Seven Step Guide to Enjoying the Chicago Blues

Tourist Guide to Enjoying the Chicago Blues

Follow these seven rules for a genuine, unforgettable Chicago Blues adventure

1. Go out to the neighborhood clubs. The people in the neighborhood clubs are much more gracious and friendly and the prices will be lower. The downtown clubs employ the same musicians but the show is always much better when everyone is relaxed and there’s a chance that you will meet some real local Chicagoans. The downtown clubs are full of other tourists.
2. Plan to stay until the last set
Sleep late or take a long afternoon nap (you’re on vacation, right?)
There are usually three sets. The first set is a good time to get a seat, but the crowd and the band are not warmed up yet. The second set is the most crowded. The third and final set is the best. The crowd thins out a little and this is when the bands call up their friends and local talent to jam. This is the best part of the show.
3. Talk to the people at the tables around you, tell them where you’re from and I guarantee you’ll have a better time. You will go back home with great stories about warm, quirky and welcoming Chicago natives
4. Buy CD’s directly from the musicians, they will be pleased to give you an autograph. (Bring a felt tipped pen). You can’t buy a better souvenir at the airport or Navy Pier.
5. Bring your camera or camera phone; if you just bought a CD they will be very happy to pose for pictures.
6. Arrange for a cab or limo to take you back to your hotel.
You don’t want a DUI ticket to ruin you vacation and possibly your life.
And you don’t want to get lost; Chicago’s a big, spread out town.
7. Stop at an all night diner on the way back for some really great food and more low cost entertainment

For specific information about club locations and places to eat, send me an email at porkchop@chicagobluescookbook.com

Now We're Takin' Sides

Chicago is divided. If you ask a Chicagoan where he’s from he has the option to answer in many ways. If the, “Where are you from?” comes from someone from another state he’ll just answer, “Chicago.” Actually, I’ve heard people from far away suburbs claim to be from Chicago, even when there town resembles Springfield. If the query comes from someone from Chicago, he answers with the side of town: North side, Southside, Westside. If the question comes from someone from the same side, he may answer which side of the train tracks or viaduct, unless it’s a Catholic from the same side of the city who is asking, then he will answer with his parish. If it’s a political gathering the correct answer is your ward number and your precinct number. If it’s a community police meeting, then we identify ourselves by area number and beat number.

And Chicago is divided in many other ways. Margie's ice cream or Gertie's? Are you a Cubs fan or a Sox fan? Anyone who professes to be both a Cubs fan and a Sox fan is considered a weenie.
Now, weenies, that’s another way that we are divided. Hot Doug’s or Fat Johnnies?

Thick or Thin Pizza? Now the real infighting begins. Chicago has the best pizza every in every category. It’s the one food that we can all agree on. And it‘s a food everyone can disagree on. The main argument falls into categories ‘THIN VERSUS THICK” Every neighborhood has their favorite joint.

If you love thin and you’re from the Southside, your heart probably belongs to Vito and Nick’s. If you don’t know pizza from corned beef and cabbage you probably like Fox’s.
Everyone can love Uno’s and Due’s thick stuffed pizzas because they are really not in anybody’s neighborhood. It used to be easy to love Lou Malnati’s but now they have grown to resemble a chain restaurant. Nobody from Chicago admits to loving a chain restaurant, even if they have really good pizza.

After we are finished dividing ourselves up by sides, parishes, areas, beats, wards, sports clubs, fast food favorites, and pizza joints then we segregate ourselves by race.

I wonder if those other people have anything good to eat in their neighborhood?

PAT SMILLIE'S – DETROIT, STAND UP, RED CHILI

Pat Smillie was born in Detroit and this chili is so thick that your spoon can standup all by itself.

1 lb ground turkey (seasoned with lemon pepper)
1 lb hot Italian sausage

1 can spicy chili beans (and sauce)
1 green bell pepper,chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
1 bottle of Miller LITE beer for the chili, and one for the cook
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons steak sauce
4 tablespoons hot sauce
6 cups tomato juice
4 cups crushed tomatoes
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped
¼ cup chili powder
2 tablespoons cayenne
2tablespoons black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
2 bay leaves

Brown turkey sausage and Italian sausage. Add all ingredients to a slow cooker and let cook for 5-6 hours.
PatSmillie.com

Born in Detroit, MI on Valentines Day 1969, Pat’s musical memories stretch back to age 5 when he would listen to music in the car with his father. He fell in love with the music of classic Motown singers like Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Levi Stubbs (of The Four Tops), and Detroit’s original blue-eyed soul shouter: Mitch Ryder.

Pat’s interest in performing and writing songs developed throughout his teens. At age 15, he began making music with assorted friends and relatives. By age 18, he had joined his first garage band. Around this time, Pat also began collecting the recordings of his favorite vocalists. He would spend the better part of the next decade immersed in the classic recordings of legendary Blues and R&B artists like Ray Charles, James Brown, Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Al Green, Etta James and Joe Cocker. In the process, Smillie would amass an almost encyclopedic knowledge of “useless liner note trivia” but, most importantly, he also began to find his own voice.
In 1992, Smillie moved to Chicago where soon he was being invited on stage to sing in blues joints across the city. In 1996, Pat booked his first headlining gig at The Tyrone Davis Entertainment Center (with Tyrone’s blessing). Over the years, Pat Smillie has opened shows for national touring artists including Koko Taylor (“The Queen of the Blues”), The Robert Cray Band, Jim Belushi & Dan Aykroyd, Bobby Rush, and Andre Williams.

In 2001, Chicago R&B legend, Tyrone Davis, joined the band on stage for a few songs. Pat and his background singers (Renee Ruffin and Tina Howell) provided back-up vocals for Mr. Davis as he performed “Turning Point”, “Turn Back the Hands of Time”, and “Mom’s Apple Pie”.

In May 2003, Pat celebrated the release of Letter to Hampton (FBM 1001). The disc featured guest appearances from Chicago blues stalwarts Jimmy Burns and Vance “Guitar” Kelly. In March/April 2004, the album cracked Living Blues magazine’s TOP 25 album chart - garnishing airplay on blues radio programs across the United States.

In January 2006, Pat Smillie teamed up again with co-producer, Bud Johnson (of Red Brick Recording) to record six new original songs and a handful of cover tunes. The resulting album, Down by the River (FBM 1002), features the first new studio recordings from the band in over 3 years. Special guest appearances include contributions from Corky Siegel, Alice Stuart, and the Chicago Playboys Horns.

booking info E-mail: pat@patsmillie.com

Baron's Carrot Crunch Salmon

I made up the recipe because we had hardly anything in the frig' except some carrots and syrup! It was a fairly regular meal for my wife and I during the colder months. I usually don't eat as much fish from the store in summer, because I have encountered numerous food poisonings from spoiled fish during the summer months, so I usually only cook fish either fresh out of the lake, or when the outside temperature is under 65 degrees. I have not made this dinner since she passed away a few years ago, it is a recipe I had forgot about. This writing about it though has inspired me to cook it soon; I am getting hungry from writing the recipe!....Eric "Baron" Behrenfeld

2 pieces fresh salmon fillets (no skin)
4 carrots
1 cup almond oat cluster cereal
1/2 cup maple syrup
Teaspoon of butter
Glass broiling pan, cutting board, 2 small dishes, chopping knife, mortar and pestle

PREP:
With the mortar and pestle, pulverize cereal into fine granules.
Rinse, peel and chop carrots finely. Put in small dishes to side.
In the microwave, heat 1/2 cup of syrup in measuring cup that has pour spout, melt butter in syrup.

TO COOK:
Rinse and pat dry with paper towel the salmon fillets.
Lightly coat fillets with olive oil (do not use extra virgin, it burns too easily)
Place oiled fillets in glass broiling pan.
Broil fillets in preheated oven on high, cook until firm and a touch brown, then flip over.
Turn broiler down to medium. Do not overcook! Salmon gets very dry when it's well done.
Slide fillets out and put a 1/4" layer of chopped carrots on top.
Lightly sprinkle the pulverized almond cereal over the carrots.
Broil until browned to taste.
Remove fillets to warm serving plates and drizzle with a little hot syrup butter mixutre. Terrific with fresh steamed asparagus spears, use extra syrup for the asparagus!

YUM!


Eric "Baron" Behrenfeld
www.barondrums.com

Fire Roasted Corn Salad

Ingredients (serves 5-6)

5 ears corn on the cob still in husk

1 large jalapeno pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

2 green onions

1 lime

Olive oil

Cilantro (one handful coarsely chopped)

Soak the ears in water for a few minutes before placing them on a cooler side of the grill, not directly over the flame. Turn the ears so that all the kernels cook evenly. The kernels will steam in the husk and be ready in about 15 to 20 minutes depending on the fire.

While the corn is roasting, roast the jalapeno over the hot flame until it turns black.

Throw the jalapeno in a small paper bag and let it steam for a few minutes while you chop the other peppers, onions and cilantro.

Next, remove the jalapeno from the bag and cut it open. Scrape out the seeds and the black outer skin before you chop it up and add it to mixing bowl.

Remove the husks and the silk from the corn and then cut the kernels from the from the cob.

Mix the corn, peppers and onions with two tablespoons of olive oil.

Next squeeze the lime and add all of its juice to the salad. The last step is to add the chopped cilantro.

This tasty salad is good as a plain side or can be used like bruschetta

To make the bruschetta--brush a little olive oil on thinly sliced crusty bread.

Throw them on the grill for a few minutes turn once with tongs. Top with cool corn salad for an instant appetizer.

Chase the Blues with Chicago Style Gumbo

This recipe is an all day project. It’s what we call slow food. You can make it on your day off or any day if you are unemployed and still have grocery money.

THE STOCK
2 quarts water
2 medium yellow onions, with the skin
4 lbs of chicken
I used a whole fryer. You can substitute anything that swims or flies, i.e., duck, goose, alligator, catfish, bass, shrimp, craw fish, etc.
And a half pound of smoked Andouille sausage, thinly sliced

FOR THE ROUX
¼ cup cooking oil
¼ cup flour

THE VEGETABLES
4 cups okra, sliced
2 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 medium sweet green peppers, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 small can tomato paste
10-12 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped

THE SPICES
3 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
A handful of fresh chopped flat parsley


STEP #1: Put the 2 quarts of water in a large stock pot and simmer the chicken and the onion—not the sausage—until tender. I usually simmer the chicken for about 1 hour while I chop the veggies and gathered the spices. If you use tender meat or fish such as catfish or bass, boil for only about 5 or 10 minutes or just long enough to convert the water to stock. The stock is as important as the meat, which will be added near the end of the cooking process. If you cook fish too long, it will fall apart.

STEP #2: Remove the pot from the fire, save the stock, and strain out the chicken/meat/fish and the onion set it aside so it will cool.

STEP #3
Return the now-empty pot to the fire and add 1/4 cup of oil. When the oil is hot, add the flour and whisk until a thick paste is formed. Closely watching the color of the flour. When the roux starts to darken, remove pot from stove.
STEP #4: Quickly add the veggies and the spices before the roux burns.
Stir the mix for about until the onion becomes soft and translucent.

Note: Add only 1 cup of okra with the veggies. Save the other 2 cups to add with the meat. The 1 cup will cook to pieces and thicken the brew. The 2 cups added later will remain somewhat whole.

STEP #5: Add the tomatoes and tomato paste
STEP #6: Add the stock, all of it. Then lower the heat and allow mixture to simmer at least 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

While you're waiting, debone the fish/fowl/meat. Throw away the bones, fat and the onion skins. Tear the meat into bite size chunks.

Now, while the next 2 hours pass and the pot simmers and all of those different flavors combine and react with each other, I'd pop the top on a cold beer if I were you, and I'd sit back and relax and I'd wonder about the meaning of life .

Ready to Simmer The Last Hour
STEP #7: After 2 hours of the pot simmering and you relaxing or cleaning or napping, add the chunks of chicken, the thinly sliced Andouille sausage, and the remaining 2 cups of okra.

Simmer for one more hour, stirring occasionally. By now you'll probably be famished, but wait that hour–you'll be glad you did. You may need to add a little water during that last, long hour.

Serve with rice, a dash or 2 of genuine "Big Legged Mama’s Hot Sauce"® sauce, a chunk of white onion, a jalapeno or 2, and some homemade cornbread. Chase it with ice cold beer or dry white wine.

Funky Chicken Sandwich

This is another Pat Smillie recipe. Well, it's not really a recipe, it's more like a suggestion. It's a tasty, creative way to use up that left over rotiesserie chicken that you got on sale at Dominicks last Friday.
Mix up some cooked chicken, sliced andouille sausage and BBQ sauce in a bowl and microwave until hot. Put it on a big soft bun with a slice of raw onion and some cole slaw on the side. I served hundreds of these sandwiches at Cafe Penelope over the last few years.


As long as we are just mixin' it up, I don't see what would be wrong with
adding some chopped ham or shrimp either. Just clean out that deli drawer, add BBQ sauce--its all good.
As always, your comments are welcome. Try it out and let me know what happens. What is your favorite BBQ sauce?


************************
MUSICIANS:


Pat - lead vocals
Uncle Al - acoustic guitar & lap steel
John - bass
Sambo - percussion & backing vocals
for booking info E-mail: pat@patsmillie.com