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A Journey in search of Meat Products. Fun and unusual ways of preparing Meat with a few Vegetables now and then.
Saute the onions, garlic, peppers and celery with cube of butter in pan. Cook for about 10 minutes. Take a large bowl and combine all the rest of the ingredients except chicken stock. Gradually add chicken stock stirring until a moist mixture is achieved. Place stuffing into turkey cavities. If you have left over stuffing place into pan and bake in oven. Bake until there is a crispy outer crust and heated through entirely. Cook bird as directed in oven or bbq. Serve with buckets of gravy
It is all about the stuffing. I wish we did not have to wait to next Thanksgiving for more stuffing. I think I am going to eat some more stuffing. The couch is looking a little lonely.
Sunflower in November
Bulldog has changed owners since 4 years ago. Ralph & Gina Rangel are the new proprietors. The outside logo has changed. The Bulldog insignia is no longer present on the front window. The interior is inviting and warm. We grabbed a seat and our very friendly waitress came right away with utensils and menus. Some cold frosty beverages were in order. Bulldog has several beers on draught. The menu has the usual suspects for a BBQ joint. They do have grilled steaks and prime rib which I have not tried. One thing we noticed was the absence of cornbread. I seem to recall a wonderful corn muffin from a previous visit. Cornbread is usually a staple at BBQ joints. I wonder why it was taken off the menu. We were on a mission to try the BBQ. Ms. Goofy ordered the pulled pork sandwich and I ordered pork ribs. Our sides included cole slaw, macaroni salad and macaroni & cheese.
Pork Ribs: Now the barbeque judge emerges. We took a look at the ribs to critique the appearance. These ribs looked very average. They do not jump out and start the drooling process. A bite is taken for the taste. These ribs are slow cooked with a dry rub. The sauce is served on the side. The taste again is very average. The rub does not add or subtract from a fairly bland pork flavor. The smoke flavor was very minimal. Some sauce was applied and another bite was taken. The sauce has a sweet/vinegar tomato base. This was a big improvement but we wanted to eat ribs, not sauce. The texture bordered on a little overdone.
Pulled Pork Sandwich: The pulled pork meat was the best part of our meal. The appearance was very appetizing. The meat was a good mix of bark and center meat. The flavor of the meat was smoky and tender. The bark was a treat in itself. (Bark is the caramelized intensely flavored exterior of the pork) The texture was spot on for pulled pork. It was served on a lackluster plain roll.
Side Dishes: The macaroni salad and coleslaw was uninspired. They could have come out of a 5 gallon bucket from Costco. The macaroni and cheese was dry and not creamy at all. The side dishes were disappointing. There was no cornbread on the premise.
Bulldog BBQ is a clean, warm and inviting restaurant. It is a good place to grab a beer and watch a game. The owner and staff are very friendly and efficient. The food is pretty mediocre for a BBQ joint. The ribs were very average. The sides were uninspired and did not compliment the meat. The pulled pork was excellent but fell into an unexciting and dry roll. We did not feel the ‘Love’ with the food. To be fair we ate here 6 months earlier. Our visit was basically the same. We returned to review today on request from Meathenge. We did not try all the menu items. Dr. Biggles will do a follow up review to try some different menu offerings. Will we return? I would like to return and try a steak, but after today’s review, we probably will not be welcome.
601 Main St
Martinez, CA 94553
(925) 335-9915
Let’s start by rubbing down the bird with ‘Hoochie Mama Rub’. Paprika, sugar, salt, black pepper, chile powder, garlic, onion, celery, chipotle, cayenne are listed as ingredients. It had a nice fresh spice aroma. Ms. Goofy tried a little dab on her paw and whimpered, It tastes salty she barked. She noticed a hint of celery in the flavor. The heat was a little delayed. It was a little burn that originated in the back of her throat. The burn factor was not ‘burn the house down hot’. It was a little more of a subtle shout out from the peppers saying, ‘I am here’. The real taste test will be later after the chicken has been cooked. We rubbed the chicken and let it rest in the Chilebrown Ice cave for a couple of hours.
The chicken was cooked over a direct mesquite charcoal medium fire. The last 10 minutes we brushed on SuckleBusters BBQ Sauce. What are the secrets of this award winning sauce? Vinegar, water, brown sugar, tomato paste, cane sugar, natural smoke flavor, salt, cayenne, mustard, onion, Xanthan gum, garlic and cloves are listed as ingredients. We opened the bottle and a pleasant vinegar and spice smell hit our sinuses or Ms. Goofy’s snout. We tried a little on a spoon. It was very sweet. It did have a good balance of smoke and vinegar. We did not detect any heat level at all. The sauce was a little thin. We basted the chicken several times. Now for the real taste test, will this stand up to the judges?
Ms. Goofy gave the combination of rub and barbeque sauce two paws up. She said the original saltiness of the rub played out to a good flavor on the cooked chicken. She liked the balance of sweet and vinegar of the sauce. Overall the combination of rub and sauce was a good combination. I thought the sauce was a little on the sweet side for my personal tastes. I would also call out for more heat. This would be a good excuse to try their hot sauce. The rub came through with a little spank of heat. SuckleBusters has a quality barbeque sauce and rub that we would invite back to another barbeque.
Sucklebusters Texas Style Sauces & Seasonings
(972) 393-9509
Proof yeast in lukewarm egg nog. Add rest of ingredients and mix well. Nead for 5 minutes. Let rise in covered lightly oiled bowl. Let rise for two hours. After 2 hours roll out and cut into muffin shapes. Take a pastry brush and dip in a cup of water. Brush muffins and sprinkle corn meal on both sides. Let rise for another 30 minutes. Cook on a hot griddle. Cook for aprox 5 minutes on each side. Muffins should be brown on both sides. Let cool completely
We were pleasantly surprised. These muffins were delicious. This is perfect with the morning coffee. They are toasted and serve with a dab of butter. You will have a sweet treat with a slight hint egg nog flavor with these muffins.
Place all ingredients in food processor and mix for 4 minutes. You will have a fairly sticky dough. Turn mixture out on to a cutting board and knead by hand for another 2 minutes. Add minimal amount of flour to prevent sticking. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Take dough out of refrigerator two hours before baking. Place in well oiled loaf pan. (one large or two small) Let rise to 1 inch over lip of pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until internal temperature is 185 degrees. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.