Does anyone know what the hell to do with Eurasian Black Salt? 

A few weeks ago I bought a sample shaker of Dave’s Gourmet Salts (that’s a good review of it, but you can buy it here).  In case you haven’t heard, gourmet salts are the hot thing right now – using different varities of salt to lend different flavors in cooking can be found in all the gourmet cooking magazines.  We’re not just talking about sea salt vs. table salt, it weird stuff like Hawaiian Red Salt, and hand-harvested Fleur de Sel.  I’ve tried only 1 or 2 so far, and there is definitely a difference between them.

However, there is one salt in the shaker that goes by the moniker "Eurasian Black Salt" and I don’t know what to do with it!  It has a very heavy sulfur smell and taste and I’m having a hard time trying to figure out what it would be good on!  If anyone know anything about this, it would be appreciated, since believe it or not, an internet search came up empty!

Last Wednesday night, February 1st, the New England Barbecue Society held a "Barbecue Road Trip" to Uncle Pete’s Hickory Ribs in Revere, MA.  It was the first road trip that NEBS organized in quite a while, and it was good to hang out with my BBQ brethren and eat some ‘que.

Of course, the only reason you’re really reading this is to find out what the food was like, so here you go:

Pork Ribs – Traditional pork spareribs prepared well, but not spectacular.  Good flavor and tenderness was good – not fall-off-the-bone mushy like you get in chain restaurants, but I also had a surprising amount of fat on some of mine even though some of the end pieces were a little dried out.

Beef Ribs – Possibly the BBQ star of the evening.  I’m not a huge beef rib fan – even the best beef rib isn’t as good as a good ‘ol steak or a pork rib in my own humble opinion, but I had two beef ribs and both were meaty, tender (for a beef rib) and had good flavor.  There were a few bites on the upper part of the ribs where the meat is more marbled that were excellent and would make the whole rib worth it in itself.

Chicken Wings – Ok, these weren’t barbecued, but I loved them.  They were fried and tossed in this spicy sweet-and-sour sauce that had a nice hot kick but was also sweet.  Love to try that smeared on some true barbecued chicken!  If I found myself in the area, I’d go back just for these wings.

Brisket – I don’t know what got into me, but based on a dining companion’s advice, I didn’t even bother with the brisket.  I’m fan of thick-cut or chopped brisket, not the thinly sliced brisket that was being served. 

Steak Tips – I think that’s what these were (that’s the problem with a buffet)… they were good, though not really barbecued – just grilled, so I tried one and moved on.  However, they were meaty and tender with good flavor.  I thought I heard someone say something about it being chopped brisket, but it didn’t strike me as that.  (great.. mystery meat…)

Pulled Pork – Good flavor but dried out without doctoring up.  I have a higher tolerance for a tough bark (the charred outside of a pork butt) since chewing longer means more flavor (is that as gross as I think it sounds?), so I thought this was better than some did.  I also prefer pulled pork over chopped pork (chopped is too much like cat or dog food in my opinion) so it got an extra point from me on that count.  However, I also slathered mine with Uncle Pete’s barbecue sauce, which I really liked, and helped to make the pork much more moist and taste better than it did on its own. 

Sauces – There were two sauces, one thinner and more vinegary, and the other a more traditional thick red sauce.  I found both to be well prepared and more interesting than the usual stuff you’ll find in some restaurants.

Sides – Sorry folks… I know some people consider this heresy since they think that barbecue also includes the beans and mashed potatoes and corn bread, but I didn’t try them.  I was there for the meat!  However, they did pass around some fresh-cut fries and home made onion rings, both of which I did try and thought they were really good.

Overall, I would give the place three out of five stars, if I did such things.  Definitely worth going to if you’re nearby (and maybe its better when not served buffet-style) and craving BBQ, but not necessarily worth going out of your way for.

I’d like to see the next NEBS Road Trip go to the new LJ’s Barbecue, which is moving to a new, bigger, and better location on the Providence/Pawtucket line.  Maybe some of the Massachusetts folks would be willing to take the trek down to check out the Lil’ Rhody barbecue scene.

This article has been referred to on a few different sites and in some e-newsletters I get:

http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/01/23/budwesier-coors-beer-cx_0124wharton.html

Basically, the beer industry is trying to re-vamp its image through an ad campaign so the beer will appeal to the "wine-and-cheese, single-malt Scotch crowd" as it is called in the article.   

Interesting concept, but one that is fundamentally flawed.  I believe that the reason that Budweiser or Coors doesn’t appeal to the the sophisticated gourmand crowd isn’t just because of an image problem: its because the beer just isn’t as interesting as those other options. 

Somewhere along the way, American beer (Bud, Coors, Michelob, etc.) became a thin, watery, flavorless and fizzy beverage which simply wouldn’t appeal to someone who appreciates the balance of tannins, acidity, sweetness,  fruit and earthiness in a fine wine (or even a single malt scotch for that matter).   The big manufacturer beers are very simply one-dimensional in their taste profile – if you like them, then fine, go ahead and drink em, but don’t tell me that all beer tastes the same if that’s all you like.

You want proof that not all beers taste alike?  Take a look at this beer festival coming up (which I’ll be attending of course): Beer Advocate’s Extreme Beer Festival.  That’s a link to the beer list there.  Among some of the more interesting (or "extreme") beers are: Peanut Butter Porter, Monster Barleywine, Cherry Spice, Imperial Death March Stout, Whiskey Barrel Porter, Jalapeño Sunsplash Golden Ale, Jamaican Stout….  let me tell you, none of these will taste alike, and all of them would make even the most hard-core wine or scotch snob feel hard-pressed to find something more interesting and complex than some of the beers there.

The above article also states that "Nor have brewers excelled at emphasizing that beer, like wine and certain liquors, can be brewed with different flavors (Anheuser introduced a pumpkin spice ale to coincide with Thanksgiving) and sold in attractive packaging" which is, again, false based on what smaller micro- and mid-sized breweries are doing.  Every year, nearly every micro-brewery puts out a "Pumpkin" or other "Harvest" ale in the fall and then a "Winter" brew in the winter. Those of us who understand that beer is a complex and interesting beverage look forward to trying these each year.  Rogue Beer, a microbrewery that is available nationally has some fantastic and interesting packaging, as does Magic Hat.  And they both make good beers.

What is interesting about this list of beers at the Extreme Beer Festival is that Anheuser-Busch will be there, the first time I can remember them having a presence at a Beer Advocate beer festival.  Kudos to them for trying to brew some new and interesting beers to help improve beer itself, not just its image.