Archive for October, 2010
So we have already visited the pork based barbecue region of North Carolina and the rib joints of Memphis. Next we will visit Texas and then follow the cattle north to Kansas City.
When you think of Texas, you think of Longhorns, beef, cowboys and BBQ. Cattle was a great industry with a huge population of bovine roaming the Texas range. Where the other southern states had pigs, Texas had beef. Cowboys had to eat. You ate what you had. Cowboys ate beef.
You can get steaks, roasts, sausages and any other cut of beef that you want in Texas, but when it comes to barbecue, the most well known cut of beef is brisket. A tough piece of meat but when cooked properly will melt in your mouth. Real brisket has a thick fat cap on it, not like the trimmed down versions that you find in the grocery store. Brisket is cooked low and slow, with the fat cap up so that the fat melts over the meat as it cooks. Drip pans are placed under the meat to collect the drippings. Any sauce that is made for the brisket starts with those drippings. (I prefer mine naked, or without sauce). The brisket is sliced and served with or without bread. Any left over bits are chopped and made into chopped beef sandwiches. Again with or without sauce, your preference.
Mesquite is readily available in Texas. Again, you use what is available to you. The prominent smoke used in Texas is mesquite.
The market was sated in Texas with the over abundance of cattle, but the price for beef was high in the north and the east. Sturdy men took it upon themselves to move the hardy Longhorns on cattle drives north to the the railways and on to market. The largest hubs for the end of the cattle drives were in Kansas and Missouri. Therefore eventually bringing barbecue to Kansas City.
Kansas City is an area where all of the barbecue traditions now come together. Given Kansas City’s proximity to the railways and the amount of meat packing houses that were located there, the variety of meat available was greater than the other areas. These meats included pork, beef, chicken, sausage, and turkey. (There are even a few places BBQ joints that have expanded to include smoked fish and lamb). The area also had a large source of hickory trees, so hickory smoke is more associated with Kansas City barbecue than other regions.
In the early 1900’s a man named Henry Perry moved from an area outside of Memphis to the Kansas City area and opened up shop. He served slow cooked ribs with sauce. The style of Kansas City and Memphis barbecue are very similar, although Kansas City prides itself on it’s sauce. Either thick and tomato based or thin and vinegar based. With over 100 barbecue joints and restaurants in the area, these shops needed something to make them stand out from the each other. Almost every barbecue place in Kansas City has it’s own sauce. Some of them are so secret the recipes are kept under lock and key.
Barbecue has now started to spread through out our grand country and even outside of it. Many of us have a grill, but not every one has a BBQ smoker or pit. It takes a very trained, skilled, and patient person to perfect the art of BBQ on a propane grill. Smoking comes a little easier with a charcoal grill in that you can put wood chunks right in with the charcoal, but not all charcoal grills can stand up to the long hours of heat that true barbecue entails. Luckily for the rest of us that do not have the equipment, the talent, or live in one of the BBQ regions of our great nation, there is now probably a BBQ joint in a town near you.
We are reviewing the history of barbecue and how it has evolved into the American tradition that we know today. Americans love to grill. Summer picnics, baseball, hot dogs and burgers cook on a Brinkmann grill, apple pie. We also have barbecue that is steeped in our rich history and mixed cultures that make us who we are. Today we will visit North Carolina and Memphis. These are two of the areas that started the barbecue revolution.
The North Carolina region got it’s start with the slave population as discussed above. Today it is still primarily pork products. There are ribs, but the pork shoulder plays a key role here. It is an inexpensive cut of meat, and does not dry out quickly when smoked. The dish that comes from this wonderful piece of meat is chopped or pulled pork that can be served on sandwiches. Some places actually use the whole hog to make the chopped pork. Using the whole hog, you have different flavors and textures that when mixed all together make a wonderful meal. Some people prefer sauce, but with pulled or chopped pork you want the sauce to enhance the flavor of the meat, not cover it up. Usually a thin sauce is used here. A combination of vinegar, salt, pepper, ketchup, and water, though all sauces vary. A nice added flavor and texture to this sandwich, is putting coleslaw right on top.
After the Civil War many of the freed slaves, moved to more urban areas looking for work and places to live. The art of barbecue came with them. One such city was Memphis. There were not a lot of restaurants to eat in and with such a sudden large influx of people a demand needed to be met. Lots of other kinds of meat were and still are barbecued there, but rib racks took precedent. Ribs took up less room and cooked quicker, thereby producing a larger amount of food to feed the hungry masses. The Memphis rib joints were born. Memphis ribs come wet or dry. The wet ribs are cooked and toward the end, slathered or basted typically with a thick, gooey sauce. Sauce is also served on the side. Dry ribs are cooked and then coated with a thin vinegary mop. Then they are coated with a dry rub seasoning. Sauce is still served on the side. Wet or dry, the best way to tell if your ribs are done: if you pick up a rack and it is still stiff, it’s not done. If it bends, it’s done. If you pick it up and it falls apart, they’re over done. Some people like them that way, but any real pit master will tell you that those ribs are just too far gone.
Next we will visit the Longhorns of Texas and then move north to Kansas City.
BBQ. The word alone says America. Barbecuing is part of our heritage. Through our nation’s history many factors have played their part. There are regional differences that have played a major role in the barbeque revolution as well. The types of meat, the way they’re cooked, spices, sauces, and even side dishes have played a role in the development of the art of barbecue. Not to be confused with grilling. Grilling is cooking fast and hot over a direct flame or direct heat. Barbeque is cooking low and slow over indirect heat. Usually smoking with wood but some people do use charcoal or a combination of both on charcoal grills or in BBQ smokers. Barbecuing is just a way to make a tough piece of meat, taste great!
The history of this national pastime started in the south where pigs were plentiful. The hog meat was separated. The “good meat” was kept for the plantation owners and their families, and the rest was given to the slaves to do with as they pleased. They were usually given the ribs and the pork shoulders, that can be tough. But cooked properly, they rendered wonderful, flavorful, delectable meals. Being hot and sultry in the south, many meals were cooked outside so as to keep the heat from cooking outside of the house. This is where the BBQ pit played a substantial role. Pits were dug and wood fires were started in the pits and the meat was slow cooked over the smoke and coals.
Today, there are 4 major regions of barbecue. North Carolina, Texas, Memphis, and Kansas City. Tomorrow we will go more into depth on the nuances of each of these regions and their contributions to our American tradition.
The best pulled pork that I ever had was at my sister’s wedding. She cooked it herself starting at midnight, the night before her wedding. She was given a partial recipe. What kind of meat, a rub recipe, and the procedure. The people that gave her the recipe hold the secret to the sauce. Family secret only. They would not give her the sauce recipe, in fact, they came to the wedding with the sauce already made, to be added to the meat just prior to serving. The meat was so good that my sister almost did not get to partake in it. Luckily enough, while she was changing, I made her & myself a sandwich and we got to eat it together. By the time we made it out to the hall, all of the pork was gone! I took some time researching and I stumbled upon 2 separate recipes by Tyler Florence. They are both relatively the same, but the procedures are different. It is the closest I have been able to come to the delectable pulled pork at my sister’s wedding. Here is my one recipe that I have made from a combination of Tyler’s two.
Cooking pulled pork can happen in a day, but making a great pulled pork should start days ahead of time.
First you want to get yourself a good piece of meat. About 5-7 lbs. Most traditionalists use a boneless pork butt or picnic. The fat in a pork butt will make for a beautiful tender piece of meat to work with. But you can also use pork tenderloin. They are leaner than a pork butt. The pork tenderloin will fall apart as well but you may need to go a little heavier with your sauce.
Now that you have this wonderful piece of meat at home, slather it with some stone ground mustard. (I had a jar of a wonderful mustard from Otter Creek Brewery in Vermont, that I used the last time I made this recipe. It was a roasted garlic, beer mustard that they made with their copper ale. It worked quite well). About 1\2 cup or more. Rub it all over and into the cut if using a boneless butt. Wrap the meat in plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Now you want to make your rub:
3 Tbsp. Kosher salt
1 Tbsp. garlic pepper
1 1\2 cup packed brown sugar
1\4 cup smoked paprika
1 Tbsp. dried mustard
1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper
2-3 sprigs of thyme, leaves only
Mix this all together and after the pork has marinated in the mustard for 24 hours, unwrap the meat and cover it with the rub. All of it. Get it in every nook and cranny. Re-wrap the meat and put it back in the refrigerator for 24-48 hours more.
Now you are ready to cook.
Take your meat out and let it come down to room temperature, about 30 mins.
You need to decide how you want to cook the meat. You can place it in the oven. You can cook it in a BBQ smoker or BBQ pit. You can cook it in a slow cooker. I personally put mine in a unit made by Crock Pot called a BBQ Pit. It’s just a slow cooker with a BBQ grill style lid. It works great with meats, ribs, and roasts.
For this application I am going to reference a slow cooker.
Before placing your meat into the slow cooker, add:
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
1 1\2 cups apple cider vinegar
Either 1\2 cup ketchup or 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
Now place your meat in the cooker. Turn the slow cooker to low & cook for about 8 hours.
When the meat is done, remove from the unit. Place it in a glass dish and pull apart with forks.
Separate the fat from the sauce.
You can either pour half of the sauce right into the meat and serve the rest on the side like an au jus, or just put the meat on some nice ciabatta rolls and have the sauce for dipping on the side.
Serve with cole slaw either on the roll or on the side.
This is a great recipe for tailgating race weekends. Start up the slow cooker after breakfast and when you get back from the track, dinner’s ready!
Thanksgiving and Christmas are upon us. Many people love deep fried turkey for their holiday meal. Many people want to try out this national craze, but are afraid due to other peoples’ past mishaps. An outdoor propane turkey fryer need not be such a frightening experience. With safety awareness and certain precautions taken in advance you can avoid many potentially hazardous conditions.
If you have been researching deep fryers or already own one, this is information that you already have. But, certain things are worth mentioning more than once! Keep in mind that cooking with fire and oil is a serious business.
When cooking with a conventional turkey fryer, overflow and spillage, accidental or not, are usually the main cause of problems. This can happen when your turkey isn’t thawed properly, when water is retained in food, or by hastily lowering food into the hot oil.
Make sure your fryer is on level, stable, solid ground. That does not mean in your garage. This does not mean your wooden deck or porch that is attached to your home. Keep a safe distance from buildings or materials that could potentially catch fire.
Have a back up location if weather conditions change.
Position the propane where the heat from the fryer blows in the opposite direction.
Make certain that there is at least 2 feet of space between your fryer & gas tank.
Make sure that the hose is not in a place that it will get tripped over.
You want to be sure that the kids and the dog have somewhere else to play. That goes for big kids too. Especially ones that may have not noshed enough and had a beer or two too many.
Make sure you are properly dressed. No shorts and flip flops or bare feet. Wear pants, shoes, and shirts with tight sleeves. No big poufy pirate sleeves..
Use hand protection. Some sort of well insulated gloves. You may want eye protection, against splatter, as well.
Always a have deep fryer thermometer handy to regulate temperature. Not all fryers have one built in.
Have an extra LP tank handy. If you run out because you had a BBQ the weekend before, it’s no one’s fault but your own. The hardware store or LP gas company probably won’t be open Thanksgiving Day.
When you are frying a turkey, fill the fryer ahead of time with the turkey and water so that the turkey is completely submerged plus an inch or two. Take the bird out and mark your water line. This is your oil fill line. Make sure you thoroughly dry out the fryer before you put the oil in the stock pot. Make sure your turkey is completely thawed, dried, & room temperature before you put it in hot oil.
Use care when lowering food into your fryer. Be slow. Be safe. Turn the burner off if you want to. If the burner is off there is less chance for a burning flare up. The oil IS going to bubble up when you start to lower the food in. Dunk it like a tea bag. Lower & raise once, twice, however many times until the bird is properly settled. Once that’s done, turn the burner back on. Get your temperature back to 350 degrees & maintain that temperature.
A way to avoid some of the potential problems that can arise, is by using a safer fryer like a Cajun fryer or Bayou fryer. With a conventional outdoor cooker, overflow of oil comes out all around the top of the pot and can spill directly onto the flaming burner causing flare ups. With a safer fryer the burner sends super heated air through self contained tubes that run through the oil. This heats the oil sufficiently enough to deep fry any type of food, including a turkey. Any spillage that may happen would occur in the front of the cooker. The fire burner is only exposed in the rear of the unit, so all spillage would be away from any flame, therefore creating a much safer frying environment. (You still want to take all of the safety precautions). These fryer units come with a rolling caddies, and self aligning stands. Making them portable and easier to stabilize. This opens up a much bigger world of frying possibilities. It’s not just for deep fried turkey on Thanksgiving anymore. Expand your tailgating menu. Make wings for the Superbowl. Fry up some donuts for the church bake sale.Have a fish fry at the firehouse. Bring a fryer to your next pot luck night at the camp ground. Set up shop at the next car show.
Main rules of thumb:
NEVER LEAVE YOUR DEEP FRYER UNATTENDED!!!!
NEVER use water on an oil fire!!! Always have an all purpose fire extinguisher handy just in case. Should something occur with fire out of hand, call the fire department. Don’t try to be a hero.
Always remember that your fryer oil is going to remain hot for hours after you shut the burner off. So again make sure the kids, big kids included, and the dog have somewhere safe to play.
Have a great and safe Turkey Day and holiday season. 
Fall is a time for hearty soups and stews. In honor of a fall icon, the pumpkin, Carbonada al Zapallo or pumpkin beef stew.
1 large onion, chopped(This is a variation of the Argentinian dish called Carbonada al Zapallo — which is served in a giant squash)
It’s that time of year again. There is a chill in there air. Leaves are starting to color and fall. Football games, homecoming, tailgating everywhere. And for those of us that grill, BBQ and smoke food all year round, our equipment isn’t getting put away. Yet this is still the time of year to come inside and start cooking comfort food. Time to leave the summer salads and grilled chicken and fish behind. It’s time for hearty stews, savory soups and sumptuous roasts.
I love all the seasons and I love to cook out side, but when that first touch of fall comes on, I get the itch to start cooking indoors. Pies, cookies, and breads in the oven. Stews and chili in the slow cooker. Nice big pot roasts in cast iron cookware. Pulled pork, deep fried turkey, fresh ham, mashed potatoes, and don’t forget the gravy. MMM. I just get into comfort food mode and I can’t help myself. Fall also means that the holidays are coming and that alone just says comfort food. Good smells emanating from the kitchen while friends and family patiently or not so patiently wait to eat. Crispy deep fried turkey still needs to be cooked outside in an propane turkey fryer, or you could make a small turkey or turkey breast in a larger counter top deep fryer.
I’ve already started my indoor cooking journey for the year. I’ve made homemade sauce and chili with my over abundance of home grown tomatoes. I made rouladen with spaetzel and sweet and sour red cabbage. Pulled pork and a chicken & shrimp gumbo are up and coming this weekend. And Halloween traditionally at my house is good homemade macaroni and cheese with a beautiful buttered bread crumb topping. I have already got my Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners planned. Thanksgiving will consist of a deep fried turkey breast and a small roast turkey with lasagna as a back up for any non turkey lovers. Christmas will be fresh ham, with potato pancakes, apple caraway red sauerkraut , mashed turnips and an apple pudding for dessert. I know that I am getting way too ahead of myself but, like I said, I can’t help myself. Just the though of all of that down home cooking is making me hungry now. I’m off to cook dinner. Go make some comfort food. Show your family some love.
The key to making good Rouladen is a slow low temperature cook. You can cook it in your slow cooker if you like, but I did not have the time for that yesterday, so I used my cast iron Dutch oven instead. It worked just as well if not better. All of the browning, cooking, and gravy making were all done in one pot, on my stove top.
Ingredients:
6-8 beef round steaks (2-2 1\2 lbs. ask butcher to cut it for you)
1 jar of ground brown mustard
1 lb bacon
1 jar of sandwich sliced dill pickle
1 onion, mince
kitchen string
1 14.5 oz. can beef broth
1 12 oz. jar of beef au jus
1 tbsp. tomato paste
salt and pepper
Pound the round steaks flat with a mallet if necessary. Spread each steak with mustard, tsp. to a tbsp. depending on the size of the round. Place the equivalent of 2 strips of uncooked bacon on each round, cutting it to fit the size of the round. Place 2 dill pickle sandwich slices on each round. Sprinkle with minced onions. Roll up the rounds like a jelly roll starting with the small end. Tie up with kitchen string.
In your Dutch oven, heat some oil. Throw in any scraps of bacon fat or left over pieces and any left over onion. Brown, then put in your Rouladen and brown on all sides. Once browned, add the broth, tomato paste, and au jus. Make sure the meat is covered at least 3\4 of the way. Place the lid on your Dutch oven, set the heat to low. Cook for 2 hours. Remove the Rouladen to a warm oven. Make gravy with the stock in the pot. Return the Rouladen to the gravy. Serve with spaetzel and sweet and sour red cabbage. Potato pancakes and apple sauce work well too. Find your self a nice cold pale ale or pilsner. Cut the strings and eat hearty.
Gumbo is a soup or stew typically served over rice. Not to be confused with jambalaya, which is usually cooked with the rice right in the pot. Both dishes were invented in Louisiana. Some say Cajun, some say Creole, and there are elements from both styles of cooking in a great gumbo. There are also elements that can arguably make one a Creole gumbo and one more of a Cajun gumbo. But we are not here to argue about who did what or when it happened. Gumbo is a really great food item that has developed over the years by many different cultural and environmental influences. Typically, as long as you have your “Holy Trinity” of vegetables, according to French cuisine, in your pot (onion, celery, & green pepper), then anything else that crawls, slithers, swims, or flies, can go in the pot and behold…gumbo.
Today we will discuss a very basic gumbo that can be made inside on your stove top in cast iron cookware. After you get your basics down, you can expand, experiment, and eventually go larger. Expand to outdoor functions, using big cast iron jambalaya pots or by stewing in a traditional turkey fryer. Functions like tailgating, a fall festival, a Boy Scout Jamboree, or even a big church social.
First thing that you want to do is make a rue. Now this can be done a few different ways. First we are going to take out our flat bottom Dutch oven, add 4 0z. of oil or melted butter. Now add 4 oz.(in weight) of all 
purpose flour. Stir or whisk together into a paste. Now if you just cook the rue with direct heat, until it turns to white paste, it will thicken quite nicely. If you are short of time, this may be a way for you to go. If you are looking for a more traditional gumbo, you can cook the rue in the oven, or with indirect heat, to get an earthier, bolder flavor. It won’t thicken like the white paste, but we will add another thickening agent (File Powder or crushed sassafras leaves) at the end. Make your flour paste, and put it in the oven, without the lid, at 350 degrees F, for about an hour and 15 mins. (It will turn a brown or brick red. It’s ok, that is the way you want it to look. According to some people, this will give you that Cajun gumbo brown color, like when made outside in a cast iron jambalaya pot over an open fire.)
Decide what kinds of meat you would like to add. Chicken, sausage, shrimp, frog legs, gator, fish, crawdads, snake, pork, beef, whatever.
If you are making your rue in the oven, now is a good time to clean your shrimp, fish, etc, whatever is going in the pot. Set your cleaned meat aside, and take your shrimp and crawfish heads, exoskeletons, chicken bones, etc, and put it in a pot with about 2 qts. of water. Set it to boil, then set to simmer, and let it cook down until it has reduced to about half, about an hour. Strain out the broth. Now you have a great stock to base your gumbo with.
When the rue is done, set it on the stove top. Medium heat, add your “Holy Trinity”:
1 cup chopped onion
1\2 cup each chopped celery & green pepper
2 Tbsp. garlic (optional)
Stir constantly about 7-8 mins.
Now for more ingredients:
1\2 cup peeled, seeded, chopped tomatoes
1 tsp. thyme
1 Tbsp salt (Kosher if possible)
1\2 tsp. black pepper
2 bay leaves
1\2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
Mix together. Stir your stock in slowly (about 4 cups), mix well. Now is the time to add chicken pieces or other cubed raw meat. Turn heat to low, cover, cook about 35 mins. This would be a great time to start your rice. After the 35 mins., turn off the gumbo.
Now is a great time to add your shrimp, etc, and smoked sausage (I prefer Andouille sausage, for kick). The sausage can be cut up and fried a little prior to it’s addition, or just cut up and thrown in. Your preference. Remove bay leaves.
Now you also want to add your thickening agent. Some folks prefer okra, but traditionally, local to the area, there were Sassafras trees. File powder was made from drying & crushing young Sassafras leaves, a local Native American tradition. 
It also adds a distinct flavor. DO NOT use both! It will congeal into non-edible paste.
Let the pot set for about 10 mins. Serve in bowls over cooked rice.
As I said, experiment. Start out small. Just use shrimp and sausage with chicken broth. If you like it, get bolder and add some chicken or fish. Get outside and make a huge pot while tailgating at the football game. Teach your scouts how to make gumbo in cast iron over an open fire. Use your imagination! Have fun and start cooking!
I was just recently up in the great state of Vermont. I happened to bring home some beautiful apples. I knew that I would be baking some pies, but I also decided to make some pulled pork this weekend. I got a pork roast out of my freezer and as it thawed, low & behold, it was not a roast but very thickly sliced pork chops. Well, now I knew what to do with some more of those apples. I decided to slice them open and stuff them with an apple, sage, bread stuffing and incorporate some Tumbleweed cheese in the mix. I would have loved to add some dried cranberries, but the old man would have nothing to do with it.
The first thing that I did do, was to separate the chops a bit and I marinated them in an awesome roasted garlic, copper ale, ground mustard that also found it’s way here from Vermont. I finished thawing in the fridge and over night that way.
I pre-heated the grill to 350 degrees F.
Removed my marinated chops and sliced them open into nice big pockets. I bought a bag of dried, crumbly make it yourself stuffing mix. I melted about 6 Tbsp of butter in a large pan, and sauted 1 cup each of finely chopped onion and celery. Then in went the whole bag of stuffing mix, 1 tsp. of dried sage, 1 1\2 cup of grated apple, ( I used 1 Cortland & 2 Smokehouse Apples), 3\4 cup of grated Tumbleweed & Sigit cheeses mixed, and mixed it all together.
I stuffed the chops. (Now, I may have over done it, but I also had some Taritaise cheese that I shredded and coated the outside of the chops with it.) I greased my cast iron Dutch oven, placed the remaining stuffing in the bottom. I added a little water then I placed the chops in the Dutch oven, sprinkled some paprika on each, placed the lid on top and into the grill it went. Dutch oven lid on for 30 mins, then lid off for remaining time. About another 30 mins. Check stuffing in chops for a desirable temperature. Served with garlic butter Brussell sprouts on the side.