Mid-Atlantic Eating: Baltimore Pit Beef at Chap's BBQ

It's not true what people say, that eating in the parking lot of a gentleman's club makes food taste better. Maybe this theory has resonated as strongly with you as it did with me... and for the same vulgar reasons. So imagine my googly eyes when GPS led us right to a sign advertising the next Miss Nude Baltimore competition.

Baltimore, as a kinda southern city, has its own version of bbq called pit beef. It's not "real" bbq, in the smoked, sauced, or rubbed way that other places do bbq. If you're a fan of 'The Wire', as every truly thinking up there person is, this dysfunctionality will strike you as oddly correct. Pit beef, similar in taste and appearance to roast beef, is beef round steak, grilled rare, left unsmoked, and thinly sliced like deli meat. It's typically served on a Kaiser roll, then pungently piled with raw white onion and tons of raw horseradish. I really don't care for horseradish, but it didn't seem fair to eat pit beef the wrong way: the artistic integrity of every sandwich deserves respect, on principle.

Sandwiches are always worth eating (another principle), but this one was a bit plain somehow, even with the heartburn-inducing toppings. In bland roast beef tradition, it was badly in need of salt and rather flat in flavor. Even the "tiger sauce" (watery sour cream loaded with horseradish) didn't make it taste like much. So I only ate one.

Smoky Sundried Tomato Ketchup

During last week's sweaty armpit heat spell, it occurred to me that the cold meats I enjoy eating during the summer might benefit from something besides salt and more salt. Having had my fill of Heinz at bbq's lately, ketchup was an obvious place to start. Another upside is my hope that all the ketchup fiends at these bbq's will gobble this stuff up, reliably freeing up precious fridge space for more experimenting.

This recipe is adapted from one on Epicurious.com. It's not exactly what I was expecting, but what's Heinz-at-home supposed to taste like? For more tang and less sweet, I replaced cider vinegar with red wine vinegar, cut back on the sugar, and for deeper flavor, added a tiny amount of Spanish smoked paprika.

1 (28-oz) can whole tomatoes in purée, I use San Marzano
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomato paste
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon good salt

Purée tomatoes (with purée from can) in a blender until smooth.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until softened.
Add puréed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugars, vinegar, paprika, salt and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until very thick and dark in color, about 1 hour till (stir more frequently toward end of cooking to prevent scorching).

Purée ketchup until smooth. Chill, covered, at least 2 hours (for flavors to develop).