Franklins BBQ - Everything's better in a trailer (Oklahomans excluded)

For Austinite bbq lovers, the few options in town meant treks to Luling, Lockhart, Taylor or Driftwood.  There are a few in town I like (Rudy's, Ruby's), but none that just flat out impress across the board.  Until now.  It may not look like much, but Franklin's is quickly gaining a reputation among BBQ aficionados.  I gathered up the Royal We (Fall 09 Bowling Champs) Thursday to try it out and walked away extremely impressed (and overweight).

My litmus test for good bbq is the standard 2 meat test: brisket and sausage.  Between the 4 of us we ordered 1.5 lbs brisket, 1 lb sausage and 1lb pork ribs.  The owner, Aaron, provided us with some charred caps to munch on while he cut everything up.  Amazing.  The guy should somehow market just the ends (muffintop ala Seinfeld). It was all amazing.  The brisket was one of the best I've tried, 10 out of 10.  The sausage and ribs were both 8 out of 10.  My only knock was there just wasn't a sauce there that I really liked.  The expresso sauce is good and a very different idea.  The sweet sauce was ok and I'll have to try the pork sauce next round with some pulled pork. 

We all walked away very happy with this nearby lunch option soon to make it into the rotation.  On one hand, I liked the fact that we walked right up with just a few folks in line and had our run of the place.  On the other hand, its criminal to keep a place like this secret and Aaron seems like genuine good people.  So, next chance you get, give it a go.  Its just north of Dreamers (on 35 frontage road).  If you pass Chicas Bonitas, you've gone too far.  (35 and Concordia).

And now, food porn:

The establishment

 

The Order

El Brisket

Los Ribs

BBQ Lunch, Serious Business

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup

So, apologies for the blog hiatus.  Between the holidays, the National Championship game and Vegas, there wasn't much cooking going on up in our kitchen.  However, this will be a multiblog week so really, try and contain yourselves.  Onto the grub.

For those that don't know me, I'm a carnivore of the highest order.  The few entries I've made were chalk full of meaty goodness.  Every now and then I feel the need to get away from that and bring some veggies into the mix (its rare, but it does happen).  So when I filled out our Greenling order this week I grabbed way too many butternut squashi, some sweet potatoes (a regular in our box) and a few yukon gold potatoes and went to town.

1 lb butternut squash
1 lb sweet potatoes
2 small yukon potatoes
1 small onion
6 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp minced ginger

This was a pretty easy recipe, but most of the work was turning this:

into this:

One workout at Gregory Gym this afternoon, the second in the Huebner Kitchen dicing up all that fun.  The rest went by quickly.  Throw the onions in with some olive oil in a large soup dish for about five minutes until tender.  Then add the ginger, sit back and enjoy the smell (but only for 1 minute):

 

Then in goes the rest of the veggie goodness (and chicken broth).  Turn the heat up to get it simmering then cover and turn it down to medium for 45 minutes or until the ingredients are soft enough to blend.  Use a blender and smooth everything out into an even consistency (left ours with some small chunks) and then put it back on the heat for another 15 minutes or so while you put together this super easy salad:

lettuce
sliced pears
blue cheese
chopped walnuts

dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp apple vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice

throw it all together and here's what makes the wife smile:

Pulled Pork Sammiches - Hot Crock-Pot Action

Quick. Easy. Cheap. Plentiful.  That's the way to properly rock the crock-pot my friends.  We'd used ours once since the wedding so it was time to break it back out.  Last week was a busy one but with softball being rained out I swung by HEB on the way home for the essential ingredients:

1 pork shoulder (~3.5 pounds)
1 liter-O-Cola (this Super Troopers quote/reference shamelessly brought to you courtesy of my recent celeb sighting Saturday night http://twitpic.com/tiar0 director and star of Super Troopers, Beerfest and newly released Slammin Salmon, Jay Chandrasekhar )
1 12 oz bottle of Stubbs BBQ sauce
1 pack of slider buns

This was ridiculously easy to put together and fed an army (or A and I for 3 or 4 meals):

1. Trim any excess fat off the shoulder
2. Place it in crock-pot on low heat
3. Cover in Cola (we used Coke but I've heard Root Beer works well)
4. Get on with your business for the next 8-9 hours
5. Remove from crock-pot and use forks to shred (save a cup of the liquid)
6. Return shredded pork to pot, add bbq sauce and cup of the liquid
7. Mix and put on high heat for 30 minutes.
8. Plate on toasted slider buns
9. Win!

We had ours with sweet potato fries which were even easier to prepare:
1. Cut up sweet potato into 1 inch wide, half inch thick, whatever length.
2. Toss in bowl with olive oil
3. Place on oven sheet and dust with salt, pepper and some chili powder.
4. Cook on low rack @400 for 20 minutes.  Move to high rack for 10 minutes to crisp them up.

Behold

From Green Bean Casserole to Greenling: One Man's Culinary Evolution

When I decided to start this blog I didn't really put much thought into why.  Was it readership, credibility or just another cog in the social media machine that keeps us all connected?

Readership I've got.  Google Analytics tells me I've had 100 visits since the nomBlog's inception which may not be much compared to other bloggers out there, but I'm thrilled after just 2 posts.

Credibility....I'm still waiting on those invitations to new restaurant openings so perhaps that's where I need to focus some attention.  I'm not a chef.  My restaurant experience is limited to the following:

1.Concession stands at my high school stadium.  I held such illustrious titles as “Hot-dog Defrosting Technician” and “Lead Queso Associate”.  Despite what I know about how those things operate, I still find myself ordering a hot dog and nachos at DKR.  Pavlovian tendencies are tough to overcome.

2.Pizza delivery – the smell of pizza does not come out of vehicle upholstery.  I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

3.Head food leecher- My parents purchased K&G Restaurant in Brenham shortly after I graduated high school.  Unfortunately, it was within driving distance of Austin so any trip home meant heavy grazing by yours truly.  If the buffet wasn't up, I was in the kitchen pestering the cook or tasting the latest pie or cake my mom cooked up for the day.  The freshman 15 evolved into the senior 40.

So, I'm not gaining any credibility based on work experience.  Everything I've learned over the past (gulp) 31 years has been passed down from some amazing cooks/people in my life.

It started with “Janet's (Mom's) Green Bean Casserole” which made appearances at just about every Thanksgiving/Christmas/family gathering mainly due to my siblings and I demanding it.  I don't remember how old I was when I was first trusted with preparing the dish, but I remember being floored when it got the seal of approval from my mom (the family seal of approval was an empty dish).  At that moment I realized that one of the best parts of cooking was seeing your work being enjoyed by others.  That's one of the biggest reasons for this blog.  Food is meant to be enjoyed, be it a simple casserole dish or a complex brisket on the pit.

When I turned 24, my mom gave me a recipe book that she'd put together that included many of the foods I'd grown up on.  Over the past 7 years I've made it a point to add to that book with recipes from friends, family and a bunch I've run across online.  The instructions are there...unfortunately, the will power to put them together has been lacking for quite some time.  Simply put, I can be a lazy guy; especially when it comes to grocery shopping.  A isn't much of a go-getter in that arena either so we've been living off a steady diet of quasi-fast food and various restaurants for far too long.

Enter Greenling.  In an effort to start eating better we've found our savior (or perhaps half-way house is  a better term).  Online grocery shopping.  Locally owned.  Farmed locally.  Organic.  Did I mention they bring it to your front door?  We're talking eggs from right here in Austin.  Cheese made in the Brazos Valley.  Beef raised in Bastrop.  Its going to be a gateway to help us start cooking more at home while simultaneously boosting the local economy.  Win friggin win.

Our first round was successful (breakfast for dinner one night, pork loin with acorn squash another) so I hope this leads to more home recipes on the blog.  If I can find a good price on steak my next entry will be overcoming the lack of a grill: how to pan sear steaky goodness.  Nomdiddilynom.

Buenos Aires Cafe

After hearing several rave reviews I figured my first restaurant review might as well be somewhere with a reputation.  A and I took the 2 minute drive over to South 1st and parked next to a non-descript building flanked by a pawn shop and the infamous G&S Lounge.  Not exactly where you'd expect fine dining.

Upon entering you find a small dining room with no more than 10 or 11 tables.  (I promise the next round will have ACTUAL photos and not iphone renderings)

We were seated in the corner and after listening to the daily specials decided we'd be dining off menu.  Adrienne had the Mahi-Mahi with a white wine reduction sauce, capers, shrimp, asparagus and mashed potatoes. 

The sauce really made the dish for me (of the couple bites I had).  I'm not a huge fish person, but it was cooked to perfection.

The gentleman sitting next to us sung the praises of the beef tenderloin going so far as to say "it is the greatest cut of meat I've ever had".  This intrigued my inner carnivore so I ordered the tenderloin, medium rare with green beans, yukon mashed potatoes and a couple of gulf shrimp.

                                     

After you're done admiring those chiseled man-boobs you'll notice that the presentation was outstanding.  The green and orange coloring in conjunction with the tomatoes on the green beans made this dish really stand out.  And that was before taking a bite.  The beef cutlet was on the small side, but the flavor was solid.  Juicy inside with an herb paste on top and cooked a perfect medium rare.  The mashed potatoes and green beans were well cooked as were the shrimp.

The special prices were a little high, but overall we left very impressed and eager to head back.  They've recently opened a second location on East 6th.

@Home: Seared Ahi Tuna

A and I have been catching up on Madmen the past few weeks (we missed the boat when it first came out). Through most of season 2 I've learned that to properly hook your client, come out firing with your best idea first. Ok, perhaps I'm making that up and I'm really just wanting a fully stocked liquor cabinet in my office for Mondays like this. At any rate, here's one of my favorite dishes I've put together. (Fair warning, pictures are a result of iphone camera and my jimmy hands...proper photo documentation in future postings will be done by the professional in the family)

.5 lb yellow-fin tuna
white/black sesame seeds
salad greens
red bell pepper
wonton sheets
asian ginger vinaigrette
edamame as a side
6 pack Breckenridge SummerBright to get me through the evening



Prepared the wontons first. Not necessary, but adds a nice texture to the rest of the salad. Cut up into strips




Threw them into some hot olive oil for roughly 30-40 seconds (till they puff up and turn brown)



result = crunchy goodness



Tuna + Sesame seed mix



Cooked on high heat using some olive oil. 90 seconds on one side, 60 on the other.



Sliced to perfection



And the final product with some tossed salad greens and julienned red bell peppers



Came out fan-friggin-tastic. Honestly, I'm not sure that I'd change a thing. After I took it off the pan, I placed the tuna in the freezer for 10 minutes or so while I prepared everything else. This firmed it up a bit to make slicing easier. A and I were both extremely pleased with the result and this will definitely be in the dinner rotation in the near future.

A humble beginning

Talk is cheap. After telling A for the 20th time last night "No, no, seriously...I'm going to start a food blog" I've finally broken down and put the wheels in motion.

My blogging experience is limited and as a husband to an amazing blogger, I know that coming up with material isn't always the easiest thing to do. You've got to find something you love. And since I'm pretty sure weekly updates about how much I adore my wife probably wouldn't yield the traffic I'm looking for, I'm focusing on my other love. Food.

There are quite a few Austin food bloggers out there and they've been the inspiration for many of our finest meals both at home and out on the town. My hope is to do just that for anyone who happens to read. It will be a combination of restaurant reviews, recipes I try at home and any other topics that might seem blog worthy.

So, uh...here goes.