• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• Follow every moment of Andy Murray’s match • Or keep tabs through Xan Brooks’ live blog • Send your thoughts to simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk First set: Murray 6-6 Gasquet A sense of impending doom grips the audience as Murray twice pulls out of his service action before the game gets under way, and though the Scot does win the game he doesn’t look particularly good in doing so, and he lands few first serves. Gasquet has a strange habit of standing four yards (or more) behind the baseline for many of Murray’s second serves, which is widely regarded as being the biggest chink in his armour. Then every now and then he’ll hit one from a yard inside the baseline. Puzzling. What he’ll do every time he can, though, is rip beautiful backhands down the line. Anyway, tiebreakarama. First set: Murray* 5-6 Gasquet Another easy hold for Gasquet, who – though Murray helps by providing him with the ammunition – produces a few great shots, the highlight being another stunning down-the-line backhand winner. “I like the cut of Gasquet’s jib,” notes David Savage. “Not only does he wear a proper (collared) tennis shirt, he hits proper (one-handed) backhands too. If only he had a double-barrelled surname, he’d be a certainty for the title.” First set: Murray 5-5 Gasquet* Now Gasquet wastes a challenge – the players have lost all of their three appeals so far. Other than man v hawk-eye, which isn’t going so well, this is on a knife-edge. First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love – with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point. First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray’s first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% – Gasquet’s average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray – slower serves, but greater accuracy. First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it’s deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway. First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I’m noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I’m guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one. First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net – several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a “blowing Gasquet” pun that doesn’t seem smutty and crude. “So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet at Wimbledon,” he writes. “Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel.” First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray’s first serve was called long – incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway. First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray’s having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out. First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players’ natural game. Though you’d have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray’s problem here isn’t so much counterpunching it’s where he’s counterpunching the ball – into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He’s not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he’s facing his first break point. It’s saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot. First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that’s where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game. 1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve. 1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I’m talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they’re otherwise known. Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray’s latest step on his route to world domination. Today’s straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time they’v … hang on … he’s only gone and lost the last two. So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He’s 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn’t have dandruff . And he’s a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn’t (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours). They’ve met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls “the best moment I’ve ever had on a tennis court”. More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic. Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
More tests ordered as postmortem held after Glastonbury death of Tory constituency aide to David Cameron proves inconclusive Toxicology tests are being carried out on the body of Christopher Shale, the 56-year old constituency aide to David Cameron who was found dead at the Glastonbury festival on Sunday morning. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the initial postmortem had proved inconclusive and a toxicology report had been ordered that would take at least 10 days to deliver its conclusions. An inquest into the death was due to be opened and adjourned by the East Somerset coroner at Wells town hall at 2.30pm on Monday. Police said the postmortem did not suggest the death was suspicious. Shale was the chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative association in the prime minister’s Witney constituency and had been at Glastonbury with his wife and children. He went to the portable toilet in the VIP area where he was staying behind the main stage around lunchtime on Saturday and was found dead at about 9am on Sunday. He had been contacted just after 12.30pm on Saturday by a Downing Street official to tell him not to talk to the press about a memo written by him which was highly critical of the Tory party and had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. The memo was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take”, and needed to radically change. Shale spoke to his deputy chairman, Richard Langridge who said he was “cross” about the leak. Langridge was reported saying Shale was “disappointed but it was one of those things”. In a further call, Shale discussed the leak with Cameron’s Witney constituency agent, Barry Norton. Police and sources close to the family said they believed Shale died of a massive heart attack and claimed his family had a history of heart problems. At a press briefing on Monday morning, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It’s true that there was a phone call to [Shale] on Saturday to make him aware of the fact that a story would be running in a Sunday newspaper.” Asked if Cameron was satisfied there had been no inappropriate behaviour by his officials, the spokesman replied: “Absolutely”. Early reports of the death, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggested that Shale had killed himself. These were dismissed as inaccurate. “I am told it was a suicide situation this morning, in the early hours of this morning,” Eavis told a press conference on Sunday. Cameron said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, devastated, and that “a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away.” The prime minister had been aware of the memo’s existence and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed. Party officials had said earlier that there was no suggestion from Shale’s behaviour that he was overly concerned about the leak. Shale’s contacts with No 10 officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.” After the texts, Shale did contact Norton, who said: “He was absolutely in good health. We understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. “There’s a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.” Asked if Shale had been aware of the Mail article, he said: “Yes he was. He was very aware of that article. He was very circumspect with it, and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue. “And he was looking forward to increasing our membership, and was working on a pilot to do that.” It was pointed out that Shale, who worked in PR, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character not to be fazed by the interplay of media and politics. He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind Glastonbury’s pyramid stage. His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and helped co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had said they believed Shale had died of a massive heart attack at “around lunchtime” on Saturday. The prime minister said Shale had been “a huge support” over the 10 years he had been MP for Witney. Cameron said: “Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm, and above all his love of life. “It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. “Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They’ve lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and, like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.” In a statement, Eavis said: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to [Shale's] family and friends.” Conservatives David Cameron Glastonbury festival Festivals Robert Booth Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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More tests ordered as postmortem held after Glastonbury death of Tory constituency aide to David Cameron proves inconclusive Toxicology tests are being carried out on the body of Christopher Shale, the 56-year old constituency aide to David Cameron who was found dead at the Glastonbury festival on Sunday morning. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the initial postmortem had proved inconclusive and a toxicology report had been ordered that would take at least 10 days to deliver its conclusions. An inquest into the death was due to be opened and adjourned by the East Somerset coroner at Wells town hall at 2.30pm on Monday. Police said the postmortem did not suggest the death was suspicious. Shale was the chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative association in the prime minister’s Witney constituency and had been at Glastonbury with his wife and children. He went to the portable toilet in the VIP area where he was staying behind the main stage around lunchtime on Saturday and was found dead at about 9am on Sunday. He had been contacted just after 12.30pm on Saturday by a Downing Street official to tell him not to talk to the press about a memo written by him which was highly critical of the Tory party and had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. The memo was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take”, and needed to radically change. Shale spoke to his deputy chairman, Richard Langridge who said he was “cross” about the leak. Langridge was reported saying Shale was “disappointed but it was one of those things”. In a further call, Shale discussed the leak with Cameron’s Witney constituency agent, Barry Norton. Police and sources close to the family said they believed Shale died of a massive heart attack and claimed his family had a history of heart problems. At a press briefing on Monday morning, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It’s true that there was a phone call to [Shale] on Saturday to make him aware of the fact that a story would be running in a Sunday newspaper.” Asked if Cameron was satisfied there had been no inappropriate behaviour by his officials, the spokesman replied: “Absolutely”. Early reports of the death, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggested that Shale had killed himself. These were dismissed as inaccurate. “I am told it was a suicide situation this morning, in the early hours of this morning,” Eavis told a press conference on Sunday. Cameron said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, devastated, and that “a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away.” The prime minister had been aware of the memo’s existence and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed. Party officials had said earlier that there was no suggestion from Shale’s behaviour that he was overly concerned about the leak. Shale’s contacts with No 10 officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.” After the texts, Shale did contact Norton, who said: “He was absolutely in good health. We understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. “There’s a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.” Asked if Shale had been aware of the Mail article, he said: “Yes he was. He was very aware of that article. He was very circumspect with it, and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue. “And he was looking forward to increasing our membership, and was working on a pilot to do that.” It was pointed out that Shale, who worked in PR, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character not to be fazed by the interplay of media and politics. He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind Glastonbury’s pyramid stage. His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and helped co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had said they believed Shale had died of a massive heart attack at “around lunchtime” on Saturday. The prime minister said Shale had been “a huge support” over the 10 years he had been MP for Witney. Cameron said: “Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm, and above all his love of life. “It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. “Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They’ve lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and, like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.” In a statement, Eavis said: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to [Shale's] family and friends.” Conservatives David Cameron Glastonbury festival Festivals Robert Booth Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …More tests ordered as postmortem held after Glastonbury death of Tory constituency aide to David Cameron proves inconclusive Toxicology tests are being carried out on the body of Christopher Shale, the 56-year old constituency aide to David Cameron who was found dead at the Glastonbury festival on Sunday morning. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the initial postmortem had proved inconclusive and a toxicology report had been ordered that would take at least 10 days to deliver its conclusions. An inquest into the death was due to be opened and adjourned by the East Somerset coroner at Wells town hall at 2.30pm on Monday. Police said the postmortem did not suggest the death was suspicious. Shale was the chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative association in the prime minister’s Witney constituency and had been at Glastonbury with his wife and children. He went to the portable toilet in the VIP area where he was staying behind the main stage around lunchtime on Saturday and was found dead at about 9am on Sunday. He had been contacted just after 12.30pm on Saturday by a Downing Street official to tell him not to talk to the press about a memo written by him which was highly critical of the Tory party and had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. The memo was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take”, and needed to radically change. Shale spoke to his deputy chairman, Richard Langridge who said he was “cross” about the leak. Langridge was reported saying Shale was “disappointed but it was one of those things”. In a further call, Shale discussed the leak with Cameron’s Witney constituency agent, Barry Norton. Police and sources close to the family said they believed Shale died of a massive heart attack and claimed his family had a history of heart problems. At a press briefing on Monday morning, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It’s true that there was a phone call to [Shale] on Saturday to make him aware of the fact that a story would be running in a Sunday newspaper.” Asked if Cameron was satisfied there had been no inappropriate behaviour by his officials, the spokesman replied: “Absolutely”. Early reports of the death, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggested that Shale had killed himself. These were dismissed as inaccurate. “I am told it was a suicide situation this morning, in the early hours of this morning,” Eavis told a press conference on Sunday. Cameron said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, devastated, and that “a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away.” The prime minister had been aware of the memo’s existence and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed. Party officials had said earlier that there was no suggestion from Shale’s behaviour that he was overly concerned about the leak. Shale’s contacts with No 10 officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.” After the texts, Shale did contact Norton, who said: “He was absolutely in good health. We understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. “There’s a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.” Asked if Shale had been aware of the Mail article, he said: “Yes he was. He was very aware of that article. He was very circumspect with it, and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue. “And he was looking forward to increasing our membership, and was working on a pilot to do that.” It was pointed out that Shale, who worked in PR, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character not to be fazed by the interplay of media and politics. He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind Glastonbury’s pyramid stage. His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and helped co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had said they believed Shale had died of a massive heart attack at “around lunchtime” on Saturday. The prime minister said Shale had been “a huge support” over the 10 years he had been MP for Witney. Cameron said: “Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm, and above all his love of life. “It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. “Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They’ve lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and, like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.” In a statement, Eavis said: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to [Shale's] family and friends.” Conservatives David Cameron Glastonbury festival Festivals Robert Booth Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …More tests ordered as postmortem held after Glastonbury death of Tory constituency aide to David Cameron proves inconclusive Toxicology tests are being carried out on the body of Christopher Shale, the 56-year old constituency aide to David Cameron who was found dead at the Glastonbury festival on Sunday morning. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said the initial postmortem had proved inconclusive and a toxicology report had been ordered that would take at least 10 days to deliver its conclusions. An inquest into the death was due to be opened and adjourned by the East Somerset coroner at Wells town hall at 2.30pm on Monday. Police said the postmortem did not suggest the death was suspicious. Shale was the chairman of the West Oxfordshire Conservative association in the prime minister’s Witney constituency and had been at Glastonbury with his wife and children. He went to the portable toilet in the VIP area where he was staying behind the main stage around lunchtime on Saturday and was found dead at about 9am on Sunday. He had been contacted just after 12.30pm on Saturday by a Downing Street official to tell him not to talk to the press about a memo written by him which was highly critical of the Tory party and had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper. The memo was essentially a strategy document setting out how to recruit members. It said the local party appeared “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take”, and needed to radically change. Shale spoke to his deputy chairman, Richard Langridge who said he was “cross” about the leak. Langridge was reported saying Shale was “disappointed but it was one of those things”. In a further call, Shale discussed the leak with Cameron’s Witney constituency agent, Barry Norton. Police and sources close to the family said they believed Shale died of a massive heart attack and claimed his family had a history of heart problems. At a press briefing on Monday morning, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “It’s true that there was a phone call to [Shale] on Saturday to make him aware of the fact that a story would be running in a Sunday newspaper.” Asked if Cameron was satisfied there had been no inappropriate behaviour by his officials, the spokesman replied: “Absolutely”. Early reports of the death, including one from the Glastonbury festival organiser, Michael Eavis, suggested that Shale had killed himself. These were dismissed as inaccurate. “I am told it was a suicide situation this morning, in the early hours of this morning,” Eavis told a press conference on Sunday. Cameron said the death had left him and his wife, Samantha, devastated, and that “a big rock in my life has suddenly been rolled away.” The prime minister had been aware of the memo’s existence and there is deep concern inside Downing Street that its contents, known only to a small number of people, had been disclosed. Party officials had said earlier that there was no suggestion from Shale’s behaviour that he was overly concerned about the leak. Shale’s contacts with No 10 officials were seen as routine and polite, and he is not believed to have taken up the advice to speak to the party headquarters. One senior source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.” After the texts, Shale did contact Norton, who said: “He was absolutely in good health. We understand that his death has been as the result of a heart attack, that is the information we have. “There’s a history of that in his family and anything to the contrary, at the moment, is totally scurrilous.” Asked if Shale had been aware of the Mail article, he said: “Yes he was. He was very aware of that article. He was very circumspect with it, and was quite confident that this was something that was not really an issue. “And he was looking forward to increasing our membership, and was working on a pilot to do that.” It was pointed out that Shale, who worked in PR, management consultancy and marketing, was a robust character not to be fazed by the interplay of media and politics. He had been staying in one of the luxury caravans behind Glastonbury’s pyramid stage. His wife raised the alarm early in the morning, but his body was not found until 9am. Rupert Soames, a businessman and friend of Shale who was at Glastonbury and helped co-ordinate arrangements following his death, said through a spokesman that medics had said they believed Shale had died of a massive heart attack at “around lunchtime” on Saturday. The prime minister said Shale had been “a huge support” over the 10 years he had been MP for Witney. Cameron said: “Christopher was one of the most truly generous people I’ve ever met – he was always giving to others, his time, his help, his enthusiasm, and above all his love of life. “It was in that spirit that he made a massive contribution to the Conservative party. “Our love and prayers are with Nikki and the family. They’ve lost an amazing dad, west Oxfordshire has lost a big and wonderful man and, like so many others, Sam and I have lost a close and valued friend.” In a statement, Eavis said: “I would like to express my deepest sympathy to [Shale's] family and friends.” Conservatives David Cameron Glastonbury festival Festivals Robert Booth Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
In Chicago, where hot dog stands far out number hamburger joints, there is one and only one classic recipe, and very little variation from it. It is the perfect hot dog. Ask foodies around the world what makes the great city in the middle of America famous and they will reply Alinea, Charlie Trotter’s, Topolobampo, Everest, or one of the other temples of the table. Ask tourists what culinary wonder starts them salivating and they’ll say deep dish pizza. But ask the “Grabowskis” as Da Coach Mike Ditka calls hard working lunch pail Chicagoans, and they will tell you it is the Chicago Hot Dog. O’Hare DogsIt is believed that more hotdogs are sold at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport than any other location in the world. So last week two nuns from the Vatican arrived in Chicago for a conclave and are walking through O’Hare. Spotting a Vienna Beef hot dog stand, the novitiate says to her Mother Superior in Italian “I hear that the occupants of this country actually eat dogs and that Chicago makes the very best dogs.” “Then I suppose we should try one,” replies the elder. They approach the vendor and hold up two fingers. He hands them each a foil wrapped packet. Excited, they hurry to a table and unwrap their first American meals. Staring at hers for a moment, the younger nun giggles, leans over and whispers “What part did you get?” Midway Dogs So the Buddhist monk arrives at Midway Airport in Chicago, walks up to the Superdawg stand and says “Make me one with everything.” The vendor wonders how often the monk says this, shrugs, loads up a bun with all the classic fixins, and hands it to him. The monk hands him a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer. “Change?” asks the monk. The vendor smiles and responds: “Change must come from within.” To my vegetarian friends and to other health nags Those of us who love hot dogs know they are not health food. Most of us don’t eat them every day, or even every week. Perhaps a few misguided people eat them too often, but for most of us they are occasional treats that bring us back to our youth, generate memories of baseball games with Dad, Fourth of July, picnics on the beach, and vacations in New York. Hot dogs are an important part of American cultural heritage, and the wonderful eccentric regional styles make traveling just a bit more fun. We know they are high fat, high salt, and contain preservatives, and if you want to harp about nitrites and nitrates, click the link and read the latest info on them and how they appear naturally in lettuce, spinach, and carrots before you start preaching in the comments below. If you really must know, click here to learn how a wiener is made. Go to the HuffPost homepage is you want to see how laws are made.Here’s proof. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune polled its readers to determine the “7 Wonders of Chicago.” Predictably the top 10 were the magnificent Lake Michigan lakefront, Wrigley Field, the “El” elevated trains, the Sears Tower, the 1869 Water Tower, the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Chicago River, Millennium Park, and Chicago Blues. In 11th place was the Chicago Hot Dog. Pizza didn’t even make the list. The Chicago Hot Dog is so popular the newspaper estimates there are 1,800 hot dog stands in the area, far more than all the McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and Wendy’s combined. To see my favorite Chicago Hot Dog stands, click here. What makes the Chicago Hot Dog special? Like Chicago’s famous architecture, it is great design. It is a juicy, crunchy, sloppy combo that leaves your fingers fragrant for hours: A garlicy all-beef frankfurter, usually Vienna Beef brand, with a natural casing, simmered in hot water, on a Rosen’s bun studded with poppy seeds and topped with solar yellow mustard, sweet kryptonite green pickle relish, pungent chopped onion, juicy tomato slices, spicy hot “sport” peppers, a salty crunchy kosher pickle spear, and a sprinkle of magic dust: celery salt. The result is a sandwich with so much vegetation that it is called a “garden on a bun”. This is the recipe that is served at practically all hot dog stands in Chicago. It makes sense. In the 1800s meat packers such as Armour, Swift, and Oscar Mayer grew up on the Southside. There were enough slaughterhouses that Chicago was dubbed “hog butcher for the world” by poet laureate Carl Sandburg. At the same time, Chicago is built on such rich black soil that if you spit on it a human being will sprout, hence the city’s official motto “Urbs in Horto”, City in a Garden. Many of the immigrants who settled in Chicago and worked in the stockyards were farmers back home and they planted vegetable gardens behind their homes in Chicago. The Chicago Hot Dog was the inevitable confluence of flesh and verdure. Perhaps the city’s motto should be changed to “Hortus in Pane.” Nobody knows for sure where the recipe started, but here’s one credible story: Located in the great outdoor Jewish Maxwell Street Market, Fluky’s was opened on the northwest corner of Maxwell and Halsted about the same time the stock market crashed in 1929 by Abe “Fluky” Drexler when he was only 18 years old. The rickety wooden shack with no refrigeration and a fire hydrant for water became known for its “Depression Sandwich,” a complete meal for the laborer, a hot dog with mustard, relish, onion, pickles, pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, and fries for only a nickel. The customary method for cooking dogs in Chicago is called the “dirty water” method. The dogs are simmered, not boiled, in water for 10 minutes. This makes them turgid and juicy, firm but not rubbery. After simmering scores of dogs in the same water all day the water is rich in flavor. The goal is to heat the meat through without cracking the skins. Another technique is to steam them for 15 minutes. Steaming leaves the meat more piquant than simmering, with a nice snappy skin. Some vendors roll them around on a hot dog rotisserie, hot stainless steel tubes that keep the dog rolling in its sleep on a perpetual motion conveyor belt to gustatory perfection. This makes a tastier dog than simmering or steaming, with a crisper skin, but they are not as moist and puffy. The problem is that sometimes they sit on these rollers all day and precious fluids begin to drip off. Personally, I am among the minority who prefer what the locals call “char dogs,” cooked over an open flame, to the dirty water dog. The dry heat keeps them crisp and keeps all the juices inside where they belong. It also browns the skins creating sweetness that chefs call “caramelization” or the “Maillard reaction.” This also amps up the garlic and paprika. They don’t plump up as much and they are a bit less juicy, but the added richness stands up better to all the condiments we pile onto a hot dog in Chicago. Voicing such a preference will guarantee that I am ostracized by the purists in Chicago. So be it. Recipe: The Chicago Hot Dog Yield. I serving Preparation time. 10 minutes Cooking time. 10 minutes Assembly time. 2 minutes Ingredients 1 bun length jumbo all beef frankfurter with a natural casing 1 poppy seed bun 1 long squirt of yellow mustard 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish 2 tablespoons onion, coarsely chopped fine 1/4 medium Roma tomatoes 2 pickled sport peppers 1 kosher pickle spear or fresh cucumber spear, about 5″ long 1/4 teaspoon celery salt Notes The frankfurter. In Chicago, all beef hot dogs with natural beef casings are compulsory. No pork, no turkey, no chicken. No crap. Snap and squirt are the hallmarks of a good Chicago Hot Dog, and the snap comes from the casings and the toppings. Skinless hot dogs are best saved for infants and the toothless. Vienna Beef is the preferred brand. The bun. Rosen’s is the preferrred brand. Poppy seeds contribute a slightly nutty taste to the bun. These tiny blue-gray seeds come from an opium plant and they contain miniscule amounts of morphine and codeine. Not to fear, you would probably have to eat more than a dozen buns to lose your job. The mustard. There are many different types of mustard, but the classic Chicago Hot Dog is made with yellow “ballpark” mustard. Most of them are made by grinding the seeds from white mustard plants and mixing the powder with vinegar, water, and spices. The relish. In Chicago the pickle relish is brilliant kryptonite green. Sweet and tart, pickle relishes are typically made from chopped cucumbers, bell peppers, green tomatoes, onions, distilled vinegar, and sugar. For the kryptonite green stuff, Blue No. 1 food coloring is added. If you can’t find it, and outside of Chicago it is pretty scarce, regular old olive drab pickle relish will do just fine. The peppers. Skinny and about 1-2″ long, pickled sport peppers are made by pickling fresh green cured in vinegar and a spiced brine. They are moderately hot but not too hot for wusses like me, and they allow Chicago Hot Dogs to bite you back. Yes, even if you are a feeb, you must have sports for it to be an authentic Chicago Hot Dog. But don’t use too hot a pepper. Remember, the Chicago Hot Dog is all about balancing flavors. The pickle. A kosher pickle spear is common, but the best Chicago Hot Dogs, IMHO, use crunchier new pickles. Try Chipco brand from The Chicago Pickle Company. Kosher pickles are made from a special breed of cucumber fermented in a brine, a bath of salt, garlic, black pepper, dill, and vinegar. They are Kosher when they are made in adherence with Jewish dietary law under the supervision of a rabbi. Kosher pickles are never sweet. If you can get fresh whole pickles from a barrel, spears are about 1/8 of a pickle. One of my favorite hot dog carts, Mary Ann’s, uses fresh cucumber spears, skin removed, instead of pickles. It may border on heresy, but I love it. The onions. White Spanish onions are typically used because they are both sweet and pungent. They must be chopped fresh or else they get acidic, stinky, and lose their sweetness. The tomatoes. Most hot dog stands use regular round slicing tomatoes cut into two wedge shapes or slices, but I think fresh pear-shaped Roma tomatoes are best because they are meatier and not as runny. I like to dice the tomatoes into 1/4″ chunks so each mouthful has tomato in it. Restaurants can’t do this because diced tomatoes lose their juice when sitting around. And for goodness sake, when you make hot dogs at home, use ripe tomatoes. Alas, while researching this story, even in August, most hot dog stands used pink rocks rather than real tomatoes. Do this 1) For the Classic Dirty Water Dog: Bring enough water to cover the dog to a boil, then cut back to a simmer. Simmer, never boil, the dog for 10 minutes. For a Char Dog: This is a technique I learned from Gold Coast Dogs. Cut an X shape in the ends of the dog. When they cook they will curl up and get extra crispy (see photo above). Cook the dogs over a medium high grill until the skin darkens and there are nice grill marks all around. 2) Traditional Chicago Hot Dog buns are steamed. Click here for tips on how to prepare your buns. 3) Cut the stem off the end of the tomato and squeeze it over the trash can ejecting the seeds. Chop the tomato into 1/4″ chunks. 4) Place the frankfurter on the bun. Squirt the mustard on the dog on one side between the meat and the bun. Spread the relish between the meat and the bun on the opposite side of the mustard. Sprinkle the chopped onions on top of the mustard. Distribute the tomato chunks all around. Place the peppers on top of the tomatoes. Place the spear on top of the onions and mustard. Sprinkle the celery salt on top of the vegetation. 5) Absolutely, positively, no ketchup. Fohgeddaboudit. Click here to read why. All text and photos are Copyright (c) 2011 By Meathead, and all rights are reserved For more of Meathead’s writing, photos, recipes, and barbecue info please visit his website AmazingRibs.com and subscribe to his email newsletter, Smoke Signals. Friend Meathead on Facebook
Continue reading …In Chicago, where hot dog stands far out number hamburger joints, there is one and only one classic recipe, and very little variation from it. It is the perfect hot dog. Ask foodies around the world what makes the great city in the middle of America famous and they will reply Alinea, Charlie Trotter’s, Topolobampo, Everest, or one of the other temples of the table. Ask tourists what culinary wonder starts them salivating and they’ll say deep dish pizza. But ask the “Grabowskis” as Da Coach Mike Ditka calls hard working lunch pail Chicagoans, and they will tell you it is the Chicago Hot Dog. O’Hare DogsIt is believed that more hotdogs are sold at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport than any other location in the world. So last week two nuns from the Vatican arrived in Chicago for a conclave and are walking through O’Hare. Spotting a Vienna Beef hot dog stand, the novitiate says to her Mother Superior in Italian “I hear that the occupants of this country actually eat dogs and that Chicago makes the very best dogs.” “Then I suppose we should try one,” replies the elder. They approach the vendor and hold up two fingers. He hands them each a foil wrapped packet. Excited, they hurry to a table and unwrap their first American meals. Staring at hers for a moment, the younger nun giggles, leans over and whispers “What part did you get?” Midway Dogs So the Buddhist monk arrives at Midway Airport in Chicago, walks up to the Superdawg stand and says “Make me one with everything.” The vendor wonders how often the monk says this, shrugs, loads up a bun with all the classic fixins, and hands it to him. The monk hands him a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer. “Change?” asks the monk. The vendor smiles and responds: “Change must come from within.” To my vegetarian friends and to other health nags Those of us who love hot dogs know they are not health food. Most of us don’t eat them every day, or even every week. Perhaps a few misguided people eat them too often, but for most of us they are occasional treats that bring us back to our youth, generate memories of baseball games with Dad, Fourth of July, picnics on the beach, and vacations in New York. Hot dogs are an important part of American cultural heritage, and the wonderful eccentric regional styles make traveling just a bit more fun. We know they are high fat, high salt, and contain preservatives, and if you want to harp about nitrites and nitrates, click the link and read the latest info on them and how they appear naturally in lettuce, spinach, and carrots before you start preaching in the comments below. If you really must know, click here to learn how a wiener is made. Go to the HuffPost homepage is you want to see how laws are made.Here’s proof. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune polled its readers to determine the “7 Wonders of Chicago.” Predictably the top 10 were the magnificent Lake Michigan lakefront, Wrigley Field, the “El” elevated trains, the Sears Tower, the 1869 Water Tower, the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Chicago River, Millennium Park, and Chicago Blues. In 11th place was the Chicago Hot Dog. Pizza didn’t even make the list. The Chicago Hot Dog is so popular the newspaper estimates there are 1,800 hot dog stands in the area, far more than all the McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and Wendy’s combined. To see my favorite Chicago Hot Dog stands, click here. What makes the Chicago Hot Dog special? Like Chicago’s famous architecture, it is great design. It is a juicy, crunchy, sloppy combo that leaves your fingers fragrant for hours: A garlicy all-beef frankfurter, usually Vienna Beef brand, with a natural casing, simmered in hot water, on a Rosen’s bun studded with poppy seeds and topped with solar yellow mustard, sweet kryptonite green pickle relish, pungent chopped onion, juicy tomato slices, spicy hot “sport” peppers, a salty crunchy kosher pickle spear, and a sprinkle of magic dust: celery salt. The result is a sandwich with so much vegetation that it is called a “garden on a bun”. This is the recipe that is served at practically all hot dog stands in Chicago. It makes sense. In the 1800s meat packers such as Armour, Swift, and Oscar Mayer grew up on the Southside. There were enough slaughterhouses that Chicago was dubbed “hog butcher for the world” by poet laureate Carl Sandburg. At the same time, Chicago is built on such rich black soil that if you spit on it a human being will sprout, hence the city’s official motto “Urbs in Horto”, City in a Garden. Many of the immigrants who settled in Chicago and worked in the stockyards were farmers back home and they planted vegetable gardens behind their homes in Chicago. The Chicago Hot Dog was the inevitable confluence of flesh and verdure. Perhaps the city’s motto should be changed to “Hortus in Pane.” Nobody knows for sure where the recipe started, but here’s one credible story: Located in the great outdoor Jewish Maxwell Street Market, Fluky’s was opened on the northwest corner of Maxwell and Halsted about the same time the stock market crashed in 1929 by Abe “Fluky” Drexler when he was only 18 years old. The rickety wooden shack with no refrigeration and a fire hydrant for water became known for its “Depression Sandwich,” a complete meal for the laborer, a hot dog with mustard, relish, onion, pickles, pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, and fries for only a nickel. The customary method for cooking dogs in Chicago is called the “dirty water” method. The dogs are simmered, not boiled, in water for 10 minutes. This makes them turgid and juicy, firm but not rubbery. After simmering scores of dogs in the same water all day the water is rich in flavor. The goal is to heat the meat through without cracking the skins. Another technique is to steam them for 15 minutes. Steaming leaves the meat more piquant than simmering, with a nice snappy skin. Some vendors roll them around on a hot dog rotisserie, hot stainless steel tubes that keep the dog rolling in its sleep on a perpetual motion conveyor belt to gustatory perfection. This makes a tastier dog than simmering or steaming, with a crisper skin, but they are not as moist and puffy. The problem is that sometimes they sit on these rollers all day and precious fluids begin to drip off. Personally, I am among the minority who prefer what the locals call “char dogs,” cooked over an open flame, to the dirty water dog. The dry heat keeps them crisp and keeps all the juices inside where they belong. It also browns the skins creating sweetness that chefs call “caramelization” or the “Maillard reaction.” This also amps up the garlic and paprika. They don’t plump up as much and they are a bit less juicy, but the added richness stands up better to all the condiments we pile onto a hot dog in Chicago. Voicing such a preference will guarantee that I am ostracized by the purists in Chicago. So be it. Recipe: The Chicago Hot Dog Yield. I serving Preparation time. 10 minutes Cooking time. 10 minutes Assembly time. 2 minutes Ingredients 1 bun length jumbo all beef frankfurter with a natural casing 1 poppy seed bun 1 long squirt of yellow mustard 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish 2 tablespoons onion, coarsely chopped fine 1/4 medium Roma tomatoes 2 pickled sport peppers 1 kosher pickle spear or fresh cucumber spear, about 5″ long 1/4 teaspoon celery salt Notes The frankfurter. In Chicago, all beef hot dogs with natural beef casings are compulsory. No pork, no turkey, no chicken. No crap. Snap and squirt are the hallmarks of a good Chicago Hot Dog, and the snap comes from the casings and the toppings. Skinless hot dogs are best saved for infants and the toothless. Vienna Beef is the preferred brand. The bun. Rosen’s is the preferrred brand. Poppy seeds contribute a slightly nutty taste to the bun. These tiny blue-gray seeds come from an opium plant and they contain miniscule amounts of morphine and codeine. Not to fear, you would probably have to eat more than a dozen buns to lose your job. The mustard. There are many different types of mustard, but the classic Chicago Hot Dog is made with yellow “ballpark” mustard. Most of them are made by grinding the seeds from white mustard plants and mixing the powder with vinegar, water, and spices. The relish. In Chicago the pickle relish is brilliant kryptonite green. Sweet and tart, pickle relishes are typically made from chopped cucumbers, bell peppers, green tomatoes, onions, distilled vinegar, and sugar. For the kryptonite green stuff, Blue No. 1 food coloring is added. If you can’t find it, and outside of Chicago it is pretty scarce, regular old olive drab pickle relish will do just fine. The peppers. Skinny and about 1-2″ long, pickled sport peppers are made by pickling fresh green cured in vinegar and a spiced brine. They are moderately hot but not too hot for wusses like me, and they allow Chicago Hot Dogs to bite you back. Yes, even if you are a feeb, you must have sports for it to be an authentic Chicago Hot Dog. But don’t use too hot a pepper. Remember, the Chicago Hot Dog is all about balancing flavors. The pickle. A kosher pickle spear is common, but the best Chicago Hot Dogs, IMHO, use crunchier new pickles. Try Chipco brand from The Chicago Pickle Company. Kosher pickles are made from a special breed of cucumber fermented in a brine, a bath of salt, garlic, black pepper, dill, and vinegar. They are Kosher when they are made in adherence with Jewish dietary law under the supervision of a rabbi. Kosher pickles are never sweet. If you can get fresh whole pickles from a barrel, spears are about 1/8 of a pickle. One of my favorite hot dog carts, Mary Ann’s, uses fresh cucumber spears, skin removed, instead of pickles. It may border on heresy, but I love it. The onions. White Spanish onions are typically used because they are both sweet and pungent. They must be chopped fresh or else they get acidic, stinky, and lose their sweetness. The tomatoes. Most hot dog stands use regular round slicing tomatoes cut into two wedge shapes or slices, but I think fresh pear-shaped Roma tomatoes are best because they are meatier and not as runny. I like to dice the tomatoes into 1/4″ chunks so each mouthful has tomato in it. Restaurants can’t do this because diced tomatoes lose their juice when sitting around. And for goodness sake, when you make hot dogs at home, use ripe tomatoes. Alas, while researching this story, even in August, most hot dog stands used pink rocks rather than real tomatoes. Do this 1) For the Classic Dirty Water Dog: Bring enough water to cover the dog to a boil, then cut back to a simmer. Simmer, never boil, the dog for 10 minutes. For a Char Dog: This is a technique I learned from Gold Coast Dogs. Cut an X shape in the ends of the dog. When they cook they will curl up and get extra crispy (see photo above). Cook the dogs over a medium high grill until the skin darkens and there are nice grill marks all around. 2) Traditional Chicago Hot Dog buns are steamed. Click here for tips on how to prepare your buns. 3) Cut the stem off the end of the tomato and squeeze it over the trash can ejecting the seeds. Chop the tomato into 1/4″ chunks. 4) Place the frankfurter on the bun. Squirt the mustard on the dog on one side between the meat and the bun. Spread the relish between the meat and the bun on the opposite side of the mustard. Sprinkle the chopped onions on top of the mustard. Distribute the tomato chunks all around. Place the peppers on top of the tomatoes. Place the spear on top of the onions and mustard. Sprinkle the celery salt on top of the vegetation. 5) Absolutely, positively, no ketchup. Fohgeddaboudit. Click here to read why. All text and photos are Copyright (c) 2011 By Meathead, and all rights are reserved For more of Meathead’s writing, photos, recipes, and barbecue info please visit his website AmazingRibs.com and subscribe to his email newsletter, Smoke Signals. Friend Meathead on Facebook
Continue reading …
In Chicago, where hot dog stands far out number hamburger joints, there is one and only one classic recipe, and very little variation from it. It is the perfect hot dog. Ask foodies around the world what makes the great city in the middle of America famous and they will reply Alinea, Charlie Trotter’s, Topolobampo, Everest, or one of the other temples of the table. Ask tourists what culinary wonder starts them salivating and they’ll say deep dish pizza. But ask the “Grabowskis” as Da Coach Mike Ditka calls hard working lunch pail Chicagoans, and they will tell you it is the Chicago Hot Dog. O’Hare DogsIt is believed that more hotdogs are sold at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport than any other location in the world. So last week two nuns from the Vatican arrived in Chicago for a conclave and are walking through O’Hare. Spotting a Vienna Beef hot dog stand, the novitiate says to her Mother Superior in Italian “I hear that the occupants of this country actually eat dogs and that Chicago makes the very best dogs.” “Then I suppose we should try one,” replies the elder. They approach the vendor and hold up two fingers. He hands them each a foil wrapped packet. Excited, they hurry to a table and unwrap their first American meals. Staring at hers for a moment, the younger nun giggles, leans over and whispers “What part did you get?” Midway Dogs So the Buddhist monk arrives at Midway Airport in Chicago, walks up to the Superdawg stand and says “Make me one with everything.” The vendor wonders how often the monk says this, shrugs, loads up a bun with all the classic fixins, and hands it to him. The monk hands him a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer. “Change?” asks the monk. The vendor smiles and responds: “Change must come from within.” To my vegetarian friends and to other health nags Those of us who love hot dogs know they are not health food. Most of us don’t eat them every day, or even every week. Perhaps a few misguided people eat them too often, but for most of us they are occasional treats that bring us back to our youth, generate memories of baseball games with Dad, Fourth of July, picnics on the beach, and vacations in New York. Hot dogs are an important part of American cultural heritage, and the wonderful eccentric regional styles make traveling just a bit more fun. We know they are high fat, high salt, and contain preservatives, and if you want to harp about nitrites and nitrates, click the link and read the latest info on them and how they appear naturally in lettuce, spinach, and carrots before you start preaching in the comments below. If you really must know, click here to learn how a wiener is made. Go to the HuffPost homepage is you want to see how laws are made.Here’s proof. In 2005, The Chicago Tribune polled its readers to determine the “7 Wonders of Chicago.” Predictably the top 10 were the magnificent Lake Michigan lakefront, Wrigley Field, the “El” elevated trains, the Sears Tower, the 1869 Water Tower, the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Chicago River, Millennium Park, and Chicago Blues. In 11th place was the Chicago Hot Dog. Pizza didn’t even make the list. The Chicago Hot Dog is so popular the newspaper estimates there are 1,800 hot dog stands in the area, far more than all the McDonald’s, Burger Kings, and Wendy’s combined. To see my favorite Chicago Hot Dog stands, click here. What makes the Chicago Hot Dog special? Like Chicago’s famous architecture, it is great design. It is a juicy, crunchy, sloppy combo that leaves your fingers fragrant for hours: A garlicy all-beef frankfurter, usually Vienna Beef brand, with a natural casing, simmered in hot water, on a Rosen’s bun studded with poppy seeds and topped with solar yellow mustard, sweet kryptonite green pickle relish, pungent chopped onion, juicy tomato slices, spicy hot “sport” peppers, a salty crunchy kosher pickle spear, and a sprinkle of magic dust: celery salt. The result is a sandwich with so much vegetation that it is called a “garden on a bun”. This is the recipe that is served at practically all hot dog stands in Chicago. It makes sense. In the 1800s meat packers such as Armour, Swift, and Oscar Mayer grew up on the Southside. There were enough slaughterhouses that Chicago was dubbed “hog butcher for the world” by poet laureate Carl Sandburg. At the same time, Chicago is built on such rich black soil that if you spit on it a human being will sprout, hence the city’s official motto “Urbs in Horto”, City in a Garden. Many of the immigrants who settled in Chicago and worked in the stockyards were farmers back home and they planted vegetable gardens behind their homes in Chicago. The Chicago Hot Dog was the inevitable confluence of flesh and verdure. Perhaps the city’s motto should be changed to “Hortus in Pane.” Nobody knows for sure where the recipe started, but here’s one credible story: Located in the great outdoor Jewish Maxwell Street Market, Fluky’s was opened on the northwest corner of Maxwell and Halsted about the same time the stock market crashed in 1929 by Abe “Fluky” Drexler when he was only 18 years old. The rickety wooden shack with no refrigeration and a fire hydrant for water became known for its “Depression Sandwich,” a complete meal for the laborer, a hot dog with mustard, relish, onion, pickles, pepper, lettuce, tomatoes, and fries for only a nickel. The customary method for cooking dogs in Chicago is called the “dirty water” method. The dogs are simmered, not boiled, in water for 10 minutes. This makes them turgid and juicy, firm but not rubbery. After simmering scores of dogs in the same water all day the water is rich in flavor. The goal is to heat the meat through without cracking the skins. Another technique is to steam them for 15 minutes. Steaming leaves the meat more piquant than simmering, with a nice snappy skin. Some vendors roll them around on a hot dog rotisserie, hot stainless steel tubes that keep the dog rolling in its sleep on a perpetual motion conveyor belt to gustatory perfection. This makes a tastier dog than simmering or steaming, with a crisper skin, but they are not as moist and puffy. The problem is that sometimes they sit on these rollers all day and precious fluids begin to drip off. Personally, I am among the minority who prefer what the locals call “char dogs,” cooked over an open flame, to the dirty water dog. The dry heat keeps them crisp and keeps all the juices inside where they belong. It also browns the skins creating sweetness that chefs call “caramelization” or the “Maillard reaction.” This also amps up the garlic and paprika. They don’t plump up as much and they are a bit less juicy, but the added richness stands up better to all the condiments we pile onto a hot dog in Chicago. Voicing such a preference will guarantee that I am ostracized by the purists in Chicago. So be it. Recipe: The Chicago Hot Dog Yield. I serving Preparation time. 10 minutes Cooking time. 10 minutes Assembly time. 2 minutes Ingredients 1 bun length jumbo all beef frankfurter with a natural casing 1 poppy seed bun 1 long squirt of yellow mustard 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish 2 tablespoons onion, coarsely chopped fine 1/4 medium Roma tomatoes 2 pickled sport peppers 1 kosher pickle spear or fresh cucumber spear, about 5″ long 1/4 teaspoon celery salt Notes The frankfurter. In Chicago, all beef hot dogs with natural beef casings are compulsory. No pork, no turkey, no chicken. No crap. Snap and squirt are the hallmarks of a good Chicago Hot Dog, and the snap comes from the casings and the toppings. Skinless hot dogs are best saved for infants and the toothless. Vienna Beef is the preferred brand. The bun. Rosen’s is the preferrred brand. Poppy seeds contribute a slightly nutty taste to the bun. These tiny blue-gray seeds come from an opium plant and they contain miniscule amounts of morphine and codeine. Not to fear, you would probably have to eat more than a dozen buns to lose your job. The mustard. There are many different types of mustard, but the classic Chicago Hot Dog is made with yellow “ballpark” mustard. Most of them are made by grinding the seeds from white mustard plants and mixing the powder with vinegar, water, and spices. The relish. In Chicago the pickle relish is brilliant kryptonite green. Sweet and tart, pickle relishes are typically made from chopped cucumbers, bell peppers, green tomatoes, onions, distilled vinegar, and sugar. For the kryptonite green stuff, Blue No. 1 food coloring is added. If you can’t find it, and outside of Chicago it is pretty scarce, regular old olive drab pickle relish will do just fine. The peppers. Skinny and about 1-2″ long, pickled sport peppers are made by pickling fresh green cured in vinegar and a spiced brine. They are moderately hot but not too hot for wusses like me, and they allow Chicago Hot Dogs to bite you back. Yes, even if you are a feeb, you must have sports for it to be an authentic Chicago Hot Dog. But don’t use too hot a pepper. Remember, the Chicago Hot Dog is all about balancing flavors. The pickle. A kosher pickle spear is common, but the best Chicago Hot Dogs, IMHO, use crunchier new pickles. Try Chipco brand from The Chicago Pickle Company. Kosher pickles are made from a special breed of cucumber fermented in a brine, a bath of salt, garlic, black pepper, dill, and vinegar. They are Kosher when they are made in adherence with Jewish dietary law under the supervision of a rabbi. Kosher pickles are never sweet. If you can get fresh whole pickles from a barrel, spears are about 1/8 of a pickle. One of my favorite hot dog carts, Mary Ann’s, uses fresh cucumber spears, skin removed, instead of pickles. It may border on heresy, but I love it. The onions. White Spanish onions are typically used because they are both sweet and pungent. They must be chopped fresh or else they get acidic, stinky, and lose their sweetness. The tomatoes. Most hot dog stands use regular round slicing tomatoes cut into two wedge shapes or slices, but I think fresh pear-shaped Roma tomatoes are best because they are meatier and not as runny. I like to dice the tomatoes into 1/4″ chunks so each mouthful has tomato in it. Restaurants can’t do this because diced tomatoes lose their juice when sitting around. And for goodness sake, when you make hot dogs at home, use ripe tomatoes. Alas, while researching this story, even in August, most hot dog stands used pink rocks rather than real tomatoes. Do this 1) For the Classic Dirty Water Dog: Bring enough water to cover the dog to a boil, then cut back to a simmer. Simmer, never boil, the dog for 10 minutes. For a Char Dog: This is a technique I learned from Gold Coast Dogs. Cut an X shape in the ends of the dog. When they cook they will curl up and get extra crispy (see photo above). Cook the dogs over a medium high grill until the skin darkens and there are nice grill marks all around. 2) Traditional Chicago Hot Dog buns are steamed. Click here for tips on how to prepare your buns. 3) Cut the stem off the end of the tomato and squeeze it over the trash can ejecting the seeds. Chop the tomato into 1/4″ chunks. 4) Place the frankfurter on the bun. Squirt the mustard on the dog on one side between the meat and the bun. Spread the relish between the meat and the bun on the opposite side of the mustard. Sprinkle the chopped onions on top of the mustard. Distribute the tomato chunks all around. Place the peppers on top of the tomatoes. Place the spear on top of the onions and mustard. Sprinkle the celery salt on top of the vegetation. 5) Absolutely, positively, no ketchup. Fohgeddaboudit. Click here to read why. All text and photos are Copyright (c) 2011 By Meathead, and all rights are reserved For more of Meathead’s writing, photos, recipes, and barbecue info please visit his website AmazingRibs.com and subscribe to his email newsletter, Smoke Signals. Friend Meathead on Facebook
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