Coke Plant Cuisine

I’m not sure exactly when I first purchased shish-kabob meat from Baltimore foods, but this video is from sometime in 2018 and I have it marked as my third trip.

I guess that makes sense because I can find photos of labels from 2016 and 2017. Quite a collection I have here!

I don’t know how many times all told at this point, but more than a handful. I put together a video where I prepared them in the oven a while ago as well. No, this post isn’t (just) an advertisement though it may seem that way. I got to thinking recently about it, and my brother recommended figuring out a way to grill some kabobs at the coke plant! I thought this was a great idea, though I puzzled over the best way to go about it. The good thing about meat on a stick is that you don’t need a grill or anything at all, if you can stack up some bricks (no shortage of those around) and build a small fire, you are good to go. I was thinking about getting some charcoal, and then I started thinking about a DIY charcoal starter chimney. A coffee can came to mind, though I’m not sure if they make those out of steel anymore. And if that isn’t a very bizarre irony to the context of this story, I don’t know what is.

I watch a ton of cooking channels on YouTube and food and cooking is a pretty serious obsession for me. I am not that interested in real bushcraft or camping per se, but I think that outdoor camp cooking is a lot of fun. One channel I’ve been watching for years is Firebox Stove, which is a product made by a guy in Utah. His channel is basically the ultimate showroom for this products, as he uses them on his real life adventures. I have wanted one for years but knew I didn’t really have a good use for one so I never pulled the trigger. Well if there is a better portable kabob cooking machine out there, I’m not sure what that would be nor do I care.

I ordered it on a Monday and I had it on Thursday. And after getting some periphery supplies and biking around the East Side, I was cooking kabobs in the main office by noon on Saturday. It was positively thrilling on so many levels and I can’t wait to do it again.

I have cooked a lot of kabobs in my life, generally speaking. Country style pork ribs (which are not really ribs) are a perfect cut for kabobs and I have been engineering my own version of a tzatziki sauce for a long time. I don’t spell it out in the video, but here is my version in case you are interested. Quantities are approximated as I don’t measure.

• One quart whole milk yogurt (please do not waste your time with fat free yogurt for this one).
• One lemon, juiced (any seeds that fall in are good luck. At least that is what I tell myself so I don’t have to dig them out).
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped roughly
• 3/4 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
• 3/4 cup tomato, peeled, seeded, diced
• salt and pepper