The Sauce

The Sauce

5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (#10 size) can catsup
1 large Vidala onion fine chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons Worchestshire sauce
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 (5-ounce) bottle pickapeppa sauce (This contains: mangos, raisins, tamarinds, salt and pepper, tomatoes)
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 large juice oranges
1 large lime
2 lemons
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons grated horseradish
1 can cola, (recommended Dr. Pepper
Few dried chiles, to taste
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, to taste

Place the garlic in cup of boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove and chop fine. Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until just starting to brown. Remove from the heat and wait 1 minute for the pan to start to cool. Add the chopped garlic, stir, and place mixture in a bowl to cool - never let the garlic hit the hot oil over the fire - this way the garlic will infuse the remaining moisture and not burn and get bitter.

In a large stock pot over medium-low heat add the catsup and bring to a slow simmer, always stirring. After 10 minutes add the onions, garlic, soy sauce, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, pickapeppa sauce, and wine vinegar, and let simmer for another 10 minutes, covered.

Cut all the fruit into quarters and squeeze the juice into the pot. Then, add the fruit to the pot, with the brown sugar, horseradish, and Dr. Pepper. Continue to simmer for at least 40 minutes, covered.

Add the dried chili peppers and cayenne, turn off heat and let the chilis go to work for about another 20 minutes.

Chorizo Stuffed Dates--non-BGE experiment

Lawrence, Kansas, is home to a wonderful Italian restaurant, Tellers. The name is inspired by the building on the corner of 8th and Mass., a convert bank of the old-school variety. Lots of marble, wonderful architecture; the designers were very careful to blend the new and old purpose for maximum visual impact. The old teller counter is the bar and one must go through the vault door to visit the powder room. It relieves one of the many typical personal hygiene anxieties.

I’ve dined at Tellers many times over the years. I remember a wonderful dinner with the Veazey sisters many years ago. Teresa was appalled that Laura and I were enjoying mushrooms. She thought fungi and toe jam seemed to parallel mushrooms in order of things she’d not like to eat.
This fall, my academic adviser and I met at Tellers a few times after class for drinks and such. Without fail, a drink turned into two and food was ordered. Tom turned me on to the Chorizo Stuffed Dates. They are awesome.

Described on the menu as:

“Chorizo Stuffed Dates: Organic California Medjool dates wrapped in pancetta, stuffed with house-made chorizo, baked in roasted peppadew peppers and tomato sauce.”

Check Tellers our here:

http://www.746mass.com/index.php

I’ve been searching for recipes and thinking about this dish for a long time. Today I bit the bullet. We started with a box of dates, two links of chorizo, and a half-pound of really good smoked bacon. Henry and I pitted, stuffed and wrapped a dozen of these glorious little fruits.

The sauce was a different beast. I started with a 28 oz can of organic tomato chunks, ½ a jar of roasted red peppers, some smoky paprika, chili powder, and cayenne. Mixed it all together in a small pot on the stovetop. Once everything was hot, I poured half the mixture into the Vita Mix and let is whirl and repeated. I returned the sauce to the stove on low for a couple of hours to reduce. The flavors pulled out so nicely. It is an angry bit of tomato sauce. The kids and I sampled it on breadsticks and Critic #1 couldn’t handle the heat, Critic #2 continued eating until I made her stop. This is only funny if you know Critic #2 is the 5 year-old sister of Critic #1. She will be beating him severely in less than two years.

I was not comfortable cooking the dates in the sauce, I didn’t want all the grease from the bacon and the chorizo in the final dish. I preheated my over to 350 and put the dates on a rack in broiler pan. The sauce went in a baking stone dish. I put the dates in the oven for 10 minutes and then put the sauce in. After another 10 minutes I moved the dates into the dish with the sauce for five minutes and finished under the broiler on high for 3 minutes.

Nailed it! I would only do two things differently next time. First I would figure out how to get more chorizo into the sauce. Secondly I would have headed the sauce longer. Other than those suggestions, this a one up one down recipe. It was a hit with my guest, who jumped at the opportunity to take a few home for lunch the next day.

Chicken Wings, Steaks and Ribs, oh my!

Critic #1, came down with a case of the stomach flu on Thursday night. The thought of putting a flu bound 8 year old in a car for 4 hours was much more than I cared to handle, thus no trip home to the farm. Dis-Interested Critic #2 was pissed. She suggested leaving Critic #1 behind. Little sisters know best.

The upside, I did all the laundry and cleaning on Thursday night. I will enjoy an entire weekend at home with no household chores and since my kiddo is not feeling well, it will be a weekend at home. What to do? Smoke meat. On the agenda: a three pound bag of chicken wings I have in the freezer, two K.C. strips that are begging for smoke, and the usual, two slabs of baby backs.

The chicken wings:

Three pounds of wings, sold in a bag at the grocery store. They had been in the freezer for about a month. I pulled them out and let them thaw. This morning, I washed them and let them dry off, before applying a liberal dose of the magic dust. I fired up the BGE and added a layer of the pecan wood chips when things got nice and heated. The smoke was spectacular. The wings went on at 200 degrees for a couple of hours. They were very nice when I pulled them off. I ate one and my taste buds danced for some time. I decided to go ahead and deep-fry half the wings, to see what that treatment gave me. I was very happy with the layer of flavor provided by El’ Magic Dust-o, but thought I would attempt to “sauce” at least a few of the deep fried wings.

After the first batch was fried and sauced, it was overly apparent that this was going to be the way to go, so I continued deep frying four at a time until I was through all three pounds. If I were cooking for a crowd, three pounds would not do it. I committed the Mueller’s wing sauce to memory during my days as a bartender and occasional cook. I’d hate to share it here, but it was pretty basic, a mustard base with some semi-solid dairy fat and hot sauce with a few other “secret” ingredients to round things out and keep people guessing. I’ve never been a fan of this style sauce so I opt for a honey bbq wing. One half cup of KC Masterpiece did the trick. These were great wings. I worried that the bbq sauce would cover my Magic Dust, but was happy to find a nice wave of flavor at the finish that lingered on the palate until it was washed away by a swill from my pint. Ha…I should have learned to evaluate fermented grape juice. Back to point, these were good wings. I’d like to take about 30 pounds to my dad’s smoke house and smoke the whole lot, then freeze and deep fry as necessary. That would be the only efficient way to serve them beyond myself, Critic #1 and Dis-Interested Critic #2.

The KC Strips:

I trimmed two KC Strips of their fat and gave them a nice coating with the Dust. The fat made Maggie, Critic #0, very happy. Fired the Egg, added pecan chips, and brought temperature to 200 degrees. I had a hard time keeping the temp down. After an hour and a half, the steaks registered 140 degrees. I pulled them off and cut into one. There was no pink in the middle, which made me sad. I wonder if there is a way to slow cook and still keep the pink. There was a pronounced ¼ inch smoke ring and the rub added a nice flavor. It was over done for my liking, but not bad. The kids and I split one steak and I’ll save the other to slice for sandwiches. I think it will make a nice lunch on a toasted bun with either a little blue cheese sauce or some horseradish.

I’ll do the ribs tomorrow it is time for the Critics and I to find something to do.

Bacon Explosion--make one for the fun of it

I made a min-Bacon Explosion tonight for shits and giggles. Wow. You should make one. Here are the directions:

http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/

The Best Ribs EVER

I've already written about the preparation of these ribs, but they deserve another post. My basic process with two slabs of baby backs. I did use the Magic Dust, which I am very pleased with. I smoked the ribs with pecan chips. I was very happy with this mellow flavor. I also dropped the temperature down to 200 degrees. So three hours in-direct and then an hour at the same temp wrapped in industrial aluminum foil. This was a heaver sheet of foil. It was midnight when I pulled them off, so I put them in the fridge to finish another time. Two evenings later it was really windy and I didn't feel like firing up the BGE so I put them in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. Man these were good ribs. Lots of variables changes, so I'll have to keep playing and see how the results continue. Henry had a couple ribs and declared them better than Hap's which is saying something big. He is the only critic that matters. If Henry likes them, I'm happy. We are traveling this weekend, so no big cooks.

Magic Dust rocks

I mixed the rub recipe listed in the last post. I swapped turbinado sugar, for regular sugar, as I’ve read it reacts better to heat. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I had a big bag of turbinado sugar staring at me in the spice cabinet.

I rubbed four pork tenderloins with the magic dust and put them in the fridge for about eight hours. I pulled them out and let them return to room temperature before putting them on the egg, indirect heat at 300 degrees. This time I flipped them at 20 minutes and took them off at 40 minutes. They rested under a tent of aluminum foil for 20 minutes before slicing. The crowd seemed very pleased.

At 8:15 p.m., I threw on a couple slabs of baby backs, rubbed with my magic dust, and smoked over a mixed fruit wood bed of chips. After three hours, I removed, wrapped in industrial aluminum foil and returned for an hour. These four hours were at 200 degrees. I wanted to try things a bit cooler, just for kicks. I’ll stick them back on for an hour, half direct/half indirect, this evening.

That is all for this week…

2nd ribs using the new method

The kids wanted ribs again and the local grocery store was having a sale on spare ribs. We bought the last packet, so we also picked up a packet of baby backs. I did four slabs, two of each, in the method listed below. I was quite happy. I gave the spare ribs away. My department chair gave me a nice bottle of whiskey barrel aged porter and another colleague helped me score a side of pork. I received rave review from both consumers.

Will this week bring another round of rib smoking? The grocery has baby backs on sale, so...

I'm also interested in trying some country ribs on the smoker. I'm just about out of my rub #1, which I REALLY enjoy (see way below). I'm contemplating mixing up this recipe, called magic dust. It has been a few years since I have experimented with anything called "magic dust," so we shall see...

"There's a big shaker of Magic Dust next to the salt and pepper in my own kitchen and at all my restaurants. I wish I could figure out a way to attach the bottle to the restaurant tables because, at my restaurants, it's the most frequently stolen item! To make it a little more hot and spicy, increase the mustard powder and black pepper to 1/4 cup each.


1/2 cup paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt, finely ground
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mustard powder
1/4 cup chili powder
1/4 cup ground cumin
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1/4 cup granulated garlic
2 tablespoons cayenne

Mix all ingredients and store in a tightly covered container. "

recipe borrowed from:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/magic-dust.html

This morning I received an email indicating that it is/would have been Bob Marley's birthday today. In that realization, it might be important to smoke something tonight. I wonder if I should invent some smoked meat product and name it the "spliff?" I guess we could do this and just call it a fattie:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/dining/28bacon.html?_r=2

Happy birthday Bob.