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Puffy Pancakes?

Recently I came across a magazine insert called Relish published by relishmag.com. One of the recipes called itself Jill's Puffy Pancakes which had about a half dozen ingredients. But there were no leavening agents such as baking powder or baking soda. Maybe these ingredients will make a puffy enuf pancake for Jill but me, I need something to generate the carbon dioxide to give the flour et. al. the kick it needs to blow itself up.

Been doin' pancakes for about 40 years using a recipe my pop got from a waiter on a Pullman car just about that long ago. Good pancakes with just a little leavening added but definitely not puffy. Then about a year ago Cook's Illustrated came up with a recipe that changed my basic one just a little. It added buttermilk and baking soda. After just barely combining the wet ingredients and then adding them to the dry ingredients, the mixture is to rest for 10 minutes. Long enough for the powder and soda to act with the buttermilk. And 10 minutes does the job. I wonder how many iterations the folks at Cook's Illustrated went through to get the outcome they did? Don't need to know to enjoy some real 'puffy pancakes'.

Give 'em a try and let me know.

Rose Bowl 2010

Been a concern for sometime about the Big Ten's ability to keep up with the spread offenses of the Southeast, Southwest and Pac Ten conferences. The Buckeyes certainly have been outclassed in the past three bowl games by this type of offense. Seems the pattern continued with USC at the beginning of the season although USC won by only 3 three points.

Too early to tell since league play started shortly after. Then along came Purdue and Terrell Pryor's (and the rest of the team) miserable performance. Got back on the winning track vs Iowa and Michigan, among others. They may have been on the winning track but the offense almost looked like the days of Woody Hayes - 3 yards and sit down, or so a college chum said while watching the Iowa game in the horseshoe.

Having 6 to 7 weeks off before the next bowl game challenge can be hurtful to ones psyche keeping past attempts in mind. Should I watch the game with my hand covering my eyes just like I did when dad said to close them. Of course, I still managed to peek between my fingers.

At the first 3½ minutes I still was not convinced that the child method of watching should be dismissed. After all, the Buckeyes were playing a team that averaged almost 38 points per game. But the Ducks were not expecting their defense to be on the field for 70% of the game. That does not give a spread offense much time. Penalties and the Buckeyes defense worked against them.

Coach Tressel decided to give Pryor his wings and did the sophomore start to fly. Maybe with two more seasons as OSU's quarterback we will see a continuing improvement.

27 - Start Spreading the News

Joe Girardi choose this number for his jersey as he hoped it would lead to Yankees 27^th world series title. Girardi, an academic all American at Northwestern, is a man who believes that what needs to be done can be done.

However, the first part of this years baseball season (before the all-star game) was less than spectacular. After the all-star is another story. Steady Jeter, Posada and Matsui were finally joined by the highly touted but yet lacking A-Rod, who, apparently, thought it was about time to be a team player. Even still, his batting performance was somewhat lackluster finishing at .286 during the regular season and a much better but still expected .365 in three post season series. He does sport a .305 career average. He also is a publicity hound unlike his self-effacing teammates. Derek Jeter ended the season with a .334 average and has a .317 career average. Always a class act. Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano - all others fit into that category also.

A local sports editor, Tom Haudricourt, appears to be the quintessential Yankee basher. Lately his comments focused mostly on the fact that the Yankees, although playing by the rules according to him, bought this championship. He even goes as far as saying that the Yankees bought their first championship by hustling the Bambino away from Boston. How could he besmirch the beloved, but sometimes errant, Babe Ruth? Of course, he mentions nothing about how some college football coaches are recruited by universities in the same manner.

For me, nine years to wait for the next championship is way toooooo long. Oooooh, did I celebrate the victory Wednesday night. First by winning a tennis doubles match at a local club. Goes without saying one has to join the guys for a few pints and then watching the remainder of the 6^th game of the world series come to a most favorable conclusion.

No matter the argument, I still enjoy listening to 'Ol Blue Eyes singin' about the big Apple. Hope you do too.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin on Grape Tomatoes

Have been using a couple of recipes from Pierre Franey for pork tenderloins. One uses cream and capers, the other shallots, rosemary with a white wine sauce. Recently discovered stuffed pork tenderloin while watching Jacques Pépin. It is a wonderful addition to my repertoire. Pépin uses a 1½# tenderloin which at times can be difficult to find. If you use a smaller one, use less filling.

Butterflying the tenderloin can be daunting in the beginning but it is not that challenging. Place the tenderloin lengthwise to you. The tube is pointing away and perpendicular to the cutting board edge. 1/3 of the way from the top slice through the tenderloin until about ½" from the side. Flip the tenderloin end for end and rotate 180° so that the previous slice is now on the other side. If you are right handed the cut will be on the left. If left handed it will be on the right. Now make another slice about 1/3 of the way down. When finished you should have a flat piece of tenderloin about 8" wide by its length.

Now you're ready to make the stuffing which is made up of sautéed onions and spinach with seasoning and cheese. In order to secure the stuffed tenderloin, Pépin uses foil to hold it together which is an easy method. I use the traditional butchers twine and simply tie a around around the top and then loop the twine around the loin for about 5-6 times. Turn the loin over and then loop the twine through the ties that hold the loin together, skipping every other one. At the end turn the loin over again and tie off at the first loop.

You are now only minutes away from experiencing your excellent work. Get the recipe or click the title to view a video on Jacques Pépin preparing the recipe.

Wisconsin 13, (9) Ohio State 31

The Buckeye offense had way too much rest in yesterday's win over the hapless Badgers of Wisconsin. The match ups showed Wisconsin with a strong offensive front line weighing in at somewhere around an average of 250 pounds per lineman. They allowed only 2 sacks in their previous five games. But, Wisconsin QB Tolzien also threw two pick 6's which helped make them also rans once again in the Horseshoe. That along with a TD scored by a kick return gave the Buckeyes all the scoring they needed on this Saturday.

Defense saved the day for a team ranked 9 which could not mount an effective, continuing offense. They were, however, tricked on 4th and long when the Badgers lined up for a field goal on the Buckeye 24. A miscue by the Buckeyes allowed the only TD against them. The Buckeye defense was constantly in the face of Tolzien forcing either hurried throws, holding from his offensive line or putting him on the turf.

On the other side, offensively speaking, Pryor could neither pass nor run. Seems the Badger defense was omnipresent. There was once exception and that was with two left in the first half. Pryor seemed to finally realize why he was on the field and leading the # 9 ranked team in the country. Unfortunately, that was almost a singular episode in his on-field antics.

Having said that, it was the strong Buckeye defense that got the job done. I bring that up again because a major Wisconsin newspaper's sports headline states ' Giving one away'. Guess it is tough to give credit where due. It also seems difficult to assign fault/blame to the real culprits, the Badger offensive line. Which, incidentally, the same newspaper touted so highly in yesterday's edition.

Let 'em fight it out. We all know the final score.

Brisket, Pulled Pork and Ribs

Been a long time user of BBQ and in the last several years have included brisket, Texas style. Lockhart, Tx to be specific. Norman in Houston, an age old friend, insisted that although pork ribs were ok, Texas brisket was unparalleled.

Had to try 'his' brisket. So, on one of many trips to Houston for business meetings we journey on a Saturday to Lockhart, about 35 miles South of Austin. Might as well have my PhD son join us since he was in Austin at UT at the time. Now, keep in mind that the trip from Houston to Lockhart is much more than a walk around the block. About 150 miles and 2½ hours one way for a bunch of beef. I knew it was going to be a joy to see son, the doctor, again. The other, well, time would tell.

Dr. Peterson has moved on to other locations but Norman and I still make the trip to Lockhart when I am in Houston. Some Texas brisket is worth almost the amount of talk/bragging a Texan does. Norman and I have tried many brisket type joints in Texas, some good and some not so good. How to keep track of the + and - of not only the Texas BBQ joints but others as yet untried?

The obvious answer to me was to develop a database management program that would not only track the location but also include the type of food the restaurant served and a link to their website, if available. The program is ready for distribution and your use. There are, however, a couple of requirements if you want to participate. And since this is freeware the rules are:

1. This is a list of BBQ joints. Please don't pollute it with ice cream parlors and/or hamburger joints. Just brisket, pulled pork and ribs. Of course, some places also serve some mighty fine chicken but the main thing is Brisket, Pulled Pork and Ribs.
   
   
2. Each entry has a text box for your comments concerning the quality of the restaurant. The raison d'être for sharing the program is for your opinion of those BBQ joints you have visited and/or are familiar with.
   

Your database will be uploaded to my server. Whenever a database is uploaded, I make the changes to a master database and upload it to the server for all to enjoy. Instructions for uploading your database and subsequently downloading the updated database are in the help file of the program under Uploads.

Presently, the database has 102 BBQ restaurants. When you upload the database add a short note, using notepad or Word, of the changes/additions that you made. Zip the two files, restaurants.mdb and your note, named restaurants.zip and upload.

To get started, click here, download the zip file and then install it.

Looking forward to your experiences concerning Brisket, Pulled Pork and Ribs.