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Joji Shares His New Single, ‘Glimpse Of Us,’ And Announces His Smithereens Tour

Joji is back with his first taste of music in two years. On his new single, “Glimpse Of Us,” sings of heartbreak over a stripped, lovelorn piano.

While known for singing over electronic beats, Joji is able to showcase some of the best vocals of his career singing over live instrumentation.

“Sometimes I look in her eyes / And that’s where I find a glimpse of us,” he sings on the song’s chorus. “And I try to fall for her touch / But I’m thinkin’ of the way it was.”

The song’s video, directed by Dan Streit, consists of found footage, capturing a day of property destruction, explosions, public urination, and overall chaos.

In addition to new music, Joji has also announced his Smithereens tour, which will take place across various US cities and Canada this fall.

Check out “Glimpse Of Us” above and the tour dates below.

09/01 — Palo Alto, CA @ Frost Amphitheater
09/03 — Las Vegas, NV @ DAY N VEGAS
09/06 — Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
09/07 — Vancouver, BC @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre
09/09 — Salt Lake City, UT @ UCCU Center
09/10 — Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
09/13 — Dallas, TX @ The Factory Deep Ellum
09/14 — Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
09/17 — Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater
10/05 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
10/07 — Chicago, IL @ Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
10/09 — Toronto, ON @ History
10/11 — Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
10/14 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
10/15 — Washington, DC @ The Anthem
10/18 — Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore Charlotte
10/20 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy

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Report: Kenny Atkinson Will Become The Next Coach Of The Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets decided to enter the NBA’s coaching carousel earlier this offseason when the team ended James Borrego’s tenure at the helm. After a lengthy search, multiple reports indicate that the Hornets have decided to make Golden State Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson an NBA head coach for the second time in his career.

Shams Charania of The Athletic broke the news, and reported that Atkinson — who was considered a finalist for the position alongside Mike D’Antoni — met with the team’s decision-makers on Wednesday ahead of his appointment.

The news was confirmed by Rod Boone of the Charlotte Observer, while Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Atkinson will get a four-year contract.

Atkinson joined Steve Kerr’s staff in San Francisco ahead of this season. Prior to that, Atkinson spent three and a half years as the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, where he received praise for developing the team’s core of young players and eventually turning them into a playoff team in 2019. He spent part of one season as the team’s coach in the aftermath of Brooklyn acquiring Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but the two sides mutually parted ways in March of 2020. Atkinson boasts a 118-190 record as a head coach.

Last season, Charlotte went 43-39 but failed to make it out of the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference.

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LeBron Picks The Two Teams From The 2022 Playoffs That Would Do ‘Very Special’ Things If He Joined

LeBron James is not accustomed to sitting at home in June. The 3-time MVP and 4-time champion missing the playoffs altogether feels like a rare eclipse on a career defined by deep runs in the postseason year after year. Although the Lakers missed out after a season of running up a downwards escalator, LeBron has found ways to stay engaged with the playoffs and even vowed to never miss them again after a Hawks-Heat game in the first round.

LeBron, being the media mogul that he is, has focused his playoff frustrations into content. On the most recent episode of The Shop, he revealed the two teams in the playoff that he would love to play with.

“Of the teams left playing, which one would you want to play for?” James was asked by Maverick Carter.

“Oh my God,” James replied. “Mav’s trying to f*ck me over right here. The team I would love to play for is not in the playoffs, which is the Lakers. But if it was one team that I know I could make an immediate impact in the postseason, and we could be very special, it’d either be Miami or Golden State. And I like the way Draymond talks to guys, too. I would love getting into a pissing match with Draymond, I would love that. That type of sh*t, I love when somebody cuss me the f*ck out.”

Pat Riley has mentioned that he’d be willing to leave a key under the mat for LeBron in the event he wanted to head back to South Beach. As for a Warriors team with LeBron, it certainly is a tantalizing hypothetical, but things didn’t go so well the last time Draymond got into a pissing match with a superstar teammate.

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Even Debbie Harry Herself Seems Impressed By Jensen Ackles’ ‘Epic’ Blondie Cover On ‘The Boys’

Jensen Ackles is known for many things, mostly acting, but also the fact that he is no stranger to belting out a tune every once in a while and kind of killing it. Perhaps the writers of The Boys found this out and decided to use his talents for good in a new clip from the Amazon series.

Ackles’ character, a superhero by the name of Solider Boy (not that one), managed to perform a dazzling cover of Blondie’s 1980 hit “Rapture” during a preview of the very eighties show Solid Gold, complete with disco ball visuals and dancers donning side-ponies and body suits. Not only did Soldier Boy actually do a good job, but the cover made its way to Blondie herself, Debbie Harry.

Harry, who seems to be a fan of the show, responded to the video on Twitter, calling the performance “epic” and saying she was “speechless.”

Anthony Starr aka Homelander responded, “Epic indeed!! The version you never knew you needed,” to which Harry delightedly responded: “Homelander lazer us!!!” Perhaps there will be a Blondie/The Boys crossover in the newly ordered fourth season of the series? The icon even went back and forth with the official The Boys Twitter account, which makes a crossover even more likely. Let’s make it happen!

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Justin Bieber Says Half His Face Has Been Paralyzed By A Rare Condition

Last week, Justin Bieber announced that he would be postponing several dates on his North American tour due to an undisclosed illness. “I’ve done everything to get better, but my sickness is getting worse,” he wrote on his Instagram Story. “My heart breaks that I will have to postpone these next few shoes (doctors orders). To all my people I love you so much and I’m gonna rest and get better!”

Today, the “Peaches” singer revealed more about the diagnosis that derailed part of his tour, posting a video in which he explained that he’d been diagnosed with Ramsay Hunt syndrome. The end result is that part of his face has been paralyzed. “As you can see, this eye is not blinking,” he demonstrated. “I can’t smile on this side of my face. This nostril will not move. So there’s full paralysis on the side of my face.”

Bieber was optimistic that he could make a full recovery and attributed the setback to a need for rest. “Obviously, my body’s telling me I gotta slow down,” he noted. “It will go back to normal. Just time and we don’t know how much time that’s gonna be, but it’s gonna be okay. And I have hope, and I trust God, and I trust that this is all for a reason. I’m not sure what that is right now. But in the meantime, I’m gonna rest.”

The Mayo Clinic page on Ramsay Hunt syndrome describes it as the result of a shingles outbreak that “affects the facial nerve near one of your ears.” Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, which remains in the system even after the initial infection clears up, and can reactivate years later. It’s more common in older adults (people in their 60s), while it can also spread chickenpox to anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated. So yeah, stay up on your shots. Here’s hoping Justin gets well soon.

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Ryan Trey Implores A Potential Lover In His ‘Only Us’ Video Featuring Babyface Ray

St. Louis rapper-singer Ryan Trey is having quite the breakout. A trapsoul crooner in the mold of 6lack and Bryson Tiller, Ryan Trey has made a name for himself by blending booming, washed-out beats with a vocal delivery that swings easily from melodic rapping to all-out belting. Last year, he dropped his debut album, A 64 East Saga, accumulating more attention and plenty of streams. Today, he teams up with another rising Midwesterner to kick off his next phase, tapping Detroit’s Babyface Ray for “Only Us,” a single of sultry come-ons for a potential paramour.

In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, he remarked on the similarity that some fans have noticed between him and Bryson Tiller, with whom he collaborated on “Nowhere to Run.” “I didn’t intentionally mean for that to sound that similar, but if that’s the record where I pay homage to Bryson, then that’s great, honestly,” he said. “Bryson is someone who really opened a lot of doors for me. I don’t ever mind the constant comparisons, because it’s just human nature to compare artists to the closest similar thing to them at first. For example, I love Don Toliver, but it took me this most recent project he just dropped for me to completely separate him from Travis Scott. It’s just human nature. So I’m never bothered by the comparisons because even I do it as a fan.”

You can check out Ryan Trey’s new single, “Only Us” featuring Babyface Ray, above.

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The Jan. 6 Hearings Got NFL-Sized Ratings And Fox News (Which Didn’t Air It) Got Walloped By MSNBC

When the House Select Committee set out to make its January 6 hearing public, it banked on using primetime television hours to draw in the most viewers. It’s now clear that gamble paid off. According to Nielsen numbers, the Jan. 6 hearing brought in sizable ratings for the networks that actually decided to air it. (Read: Not Fox News.)

While we’re not talking Super Bowl numbers, millions of Americans tuned into the hearing, which pulled in viewers on par with major NFL games. Via The New York Times:

Though the Thursday night figure pales next to presidential debates (63 million to 73 million) or this year’s State of the Union address (38 million), it’s still much larger than the audience that would normally watch a daytime congressional hearing. And it’s in the ballpark of television events like a big “Sunday Night Football” game or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

ABC attracted the biggest audience among the broadcast networks, with 4.8 million viewers. NBC and CBS each had an audience of more than three million. MSNBC had an average audience of 4.2 million, and CNN drew 2.6 million.

As IndieWire notes, MSNBC crushed Fox News (which just barely beat CNN for the night) thanks to the conservative network’s eyebrow-raising choice to not air the Jan. 6 hearings at all. In fact, the network skipped commercial breaks altogether so viewers wouldn’t be tempted to flip over to the proceedings that shared damning evidence about Donald Trump, Republican politicians, and Fox News itself thanks to Sean Hannity‘s close relationship with the former president.

In short, on top of being implicated in an outright insurrection, Fox News had to take a beating from MSNBC, which probably stings the most over there. Let’s be honest.

(Via The New York Times, IndieWire)

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The Best Crime Dramas Streaming Right Now

It’s likely most of us will never commit the kind of crimes worthy of our own TV show, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy watching fictional characters behaving badly in prestige streaming dramas. That’s why TV is considered the best form of escapism after all.

Whether’s it’s historically-based accounts of street gangs smuggling goods during the Prohibition era, black comedies set in frosty Minnesota suburbs, Italian mobsters going scorched earth in New Jersey, or science teachers cooking meth in their campers, a life of crime is exciting, dangerous, and a story worth telling — on TV at least.

We’ve rounded up some of the best crime dramas streaming right now. Enjoy, but please, don’t go getting any ideas.

Ozark
Netflix

Ozark

4 seasons, 44 episodes | IMDb: 8.5/10

Jason Bateman and Laura Linney chew up every scene in this dark and moody crime drama about a well-off Chicago family forced to emigrate to the Ozarks and funnel cash through riverboat casinos on behalf of Mexican Cartels. They got to this point thanks to a betrayal and an affair but their plan to escape this dismally-lit purgatory runs into a few snags thanks to local crime families and heroin operations drawing some unwanted attention. Bateman plays Marty Byrde, a finance wizard who must cook the books for the cartel after his business partner screws him while Linney plays Wendy, his wife who harbors some dangerous ambitions of her own. Every episode has you questioning whether one or more of the Byrde family – which includes two teenage kids – will kick the bucket thanks to a scheme gone wrong (and whether they might actually deserve to die for the things they’ve done).

FARGO_210_0024_CL_d.JPG
FX

Fargo

4 seasons, 42 episodes | IMDb: 8.9/10

Noah Hawley managed to do the impossible with this adaptation, translating the quirky, violent, darkly-funny leanings of the Coen Brothers into a TV series that expands the frigid, folksy world of small-town crime into something even more sinister and bleak. Each season welcomes a new criminal mastermind – we’re talking Ewan McGregor stamp heists and Jean Smart heading up a crime syndicate – but there’s some overlap in characters and location that ties this whole universe together nicely.

Narcos
Mexico

Narcos

3 seasons, 30 episodes | IMDb: 8.8/10

The lore around Columbian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar can’t possibly live up to how wild and dangerous his real life was – something this series does its best to distill over three seasons. Wagner Moura plays the charismatic, quick-tempered criminal visionary, a man who grew up in the slums, rose to a position of wealth and influence and squandered it with his paranoid delusions of grandeur. Of course, the show also gives us a glimpse of the guys trying to catch Escobar – Pedro Pascal and Boyd Holbrook play DEA agents who learn playing by the rules won’t net them the bad guy here – but the fun of this show is in watching wilily drug lord outsmart law enforcement time and time again.

The Wire
HBO

The Wire

5 seasons, 60 episodes | IMDb: 9.3/10

The Wire showcased the angst, fear, and torture of its characters — the politicians and cops but also the drug dealers and gang leaders — as well as their ambition, survivalism, and love. A cacophony of emotions, all on display against the backdrop of a city beat down by desperation, apathy, and good people without the support or endurance to win out. There are clear reasons why many see this show as the greatest of all time. You’ll pick up on them early and they won’t fade from memory.

The Sopranos
HBO

The Sopranos

6 seasons, 86 episodes | IMDb: 9.2/10

There’s a reason this show is known as The Godfather of prestige TV. Not only does it take an unflinching look at the New Jersey mob, led by a hot-tempered, surprisingly introspective leader — it also ushered in an era of storytelling on the small screen that put character development and suspenseful plot twists front and center. James Gandolfini gives the performance that would define his career, playing Tony Soprano, a mob boss running a crime syndicate while also struggling to be a family man and wrestle his own inner demon via therapy. Funny, sharp-witted, violent, and often heartbreaking — The Sopranos covers the full range of human emotions and still finds a way to make us empathize with, if not outright root for, the bad guy.

Peaky Blinders
Netflix

Peaky Blinders

6 seasons, 36 episodes | IMDb: 8.8/10

By order of the Peaky f*cking Blinders, you need to watch this period crime drama on Netflix. Following a crime family trying to build their business – which quickly morphs from running betting rings and fixing horse races to smuggling liquor and assassinating IRA supporters on behalf of The Crown – the series is an acting showcase for Cillian Murphy, who plays the tough-yet-tormented World War I vet and Peaky Blinders leader Tommy Shelby. He’s joined by his brothers and his shrewd gypsy Aunt Polly (a terrific Helen McCrory) as the gang fights to expand its turf past Birmingham, into the halls of Parliament.

boardwalk-empire-still.jpg
HBO

Boardwalk Empire

5 seasons, 57 episodes | IMDb: 8.7/10

Another period piece, this prestige crime drama on HBO gives fans a gritty, violent look at the Prohibition Era from the viewpoint of mob bosses like Al Capone who ran the streets at that time. While those bigger names are later additions, the bulk of the series focuses on Steve Buscemi’s Atlantic City overlord Nucky Thompson, a political power player and corrupt businessman who profited during the 1920s and early 1930s. Nucky has a host of enemies – from government types to crime syndicates hoping to usurp his rule – and a bit of a tortured past that makes him an especially formidable and calculating gangster. There’s enough time-accurate detail to keep historical buffs happy and plenty of star-studded cameos to make each season an exciting watch.

breaking bad cooking
AMC

Breaking Bad

5 seasons, 62 episodes | IMDb: 9.5/10

A high school science teacher is likely the last person you’d expect to become a ruthless, calculating drug lord, and yet, Brian Cranston plays the future “Heisenberg” so convincingly, that we’re starting to suspect every chemistry professor has some kind of illegal side hustle going on. Cranston’s Walter White certainly does, struggling to make ends meet within the school system while facing down a terminal cancer diagnosis. He decides to take advantage of the boom in illegal drug use in his New Mexico town by cooking meth in a camper — and distributing it with the help of a former student named Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). What begins as a way to financially secure his family’s future once he’s gone morphs into a cautionary tale of greed and ambition, one filled with violence, betrayal, sleazy bad guys, and a surprising number of catchphrases.

better_call_saul_s2.jpg
Netflix

Better Call Saul

5 seasons, 57 episodes | IMDb: 8.8/10

Remember those sleazy characters from Breaking Bad? Well, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) is one of them. But before he becomes the go-to attorney for criminal masterminds like Walter White, he’s just Jimmy McGill, a struggling court-appointed attorney and former con artist living in the shadow of his successful older brother. To move up in the world, he begins taking on clients like former police officer turned career criminal Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) who introduces him to even more dangerous and powerful kingpins, all hoping McGill will help them sweep their many wrongdoings under the proverbial legal rug.

Sons of Anarchy
FX

Sons Of Anarchy

7 Seasons, 92 episodes | IMDb: 8.6/10

Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, and Ron Pearlman star in this biker gang drama that takes fans on one hell of a ride through the criminal underworld of California’s Central Valley. Hunnam plays Jax Teller, a young father and vice president of SAMCRO, an outlaw biker gang running the streets of Charming. His mother Gemma (Sagal) is married to current president Clay Morrow (Pearlman) after Jax’s father, who founded the club, died. There’s plenty of criminal activity to keep you worried the law might finally catch up with these guys – think gun-running, shootouts, money laundering, and more – plus some Shakespearean drama between the main trio of Jax, Gemma, and Clay that goes in a direction you won’t see coming.

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This Is The Summer To Try Open Fire BBQ — Here’s How To Get Started

Open fire barbeque is having its moment. Cooking on an open fire – that is, cooking in the open air with wood logs or 100% hardwood charcoal – is the bbq version of circus performers doing the high-wire without a safety net. The line between bliss and complete failure is razor-thin. And for those ready to veer away from those rust-collecting Webers and ubiquitous charcoal briquette grills, this summer is the perfect time to start.

Why the summer of 2022? Because it’s fun to get your hands dirty, obviously. To be more specific, the primitive art of cooking your food without gas or electricity is a ritual that eschews convenience. Turn off the phones, the timers, and the open-to-the-recipe iPad. For BBQ lovers, precise temperatures, expensive cooking equipment, paint-by-number recipes, soulless wood pellets and Bluetooth meat thermometers are often the norm. And sure, they have their place, but open-fire cooking shifts focus away from pre-programmed formulas and encourages innovation and experimentation.

We’ve spent two-plus years indoors. This summer, it’s time to get outside and play with fire this summer!

The Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table on Netflix uniquely captures the spirit of cooking with fire. Check the trailer below for some visual inspiration:

If you’re ready to venture into these rough and tricky waters, I’ve laid out everything you need to get started, below. I began using these methods years ago, well before quarantines and restrictions, and have leaned into them the past several seasons — creating food experiences and long-lunches for my pop-up – Open Fire Co – in both Australia and New Orleans.

PART I — FIRE

Pot Fire
Jess Kearney

The boss is the fire. After years of cooking over an open flame, I’ve come to understand it is the fire that decides when food is finished, when it needs a little longer, and when it desires a blood sacrifice. In traditional BBQ in the US, the person looking after the fire is a position low on the ladder of the staff. “Pit B*tch” is the colloquial term often associated with it. On my crew, the fire manager is the most experienced of us in curating the balance between heat, flame, smoke, and source. This individual is communicating all day with the fire. Since there is no backup plan, the fire must be tended to with diligence and respect. For getting started, you likely won’t be doing big open-air fires. The best way to start is either with a small campfire or a charcoal grill (parrilla) that can contain your coals.

I like to use dried hardwood more than lump hardwood charcoal, just as personal preference. The best practice for wood logs is to build a separate “mother” fire. This is a campfire that will burn down the logs until they are hot enough for you to use them to cook. When they’re black and roughly 50%+ red with coal and ash you transfer them into your cooking fire. Conversely, if a log in your cooking fire is in danger of going out, returning it to the mother fire for several minutes can reignite it.

The goal of your cooking fire – whether on the ground, on an iron plate or in a parrilla – is to have fairly even, long-lasting heat. If it’s consistent throughout, you can move your food closer or further away depending on how long you need to cook it without hyper-focusing on the exact temperature. The weather can vary significantly from one day to the next, so I try not to over-analyze it. If you’re cooking in the summer in Louisiana, as I sometimes do, the 100+ heat will help you cook the food. In the winter, the cold air will fight you.

The general rule is if you can hold your hand over the flame for 5 seconds, that’s medium heat.

PART II — WOOD

Hang 1
Jess Kearney

Folks often ask what is my preferred wood. After all, in closed chambered barbeque, the wood imparts considerable flavor to the end product. I usually go with pecan, living in the South. In open-air cooking, my answer is a bit different. I’m after the driest, reasonably dense wood I can get. It could be hickory, oak, or pecan. In Australia, I used red gum, ironbark, or even dry stringybark on occasion. I just want it dry enough that it can stay smoky for hours on end. This is because the flavor I’m after is the campfire-like smoke itself, not the wood. There’s nothing worse than having even slightly wet wood go out time after time when it gets spread out.

All to say, there is no need to break the bank when you’re just getting started. The kiln-dried wood at your hardware store should suffice as you get your bearings. On a big hanging BBQ event day, I use 160 kilos but you can use as little as 2-3kg if just cooking a couple of steaks for the family.

PART III — EQUIPMENT

I started out with one of those suburban backyard firepits that you see at Lowe’s and a couple of replacement Weber cast iron grill racks that I set up on bricks (although they have sleeker ones now). This, combined with your regular arsenal of grill gear (tongs, fire gloves, etc) is more than enough to get you started. There are options to go fancier (like a half oil drum). If you want to campfire cook and hang food above the fire, get star pickets from the hardware store and some garden hooks to build a trapeze above your campfire. Here are some other unexpected things I’ve found useful.

  • A large cast-iron pan and/or camp stove are indispensable. I love Staub cast iron because they have stackable pots and the ridges on the underside of the lids helps keep moisture in. Though I’m a sucker for enameled cast iron, getting matte black is probably best for direct fire.
  • Welding gloves. Sometimes you have to pick up a flaming hot log and put it in just the right place. Baking gloves will not do. Insulated, leather gloves are the only way.
  • Metal shovel. For moving around ash, coals, logs, and burning things.
  • A massive cutting board. If you cook a lamb leg, you want all the space you can get.
  • Stainless steel wire, wire cutters, pliers, stainless garden hooks, stainless screw loops, hammer, twine, and general tools for manipulating racks, grills, food suspension, etc.
  • Extra replacement grills and grill brushes.
  • Old newspapers, tumbleweeds, and kindling for fire lighting.

PART IV — RECIPES

Lamb
Jess Kearney

The best part of fire cooking is experimentation, so I’m not going to overload you but there are a couple of classics to get you started.

4-Hour Chicken:

Chicken over the fire is a treasure and perhaps one the items that’s as good the next day as it is day of. All that smoky goodness just shines.

  • Brine your chicken for at least 6 hours completely submerged in brine (3:1 at least water to salt ratio, mustard seeds, black pepper, bay leaf).
  • On the day you’re serving it, rinse and dry chicken, stick half a lemon in the cavity, and then truss it using directions from my guy AZ.
  • Next, cover it in olive oil and your choice of spice blend.
  • When your fire is hot enough that you can hold your hand over it for 10-15 seconds or less, place your chicken hang above it using your star picket trapeze, twine, and a garden hook.
  • Start with the chicken breast side to the fire for 1 hour, then flip it to the back for another hour and each side for 1 hour each.
  • After four hours with consistent heat, check internal temperature with meat thermometer (or, if you feel confident, rip off a leg). If you need some extra time you can hang it from the top or bottom to give it some more eat.

Morrón con Huevo:

These bell pepper egg “boats” are a common sight at Argentine parrilladas. My BBQ partner Santi is from Mercedes, Argentina and takes special care to select four bulb capsicums so they lay evenly when cut in half.

  • Halve each bell pepper lengthwise, through the stem. Carefully remove the seeds and ribs without piercing the flesh.
  • Cook the pepper face down (so the boat is upside down) on your grill until the bell is warm and the rim starts to blacken.
  • Flip the pepper and crack one egg into each, yolk remaining intact. Cook them until the egg whites are cooked through, roughly 15 to minutes.
  • Top each with a piece of goat cheese, hot sauce or chimichurri and serve.

*this recipe appears in one of my cookbooks: the World Sauces Cookbooks, as does a recipe for chimichurri.

Lamb Leg:

Out of all of the variety of foods that one can smoke above a fire, nothing takes the smoke quite like lamb. This is one of the stalwarts of my fire-based cuisine. The most important part is ordering meat. A good butcher makes all the difference in sourcing and quality, which is essential for something as delicate as fire cooking.

In New Orleans, my butcher is Piece of Meat. I usually ask for a whole leg – meaning the chump (rump) and shank on. I also request for them to not touch the shank or knuckle (including the tendon) so there’s a natural loop from where to hang a S-hook. As well, I make sure they leave ALL the fat on, this is important as many butchers in the US will trim the fat (I sometimes get a chuckle from Leigh Ann at PoM because it means she doesn’t have to do much).

NOTE: what you’re looking for is #4800 on this chart.

One reason this is a great recipe to begin learning is the rump, fat and bone will protect the rest of the leg from burning. So even if you char or overcook it, the rest of the leg will still be perfect. And you’ll find some folks love that crispy burned part (or use it to make a banging stock). When the leg is finished you’ll have a range from cooked to rare, something smoky for everyone.

  • Cover your 3-4kg leg lightly with olive oil as a binder and salt, pepper and any of your favorite spice rubs.
  • Prepare a salmuera of water, salt (1:1), pepper, olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon, and herbs. Use a rosemary bundle to dip into the salmuera and brush on the lamb as it cooks (every hour or so).
  • When your coals are hot and even, using an S-hook hang your leg from the knuckle a couple feet over the fire.
  • Monitor the leg throughout, placing your hand on the side of the shank to make sure its getting heat.
  • Allow the lamb leg to hang for at least four hours, up to six. The longer it stays the more smoke it will absorb so feel free to move it up and down depending on conditions eg heat, wind.
  • When the internal temperature of the leg about mid-way up is 130-degrees it will be medium-rare. Note: NOT the bottom as that will not be a good indicator of the whole leg.
  • Take the leg off the hang and grill each side on a grate or on the coals themselves for several minutes each side.*
  • Let the leg rest 10 minutes, carve and serve.

*Another method is to truss the leg and hang it for a while knuckle down. It’s not my preference but can have the advantage of a more even cook.

PART V — SAFETY

When cooking with open flames, you don’t have the guardrails often associated or assumed with barbeque. Your normal store-bought charcoal briquettes are chemically pressed to be uniform. Wood or lump hardwood charcoal is not uniform. Split wood especially can spark and send burning pieces into the surrounding area with even a small gust of wind. One should always take – at a minimum – the safety protocols associated with an open campfire. In the days leading up to an event for Open Fire Co, we always check the weather conditions.

Here are some other tips to keep you and your environment safe.

  • Check local fire management services websites to see if they’ve issued any fire warnings.
  • If planning a ground fire, call the local fire department to check on the regulations in your community.
  • If you can, build fire near water: streams, rivers, lakes, or even the ocean.
  • Have fire suppression methods at the ready: decently pressurized garden hose, buckets of sand, water bins.
  • On the day, clear the ground of bramble, twigs, dry grass, tinder, and anything that could spark.
  • Fill a large bin with water (also helps with periodically washing equipment). Be careful of wind strength and direction, particularly around forests. Having bags of sand on hand helps with containment.
  • Have a fire extinguisher present and on hand (small versions can be bought at many hardware stores).
  • Once you are done for the day, completely put out the coals with the hose.
  • As always, leave places better than you found them.

Remember, there is no food worth cooking in dangerous conditions. If you are not completely comfortable with suppressing your fire, you should wait or work with someone who is.

PART VI — WHO TO FOLLOW TO LEARN MORE

Up until now, many who are keen on open-fire cooking most certainly can trace their interest back to that Francis Mallmann episode of Chef’s Table. He is the North Star of Argentine-style open-fire cooking. His new book is veggie and vegan-focused and offers some great insight. Here are some more folks to keep an eye on:

  • Lennox Hastie wrote perhaps the most comprehensive book on the technical aspects of fire cooking (including at what heats different woods burn). His restaurant Firedoor in Sydney doesn’t use electricity to cook.
  • Bente Grysbaek is a Danish fire cook living in Australia whose Instagram is filled with creative and wilderness-inspired setups. She’s the head chef at Pope Joan in Melbourne.
  • Kaelah James is a wild food cook from New Zealand and her Instagram page Kaelah’s Wild Kai Kitchen is absolutely wild and fun.
  • Steven Rinella of Meat Eater is a master of campfire cooking game meats and fish. Additionally, his book The Meateater has butchering tips and recipes.
  • Jaret Foster and Mona Johnson of Tournant PDX are a great follow for elevated and cinematic fire events in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Derek Wolf’s Instagram and blog Over the Fire Cooking has daily recipes and tons of fire cooking ideas, especially using a variety of equipment.
  • Pip Sumbak of Pip’s Plate is an Australian fire cook who is a master of barrel cooking and who uses Pacific Rim flavors and recipes.
  • I’m Mark C Stevens, my pop-up is Open Fire Co based in New Orleans and Byron Bay, Australia. My books (on spices and sauces, respectively) are found here.

PART VII — MORE PHOTOS

Open air bbq
Jess Kearney
Open air bbq
Jess Kearney
Open air bbq
Jess Kearney
Open air bbq
Jess Kearney
Open air bbq
Jess Kearney
Categories
News Trending Viral Worldwide

Joe Rogan Is Bragging About How Many Twitter Followers He’s Gained Because Of Elon Musk

One of the ripple effects of Elon Musk’s (possible) acquisition of Twitter for $44 billion is the word “shadow ban” being thrown around.

“It’s almost as if Twitter employees lifted a broad anti-conservative, anti-Trump shadow ban, which we all knew was taking place anyway, in an effort to cover their tracks before the new boss takes over,” Fox News “talk show host” Sean Hannity theorized. “Now, Twitter claims that there’s nothing nefarious at play here, but they’ve said that all before.”

Hannity, of course, provided no tangible evidence, unlike Caroline Orr Bueno, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland, who found that “conservatives added followers because people responded to the Musk news by joining Twitter, creating new accounts, or logging into old accounts that were long dormant.” There’s “no evidence of shadow ban” at play here, according to PolitiFact.

That didn’t stop Joe Rogan from theorizing on his podcast, however.

The Joe Rogan Experience host claims he’s gained 900,000 followers since the Musk news (there’s a 78 percent chance that Musk News will compete with CNN in five years) broke. He credits the increase to Twitter doing “something different.” Rogan’s guest, Feminist Current founder Meghan Murphy, agreed that he had been placed in a “box.”

“Well, Megyn Kelly said the same thing. Did you hear her say that?” Murphy said. “She gained a ton, like a hundred thousand or I don’t remember the number, but something’s going on, a lot. Like, it was really noticeable. And so she was like, I’m pretty sure Twitter was… messing around with my account.”

Rogan added, “I think there’s something — something was going on. I mean, I’m just guessing the other option could be the bots that I’ve gained 900,000 bots, but it’s like every time I look, it’s like another a hundred thousand, it’s crazy!”

Who could risk missing tweets like this?

You can watch Rogan discussing shadow-ban theory here.

(Via Mediaite)