The Big Green Egg! What?

No I am not cooking big green eggs, but I have to tell you I am going to start cooking on a Big Green Egg! So I am driving around running errands couple of weeks ago and I hear an add on the radio for Asiens Appliance in Santa Rosa, they are selling a BBQ called the Big Green Egg and are inviting anyone that wants to (test cook) on it to just call so I did. Chris and Paul the owners of Asiens called me back and one thing led to another, they tell me the Egg cooks pizza great and I tell them ok I have to see this! and cook on it! I love a challenge and after cooking on the best wood fired oven in Naples Italy I was curious as to how good this Egg could be (see pic) you see BBQ pizza is nothing more than a pizza cooked on a grill instead of in an oven? but is it good? and can anyone do it with success? good question huh, I am going to answer them for you, and everyone else out there who truly wants to cook a great Pizza and a lot more!


So I make an appointment to cook on it, Chris and Paul fire it up to about 550 to 600 degrees, I make a nice pizza dough from my house made mother dough (this is dough I have made by allowing the natural fermentation process to take place instead of adding yeast, the dough takes on local characteristics in flavor and complexity) like San Francisco Sourdough bread does! my beautiful daughter Jacqueline took these pics :) so the Egg is fired up, the pizza stone has heated up along with the BBQ and I am spreading tomato sauce on the pizza in prep for cooking.
What happens next is very surprising to me

I open the lid and put the pizza on the stone, the air damper on top is wide open so I can see the pizza cooking, the dough rises fast and forms a great crust in about 45 seconds! as the cheese melts and the Olive oil begins to bubble I realize this is no ordinary BBQ, the Egg is cooking the Pizza just as the wood fired Cirigliano Forni Ovens in Naples Italy did, charring the outer crust and cooking the cheese to a perfect temp, in this picture you can actually see the char on the crust but what you do not see is what has happened inside the pizza! oh and the pizza cooked in 2 min 45 seconds!

Take a look at this crust, see the light airy texture? check out the gum line (where the crust is crisp on the bottom and there is no uncooked dough) its as close to perfect as you can get, and all on a BBQ? I was impressed to say the least. the possibilities are endless with The Big Green Egg. Paul, Chris and the staff of Asiens Appliance are great people because they really care about their customer's and the experience each one has with their products, especially the Egg, after all what guy does'nt want to cook food to perfection on the BBQ and be the toast of the patio party! but there is more to this story.

Chris and Paul are going to be arranging a cooking demonstration, a hands on cooking demo, I will be there, showing everyone how easy it is to cook great pizzas on the Egg as well as slowed cooked meats, and perfectly seared steaks, the great part about this (cooking party) will be that everyone will get a chance to see and learn about the Egg, in fact the employees at Asiens Appliance are the biggest fans of the Egg as they cook on it too!

I am excited about being there and participating in this demo, I will have some award winning Pizza recipes to give to anyone that comes over and I will be happy to answer and show you how easy it is to BBQ great pizzas, and it really comes down to the fact that next to an Italian built Cirigliani Forni wood fired oven the Big Green Egg is a very close second, and the only BBQ that cooks a pizza to a quality that even the Italians would appreciate!

We will let you all know when the Big Green Egg cooking demo is, until then give Chris, Paul or any of the staff down at Asiens Appliance a call at 707-546-3749 or go down and take a look at the showroom at 1801 Piner Road Santa Rosa, CA 95403

Cheers,
Chef Glenn

House made Sausage. its amazing!

Do you make your own house sausage? too hard you say? its just not cost effective is it? sure you can buy sausage, frozen little pieces made somewhere in the northeast I think? ok well you get the picture right, in these times of economic challenge it is more important than ever to stand out against your competition and one way to do that is making your own house sausage.
Start with a nice boneless Pork Butt, cut it into small pieces and grind it on a 1/4 inch course grind (see pic 1) then add your spices, and this is where you make it your own, experiment with the flavors, your customers will love it.

Take a look at this pic, you can see the course grind of the Pork Butt, I measure all my spices and ingredients ahead of time, grind my meat and then mix it all together. You can case your sausage right away but I like to let the mix sit overnight in the walk-in I find the flavors mix better if you let it sit overnight.
The next day you simply case your sausage in any length you choose (I usually keep my length to about 12") its easy to cook and depending on the use of the sausage faster than making small links.


This is the Kitchen aid I use at my home kitchen, I included this pic because I can case about 20 pounds of Sausage in an hour, 100 pounds with my larger Hobart Grinder! my point is for about $250.00 you can start making your own house sausage. Pork, Chicken, Beef or any meat you wish.

Create fresh, clean sausage with no additives or fillers, it taste amazing and will save you money and build a loyal customer base.










Italian Sweet Sausage with fresh Parmesan and Basil !

Enjoy

Chef Glenn

MMMMM home baked bread!

Fresh Baked Bread! there is nothing better than walking into the house and smelling the warm crunchy goodness you are just about to slather with butter! and it is really good for you to, think about it you have water flour yeast a little salt and a pinch of sugar, of course you can get really detailed in your baking but the point is to make it easy and fresh. when you think about all the processed breads you eat and how much the artisan breads you buy it really ads up to a lot of money and preservatives your family can do without! I have a series of pics for you to look at and I will explain them as we go.

The first Pic is of the dough that has risen, after mixing your ingredients you will let the dough stand and rise, then you will take it out of the bowl and start your stretch and rest routine, taking the dough and stretching it then folding it on top of itself, you do this about four times and allow the bread to rest in between stretches about ten minutes each stretch, you can see the dough in my hands.




After you stretch and let the dough rest then you can ball it and put a little olive oil on the top and rub it around the dough ball to keep the moisture in, let the dough sit and rise again or you can put it into a container and refrigerate it overnight or up to 4 days, if baking the same day then make sure you have preheated the oven to 500 and "if you are using a baking stone make sure the stone is also preheating in the oven" when you get ready to put the dough on the stone for baking turn the oven down to 425



Once in the oven the bread will take about 18 minutes to bake to a light airy interior and a nice brown crunchy crust! to check if the loaf is done thump it with your finger and it should sound hollow, let it stand for about 15 minutes and enjoy! I love baking fresh breads and ounce you get the hang of it you will too!

Enjoy

Chef Glenn

Food Friends and Bocci Ball

Who could ask for more right? Lets go back to 1988, I am sitting in a bar in Hawaii with my cousin Clint, Lou Reed starts playing "Intro and Sweet Jane" starts cranking, I walk up to the bar and there are three guys sitting there, Italians, so I say "hey you guys Italian"/ brilliant huh? this one kid says yes in broken english I say my cousins Italian! the kid says ok, I order us all a round of Patron and as they say the rest is history.

Massimiliano, Massimo, Lucca, Andrea the list goes on, we spend a lot of time in Fregene Italy, Summer time, winter, its a great little town the familys are now our families, we are now facebooking each others KIDS and nothing has really changed over the past 20 years, we see every one at least once a year and when I am in Naples at a Culinary Competition I always go up the Sweet Home Fregene and hang with everyone, eating at the Songno Del Mare Beach restaurant or the Corralo Hotel the food is to die for and the friends are family.
Meeting the guys in Hawaii changed my life, new cultures, food and friends, playing Bocci Ball at the Tennis Hotel in Naples, eating at El Presidente Pizzeria in Naples (Ernesto Caccioli) place where they serve about 2000 pizza everyday! meeting Ernesto and his brother and sons at the competion in Naples.

Without fail when you meet new friends its usually around food and drink, so as time passes and the months turn into years there are certain things that keep your loved ones in your memory, the taste of a pizza! everytime I drink Patron! LOU REED SWEET JANE! there are so many so much fun and good times, my point is that you never know when you are going to meet someone that changes your life, a drink, hello or whatever, take a chance strike up a conversation it just may be one of the best things you ever do!

About three years ago I was surfing on a saturday and when I left the beach I stopped at one of my Pizzerias in Petaluma, I walked in and out in the front area a elderly lady was sitting there with a slice of cheese pizza, and a coke with no ice! (I knew she was probably from the east coast or Europe cause they like there drinks with no ice) I stood there in my surf shorts and a tank top and introduces myself and asked if she was enjoying her pizza, she looked up at me and smiled a little glint in her eyes and said "this pizza reminds me of when I was a little girl and my father would take to the corner for a slice"!

I told her that made me happy and thanked her for sharing the story, I left the pizzeria, got in my car and the tears came to my eyes, "my pizza reminded her of a great memory" that was the biggest compliment that I have ever received.

Share some memory's with new friends and old

Chef Glenn



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