I love feedback from readers, and two such folks stopped by recently at the paper to share insight and treats.
The first was longtime reader Janice Lally. She popped by before Christmas to deliver a tray of brownie men. Shaped like gingerbread men, these guys were oh-so tasty! Thanks for thinking of us, Janice.
For those of you who don’t know, Janice is a genius in the baking department. She has delivered treats to us at various times over the years, and they get gobbled up by staff very quickly.
A reader, whose name I neglected to get, caught me by surprise recently. I thought she was in to enter the Christmas Quiz, as so many folks came by that day to do so, but she actually wanted to speak to me.
The woman asked how my cold was – I had mentioned my persistent cough in recent columns. And she dropped off a package of Horehound candies – hard candy drops she swears by when she has a cough.
My cold was in great decline at the time of the visit, but others at work were fighting illness, so the candies came in quite handy.
The woman also urged me to get outside and grill, as she is a fan of reading about my barbecuing exploits.
Well, I have to let her know about Christmas Day, then. I scooped up a nice cut of prime rib the week before Christmas, and fired up the Big Green Egg on the 25th to cook for six people.
The prime rib was just over two kilograms, about 4.5 lbs. I gave it a light rub of olive oil, spread several cloves of crushed garlic over it, and liberally dusted it in Dizzy Q’s Cow Lick Steak Spice. On top went a sprig of rosemary.
I set the Big Green Egg to 240 F on indirect heat, and placed a drip pan on the plate setter (what turns the Egg from barbecue to oven). But underneath the pan, I placed four scrunched up pieces of tin foil to lift the drip pan off the plate setter slightly to keep the contents from burning.
I like to use drip pans to catch what comes off the meat during indirect cooking. In this instance, I also wanted to use the drippings to make gravy, hence the foil balls to elevate the pan to keep things from burning.
Into the drip pan went about two cups of beef broth, and more crushed garlic, as well as a sprig of rosemary.
The grill went into place above, and onto that went our prime rib. Every half hour or so, I would add more broth. You can only imagine how intoxicating the aromas were that escaped when I opened the Egg each time.
As the meat cooked, I took a dip in our hot tub, relaxing in quiet as it seemed no one in the neighbourhood was outdoors on such a fine day. I had only a few crows as companions.
In less than four hours, the prime rib was cooked to about 132 F internal temperature, nice and medium rare, so I pulled it off the heat, wrapped it in foil and then a towel, and placed it in the cold oven in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, my wife and sister-in-law took charge, doing up the mashed potatoes, green beans, cauliflower, broccoli and gravy.
We all ate well that night, but I think one piece of roast made it to the fridge as an official leftover.
One thing about doing a prime rib low and slow – it looks less done than it actually is. The meat was a wonderful pink throughout, with the exception of the outer smoke ring. My nephew politely asked for cuts that weren’t still alive, while the rest of us enjoyed it all. He got the end caps.
Ruthie to the rescue
Loyal Chatham Voice reader Ruth Draper is on board with the efforts to raise funds for the new animal shelter for Chatham-Kent.
Ruth transformed into “Ruthie” to hang out with some cute cats and dogs to put together a couple of videos urging people to donate to the shelter. They’re quite cute.
Great job, “Ruthie!”
Hall needs a name change
We all know people who just won’t let some things go.
I’m one of those people, and the thing I can’t let go is the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
To me it’s simple. It uses the term “rock & roll” in the name, so, therefore, it should enshrine only rock & roll musicians and contributors.
In reality, the place should be called the Pop Music Hall of Fame, as in popular music, because the committee regularly inducts people who have oh-so-little to do with rock & roll music.
So this year, Tupac will be inducted. Tupac? Please.
He was a rapper, not a rocker.
Tupac goes in with some worthy folks – Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Pearl Jam and Yes. Some great groups and performers there, and with longevity.
Tupac is not alone in the list of head scratchers who have been enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
I honestly don’t understand rappers in the rock hall. Rap isn’t rock, regardless of how talented or famous the MC or DJ is.
Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five, Public Enemy, and N.W.A. don’t belong in the hall, in my opinion, either.
Run-D.M.C. is an interesting one. They were pioneers of hip hop, and did some crossover work, covering Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” while doing a video with that band’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
The Beastie Boys? I never was a fan, but they were early pioneers of mixing rap and hard rock.
It’s not just rap music and performers with which I have issue. What about country?
Johnny Cash – I love the Man in Black’s music, but he’s more country than rock. Ditto for Linda Ronstadt and a host of other country performers in the rock hall.
Speaking of country, you don’t see many rockers in that genre’s hall of fame, other than Elvis Presley, who crossed over both genres better than anyone, and a handful of others.
How about pure pop artists? Madonna – huge name in the music industry, but a person who sings and dances, performing pop music, not rock.
Now, Michael Jackson arguably belongs. Some of his tunes had an underlying rock edge to them.
The same is true for Prince. That little guy from Minnesota also penned a ton of tunes for various rockers over the years, and played a mean guitar. Brilliant musician and songwriter.
Myles Davis was a jazz musician. Yet he’s in the rock hall, despite the fact that the bio on the hall’s own website admits he never played rock & roll or R&B. Great musician, wrong hall of fame.
And then there are rock musicians who perhaps haven’t really earned a place, but were darlings of the committee.
There are tons of questionable inductees, such as Darlene Love, who was a background vocalist on a ton of 1960s music, and worked tirelessly in the music trenches for years. Or the plethora of vocal groups, such as The Dells, The Drifters, and The Ink Spots.
There are plenty of rock bands that have not been inducted yet, but are deserving.
Jethro Tull, Blue Oyster Cult, Roxy Music, Dire Straits, The Cars, and The Doobie Brothers come to mind immediately.
And there are others, such as Yes and Journey, who are in this year, but should have been there years ago.
Why did Kiss, a massively successful rock band whose stage shows transformed live performances, not get inducted until 2014? They have been around since the early 1970s. Ludicrous.
Deep Purple, a very influential rock band that led to other acts, such as Rainbow and Whitesnake, did not get in until this past year. They were pumping out songs in the late 1960s.
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a heck of a place to visit in Cleveland, friends tell me. But as for its induction process, it’s a mix of popularity, favouritism and off-the-wall obscurity picks.
I realize I should just see it for the pop music sham that it is, but I just can’t let go.
In the meantime, I’ll listen to some Rory Gallagher, Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy – performers who are deserving of a place in a true Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
