Recently in REVIEWS Category

Editor's Note (that's me, eh): There's going to be a few of these jerky reviews and am going to use the intro from the first one, for all. So, if the first part seems a little redundant, it's because it is, foo.

A few weeks ago the fine people at Jerky.com sent Meathenge Labs a load of jerky for our consideration. MmMmmm, Review Jerky! I smell a party comin'.

A meeting of the minds were scheduled for a mid Saturday get together. These would be, Cookie & Cranky of I'm Mad and I Eat, Chilebrown and Ms. Goofy of Mad Meat Genius, Zoomie of Zoomie Station, Sourdough Monkey Wrangler & his monkeys (even if for a few moments to share some home brew) and a good friend.

If you so choose, please visit for a few snapshots of the afternoon.

Here's the new stuff, you knob.

Here's a jerky I wasn't expecting, a fruit. Hmm, okay, sure I'll bite. And we did!

This jerky is individually wrapped, very thinly sliced, as you can probably see. Tell you whut, it's huge in flavor. I've never been to The Islands and have always heard that the pineapple served there is by far the best you can get. And in these slices deliver. It's dried, but after a moment it rehydrates and sends a smooth, rich pineapple sensation throughout. I don't detect any smoke flavor, the package lists the ingredients as pineapple & honey. That's it. And brother, it's a winner. We all enjoyed this treat immensely and would most certainly recommend it to anyone, jerky lover or no.

Thank you so much Jerky.com for your care package, we enjoyed the afternoon greatly.

Biggles

The good Doctor Reverend Biggles raises his hands, bends his head towards the heavens and draws forth the roast's true form!

Praise thine meat! Look what you've done for us! Time for 24 hours of marination oh heavenly body.

Bless you my child!

When you are tired and hollow of tummy
Go to the beef roasts we know
And bury your sorrows in eating well.

Dr. Reverend Biggles

Editor's Note (that's me, eh): There's going to be a few of these jerky reviews and am going to use the intro from the first one, for all. So, if the first part seems a little redundant, it's because it is, foo.

A few weeks ago the fine people at Jerky.com sent Meathenge Labs a load of jerky for our consideration. MmMmmm, Review Jerky! I smell a party comin'.

A meeting of the minds were scheduled for a mid Saturday get together. These would be, Cookie & Cranky of I'm Mad and I Eat, Chilebrown and Ms. Goofy of Mad Meat Genius, Zoomie of Zoomie Station, Sourdough Monkey Wrangler & his monkeys (even if for a few moments to share some home brew) and a good friend.

If you so choose, please visit for a few snapshots of the afternoon.

Here's the new stuff, you knob.

This jerky shows up about twice as thick as the last batch and not quite as dry (this is neither good nor bad, just different). The meat can be cut with your teeth fairly easily. As you can see the texture is quite smooth compared to the last one. It's a very subtle, meaty little jerky, sweet with a little smoky and finishes fairly clean. The ingredient list is quite short and doesn't include all kinds of wacky language or preservatives (read here: I knew what was in there). Chomp!

Thank you so much Jerky.com for your care package, we enjoyed the afternoon greatly.

Biggles

Some things set me off more than others, elderly drivers being cautious does not set me off. Meandering motorists with cell phones glued to the side of their heads sends me in to a fury. Oh and don't even remotely attempt to say anything about that hands-free crap. It isn't the fact that you're holding your hand to your head that distracts you, it's the damned conversation. Moron. I've been reading studies for years about hands-free versus hand-held. The studies have been done from the Federal level, state level, universities and even The Myth Busters. Ah heck, the state of New York went hands-free years ago and they showed no drop in cell phone related collisions. Get it?

Here's another little tidbit you're not going to like, Americans are not the originators of Barbecue. OoOoOoOoOo, there, I said it. Ain't you fuming now?

Rick Browne has sent forth this small tome to take us in to Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, England, France (yeah right), Germany, Guadeloupe, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Korea, Mexico (oh yeah baby), Morocco, Portugal, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Tahiti & Figi, Thailand, Turkey, United States and Uruguay. Phew!

Ten Speed Press published it so you know the layout, photographs, text is all superb. I like this book and hopefully some day real soon I'll get to cook something from it, oh yeah.

So, to sum it all up, this is a good read and a solid performer for recipes from all over the world. I like the book and would be happy if I found it as a gift for this holiday season coming up. Take care and happy fire making,

Biggles

A few weeks ago the fine people at Jerky.com sent Meathenge Labs a load of jerky for our consideration. MmMmmm, Review Jerky! I smell a party comin'.

A meeting of the minds were scheduled for a mid Saturday get together. These would be, Cookie & Cranky of I'm Mad and I Eat, Chilebrown and Ms. Goofy of Mad Meat Genius, Zoomie of Zoomie Station, Sourdough Monkey Wrangler & his monkeys (even if for a few moments to share some home brew) and a good friend.

If you so choose, please visit for a few snapshots of the afternoon.

This jerky is quite thin & chewy, broad pieces that can be easily torn for a mowful. The pepper is clearly visible and is the second flavor that rolls in. The first is the sweetness from the brown sugar, the pepper gets brighter and lingers for a while. The meat flavor is quite light and the chew is of an appropriate length, not going on for minutes nor does it disappear quickly. If you're a fan of some sweet with a back of pepper, this is for you!

Thank you so much Jerky.com for your care package, we enjoyed the afternoon greatly.

Biggles

Over a year ago I stopped posting the weekly Fatted Calf Newsletter. If you ain't hip to their newsletter, it's a weekly note to let everyone know what's going on in their world and the upcoming menu for the Berkeley & Ferry Plaza Farmer's Markets. It was something I did out of inspiration, love and devotion. But it was time to move on, times change. The only thing that didn't change is their love & devotion for all things meat.

If you've been lucky enough to sample any of their meaty gifts, you know of what I speak. I fondly remember showing up each Saturday in Berkeley to see what was new, rely on what's a family standard and to enjoy the market in general. Nearly each week Taylor and/or Toponia had cooked up something special for all, like a kid in a candy store I was! I thought I'd seen just about everything they had to offer over the years. And speaking of years, I triple dog dare you to use the search function here at Meathenge and type in newsletter. There's about 4.5 years worth of posts, pretty crazy.

Earlier this year Fatted Calf opened up their new shop at the new Oxbow Market in Napa. I've been more than a few times and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Again, I thought I'd seen it all.

Jlee and I sped up early this last Saturday morning for another visit and to check out a small gun shop, just for fun. I found a cool wrist-rocket I knew the boys would enjoy, but guess what I found at the fancy charcuterie masters shop? That's right, hands down the most badass salumi sammich of all time! Nabbed that one big time! I don't know how many different kinds of hand-made pieces of meat were in there, but it was tremendous. The depth of flavor all delivered with a fresh made tapanade with a little more extra virgin all nestled in a wonderfully toothsome sammich roll. Luckily, Toponia was there and we got to hang out a bit and talk about stuff. The weather was cool, overcast with a chance of rain. Her eyes lit up and she reached behind the counter and produced a gratin! A hot, beautiful, steaming gratin that is! As with many items they have for sale, tasting each thing is a huge part of the experience. Floopf the spoon heavily laden with gratin went in to my mowf (I still have the spoon in my pocket, use it for flinging coffee beans at employees). A rich blend of delicious, gooey cheese, finished with some bright tangy version to finish. There's pasta in there! There's onions in there! "I'll take 1 pound please."

These are two things you cannot get at the markets, you have to visit their locale in Napa. You'll probably have to drive, but go. Now. It's worth it, every minute you spend behind the wheel embiggening your carbon footprint is worth it. I have no idea what it cost me, I don't care. I'm going again and again.

Biggles

ps - Check out the pork belly roulade, the gratin and the sandwiches there, see?

Sunday morning, cool & overcast. Slight ocean breezes bring a brief respite from the hellish, smoky airs. A very low rumble begins from down the street, Thor Sr. approaches. He creeps ever so gently to Meathenge Labs, like only thunder can. This Thor Sr. is our neighbor, Mad Meat Genius. A bacon delivery is in progress, oh yes.

Whoa, whoa whoa, hold on there Tex. I'm a complex man and I got my reasons for posting this. Just hang on a moment and give me a chance. Besides, the damned place ain't even open yet.

Some of you may or may not know, it could very possibly be, a vegetarian dish could be worth eating. Even enjoying, no really. Remember, a large percentage of the world's population eat vegetarian. The deal is tho', they have many dishes per meal, not just one plate o' shrimp.

On March 25th CajunGrocer.com contacted me and asked if I'd like 10 pounds of mudbugs for 'review'. Oh, let me think, YES. Remember them? They were the ones that sent Meathenge Labs a Turducken, yeah that's them.

The little guys come delivered to your door alive, moving, and making this clicking sound like rice crispies in milk. The party wasn't until Saturday, said crawdads arrived on Friday, not a problem. Hose them down, toss into cooler with a bag of ice (drain open), easy enough. But it didn't say whether to leave them all tied up in their sack or not, I decided to let them out in to the cooler. Free range crawdads ... dumb Californian. Wanna come see how it turned out?

Yeah, you heard it right folks. Richmond has its very own coffee roaster and place to drink said coffee beverages. I'm impressed and very thankful that Timber decided to pick our fine city for his place of business. Come inside for some pretty pictures, sorry I don't have any aromas for you!

Especially when you spend nearly every waking moment working your ass off.

It's no secret, Fatted Calf had secured themselves a space at the brandspanking new Oxbow Market up in Napa mumfs ago. So, while keeping their amazing charcuterie running, they were also building a fancy upscale kitchen & butcher shop with retail space from an old tire putter-onner-store. Architects, contractors, inspectors, oh my! Then? Take your entire operation, load it up and move to new an hour north. Do you have any idea what it takes to make a dream like this a reality? Brett does, but that's another story entirely.

Come along with Jlee and myself and see what Fatted Calf is up to at their Grand Opening.

You wanna start a fight? Get the conversation pointed towards bottled vs. filtered vs. tap. Go ahead, I triple-dog dare you.

I buy bottled water from time to time for the convenience only. Good for hiking, driving or whatever. The tap water we receive from EBMUD flat out rules. I've never even remotely considered blowing my hard earned cash on any filtration system. Okay, well I did buy one years ago. You know the ones? Those bulbous things that hangs off your faucet? Yeah, it made me shake and scream. TOSS.

Aquasana wasn't going to have it easy.

Whoa, hang on there Tex, slow down. Listen up, for as long as I can remember I've been a staunch supporter of grass roots organizations. And this woman is someone you want to know more about, at least read the following. This just now rolled in via email and my jaw was open through the entire thing.

YOU GO HANNAH !!! Kick some vegan ASS !!! And of course, this ass that would be receiving the kicking, is a vegan one.

Please read this, now.

This is the cold that never ends,

Yes, it goes on and on my friends

Some people started catching it, not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue being plagued by it forever just because—

You understand correctly, I'm going over week #2 with this fricken cold. It moved in to my sinus bone last Thursday and creates these wonderful headaches. The pain from the bright sunlight actually makes the pain almost bearable. Then it's off to the land of aspirin, yay.

Tee hee, Chilebrown goes on a meat spree in Oregon. Asks me if I want to come over Saturday morning (3 weeks ago) and have a tasting!

What do you think my answer was?

Generic pretty photograph I took the other evening at sundown. Click on the image, can you see the spider web on the left?

This is about as live as you're going to find for a food blog restaurant review. Joe Bob & Jlee are on the road at this very minute, no really. And apparently are in Carrizozo New Mexico.

I have a sneaking suspicion the images won't arrive until after their road trip, but was instructed to get this up immediately. Here's Joe Bob:

We finally found real food and real coffee
on our trip to Big Bend Texas. In Carrizozo
NM of all places. Open for only two weeks,
Planet ZoZo is doing a great business.
Open M-Th 6am-6pm, and F/S 6am-9pm for dinner too.
Chefs Dinner, three or so choices on Friday
and Saturday nights. Vegan friendly but meat
is served. Coffee beans by Ruidoso Roastery
in Ruidoso NM, just down the road 45 minutes.
Fresh beans within hours. Chef, pastry chef,
other employees too. An oasis in the vast desert of NM

113 Central Carrizozo, NM 88301
505-648-5637
Full story and pics to follow upon return to Denver.
Post this now on 'henge please.
thanks
Joe Bob

8:30am this bright Sunday morning found the Biggles with eyes open, yet still on the foggy side of awake. A moment later the throaty snarl of Black Bart making tracks away from Meathenge Labs at breakneck speed reminded me of my porky gift to be.

Yup, Chilebrown has struck again. Along with the Sunday paper, a pound and a half of slab bacon was resting gently. Moments later found our plucky hero with camera in hand and a 12" cast iron pan on the warm.

Slice the bacon Biggles !!!

First things first. This book is published by Ten Speed Press, a local to the San Francisco Bay area. They've had a long history of top notch books ranging from this book here all the way to do-it-yourself bicycle repair. Their Anybody's Bike book was a gift to me from my father back in about 1971. It was cause for celebration cause it was for my first 10 speed. Just so you know, that was a lot of gears back then. In fact, that was the most gears you could get.

So why am I here today with a food guide to Florence, Italy? After oh so many years, I'm on their food book review list! Why in hell is Meathenge having anything to do with traveling and food at such far away places? I'm on their food book review list.

Heh, heh. I'm totally going to open a book written by Emily Wise Miller.

Over a month ago, maybe two now, Alvarado Gardens reopened. The new owners remodeled the aged place that once housed an old-mans bar and barbecue joint. My neighborhood doesn't have a heck of a lot of excitement going on, so having the chance to eat at completely new restaurant is just too juicy to pass up.

While I'd like nothing better than to find out why and how "100% Organic" Bay leaves are different or better than what I get from any other most excellent purveyors in my area. I think I'll take turn with this post. See, Creepy E bought these fine leaves from our local Raley's market for about $7.29. The recipe he had called for Bay Leaves, and he needed some. Being as picky as most of us food types are, he opted for the organic ones. Wanna know what caused him to call the company?

Today we welcome Meathead to the table. Surely you remember the first time we kinda reviewed Smokey's Seafood Gumbo a year and a half ago? Well, the box has new art, let's see what Meathead thought about this lovely workaday lunch.

Take it away Meathead!

I spotted this flyer on the side table the other day, didn't pay much attention. Until I spotted the word Organic on it. What the HELL !?!

Does this matter? For something that has so little cheese in it that it can't have the word Cheese in it for the Canadians? Do we care? I don't and we have 2 boys that love the stuff.

Go save the world somewheres else, please. As JLee is fond of saying, "quiddit".

Biggles

Been feeling itchy lately, wanting to get out of town. This paired with the need for taking a day off spelled nothing less than a Meat Adventure. And to be honest, I've been on a bacon jag for the last month or so and the chance to try a new bacon really give my spine a tingle.

While I don't feel the urge to drive to Sacramento very often, Morants seemed like a good idea for a sunny October morning. Interested to see what bacon Morants gots?

Busy doesn't even remotely come to describe what I've been up to lately. And when I do have time? I'm so exhausted I sit down for my pre-bed nap. So, Monday I took the day off. I owed some friend a load of meat and I wanted to hit the road, do some travlin'.

It was finally time for me to visit Bud's Custom Meats in Penngrove California. But that was Monday Biggles, how come it's Thursday morning and you still haven't tried the bacon? No time, that's why. I thought I just got done telling you that. You did, but then how come this entry? Well, because I had a great idea. What's that Biggles? Since I spend all day at work, why not just fry up the bacon here in my office.

How do you say thank you to someone who you've only known a short while when they hand you their 1200 dollar camera and say, "Here, borrow mine. We're going on vacation for 2 weeks, you use it." I declined at least 3 times, but she wouldn't have it. Nope, I was to use it in her absence. With a lump in my throat I accepted and we agreed to meet for lunch during the week so I could pick up the gift.

Well, it looks as though our buddy and meat pal has gone on a little vacation. This time he hit up 2 places and brought back a cooler or two of fresh sausages and cheese. What does this mean to you and me? Well, for me it means I'll have to get busy and hop in the pickup for a little drivin'. It's a perfect time of year too, I can hardly wait! Come along and have a little sit and see what he and his wife brought back.

Please continue to read Chilebrown's story not written by me.

How many of you have these stupid crazy nutcase passions for things? Raise your hands, excellent. How many of you kinda loose rational thought when even remotely near them? Raise your hands, excellent. Apart from the obivious, I have a few of those quirks myself. One of which being real wood charcoal.

Wanna come see what I did this time?

Every epoch or so I'm compelled to come down from the hills and move about the city streets in an effort to enrich my life. Sometimes it's for fancy restaurant food, sometimes for movies or books. This time I was wrastled out for a musical. I believe a musical is like a play, but it's got a lot of music thrown in there.
Chilebrown said he had a ticket for me if I'd like to go this musical. It sounded like fun and besides, we wanted to visit Big Nates Barbecue.

Sheeyit that's good bacon. And I don't mean just good bacon. No sir, that's good bacon. Wanna know how I know? Cause I probably had 1/3 of that pound I bought, that's how. Interested to know why I ate so much?

Do you ever get that feeling you're the last one on planet earth to find out? Find out that Pappy makes a fricken great out of the jar experience rub? I feel like a dope.
As with many of us food nutcases, I shop at many food related stores. And I find myself at our local Raley's from time to time. I'd go to Safeway, but our demographics won't allow it to be worth visiting. Unless all you need is vinegar or diapers. Anyway, I've been shopping at our local Raley's since maybe 1991. And I remember seeing this rack of seafood spices and jars of glop since way back. Since I don't pay much mind to 'grocery store' mass produced rubs and sauces, I passed it up, and over and up again.
I did until this last week. I decided to finally walk over and see what was in it. Kosher salt flakes, paprika, pepper, coriander, mustard, celery seed, garlic, onion and fine herbs. There's nothing in there that sucks. Well, except the garlic, but that's another rant of mine for another day. This stuff is good, very good. I've used it as a dry rub on meat and last night did stir fried onions over the grill (mesquite and hickory). Mama and I snarfed the onions before the burger! Well, at least I did anyway. Go Pappy go!
Turns out Pappy's Choice Seasoning is only one of many fancy things they make. There's a salt free one that I want too. This version with the salt flakes can get out of hand pretty quick if you don't watch it. But if you do? You'll most certainly be rewarded. I found it excellent on beef roasts, chickens, pork and veggeis. I would think the salt free version would be better for things like soups & stews where you more than likely have enough salt already and don't need to be adding no more saline action.
I think next week I'll place an order for some large containers of this stuff, yessir. Thanks Pappy for making such a nice off-the-shelf product and I apologize for blowing you off for so long. I'll do better!

Biggles

More than a few months ago Chilebrown stopped by to drop off some bacon he'd made and gave me this Air-Grill thingy. It's a hand-held hand driven portable blower that allows you to get a jolt of constant air in to your grill or smoker fire. At first glance it seemed jicky and didn't seem to me that'd blow much air. CB said he felt it worked quite well and I left it at that.
Over the coming months I used it more and more frequently. While I don't need help with getting the initial fire going, when you add cold hunks of wood to an existing fire, it's nice to give it a jump start. Plus it means less of a temp drop in your smoker. My next job for the little beast was to assist the hickory chips to ignite cleaner. See, if you add too much smoking chips to your fire, you'll get a lofty white smoke with clear tinges of brown. That's bad, that's creosote and it's bitter. The Air Grill now allows me to get the chips going, worry free. I consider this tool as essential as my leather gloves, lighter and wood. I haven't tried it yet, but I think it would be good for dust/coal maintenance for outdoor dutch oven cooking. Thank you CB for the best grill gift EVER.

Biggles

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least around Meathenge Labs. It's only today I've come to a place where my chakras would allow me to semi-coherently write this without just spending 10 minutes swearing, gesticulating and planning public demonsrations. You see, the compressor on our 3.5 year old, 1200 dollar refrigerator went out, 13 days ago. Where's the repair person? We may see them by June 9th.
While this post isn't necessarily about food, it is about something that nearly everyone has and it holds food. It keeps all your favorite condiments, beverages, icey creams & meat safe. If I were you, I'd sit up and pay attention. Come along for a few minutes, this involves everyone.

ACK !! HANG ON !!! It's not what you think. Hang with me for a moment.

I'm not a huge fan of frozen meat. I'm not a huge fan of freezing many foods. Ice cream freezes really well and so does stock. Ice cubes are a perfect candidate for your freezer, either a top mounted rig or the fancy bottom freezer models. And I'm still not a fan of frozen meat. Mostly because living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I can get some world-class fresh meat on a daily basis with little or no effort. So, why should I bother with Omaha Steaks?

I was sitting there, in my recliner, minding my own business, when a little package arrived with my name on it. I didn't remember ordering anything, but it had my name on it. So, I opened it. Made sense, since it did have my name on it. I turned it over a few times, looking for the word Nikon or All-clad on it, somewhere, anywhere.
Nope, it was a book. "Oh great." I thought, "a book." Hmmm, says Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook. Well, our kitchen is pretty darned small, let's see what Mr. Justin Spring has to say.

A month ago Rworange and I were swapping emails, talking about hot dogs and other meat related news. I said while I really enjoyed a good dog, I really don't keep track of who made what dog for what restaurant and where these people might be. Using a fair amount of zeal, RW mentioned Dittmer's down in Mt. View. I put it on my list of todo's and thought it sounded like a good Meat Adventure.
I mentioned it to Chilebrown, we mulled it. Turns out Uncle Franks BBQ is right around the corner, so we set a date to visit both places.

Are you ready for a Meat Adventure that left a warm homey feeling that I feel even 3 days after? Can you handle it?

Chilebrown sent me an email in late February about a new meat market opening in Moraga. C.B. wanted to know if I'd like to attend a ribbon cutting ceremony and have a Meat Adventure. Gee, I dunno. I considered it for about .0001 of a second and said, "YES".

A month ago or so I picked up the boys from my uncle's place, it'd been Ralph's Day.
See, one day a week the boys get to spend the majority of the day with my uncle doing everything they're not supposed to. Candy, ice cream, sodas, pop corn, top ramen, canned soup and toys in huge quantities, all afternoon long, with no restriction.
While I was attempting to round up the boys (akin to bathing a wild salmon), Ralph mentioned that a close long-time friend of his Cheryl Koehler, is the editor of a new local publication, Edible East Bay.
I know, I know. I mentioned my complete and total lack for food magazines a few weeks ago, so why am I interested in this one? Edible East Bay isn't about New York, it isn't about Sidney, it isn't about Portugal, it's about my neighborhood. And as everyone knows, I'm all about me.