A Mash Up

Okay, I know, I am way behind on posting about Alaska and Canada. But the Mysterious Chinese Woman and I just got back from a barbecue eating expedition in Memphis so I will kind of shuffle between the two. The Memphis trip was kind of a spur of the moment thing. I got the hankering to go after watching a Food Network show that featured Memphis barbecue. We got to Memphis on a Tuesday afternoon and left on the following Monday morning. In the five and a half days we were there we hit eight barbecue places and had ribs in six of them. I shall be reporting on each of them.

But first, before we left we had a little barbecue at my sister-in-law's place. Mostly the same stuff except for the beef tongue.

Ready For Smokin'


I didn't do much to it, just trimmed off some of the fat and then lightly salted and peppered it.

Had To Have Some Chickens, A Duck And Lamb Too


And Everything Assembled


Did a few racks of ribs too. Nobody starved. The tongue was a bit bland, will do more to spice them up the next time. The ribs came out perfectly and I did a throwback rub in honor of my other sister-in-law's birthday. I made the original rub for one of her birthdays many years ago and it is one of the few recipes I have ever written down. Quite flavorful and packs a nice kick.

We flew out of LaGuardia on Delta and I must say that I was really impressed by the new Delta terminal. Not your typical waiting area.

Like The Future
 



Those iPads are provided free as well as the internet connection. You can also use them to order food and drinks. Pretty cool, if you ask me.

Even The Restaurant Had Them


Well, One Of Them


And they had kind of a futuristic looking bar island where you could grab a quick one.

Conveniently Located


It is a pretty short flight to Memphis and once we checked into the hotel, right around the corner from Beale Street, we wasted no time in hitting our first barbecue joint.

Rum Boogie Cafe


It looked promising enough, a few people at the bar and a hundred or more guitars signed by their famous and not-so-famous owners. Lot's of old posters hanging on the walls.

Looks Good To Me


Well, looks can be deceiving.

Pulled Pork Sandwich


I wouldn't say it was bad, but it was bland. And the coleslaw, served on the side, was bland as well. I like to put the coleslaw on the pulled pork, but it didn't help in this case. No smoke flavor either so I suspect they just cooked the pork in the oven. The French fries were okay, though.

Mystery Gumbo


The Mysterious Chinese Woman ordered some what turned out to be mysterious gumbo. Mysterious because it seemed to lack most of the ingredients that were listed on the menu. Thing like the sausage, shrimp, chicken and alligator. About the only chunks that were big enough to identify were chunks of celery. The gumbo was flavorful, I will have to give it that. But if something says it has shrimp in it you would expect to see at least one shrimp. Same with the rest of the stuff. Oh well, I guess this is what you get for just stopping into the first place you see. The Ghost River beer, a local product, was quite good.

Okay, next post it is back to Alaska.