Barbecue Heresy: The Return of McRib

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The McDonald’s corporation announced today that the oddly popular McRib sandwich would be back for a limited engagement until November 14th. Multi-million dollar network news readers tweet about the pooling saliva below their chins. I was so moved by this announcement that I decided not to honor the pork patty, but to bury it.

There are insults to our gastronomic sense daily; so many hearty foods have become Medigan - croissants, guacamole and in this particular case, pork ribs. Is nothing sacred?

If Mickey D’s had a pulled pork sandwich, I might give them a pass. Unfortunately, they go a few steps too far. They press miscellaneous pork meat into what looks like a small slab of ribs – without the bone. Because it is so totally devoid of flavor, the McRib relies on copious amounts of sodium and nasty, commercial barbecue sauce. Even the sauce is borderline dreck with its high corn-syrup content.

Since I began smoking my own barbecue, I can barely stand eating anything related to ‘que unless it is from a reputable restaurant. I would suggest that if you can’t bring yourself to smoke your own slab of ribs, please support your local pitmaster and eat some real food.

Schlactfest! (Part 2)

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Day four had come and the beef rounds were ready to continue their trek to become sauerbraten. As you know from part one of the story, I had been marinating the rounds since Thursday morning and injecting them daily BBQ-style to get the marinade flavor throughout the meat. Because eye rounds are very lean, I made them in a crock pot to keep them tender.

I removed the rounds from the marinade and patted them dry. On my cutting board, I coated them in a nice flour dredge to prepare them for browning

I melted 4 tablespoons of butter in a medium high skillet and browned the rounds on all sides one at a time.

After both rounds were browned, I poured 2 cups of the marinade and 4 ounces of peeled baby carrots into the bottom of my crock. On top of them, I placed the rounds and set the temperature on ‘high’. They would cook for 4 hours. I checked the temperature and reduced the heat to ‘low’ and let them simmer for another hour.

I removed the rounds and let them rest under foil wrap while I made the gravy.

To make a tasty, traditional gravy for your sauerbraten, take 2 cups of the marinade that the meat was simmering in and place in a blender. Add 8 ginger snaps and blend until smooth. Taste the gravy as you may want to add a few more ginger snaps to balance the flavor.

The sauerbraten came out beautify and was served with potato pancakes, red cabbage and applesauce.

And don’t forget the reason for the Oktoberfest season – beer! Here’s an imported weissebier in (what else?) my Yankee pint glass!

Yes, there were a scant few leftovers but it wasn’t from the quality of the food as much as the quantity prepared. We barely had room for the German Chocolate Cake for dessert.

The schlactfest was over but the gastronomic memories remain. Overall, the time to prepare wasn’t too great but did span four days. The extra time is worth the effort because the flavor is amazing.

Just an aside, I had a client from Germany and I asked her and her husband about the German drinking song you hear at Oktoberfests. Sabine facepalmed me and shook her head and asked rhetorically “Why are the worst things about a culture always the most popular?!?”

Kurt replied that it was because it was fun, so if you’d like to raise a stein and sing, here’s the anthem:

REIBEKUCHEN (POTATO PANCAKES, RHINELAND STYLE)

  • 4 potatoes, peeled and grated medium
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 2 eggs
  • 6 tablespoons flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • fresh ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Grate the potatoes into milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Drain and add the onion, eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Pour the oil into a skillet and set at medium. Drop the batter into the skillet, fry to a golden brown and turn. Remove the pancakes and drain on a rack or paper towel. You can eat them with a meal or are great served with applesauce as a snack anytime. Yield is about 16 pancakes

ROTKOHL (RED CABBAGE)

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 small onion,sliced
  • 4 cups red cabbage, shredded
  • 3/4 cup red wine vinegar OR 1/4 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup red wine
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons sugar
  • pinch of ground clove
  • 1 tablespoon flour

Melt the butter in a large skillet and add onions. Cook until soft. Add the cabbage, wine/wine vinegar, sugar, clove and cover. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Once the cabbage is softened, sprinkle in the flour and let the sauce thicken. Serve hot.

APPLESAUCE

  • 6 cooking apples (I use Cortland, Macintosh or Macoun), peeled and sliced
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup turbinado sugar (you can also use white granulated sugar)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a medium saucepan, cook the apples in water at medium high adding the honey and sugar. Once the apples start to slowly boil and cook down slightly, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until the applesauce develops. Adjust honey, sugar and cinnamon to taste. The applesauce is traditionally served warm but you can refrigerate too.

Schlactfest! (Part 1)

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In my prior post, German Lesson, I spoke of a place in the Northern Catskills called the Mountain Brauhaus. Each fall, the Brauhaus has a series of weekend festivals. Obviously, the Oktoberfest is world-renown but today I am writing of the Schlactfest.

Oktoberfest is a beer-themed celebration of the harvest originating in Munich, Germany. Schlactfest is a celebration of the slaughter as a preparation for winter and you will usually find pork as the centerpiece meat. This weekend, I am doing a variation and making sauerbraten instead of pork dish.

As you may already know, sauerbraten is a German-style pot roast that is marinated over a period of days and then braised. You know that I’m going to have to one-up that basic preparation of this Rheinischer (Rhineland) style sauerbraten for Sunday dinner.

MARINADE

  • 2 cups red wine vinegar
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 large onion, thin sliced
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/4 teaspoon thyme
  • 2 whole cloves
  • pinch of ground nutmeg
  • several parsley sprigs

Place your beef in a large stock pot or dutch oven. I am using two, 3 pound beef eye rounds but you can use your favorite cut such as a bottom or top round between 4-6 pounds. I prefer eye round because it make slicing and plating very easy and the presentation is beautiful.

On Thursday morning, In a saucepan, bring all the ingredients except parsley to a boil. Pour the mixture over the meat. After 5 minutes, I inverted the rounds and let the mixture completely cool. Once at room temperature, I turned the rounds again and placed the pot in the refrigerator.

This morning (Friday), I took the pot out of the fridge and turned the rounds again. Basically, I will do this every 12 hours or so. Here is where my BBQ style begins!

After turning, I took my injector, drew in some of the marinade and injected it into the rounds in 4 or 5 different places. This helps get the rounds fully flavored. I will do this again tomorrow morning and Sunday before I start cooking the meat.

Sunday dinner will be complete with a full compliment of traditional German dishes. I thank Betty Wason for the recipe.

Stop back on Monday morning for the complete menu and pictures from the Schlactfest!

 

German Lesson

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I will never claim to know EVERYTHING about anything but there are times that I think I know a lot and find out that there is much more to learn. German food recipes fall into this category.

Maybe I got on this kick when I made the smoked goulash a couple of weeks ago. Follow that up with frikadellen (German meat patties) with dumplings last week.

This weekend, we went on a road trip to the northern Catskill Mountains in upstate New York and ate at an old favorite of mine, The Mountain Brauhaus. The brauhaus, or beer hall, was built in 1948 by a crew of Europeans. When you walk through the doors, you literally think you are in Bavaria, with the exception that some people at the bar ordered Coors Light.

I opened the menu as I’ve probably done a hundred times before and my eyes transfixed on one particular dish: Kasseler Rippchen. The description in menu was pork chops that were smoked and then pan fried. I thought, “Wow! This is right up my alley. I can make this.” Once I got home, I decided to look it up to gain more background on the dish.

At the German Food Guide site, they describe Kasseler Rippchen as pork chops, or cuts of pork loin, that have been smoked and ripened in a salt brine.I thought the brine may be too much to try the first time around. I decided I was going to get some pork chops, smoke them lightly and finish them by frying.

Tonight’s meal was going to include fresh applesauce, mashed potatoes and peas, so it was appropriate to smoke the chops with apple wood and serve with an apple pork gravy.

I dusted the chops with Paul Kirk’s barbecue pork rub (great all-purpose pork rub) and smoked them for 2 hours using the apple wood chips to give it a nice, sweet base flavor.

Next, I made some fresh applesauce using local Cortland apples. The Cortlands were a little tart and added a nice tang against the turbinado sugar, honey and cinnamon.

I prepared a stock pork gravy but included 1/2 cup the applesauce while it was a little chunky to the mix. With the potatoes and peas almost done, I transferred the chops into the skillet with the gravy for 10 minutes to complete the entree.

The chops had a great flavor and a nice pink smoke ring. As you can imagine, the pork was gone in no time…another delicious twist of classic German cuisine.

One Smokin’ Grill!

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BBQ purists may be going nuts right about now. How could I use a GRILL to smoke meat?!? HERESY!!

There is a simple answer: many home ‘cue fans would love to do their own at home but think that they have to dump beaucoup bucks on a top-of-the-line smoker to do so. It’s just not true. I came up with this setup because it was more cost efficient to do with my grill. Here’s how you can turn your grill into a smoker and smoke all the food you want. Mine is based on my trusty 2-burner Weber but you may have to improvise.

  • Soak some chips / chunks of hickory, mesquite, oak or any species you like in a bowl of water about 30 minutes before you are ready to use them.
  • Take the grates off your grill and place a shallow metal pan on top of the burners all the way to the right. Fill it with around a quart of water to the brim.
  • Get a chip box and place it upper left side of your grill. (If you have a Weber, you know that there is a light flame that travels along the left side.) The heat from this flame is enough to keep your chips smoldering. Place a couple of pieces in the ship box.
  • Place a single grate across the middle of the grill above the pan.
  • Fire up the grill and set on high.
  • Once the wood starts to smolder, reduce the heat to between medium and low.
  • Place your seasoned on the grill and close the cover. Voila!

I’m sure that one day soon, I’ll get another smoker with all the bells and whistles, but until  that day, my grill IS my smoker and doing a damn good job!

Politics, Religion and Barbecue

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I was perusing this morning’s email and saw a post about barbecue from a rather unlikely source: The L.A. Times. They were reporting that early GOP primary candidate, Gov. Rick Perry, had dissed North Carolina BBQ back in 1992 at the Republican National Convention in Houston.

'Well, shut my mouth!'

The proud Texan was so sure his Lone Star barbecue was far superior, he commented “I’ve had roadkill that tasted better than that” when he sampled Eastern NC style barbecue.

If you want to stay friends, don’t trash talk a person’s politics, religion and (especially) BBQ. Men have been shot and killed for less.

I shot off an email to some friends this morning to elicit their reaction. My NC pal, Tom, from Beregond’s Bar gave me the perspective from The Tar Heel State. I thought it was apropos to listen considering North Carolina actually has a state carnivorous plant.

Yeah, our white BBQ takes some getting used to for most people. They think BBQ means some sort of gummy red stuff, and, as the article points out, is made from a cow.

“Whole Hog” was invented in the NC mountains, and made its’ way down here to the flat lands, where it’s easier to raise more than a few half-feral hogs. What dry rub to use is either a family secret, a subject for hot debate, or both, but smoking the whole hog (often wrapped in chicken wire because it’s cooked so tender that otherwise it would fall apart in the smoker) is the next step. (If you only smoke a butt or shoulder you’re probably only cooking for immediate family or a couple of neighbors. It takes a whole hog to make for a REAL party. Churches have pig pickin’s as fund raisers all summer.)

So you’ve cooked your whole hog in a smoker for 8-12 hours (depending on size) without the temp ever going over 200 degrees. You pulled it out, and cut the wire ties that held the chicken wire together. Sauce time, but not before the last great religious issue: Hand picked, or shredded with a fork? The correct answer is hand picked, though you are permitted to use forks (much like a slightly undersized garden fork) to shred any leftovers before storage. (Leaving the pork on the carcass is a good way to cause food poisoning.)

The Eastern NC “white” sauce is white only in comparison with the sticky red stuff found on the coast, or the strange (and delicious, but I didn’t say that) mustard sauce found in South Carolina. The exact ingredients will vary, and cause families not to speak to each other for six generations, but in general  you will always find:

  • Apple cider vinegar
  • Brown sugar
  • Red pepper flakes

Usually there aren’t enough red pepper flakes (unless you’re a Yankee or a wimp, but I repeat myself) so we add hot sauce.  Some places that have been around for 70 years or more have their own sauce, as do a few chains, but the default choice is Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce. Chains like Smithfield BBQ, where most business is drive through, hand it out in packets. You find a half gallon jug in the emergency supplies for hurricanes and blizzards at businesses that must run 7x24x365. If you’re picking a whole pig you probably went to a warehouse store and bought gallon jugs of it, along with a pump to dispense it.

The combination of the pulled pork, vinegar, pepper flakes, and hot sauce tends to both pucker and inflame your mouth. (The brown sugar just cuts the edge off the bitter and the hot, you don’t use enough to dilute the taste or make it sweet.) To cool off requires slaw, what Yankees refer to as “cole slaw.” Slaw is a whole ‘nother religious issue, and not being a native I’m mostly agnostic, with one exception- Slaw should NOT have raisins in it.

The slaw fills your mouth with cool, and adds crunch to the mix. (No, you don’t eat the slaw as an individual item, it goes in your mouth with the pork.) If you’re making a sandwich, it goes on a bun- Pulled pork (usually left over and fork shredded,) hot sauce, and a scoop of slaw.

Didn’t mean to go on about it so long, but I read about Eastern NC BBQ before I moved here, and fell in love as soon as I sampled it. You can get those other kinds of BBQ around here (especially in Cary, which many claim stands for “Containment Area for Relocated Yankees”) but the native dish is what is done best here.

-Tom

OK, Tom, I’ll let the ‘Yankee’ thing slide – this time. Thanks for the tale!

Smoky ‘Eye-talian’

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I had a client in Hickory, North Carolina who is a supplier to the furniture manufacturing industry. I followed them from there from their humble beginnings in Newark, New Jersey and the expansion to this new facility was amazing. It allowed the owners to consolidate many of their operations under one roof and were 600 miles closer to their clients.

This move also meant that their immediate staff increased fivefold, especially in the front offices, where I did my computer magic thing. The new digs were great and included a dining area and full kitchen. Naturally, the cook in me was inspired despite being the one-man geek squad for their IT needs. On the final day of my visit, I said I would make lunch for the office as a thanks for their generous hospitality.

Now, for full disclosure, this was 1994 and I hadn’t been bit by the BBQ bug yet and my limited repertoire was mostly Italian cooking. So, I decided on making rigatoni and meatballs. While on this business trip, I set a personal best of having country ham somewhere in my last 7 meals and felt it was time to change it up a bit.

The aromas started wafting from the kitchen around 8:30am and as the office staff walked in, it was quite a pleasant surprise. I could see that as we got closer to lunchtime, I was going to have a lot of hungry mouths to feed.

After finishing the last of my coding work, I went to the kitchen to get the sauce finished, pasta cooked and serving plates filled. One by one, the staff streamed into the kitchen to partake in this feast. I felt that the closest to authentic Italian food some had tasted was at Olive Garden, so I really wanted to impress them.

The new receptionist was a tall girl, early 20′s and a newlywed. She could easily have been a model had she not chosen office work. She was standing in the reception area holding the bowl of pasta and meatballs and enjoying the homemade lunch.

(For dramatic effect, imagine her Southern belle accent.)

“Do all you guys cook like this?”, she asked.

“Not all, but a lot of us.”, I replied.

“Well, the next time I get married, it’s gonna be to one’a you eye-talians!”

I could only muster a polite smile and said “Thanks.”

I thought that maybe I should send her hubby the recipe to, one day, save his marriage.

Truth be told, I haven’t dabbled too much in Italian barbecue but that doesn’t mean that it will never happen. I’ll just save it for special times when it seems appropriate – like this.

Pork is a staple in great Italian sauces (yes, I call it sauce and not red gravy) and often, it’s sausage. Many people think of an Italian sausage hero with peppers and onions when visiting a boardwalk down the Jersey Shore (not the show) or some sort of carnival. Here is one way to add a nice twist to your sausage.

Set up your smoker with cherry wood for a medium-density smoke. I like cherry with sausage because it has a nice sweet compliment to any type of sausage but fee free to use your favorite wood. Place the sausage in the smoker for around 1 1/2 hours at 225F.

The best thing about smoking the sausage before adding it to your favorite recipe (or just making sausage hero sandwiches) is that unlike grilling or frying, the sausage casing stays intact and you have a super-flavorful, juicy sausage. Try some fresh smoked sausage in your next Italian dish and listen your family and guests rave.

Remember, barbecued sausage isn’t only for ‘eye-talians’.

 

Que’n & Stewin’

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I am blessed to have a mom with Swiss and German descent. In the food department, she made a variety of regional foods that I have never eaten anywhere else. Mom may have passed on but the love of her cooking stays with me to this day.

On this site, you will see over time that I will incorporate some of my techniques into her recipes. This is the first.

In our house, we didn’t have stew – we had goulash. There was quite a difference. Stews, to me, seemed more like a soup and mom’s goulash was more of a meal. Beef was the preferred ingredient, but we would sometimes have veal. In today’s foray, I’m incorporating beef, but it will be quick-smoked to start.

BBQ Goulash

  • 2 medium onions, halved and cliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 pounds beef chunks, cubed 1/2″ to 1″
  • 2 tablespoons brown or turbinado sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup Texas Slatherin’ sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1 teaspoon marjoram
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sea or kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • veggies of choice

Set up your smoker with mesquite or hardwood of your choice and load it for heavy smoke. You want to smoke the cubes of meat for 30-60 minutes to give the meat a nice smoky flavor, but not enough heat to cook the meat. (You can also smoke the beef cubes while smoking something else, like brisket, and bag the cubes and save in the freezer for use at a later time)

While you can cook the goulash in a 6 quart pot, I’m doing it in a crock pot instead. The complex flavors get a chance to develop as the meat becomes tender. Prepare the ingredients above and place them in the pot and simmer for 6-8 hours on low or 4 hours on high.

I added carrots and string beans to the pot after half the cooking time was over because I like a more sturdy vegetable. You can add yours at the beginning if you are letting the pot simmer while you are away. In the last 1/2 hour, check your flavors and adjust your seasonings accordingly.

If you would like a thinker gravy, whisk 3 tablespoons of flour into the pot just before serving. I made egg noodles but you can serve the goulash with potatoes (cooked in the pot or mashed), dumplings, spätzle or the starch of your choice.

Goulash is one of those European soul food dishes that stays with you during the colder winter months. With the infusion of the spicy Texas Slatherin’ sauce and smoked beef, you’ll think you were eating straight from the chuck wagon on the High Plains.

Oh, and thanks mom!

Texas Slatherin’ Sauce

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I would like to pay homage to someone you will read about often on this site, Steven Raichlen. Steve is truly a BBQ master! This recipe is a variation of his Texas Jack Sauce from his book, Barbecue Bible Sauces, Rubs and Marinades.

Texas Slatherin’ Sauce

  • 2 cups ketchup
  • 1/4 cup Tabasco sauce
  • 1/4 prepared mustard
  • 1/4 cup whiskey
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Steve’s original recipe uses Jack Daniels sippin’ whiskey. I am not so quick to use my Jack for a sauce when another whiskey will do fine.

Either way, the sauce has a nice sweet ‘n’ spicy kick for any of your barbecued and grilled food. Bring some to the next picnic and watch it become a crowd favorite.

A Little Chili Today

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After a July of sweltering heat and an August that was the wettest on record, I am happy to report that September weather is quite pleasant, unless you drop 40 degrees in one night! I was NOT expecting my thermometer to read 46F just yet. And, here I thought that the Cousins in the Kitchen were crazy to start making chili.

Still, I was ready to whip up a batch with the mercury in the 80′s just to challenge them to a virtual chili throwdown.

Your first question may be:

Mike, you have a barbecue blog. Why are you talking about chili?

Good question.

Being a gourmand, I really like all food. Having an Italian background, I could go on forever about pizza. And while most of my BBQ stories are about, well, barbecue, there are times I move to the fringe.

Originally, I was going to do my Tequila Sunrise Pitmaster Chili, but the weather was iffy, so I didn’t start up the smoker and concentrated on my stovetop  instead. In a later post, I’ll give you the lowdown on how to make an awesome Tequila Sunrise chili using fresh-smoked brisket.

  • 2 pounds ground Angus beef
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 green or red pepper, diced
  • 2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
  • 2 jalapeno peppers, diced
  • 2 16oz cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 15oz can red kidney beans, drained
  • 1 15oz can pinto beans, drained
  • 1/2 cup tequila
  • 1/2 cup orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon light brown or turbinado sugar
  • 2 teaspoons sea or kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon molasses
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • shredded cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese
  • sour cream

Using a little oil, brown the beef with the onions, peppers and garlic. Add the jalapenos, tomatoes, beans, tequila, OJ and bring to a low boil. As the chili is heating, add the spices one at a time and giving a good stir with each addition. Once the pot has come to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for 3 hours. I stir the pot around ever 30 minutes and adjust the spices as the flavor develops.

Chili, like barbecue is quite subjective. Meat. No meat. Beans. No beans. Red chiles, green chiles. Let’s be calm, people! It’s like Italian giambotta – you can make it a thousand different ways.

The Cousins are correct, chili is a crowd favorite for Football, tailgate parties or a Thursday night at home.

Serve your chili with the usual toppings like shredded cheese and sour cream and chopped raw onion. As you can see in the picture, I too like sour cream in my chili but unlike Diana, I HATE the word dollop.

Enjoy!