Meathead

The flame war between charcoal grill purists and gas grill hotheads burns brighter than the debate between Mac and PC users. You should read some of the slop slung on the barbecue message boards. On second thought, don't. Let me try to sort it out for you with a few...

Bourbon is the quintessential American whiskey and the drink of choice of many Southerners. Made primarily in Kentucky, mostly from corn, when properly made, filtered, and aged, Bourbon can rival the finest Cognacs in richness, depth, and complexity.

Mint is a weed. Plant some now and you'll be engulfed by...

This is the third in a series of articles by Mike Sanson the Editor-in-Chief of Restaurant Hospitality magazine, a great trade mag and website for restaurant management. Every issue he tweaks his readers into passionate responses. The issues he confronts them with...

"I give you Chicago. It is not London and Harvard. It is not Paris and buttermilk. It is American in every chitling and sparerib. It is alive from snout to tail." HL Mencken

According to historians, the river that ran by the...

This is the second in a series of articles by Mike Sanson the Editor-in-Chief of Restaurant Hospitality magazine, a great trade mag and website for restaurant management. Every issue he tweaks his readers into passionate responses. The issues he confronts them...

Washington D.C., is the nation's most international city populated by long term locals and many many imports. Much of the local population comes and goes with the political tides. According to the Washington Post, only 15 percent of the white population was...

This time the Obamas got it right. They gave the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his wife, a very cool gift, a $1,900 wood and charcoal-burning grill and smoker combo, made, where else, in Obama's home state, Illinois.

Last time...

Surprisingly, corned beef and cabbage is not an Irish tradition. It is an Irish-American tradition. Corned pork and cabbage is more common in the Emerald Isles, but Irish immigrants to the U.S. found beef more plentiful in their lower Manhattan ghettos where the butchers were mostly kosher and pork was...

Mike Sanson is the Editor-in-Chief or Restaurant Hospitality magazine, a great trade mag and website for restaurant management. He knows the biz inside and out.

My favorite feature is his editorial. Every issue he tweaks his readers into passionate responses, often...

Your first question has to be "Why bother?" And the answer is simple. Homemade corned beef is better.

Why? The commercial stuff, especially the cheap stuff mass marketed for St. Patrick's day for Irish...

What I want to know is why is there not a booming outcry about the creeping of "Black Friday" into Thursday by the bloviators, especially the super patriotic types on FOX? Why are we letting greedy merchants steal this unique national family valued event from their clerks, stockboys, cashiers, and...

The question is: Brine my bird or not? The answer? Maybe.

Turkey that is labeled "enhanced" or "flavor enhanced" or "self-basting" or "basted" has been injected with a salt solution at the packing plant. Kosher meat...

I'm a big football fan -- an undersized high school linebacker who even did spring training with the University of Florida as "Paper Gator" when I was sports editor of the campus paper (click the link to read about my dubious record at the Swamp). I'm the guy...

Read more reports from Meathead's kitchen and grill deck at AmazingRibs.com

My garden is heaving its last breath. The tomatoes are green and show no inclination toward joining my salads. But they will not go to waste! A few will become fried green tomatoes for Sunday breakfast,...

The Stall. The Zone. The Plateau. It has many names and it has freaked out many a barbecue cook. I know because they email me right in the middle of their cook. Panicky.

You get a big hunk-o-meat, like a pork...

Among all the creatures on earth, only humans cook -- and barbecue is the world's oldest cooking method. Barbecue may even be the world's second oldest profession.

It has been said by anthropologists that mastery of...

Caprese salad is the world's best use of tomatoes and possibly the world's best salad. This classic summer dish from the Island of Capri off the west coast of Italy is the essence of August on a plate. It is the...

Earlier this week Oscar Mayer and Ball Park found themselves before a judge in Chicago accusing each other of false advertising. One battle in the wiener wars is over Oscar Meyer's claim that their frank is the best.

Apparently

Bazillions of pounds of ground turkey were recalled this week because a man died in California and scores more are puking up their guts and crapping blood. Dozens were killed in Germany by cute little sprouts and scores more had their kidneys destroyed. Fer...