Food has always been a big deal to me. I have always been a big eater, and if it wasn't for a faster metabolism (slowing as the decades pass), I would weigh 700 lbs by now; and exercise only helps so much anymore.
Cooking is a stress relief for me, and I wish I had more time for it. For large crowds; I love to smoke meats, and make fancy Italian meals. I especially love to cook for crowds of 10-25, as it tests my analytical skills; but, at the same time, I love to entertain and see my friends and family genuinely enjoying a great meal.
Meals that require multiple steps are some of my favorites to prepare, as perfect timing and balance are always later rewarded with one of the finest tastes imaginable. My cook books stacked end to end are close to 2' wide. My favorites are those from Williams-Sonoma.
I was looking through some old photo's recently, and remembering some of the meals they were attributed to, and it starting stirring up my memory banks. I decided to turn my culinary memories into a mental road trip of my baker's dozen top 13 meals of my life. These are not listed in any order:
1) In '82, when I was promoted to Area Supervisor with LJS, my boss was Gerald Goins, and he treated Pam and myself, and our good friends Randy and Robi Farris to a meal in Glenpool. It was a BBQ restaurant (no longer in business) that served the best ribs and steak fries that I had ever tasted. I ate a full rack of them, and probably 3 lbs. of french fries. It was a great night, and a great meal.
2) In '76, two of my best friends (Mike McDonald and Steve Vives) and I took our own Senior trip to Pensacola, FL (the class went to Padre Island) in my new Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am. Along the way, we stopped for a meal at Steve's Aunt (I do not remember which state in the deep south it was).
To this day, it was one of the best meals that I have ever had in my life. Roast beef so succulent that it fell apart on my fork, with a special brown gravy (I think it might have had sauteed onions in it), plus mashed potato's, corn on the cob, green beans with pearl onions and slivered almonds, home-made biscuits, and Iced Tea. I don't remember the dessert, as I was in a food coma by then. I ate so much that I probably embarrassed Steve, but his Aunt had made so much food that she could have fed 300 of the neighbor friends, and not just the 3 of us. It was a totally amazing meal.
3) When Pam's Grandpa died, we traveled to Houston for the funeral, and we stayed at Grandma's house. Grandma was a true southern cook. Massive sized meals with so much food, that after feeding 20 people at one sitting that there was still food left for 40 more. Fried chicken, mashed potato's, chicken fried steak, and oh the gravy. The black-pepper cream crazy I could eat with a spoon like soup. It was so flavorful and delicious. And Grandma's home-made pickles were the best I've ever tasted in my life. She stored them at the 8' level next to her ceiling as she thought the height enhanced the flavor. Who am I to argue? They remain to this day unbeatable.
4) When Pam was 16, I took her to my house one evening for a meal. She had never been to one of our meals. Mom placed this enormous container of hamburger pie in the middle of the table. My brothers and I immediately dug in to quickly fill our plates. Our appetites were ravenous, and there was never such a thing as "leftovers". My Mom quickly accessed that she better intervene and gather Pam a plate of food, or we might have it eaten it all. She could see that Pam was shell-shocked, as Pam's eyes had doubled in size, and her jaw was in her lap. I still don't know if she was shell-shocked from the sight of the boys eating like cavemen, or the size of the container for hamburger pie, or both . . .
5) In the summer of '70, my family and I traveled to Johnson, KS to visit my cousins. My Grandpa maintained an impressive garden, and my Aunt Evelyn was an amazing cook. I'm not sure how many days our stay was, but after the 1st meal she made, I was hoping that we would be able to stay a long time. The garden fresh vegetables were the hit of the meal, as I don't remember tasting vegetables that were that fresh and full of flavor vibrancy. I don't know what the meat(s) were, as the garden vegetables stole my heart (stomach).
6) In '74, when Pam (my future wife) were dating at the tender age of 16; she cooked me a meal that was so good, that it still ranks as one of my all time favorites. To serve as the ultimate compliment, she still makes it for me on special occasions like my Birthday or Father's Day. She made me fried chicken, corn, and mashed potato's. Plus, Iced Tea of course. It's a basic meal, but good home cooked comfort food is always my favorite.
7) I can't do them justice, so I am lumping them all together. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthdays, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day; are all excuses for me to cook; or smoke. I could write chapters about the basic and fancy meals prepared and enjoyed on all these special days. Christmas Prime Rib, Thanksgiving Trattoria, oh my; there is absolutely no way for me to pick just one. I have so many wonderful memories of incredible meals with family and friends during Holidays. I am truly a blessed man.
8) In '07, Pam and I traveled to Italy for our 30th Wedding Anniversary. Christmas that year was spent in Venice, and that evening was my favorite meal of the entire trip. From our hotel, we walked to a hole-in-the-wall Restaurante, and dined on brick-oven pizza. The seating for 12 was more like seating for 6, as you had to walk sideways to your table; but oh my, that pizza was amazing. And, so was the company of my wife :-).
9) In '90, the Doubletree Hotel in Tulsa offered AYCE prime rib. That is where we chose to dine for 13th wedding anniversary. I can't speak for Pam and how much she had, but I distinctly remember having 3 large slabs of beef. We loved it so much that we became frequent visitors to the buffet line on many future visits.
10) In '80, for our 3rd wedding anniversary, Pam's Dad sent us to University Club tower for our dinner celebration. We had eaten there a time or two before (thankfully on his tab), and we both had fallen in love with Cherries Jubilee for our dessert. Why I remember this night, was because our server caught the white linen on fire when he Flambe' the Cherries Jubilee. And though he quickly extinguished the flames, it probably remains the sole reason the Pam does not like me to Flambe' my food when I am cooking a fancy meal. Or maybe it's because she caught her shirt on fire when she tried it....No wait, she caught her shirt on fire for some other reason. My wife is so hot :-)
11) I learned to smoke and BBQ from Pam's Dad (Frank). He had several Hasty-Bakes, he gave me my first Hasty Bake, and Hasty Bake is the ONLY grill that I have cooked on since I started smoking meats. The 1st meal that I had at Frank's was Christmas of '77, and let's just say that I was not prepared for this meal.
Frank brought to the table roaster pan after roaster pan that was full of smoked chicken, smoked sausage, smoked roasts, smoked spare ribs, smoked baby back ribs, smoked corn, and smoked bologna. Pam had warned him that I was a big eater; but this was over the top. I was in smoked meat heaven. I had never seen (nor eaten) so much smoked meat in my life. I have no idea if anything else was served at that meal or not, as I was totally zoned out on the smoked meats. Fortunately, Frank repeated this smoked meat meal for me many-many times in my life, as he loved to smoke as much as I loved to eat.
12) In '77, several of my best friends (Mike McDonald, Steve Vives, Mark Politte, Mike Bertuzzi, Bill Pollock, and my brother Paul) took me to Casa Bonita for my bachelor party dinner as they knew I was fond of eating a large quantity of food.
After the 15th taco; I was done. It was a record that I will never break. I don't remember much else about that evening, other than I couldn't believe that I was capable of eating 15 tacos. Though I had previously demonstrated the ability many different times of eating 9-12 tacos at Taco Bueno; 15 tacos at one sitting seemed impossible.
13) And how can I not include Fiorelli's Jack Stack BBQ of Martin City, MO (this is actually Kansas City). Opened in '57, my first visit was '61, and over the past 55 years, I have eaten at their various locations at least 55x, but really, probably over 100x by now. The original location (and still my favorite location) is in the same building, with the same basic floor plan that it had when it opened in '57.
(I remember the floor plan from '61 and the hall I walked down on my way out of the restaurant when I stopped to eat more fries off of a plate that was sitting on the edge of the table while my parents were gabbing with friends. I can even point the table out to you the next time I am there. You might not believe me, but if you don't, then you don't know me very well, as my brain takes photo's like that, and never forgets. That's also why I remember the exact symmetry of the St. Louis Arch when standing next to it, and the exact symmetry of the leaning tower of Pisa when standing next to it. It's just what I do.)
Jack Stack has provided so many wonderful memories, and so much incredible food over the decades. It is apropos to close this blog with that memory of BBQ.
And oh, in approximately 180 hours from this very moment; we will be eating at Jack Stack BBQ of Kansas City again :-)
I'm starved ~ headed to breakfast :-)
Merry Christmas!
