410) 633-5500

• Would I shop there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to shop there again? Sure!

Teppanyaki Grill Supreme Buffet (buffet / Chinese / Japanese / American) - 3551 Washington Blvd, Lansdowne, MD 21227; Phone: (410) 242-5887

• Would I eat there again? Probably not
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Um, no

Towson Hot Bagels (bagels / breakfast) - 16 Allegheny Ave, Towson, MD, 21204, with locations in Timonium and Canton

• Would I eat there again? Yes
• Would I go out of my way to eat there again? Hmmm...

Places to visit later (though I must leave others to write about them)

The Bullpen (pit beef & BBQ) - 1099 Merritt Blvd, Dundalk, MD 21222; Phone: (410) 288-3529

Hip Hop Fish & Chicken (fried chicken / fast food) - 6604 Ritchie Hwy, Glen Burnie, MD 21061, with various other locations in the area; Phone: (410) 766-1515

India Cuisine (Indian) - 321 York Rd, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 583-7770

The Orient Restaurant (Chinese / Japanese) - 319 York Road, Towson, MD 21204, with locations in Bel Air and Perry Hall; Phone: (410) 296-9000

Pizza Rustica (pizza / Italian) - 8805 Pulaski Highway, Rosedale, MD 21237; Phone: (410) 682-8640

Punjab Kabab & Sweets (Pakistani / Indian) - 5313 East Dr, Arbutus, MD 21227; Phone: (410) 737-7773

Seven Mile Supermarket (kosher / Jewish) - 201 Reisterstown Rd,  Pikesville, MD 21208; Phone: (410) 653-2000

7 West Bistro Grille (American / bar) - 7 W Chesapeake Ave, Towson, MD 21204; Phone: (410) 337-9378

Three Brothers of Lansdowne (pizza / Italian) - 3611 Washington Blvd, Lansdowne, MD 21227, with sixteen locations statewide; Phone: (410) 536-1080

Snacking State-by-State: Texas I - The Land of Beef and BBQ

The next state on my list is the biggest in the South and Southwest.  Like other large states, Texas has a lot going on foodwise, from barbecue to chili, Mex to Tex-Mex, chiles, phởs and chicken-fried steaks - and so much more.

Official Name: State of Texas
State Nickname: The Lone Star State, The Republic of Texas
Admission to the US: December 29, 1845 (#28)
Capital: Austin (4th largest)
Other Important Cities: Houston (largest), San Antonio (2nd largest), Dallas (3rd largest), El Paso (6th largest),
Region: South, Southwest; West South Central (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chile Pepper; Gumbo; Bison
Bordered by: Oklahoma (north), Arkansas (northeast), Louisiana (east), Gulf of Mexico (southeast), Tamaulipas, Nuevo León & Coahuila (Mexico) and the Río Grande (south), Chihuahua (Mexico) (southwest), New Mexico (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: cast iron dutch oven (cooking implement - not edible, of course, but used for cooking), chili (dish), chiltepín (native pepper), Guadalupe bass (fish), jalapeño (pepper), longhorn (large mammal), pan de campo (bread), pecan (tree and health nut), prickly pear cactus (plant - for the pads and the fruit), sopaipilla and strudel (pastries), sweet onion (vegetable), Texas purple sage (native shrub), Texas red grapefruit (fruit). tortilla chips and salsa (snack)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Where to begin?  Texas-style barbecue (specifically beef and beef brisket), Texas chili, chicken fried steak, Mexican (specifically Northern Mexican) foods, Tex-Mex foods (including migas, chile con carne and sopaipilla)

It's not easy to explain the foods of Texas, because there is just so much of it.  But apart from many typical foods of the South, the Gulf Coast (Houston has its gumbos, for example) and the Southwest, the Lone Star State burns bright with so many of its own.

* beef - Texas is cattle country, and when many of us non-Texans think about the state, the first thing we think of is beef.  Many of the state's most famous dishes are beef based: Texas chili, Texas beef brisket (see below), chicken-fried steak, barbacoa and carne asada (Mexican foods that are also seen often in Texas.  Also note: northeastern Mexico is also carne de res country)

* Tex Mex cuisine - When most Americans think of Mexican food, they're really thinking of this: Texas' own take on the Southwest.  As I'll explore in a following post, "Tex Mex" is not exactly the same as "Mexican", since it is heavier on the cumin, cheese and meat.  Fajitas, migas, sopaipillas and nachos some of the classic Tex-Mex dishes.

* northern Mexican cuisine - Tex Mex has its basis in the foods of northeastern Mexico, and four states border Texas to the south: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.  The chile con carne, barbacoa, carne asada, enchiladas and even to some extent the nachos and migas you find in Tex Mex food all have their origins in this part of Mexico.

* chili - Texas chili is its own special chili.  As we will see in a future post, the one most important thing about Texas chili: it is all meat and never, ever contains beans.

* pan de campo is the simple baking powder "camp bread" that is the official state bread of Texas (here's one recipe from the Travel Magazine of Texas)

* barbecue - This is probably what most of us think of when we think of Texas, a state with its own idea of its barbecue, and more importantly, other states' barbecues.

As with other barbecue states, Texas has a few regional styles.  According to Wikipedia (if you can trust it), East, Central and West Texas all have their own styles of barbecue.  The Texas 'cue I am most familiar (least unfamiliar) with is that of Central Texas, which I indulged in during my recent trip to Austin.  And it's the one that the Meathead himself walks us through, step by step.  While Central Texans barbecue just about any meat - beef, pork, chicken, turkey, wild boar, sausage - their favorite is beef brisket.  As Meathead puts it, "Brisket is the national food of the Republic of Texas" [Goldwyn 2012].  Beyond that, there is no agreement in Texas on what to do with brisket.  Typically, there is some sort of dry rub over a high-quality cut of meat, from "...the chest area of the steer between the forelegs" [Goldwyn 2012].  The steer has two, and they can be tough.  So you need to slow cook it for a long while.

Goldwyn's recipe needs to be done both outside and inside.  I don't have that luxury, so as with my attempts at Kansas City, Memphis and both North Carolina barbecue recipes east and west, I had to find a way to prepare Texas brisket completely indoors (yes, blasphemy, I know).  For the actual recipe, I turned to Lisa Fain's Homesick Texan website [2008].  She had to figure out how to prepare brisket in the oven in her smallish New York City apartment, and she came up with a way to do it using liquid smoke and Worcestershire sauce.  In fact, she notes that in all the variations she tried, Worcestershire was the one common factor.

I have received countless e-mails from y’all, my dear readers, sharing your brisket recipes. And when I was experimenting with how I wanted to make my brisket, I ended up trying quite a few. I think the common theme in all is Worcestershire sauce, along with a generous dose of liquid smoke. The liquid smoke won’t fool anyone, but I like the layer of flavor it adds. [Fain 2008]

Since I didn't want to leave my oven on for five hours, I adapted her delicious brisket for the slow-cooker-as-smoker method I used for the North Carolina barbecue posts.  I was similarly pleased with the results.

The Recipe: Texas Beef Brisket (smoked in the oven)

To do Fain's brisket in the slow cooker, you will need:

* beef brisket (a 3.5 pound one in this case.  While Fain notes that it's difficult to find anything bigger than a measly 1 lb brisket in New York, in Baltimore I couldn't find anything smaller than a 7 lb one at Wegman's.  So again, the nice people at Wegman's cut it in half for me and repackaged the half I didn't want.  It was about $4 per lb)
* Worcestershire sauce (the common thread in all of Fain's brisket recipes.  I had this on hand)
* soy sauce (had it too)
* liquid smoke (I still had some left over from the Kansas City barbecue sauce.  Since I actually smoked this brisket, I used less than Fain called for - 1/4 cup plus up to an extra 1/4 cup.  In the end, I added about 3/16 cup - half way between 1/4 and 1/8 cup - to the slow cooker.)
* apple cider vinegar (had it, and now I need some more)
* black coffee (I'm not a coffee drinker, so I stopped at Starbucks for a small black coffee for about $2)
* jalapeños (I had used all my jalapeños for my other Texas recipes, coming soon, except for one.  I did have a piddly little can of chopped serrano chiles.  It just wasn't the same, even in a pinch)
* onion (had them)
* garlic (same)
* cayenne pepper, salt & pepper (and same)

Remember, we are smoking this brisket in the slow cooker, so I also gathered:

* parchment paper (to make a satchel that you will place at the bottom of the slow cooker pot, filled with...)
* hickory chips (which you must soak at least an hour.  I had these from my attempts at North Carolina barbecue)

Soak those hickory chips.

While you do this, create your rub, mixing the garlic and all the dry ingredients together.

After about an hour, drain the chips and make a satchel with the parchment paper, poking holes all over the side facing up to allow any steam to escape into the slow cooker.

From here I added Fain's ingredients to the slow cooker.  Slice the onion and put the rings at the bottom, around the satchel of hickory chips.

Again, I used a bit less of the liquid smoke than the recipe calls for, since I was actually smoking the brisket.

Dry rub the brisket, and place it fat side up in the slow cooker, on top of the satchel.

Cover with your chiles.

Fain's recipe has you baking it in the oven for about five hours.  I slow cooked it for 7 1/2 hours.

And when it was done, I got this beautiful brisket.  Save the liquid, which Fain points out "is a fine, fine topping" [2008].

Slice the fat off the top and discard.

And slice against the grain.

When I visited Austin, all the brisket that I was served was served up three or four slices worth with plain white bread, onion slices and a small side of barbecue sauce - in this case Austin's own Stubb's brand (pickle slices were not uncommon).  It is some delicious beef brisket, juicy and not dry at all, with a nice spiciness and subtle but definite hickory smoke flavor.  The next time I will experiment by leaving out the liquid smoke altogether, to see how it turns out.  It will still be lovely.

Sources:

DallasVegan.com.  "Simple Vegan Migas…Brownsville Style".  DallasVegan.com, posted January 19, 2009.  Copyright 2010 DallasVegan.com.  All rights reserved.

Dr. Dan (blogger).  "Spicy 3 Chilies Texas Chili a la Crock Pot".  101 Cooking for Two, posted February 25, 2012.

Fain, Lisa.  "My Oven-Baked Brisket".  Homesick Texan, posted December 16, 2008.  Copyright Homesick Texan.  All rights reserved. 

Goldwyn, Craig "Meathead".  "Barbecue Beef Brisket Texas Style".  Amazing Ribs updated March 2, 2012.  Copyright Amazing Ribs.  All rights reserved.

Guía de Tacos (Guiadetacos.com).  "Enchiladas norteñas".  Date unknown.

Johnson Miller, Ruthie.  "Banh mi, oh my! The top five Vietnamese sandwich shops in Houston".  Culture Map Houston, posted February 26, 2011.  Copyright 2009-2012 Culture Map, LLC.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Daikon and Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)".  Viet World Kitchen, posted May 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Nguyen, Andrea.  "Master Banh Mi Sandwich Recipe".  Viet World Kitchen, posted June 17, 2009.  Copyright 2002-2012 Andrea Nguyen.  All rights reserved.

Shuttlesworth, Patrise.  "Tex-Mex vs. New Mex: Not Just About Jalapeños or Green Chiles".  On the Road, a Houston Press Blog, posted March 26, 2012.  Copyright Houston Press.  All rights reserved.

Sliter Satterwhite, Shannon. "Make a Batch of Texas Chili".  Southern Living Magazine, October 2005.

von der Mehden, Fred R. "Vietnamese".  Handbook of Texas Online.  Date unknown.  Published by the Texas State Historical Association.  Copyright 2012 Texas State Historical Association, published by the Texas State Historical Association, and distributed in partnership with the University of North Texas Sponsors.  All rights reserved.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Texas" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Texas".

Snacking State-by-State: Tennessee I - 'Cueing in Memphis, but do I really rub the way I rub?

I remember way back when I was barely nine years old.  My parents threw my sisters and I in the back of the Bronco late at night, not telling us where we were going.  The next morning, guess who woke up, rubbed his eyes and said "We're not home yet!"  (Or something like that, I don't remember.)  This was the last, most epic of our family drives from Baltimore to Pigeon Forge, at the time home to a Silver Dollar City that later became the site for Dollywood.  The next time I headed to Tennessee it was on my big move to California.  I haven't been back, so this armchair visit will have to do for now.

Official Name: State of Tennessee
State Nickname: The Volunteer State
Admission to the US: June 1, 1796 (#16)
Capital: Nashville (2nd largest, but is the largest metropolitan area)
Other Important Cities: Memphis (largest), Knoxville (3rd largest), Chattanooga (4th largest)
Region: South, Middle South or Mid-South; East Central South (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Cornbread & BBQ; Chestnut
Bordered by: North Carolina (east), Mississippi, Alabama & Georgia (south), Arkansas, Missouri & the Mississippi River (west), Kentucky (north), Virginia (northeast)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: bobwhite quail (game bird); channel catfish (commercial fish); Eastern box turtle (reptile); honeybee (agricultural insect, for the honey); raccoon (wild animal); smallmouth bass or bronzeback (sport fish); tomato (fruit - no, not vegetable)
Some Famous and Typical Foods: Southern foods, including fried chicken, cornbread and so on; Memphis style barbecue (both dry and wet); hot chicken (particular to Nashville); smoked hams; ham and red-eye gravy; Appalachian foods (Brunswick stew, stack cake, etc); anything eaten by Elvis (sure, not many Tennesseeans eat fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, but "the King" would want me to mention it, no?)

Our first stop in Tennessee has us walking to Memphis, another city legendary for its barbecue.  If y'all have been paying attention, I have tackled the art of barbecue in a few of these state posts: pork ribs from Kansas City and pulled pork from North Carolina (both east and west).  Now we hit Tennessee, and once again get ready to do some dry rubbin'.

Of course, Tennessee isn't just barbecue, though anyone living within a country mile of Graceland would insist it is the best part.  Much of its food is characteristically "Southern" and/or "Appalachian".  But there is a small handful of things you may more easily find in Tennessee than in the surrounding states.

* hot chicken - simply put, fried chicken, only very very spicy.  This is specifically a Nashville thing: hot, greasy, spicy hot fried chicken, leaking orange all over a nice plain piece of white bread, usually served with pickles.  I will tackle this soon, but not now.
* Tennessee country ham - like neighboring Virginia, Tennessee is known for its ham.  Their ham is different from that of the Commonwealth.  It should come as no surprise that...
* ...ham and red eye gravy is so popular that is an unofficial state dish.  This is common throughout the Greater South.  Even in my mother's kitchen in Baltimore - in my semi-Southern/semi-Northern home state, this is one of the more Southern aspects of food back home - I remember her making ham and red eye gravy for my father, and for us kids.  Simply put: fry up a ham steak, and mix the juices with coffee (or since I didn't like coffee, Mom added brown sugar instead).  Serve over the ham steak.  Yum.
* mountain stack cake, a typical Appalachian dessert that is a first cousin to the Smith Island cake in that there are many thin layers of cake.  The difference: instead of icing the cake, you put dried fruit (usually apples) between the layers.
* fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  Okay, this is not a traditional Tennessee dish, but I had to give a nod to the King.
* I don't know what her favorite food is, but I have to give a nod to Savierville's most famous native daughter (and Dollywood proprietress) Dolly Parton.  Did you know she has a cookbook?  I didn't.

As said before, Memphis barbecue is an important aspect of Tennessee food.  Restaurateurs-cum-television-stars Gina and Pat Neely are famous in Memphis for their barbecue, and certainly they're not alone.  And like crabcakes here, in Memphis and throughout barbecue country families pass down their recipes through the generations.  In Memphis, barbecue is dry-rubbed pork (such as baby back ribs) with a sauce.  In Gina and Patrick Neelys' Down Home With The Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook (2009), Pat Neely describes Memphis sauce as

...known for its sweet and tangy tomato base.  Ours keeps true to that tradition, striking a perfect balance between the sweet (we use brown and white sugar), the tangy (cider vinegar), and the tomato base (good ole ketchup!).  Any self-respecting Memphis pit master will tell you that the sauce must complement the meat without overpowering it, and ours [simmered for five hours] does just that. [Neely & Neely 2009:25]

While I did use the Neelys' sauce recipe for this barbecue outing, I went with barbecue meister Steve Raichlen's recipe for dry rub, posted on the Food and Wine website (2002).  As for the prep: I delved back into my smoked barbecue experiment from Kansas City and set up my oven to smoke some barbecue.

The Recipe: Memphis Dry-Rub Barbecue Baby Back Ribs (smoked in the oven) with Memphis Barbecue Sauce


For Raichlen's Memphis dry rub you will need:

* baby back ribs ($8 per lb at Harris Teeter, or about $16 for this rack)
* paprika (had it; the Neelys point out that any Memphis dry rub worth its salt - errrr - will have paprika, and Raichlen's is no exception)
* salt and pepper (had these too),
* cayenne pepper, cumin and dry mustard (had them all)
* celery salt (I only had celery seeds)
* onion powder (had on hand, too)
* dark brown sugar (bought one box for about $2)

For my indoor smoker, I assembled my wood chips - both hickory and cherry in this case) and enough aluminum foil to completely cover my pan of ribs so that no steam gets out.

First, mix up your dry rub in a bowl.

 Remove the membrane from the back of the ribs for easier ripping apart, if you like.

Pat the dry rub over both sides of the rack of baby back ribs.

Next set up your oven smoker.  Soak a layer of wood chips for half an hour and then place a rack on top of them.  Prepare a large sheet of aluminum foil that you can wrap around your entire pan.

Place the rack of ribs on the rack inside of the pan, and wrap your aluminum foil around the entire pan, tenting it at the top.

Again, you have to wrap the entire pan in foil.

I roasted my ribs for about 3 hours at 250°, as I did with the KC barbecue ribs.

When done, cut open the foil and take in that wonderful smell.

Ahhhhh.....

You could eat these ribs naked.  I mean the ribs are naked, though nothing's stopping you from dressing the same.  Seriously, nobody's looking.  But wouldn't they go nicely with some barbecue sauce?  Again, on the ribs, not on you.  Here's where the Neelys' recipe on page 25 of Down Home With The Neelys (2009) comes in handy.

For Gina & Pat Neely's Memphis barbecue sauce you will need:

* ketchup (this is one of the three things I did not have on hand, having thrown it out after losing power for almost a week after the derecho rolled through at the end of June.  No, I didn't need to throw it away, but I wanted to be on the safe side since it wasn't pumped full of corn syrup.  A bottle was about $1.50)
* apple cider vinegar (this is another thing I didn't have on hand, because I was out.  It cost about $1.50)
* lemon juice (had to replace it.  The old bottle had turned after sitting in the refrigerator-turned-heated-closet)

I had everything else on hand:

* brown sugar (I used light this time),
* pepper (no salt - as the Neelys say, there's enough)
* light corn syrup
* Worcestershire sauce
* dry mustard
* paprika, sugar and onion powder (the basic ingredients in the Neelys' dry rub.  You need a smidgen of this in your sauce)

Prep a small batch of the Neelys' Memphis dry rub to add to the other ingredients.

Mix everything together in the pot.

Stir and bring to a boil.

Let simmer for a few hours.  Keep watch over it and stir lest it get too goopy and burn to the bottom.  Serve with your ribs.

Memphis dry rub with hickory wood flavoring: very tasty.  I am finding it easier to do smoked barbecue sans liquid smoke in the oven.  I will have to do this more often (and will soon enough when I get around to Texas).  The barbecue sauce was a bit thick for me, but I think I just let it boil down too much.  Had I not done so it would have turned out very nicely because it does have a wonderful sweet, tangy taste.


Sources:

Bedell, Malcolm.  "Nashville Hot Chicken". Far Away: Cooking and Eating in Maine, posted April 3, 2012.  Copyright 2010-2012, FromAway.com  All rights reserved.

Jones, Justin.  Personal correspondence to Nashville Scene website.  Published in "Bites Exclusive: Winning Hot Chicken Recipe!" by Jim Ridley, Nashville Scene, posted July 31, 2008. Copyright 1995-2012, City Press LLC.  All rights reserved.

Neely, Gina, and Patrick Neely, with Paula Disbrowe.  Down Home with the Neelys: A Southern Family Cookbook.  Alfred A. Knopf: New York, NY, 2009.

Raichlen, Steve.  "Memphis Dry Rub Ribs".  Food & Wine Magazine website, 2012.  Copyright 1997 - 2012, American Express Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

Ridley, Jim.  "Bites Exclusive: Winning Hot Chicken Recipe!" Nashville Scene, posted July 31, 2008. Copyright 1995-2012 City Press LLC.  All rights reserved.

Severson, Kim.  "Nashville’s Rising Stars: The Kitchen Is Their Studio" New York Times, published June 18, 2012.

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.  "Appalachian Foods".  From "Appalachia: Heritage and Harmony" Resources Page for the 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, 2003.  Copyright 2003 by the Smithsonian Instution.

Tennessee Gen Web (TNGenWeb.com). "Stack Cake".  From "The Table of Our Ancestors, Old Time Southern Recipes".  Family recipe from the family of Hilda Marsh, Knoxville, TN.  Date unknown.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "Tennessee" page and other pages, and the Food Timeline State Foods link to "Tennessee".

Austin City, Unlimited Part I - Of Barbecue and Barbacoa

Recently I had the opportunity to go to Austin, Texas.  It wasn't a vacation, mind you - this was for work - but the time I did get to explore was pretty much spent eating.  Not a bad way to spend a trip to Austin, which, like our own, is a food city.  And even though it was a solid 90 degrees pretty much the whole time I was there, I did do a lot of walking.  So in the end, despite all the food I ate (all the food I ate), with all the heat, sweating and walking around I actually think I lost a pound by the end of the trip.

There is much to mention about the food in the Live Music Capital of the World, and I'm not sure where to begin.

The cuisine of Texas is varied, in this biggest state in the South and Southwest (note: California is, technically, in the Southwest, but isn't "Southwestern").  Mexican, Tex-Mex (the most common version of Southwestern) and of course barbecue abound.  It's easy to find it all in the capital of the Lone Star State.  I had a chance to eat it all, and what's more I got some use out of my Urbanspoon Android application.  I was able to avoid anything with less than an 80% user rating once I downloaded it.

Not taken with Instagram.  I accidentally used the Puddin' Camera app I downloaded onto my phone.

I started off with Mexican, a few blocks from my hotel.  La Condesa with its blocky modern decor has a 76% rating on Urbanspoon, but the hotel clerk recommended it so I tried it out.

Overall I found the tortilla soup satisfying if a bit creamier than I'm used to.   

For the main part of the meal, I had cochinita pibil tacos with beans and rice.  I've eaten cochinita pibil a few times in my life - in the US, in Mexico, and out of my own slow cooker.  It all tasted different from this cochinita pibil, which I didn't quite recognize.  It wasn't bad, but it seemed to have a more Tex-Mex flavor to it.  Cochinita pibil should be citrusy, and this just wasn't.  Even the pickled onions didn't really jump out.  Again, it wasn't bad, but it didn't seem like cochinita pibil to me.  Truthfully my favorite part of this meal was the rice.  I could eat a plateful of this stuff and be happy.

I had a more satisfying taco at La Casa del Fuego food truck.  For a little over $3 I got a somewhat dry pork taco that worked better than it sounds.  

This was not a taco al pastor but a taco with chunks of (it seemed) dry-rubbed pork, smothered with cilantro and juicy onions, and a slightly spicy sauce (I asked for spicy - either they didn't give it to me or they just don't do "spicy").

Most of my food time was spent eating barbecue.  Yes, Texas is one of the centers of the American barbecue landscape, and Texans boast about it.  The one guy driving me from the airport, for goodness sake, launched into a tirade against Kansas City and North Carolina barbecue in the course of three minutes when I started asking.  It was a good natured tirade, but a tirade none the less.  He recommended a few good barbecue places downtown, and a family friend from the city recommended one more.  Austinites will have their favorite, and I have mine.

The first I visited, Iron Works, was by the massive and flashy convention center.  It was the only one that had a line out the door (for lunch).  As with any Austin barbecue place, they give you a healthy choice of barbecued meats: beef brisket, chopped (not chipped) beef, pork, sausage, chicken, ham and so on.  I ordered the beef brisket, which came with the standard accompaniments: white bread (here just one slice), onions & pickles.  You get to choose sides (in this case potato salad and beans).  The barbecue brisket plate was all of $9, and since I could use a card I added a small bottle of Coke and a small thing of banana pudding - not as good as my mother's, of course, but don't we all think that?

The grand total was a massive $13.  They don't automatically provide sauce, but have various different squeeze bottles of sauce in their seating area.

I liked Iron Works beef brisket, though I found a more flavorful (and just as cheap) one at Rudy's Barbecue on the north side of UT Austin.  This is the barbecue place that our family friend, who is from Austin, recommended to me.  For this beef brisket I got two slices of bread and chose, again, potato salad and beans to go along.  Brisket is not meant to be juicy, and this wasn't at all, but the flavor was just a little more intense than Iron Works'.  The little cup of sauce they gave me along with it was just enough to last me through the three slices of beef.

The kind of barbecue that makes you wanna smack someone it's so good

The last barbecue place I tried was the legendary Stubb's, which I got the impression from travel guides was this big, flashy place that hosts musicians and has lots of tourists come to visit.  Instead, from the outside it looks like a very unassuming, even slightly ramshackle edifice.  Inside it is dark and cozy with the shutters drawn, with an outdoor area that was fully packed when I visited.

This time I ordered the pork barbecue - the nightly special - for $11.  With its streaks of fat (probably not the most normal thing to find in Texas barbecue) it was juicier than the beef I had elsewhere.  The other sides were the same - this time Texas thick cut bread, onions, pickles.  I did have to spit a little of the fat out because it was unchewable.  Overall Stubb's was a lovely barbecue, but out of the three places I visited - and I would readily go back to any of them again - I have to give the nod to Ruby's.

Coming up in the next post: the other stuff I got to sample in Austin.  Oh no, it's not all barbecue, Mexican and Tex-Mex.