Where did "Hogwild" Come from?

I've been meaning to post this for awhile now. In fact, I started it in May of last year (had a draft saved and timestamped on the blog). So, ummm, here ya go...better late than never, I guess.

No, I don't mean where did I come from. I mean where did the name "Hogwild" come from. Do a google search for "HogwildBBQ" and you'll see that it's a pretty popular name. I've used the name Hogwild for years, since college. My first login ID at NCState was Hawgsbreath. I worked with pigs in college (still do) and my buddies and I partied rather heavily...hence the Hog and Wild part, I guess. I changed my login to Hogwild during my Freshman year not only because it was "cooler", but because Hawgsbreath was just too darn long. I used it as my CB radio handle for many years. I still have the CB in the pickup, but don't use it as much as I used to. Hogwild, or some variation of it, has been my online "handle" for as long as I've been online. Hogw1ld (a one in place of the i) is my Xbox Live gamertag. My name at various websites and forums is Hogwild, Hogwild1, Hogwild60 (60 was my high school football #). All the variations are due to somebody having "Hogwild" on that website already. Hogwild (i, not 1) on Xbox Live never frickin' plays...I wish he would give up the name, already. Very infrequently does somebody think about BBQ when they see my name. I usually get one of two questions: 1)
"Where are you from... Did you go to Arkansas.... Go Hawgs!!" or 2) "What do you ride?" (as in Harley-Davidson). I usually reply, "huh?? Oh, no, I cook and eat pigs". :-D

I'm Still Alive!!!!

It's been way too long since I've posted....way too long. Things got crazy at work after Thanksgiving and then Christmas rolled around. I've about caught my breath, but work has gotten hairy again for the next two or three weeks. I'm going to try to post some in the next little bit and then get back to normal towards the middle of February. I have a lot of stuff I want to get up on the blog. I'm actually cooking tomorrow for a function on Friday night....and it's frickin' cold here. I'll post pics of me smokin' in the snow.

Until then, I'll leave you with this picture of what a pork sandwich is supposed to look like (at least where I come from). Pulled with vinegar sauce on a cheap white bun with cheap white slaw on top. Tabasco or Texas Pete is purely optional.

A&P Lawsuit

This is pretty ridiculous. I saw on Techdirt last week about the lawsuit. Then, today I saw more about it at WhitetrashBBQ. Whitetrash sent a letter to A&P, which I'll be doing right after I finish this post. I encourage you to send an email to apcustomerrel@aptea.com as well. Evidently they are suing these kids for a million bucks. Like Whitetrash said, you would not have even known this was an A&P if not for the lawsuit. What a bunch of idiots at A&P. The really funny thing is that the video isn't that funny. Nice editing though. Anyway, here's the video:

Commenting and RSS Feeds

I wanted to post a little something about commenting on my (and other's) blogs. The reason I decided to post about this was that I commented on another author's blog the other day and they still haven't gotten around to "approving" my comment. See, bloggers have the option to screen the comments on their blog. If you have commented here you know I don't do that....yet. One really good reason to moderate comments is comment spam. We all hate spam, and if it ever gets to be a problem here I will have to change the way I handle comments. Anyway, I highly encourage commenting on any of my posts with suggestions, criticisms, just to say Hi, or whatever.

And about RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is technology that allows you to keep up with all the stuff you want to on the internet more easily. If you don't currently use an RSS reader, I highly recommend Google Reader. I use it to keep up with 163 feeds ranging from cooking to general news, to sports, to video games. Google reader is where my shared items come from in the side bar on the right. Here is a good Google Reader primer if you're interested. If you would like to subscribe to my feed, simply click on the link in the sidebar.

Piglet's 2nd Birthday

Well, we had a little birthday gathering last Saturday for my oldest daughter's 2nd birthday and I thought I'd share. Man, she's growing up fast already. I didn't cook BBQ. I just did some dogs on the kettle, which I just realized I didn't have any pics of. I do have some other pictures to share, though.

My daughter is in love with fish, so my wife made her a fish cake. I think she did a helluva job. It looked fantastic and tasted even better.

The birthday girl!!!!!

The birthday girl and a couple of her pals.

Site Update

I just wanted to let you guys and gals know I have revamped the "labels" for my posts. Some of you may have noticed in your feed reeder or email an unfinished post that I accidentally posted....oops. I'll be finishing that one up in the near future and will repost it. I noticed recently that a lot of visitors actually click on those links on the right sidebar looking for posts on particular topics. I condensed my labels to 10 that i think will work (It was at 16, which is way too many, I think). They are:

• appetizers
• beef
• brine
• chicken
• grilling
• miscellaneous
• pork
• recipes
  
• smoking
• vegetables UPDATE: I did change vegetables to Side Dishes.
  

Am I missing something? I'm thinking about changing vegetables to "side dishes" and start posting some of Mrs. Hog's side dishes, too. While BBQ is really about the meat, the side dishes deserve some love too. You'll see it in the sidebar if I do it.

I also want to tell you that I'm leaving for San Antonio tomorrow for a week, so it will be next weekend before I'm able to cook or post anything. Have a great week next week.

My Apologies

I must apologize for my lack of posts in the last month or so. We've had a sudden illness and death in the family and I've been doing a lot of traveling since the first of May. My father was diagnosed with leukemia on the 4th of May and passed away on the 31st at the age of 58. He was a hell of a man and introduced me to the joys of outdoor cooking at a very young age. He was a man of faith and I know he is with the Lord.

I have several posts in various stages of completion, so I should be back to posting regularly. I did some spring cleaning on the smoker the weekend before Dad wad diagnosed so I'll be posting that soon. I should be doing a lot of cooking going forward, also. I did grill some country style ribs and sausages last night.

BBQ Linkage

Sorry about the lack of posts in the last week. Things have gotten busy in real life. I went a week without looking at my blog feeds in google reader and there were several posts I thought I would share. Enjoy.

• The BBQ Guy links to this article about aging beef. I've often thought about purchasing a small fridge for the garage and wet aging my briskets. I may have to pull the trigger.

• Get Your Grill On talks about skinning ribs. I, too, have heard of restaurants leaving the membrane on ribs to hold everything together. I take it off every time. One thing the folks at Get Your Grill On left out was to use a dull knife (an oyster shucker works great, too) and work it under the membrane on the 2nd or 3rd rib. Then, like they said, grab it with a paper towel and pull. The membrane will come off very easily on baby backs, but the spares will take a little work sometimes.

• Jason's BBQ Blog links to the gadget of the day. Some folks just have too much time on their hands.

• Plowboy's BBQ talks about bamboo cutting boards. I've been using a variety of synthetic cutting boards for a long time, now. I've been thinking of buying a wooden one just for veggies to save the edge on my knives a bit. Frankly, I haven't wanted to spend the money on a quality end grain board, though. I may have to give one of these bamboo boards a try.

• Speaking of cutting boards, Men in Aprons tells us how to take care of them.

• I agree with WhiteTrashBBQ, calculating the time to cook a steak would just ruin it for me.

I haven't forgotten about getting some recipes up from my cook last weekend. I'll post up my butt rub, etc. in the next couple of days, but I wanted to get these links up today. My In-Laws are in town this weekend, so I'll be firing up the smoker again. I'll let you know how it goes.

To my email subscribers

I just wanted to let you know that I've been having issues with Feedblitz. I apologize if you've gotten multiple emails of the same posts. I think I have it worked out, but I would appreciate if you would email me to confirm you have received your feeds. Hogwild60 [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks

Tip O' The Hat

Well, I got a tip O' the hat from one of my favorite BBQ Bloggers today...The BBQ Guy. To those of you visiting from his blog, I hope you find something useful here. Those of you who haven't seen his blog, check him out....lot's of good stuff.

Pictures

Just a quick word on pictures in my blog. I've decided to add "HogwildBBQ" to all the pictures that I have personally taken (starting now....not previous posts). I'm not trying to keep tabs on my pics or anything...I couldn't really care less. Feel free to photoshop "HogwildBBQ" out of my pics and use them for anything. This is just the easiest way for me to tell you (without actually typing it out) whether or not I actually took a pic that I'm posting. I will occasionally post pics that I have gotten elsewhere....they will not have "HogwildBBQ" on them.


This is just an example (and an excuse to post a pic of my girls).

Hello There

This is my first (and probably only) attempt at blogging. One of my passions is cooking great food for my family and friends. I have a thread on Geezer Gamers where I usually post my recipes and photos. Lots of guys from the website enjoy that thread (at least I think they do), so I thought I'd start posting my stuff for the masses to see. Before I get started I want to make sure any readers here know one thing. The way I do things is just that: the way I do things. You can ask ten pitmasters the best way to cook a pork butt and you'll get ten different answers (with some lies thrown in for good measure ;) ). When I post a recipe or technique I'll try to give credit to where I found them, but I usually deviate from recipes I find in books or on the web and they are usually very different from what I started out with. I'm going to add a list of my favorite cookbooks and links on the sidebar, so be watching for those.

My hope is to post here once or twice a week, usually after I've tried something new on the grill or smoker. I'll occasionally do a cookbook review. During the week I mainly grill and I do my long smokes on the weekend. I'm sortof doing this on a whim, so you'll have to be patient with me as I find my bearings.

Thanks for reading! I hope you find something useful here.