Category Archives: Food

Lobster Bake

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After extensive research and a couple of days of planning we pulled off our first Lobster Bake.

The Ingredients:

8 two pound lobsters
40 little neck clams
4 ears of corn
6 red potatoes
4 links of italian sausage
1 bag of rockweed seaweed
A bunch of kosher salt

The Plan:

We planned to steam everything together except for the lobsters. I don’t have a pot big enough to do 8 lobsters and all the other stuff so we decided to boil the lobsters four at a time in their own pot. Since we were doing all this outside we just fired up the grills and put the a pot on each grill until the heat was right.

First we put water into both pots with a good amount of kosher salt.  Then we started the steam pot first, using a steamer rack, I set the the majority of seaweed down first, then the potatoes and corn. On top of the corn I put the rest of the seaweed and then I put the sausage on top. Finally we added the little neck clams which we put in cheese cloth to keep them together. This did leave room to probably do four lobsters but not the whole eight. I let the steaming go for about 30 minutes and then I began the boiling on with the other pot. Once I got the second pot to a boil I put in 4 lobster and when they were done I moved them over to the steam pot while I finished the other 4 lobster in the boil. This way everything was hot and done completely at the same time.

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Side Notes:

* The full set of pictures are on Flickr here.
** The rockweed is key, regular seaweed won’t really cut it. Rockweed has small pockets of air throughout the leaves that burst and produce steam as it heats. This is what really brings the smell/taste/vide of the sea to the lobster boil.
*** When I do this next year I’d like to either get a bigger pot or split the whole process equally into two pots. That way I could steam all of the lobster with the rest of the food.
**** We got all of our seafood from Dirk’s Fish and Gourmet Shop here in Chicago.  We were able to place an order for everything we wanted on Monday and it was all ready to go and fresh Saturday morning.  Dirk’s was on point enough to give me a call first thing in the morning to let me know that the Great Neck Clams I ordered weren’t good but they could substitute them for Little Neck Clams which were farm raised.  This was a plus in my book as I didn’t have to worry about cleaning the clams and getting all the sand out.
*** The aftermath:

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Fourth of July BBQ.

Fourth of July has officially begun. Started the grills around 10am and the ribs are smoking.Two hours down, 5 to go. Smoking Ribs.IMG_0859.JPG

Yesterday Julie and I hosted our third consecutive Fourth of July BBQ.  Once again I spent the better part of the day smoking ribs.  At this point I think I have the smoking aspect down.  The sun and heat was unbearable most of the day until evening set in.  We did have a small shower of rain but it only lasted about 10 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who showed up, we had a perfect amount of food, drinks and people.

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Side Notes:

* Past Fourth of July BBQ’s: 2008 and 2009.

Galway, Ireland.

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The best part of our trip in Ireland was the time we were in Galway.  If we could have spent more time there we would have.  The whole vibe was much more laid back that the rest of Ireland.  The old part of the city is much more intact that any of the other places we visited, the bartenders/waitstaff was much more engaging and the entire pace of the city was on a different level.

When we first arrived in Galway we made our way around the city looking for dinner and then we decided on doing our own pub crawl.  I’m not sure how far we made it but we did well.  Julie managed to keep track of the places we stopped and what we drank during our entire trip including this impromptu pub crawl.

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Side Notes:

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* At the The Knigshead we found one of the wider selections of beer in all of Ireland (nearly every bar we went to had all of five bears:  Guinness, Smithwicks, Coors Light, Budweiser, and  Balmers).  They actually had a Pale Ale from Belfast called the Headless Dog which we never came across while in Belfast.  Needless to say it was the best beer I had the entire trip.

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** In addition the Headless Dog beer, the best meal we had the entire trip was also at The Kingshead.  We both ordered the grilled lobster and chips and it was by far the best thing we ate the entire trip.  It took every ounce of moral strength not to eat this twice in two days.  The logic being it would never be as good the second time around.

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*** Potato Chip flavors in Ireland is a topic that must be discussed.  They are offensive and bizzare.  These were a small sample of what is availible:

German Bratwurs Sausage
Argentinean Flame Grilled Steak
English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding

Seriously,  how do they make potato chips taste like pudding?  We’re not even getting into the Shrimp flavored chips.

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**** This guy is the Mad Max of Galway.  When the end comes he will be more than ready for it.  He drank beer on the street and in public the entire time we were there.