Ginger & Molasses Pork Kebabs with Roasted Vegetables

Friday night is always a great time to relax with a new recipe and this past week I came across a new one that yielded a double thumbs up from Heather and I. This take on pork kebabs was so simple and tasty that we’ll need to do this one again for absolutely sure!

Here’s what you’ll do:

Take two pork chops and slice them down into two inch pieces. As these chops were really thin, it was a bit of a faff truth be told but I wanted to use chops instead of loin because of the fat content. Roasted pork fat has a lovely caramel flavour when combined with this sauce…and the sauce was the magic for this recipe and this is how it goes:

• 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp Heinz ketchup
• 1.5 tbs molasses
• 4 cloves fresh minced garlic
• 1 half Jalapeño pepper, seeds included and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

Combine all of the above ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring it to a simmer, reducing it down to about 1/2 cup (takes about 3 minutes.) Now set the sauce pan aside and let the sauce cool down and thicken up. Meanwhile set up your grill for direct grilling and stabilize your temperature at 400 degrees F.

When ready, start to skewer your pork onto two bamboo sticks that have been immersed in water for 30 minutes. I used two sticks for two reasons. One, it provides for easier flipping and two, it looks cool. Once done skewering, season both sides of the pork with a sprinkle of Kosher salt and finally paint both sides of the kebabs with the sauce. Grill the kebabs for 2.5 minutes per side, any longer and you’ll start to burn the exterior and because the pork was so thinly sliced, it all cooked in a flash. At the end of your second 2.5 minutes, set the skewers aside and wrap the plate in aluminium foil. This way, you’ll keep them warm, redistribute the juices and finish off the cooking process.

Now for the vegetables, you would have done this before grilling the pork. Simply add anything you have in the fridge into a roasting tray along with some quality olive oil and salt and pepper. We roasted our veg in the oven for about 40 minutes until they were just turning colour and crisping up around the edges.

The photos below don’t do the taste any justice. Try this sauce on any cut of pork (I want to try this on a slab or ribs truthfully…) and have fun with it.

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10

PS – good luck to all the drivers! Tonight Singapore hosts the F1 night race….go Alonso!

Rosemary & Garlic Pork Loin

Possibly the easiest recipe on this blog and quite possibly one of the tastiest! Last night was “Sunday Night Roast Night” in the Matla home and as such I pulled out one half of a pork loin that was butchered for me a few weeks back by none other than “The Pig Lady!” Oink Oink Ms Piggy…you delivered again!

The secret to any good meal is sometimes simplicity. Try this one out the next time you grill or even want to roast something up in the oven.

• One pork loin – about 1 to 1.5 kg
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and finely minced
• 3 more cloves of garlic, sliced thinly but not crushed (you’ll insert these into your pork loin)
• 2 long sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1.5 teaspoons of Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
• Pre-heat your Big Green Egg to 400 degrees F and set it up for Indirect heat, that is, no direct flame
• A handful of apple wood chips
• A platesetter

Bring your pork loin up to room temperature or at least take it out of the fridge for about 30 minutes. At this point, take the crushed garlic, rosemary, oil, salt and pepper and make up a bit of a paste. Don’t make it too thick and if it looks that way, just add a tiny bit more olive oil. Set that aside.

Simply, take a roasting tray and cover it with aluminium foil then chop up some classic veg to add. In our case I added new potatoes, eggplant, asparagus (much to my stupidity as my wife was kind to point out that after an hour roasting, asparagus will turn out nothing short of tiny little wooden twigs….for once, she was right!) I also added some red Spanish onions, extra garlic and some more rosemary for a bit more flavour. Coat the vegetables in olive oil and give them a good solid seasoning.

Take a sharp paring knife and make enough holes into the loin so that you can add in the rest of your garlic slices. Make sure you space them out evenly to get all that lovely flavour throughout the loin. Now, coat your  loin in the rosemary/garlic paste and give it a good seasoning with Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper then add the loin onto a V-rack and place that into the roasting tray. Place the loin fat side down on the rack.  In any case, there’s usually very little fat on the loins I get but if you do have a bit, roast it with this side down. Once ready, chuck some apple wood chips onto the fire, set the roasting tray and v-rack down onto the grate and shut the dome.

Set your clock for 30 minutes and once it pings, flip the roast around so the bottom side gets an even roasting from the top.

At 55 minutes (total time) you’re pretty much done. Take the loin off the v-rack and wrap it in some aluminium foil and then transfer your veg to a serving plate. Let the pork rest for 10 minutes and then slice it nice and thin and place it back onto your veg then serve.

Really simple but oh so tasty!

Heather was in heaven with this one and I was too…but that was largely due to the homemade fudge brownies and honey/vanilla ice cream that followed.

Overall Heather Rating: A hands-down 10/10 

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PS – David McKinley, you are a Dufus for missing this meal!  Just wanted to point that out!

Fab Flower Crab

So last night we had our Chinese family over for dinner, the Goh’s…and as promised after months of pestering, I cooked up something quite special for our dear friends – FAB FLOWA KRAB! A delicious and simple variant on the Sri Lankan crab recipe that I’ve posted before. Only difference, flower crab and 5 minutes less on the old grill.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 12 live flower crabs
• 270 grams of unsalted melted butter
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• A good shaking of Old Bay
• A small piece of butter for each packet

Combine the above, minus the crab and set your steeping sauce aside and go get ready to “dispatch” the crab.

I went to the shop to pick up the crab live and once home I placed them into the freezer for about an hour. This puts them into a bit of a “dream state” and gets them ready for the razor sharp Chinese clever!!!! (insert evil laugh…..mwaaaaa haa haa haa!) To dispatch, simply flip the flower crab onto it’s back and chop! A really sharp clever comes in very handy but let me caution you…it’s dangerous work so sobriety helps at this stage!

Flower crab is small in comparison to Sri Lankan crab so instead of chopping the crab into quarters, simply halve them and chop off the claws. At this point, take a sheet of aluminium foil and make a packet that resembles a Hershey’s kiss. Take a decent helping of your steeping sauce and pour it over the crab and then add a small bit of butter and a good shaking of Old Bay. Do this for all of your crab and then you’re ready for the grill.

Stabilize your grill at 400 degrees F. Place your packets onto the grill and set your timer for 15 minutes. Once your timer pings, remove the packets carefully and place them into a big metal bowl. Don’t uncover the individual packets until you’re ready to eat them. Its also a nice way to serve up the crab to your guests.

We accompanied the flower crab with a great homemade potato salad, corn on the cob and Heather’s awesome cherry pie. All in all, a great meal with great people! Thanks to the Goh’s for helping us devour the crab!

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10

PS – forgive me for the blurry photos, good help is hard to find these days – Uncle Goh is a lousy photographer but a great friend!

Redemption Pizza

It’s been a while since we’ve done two posts in one weekend but alas I had to get this one on the board given the Knuckle Sandwich debacle! Heather and I have done a few pizzas before on the Big Green Asian Egg but tonight we absolutely aced it! If you want to wood fire the best pizza ever, follow these simple instructions:

The sauce:

• 5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 28 ounce can tomato puree
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/3 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
• 1/5 tablespoons fresh basil, minced
• 1/5 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• Kosher salt to taste

Lightly sauté the minced garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden. Then add the tomato paste and fry with the garlic. Add to the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.

The dough (makes 2 pizzas):

• 3/4 cups of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of active-dry yeast
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl, heat your water until it feels just about lukewarm. Add the yeast to the water and use a fork to stir it into the water. Set it aside for a few minutes and allow the yeast to dissolve. It’s ok if the yeast doesn’t bubble, but it should be entirely dissolved and the mixture should look like thin miso soup.

Measure out the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt. Use your hand or a whisk to combine it. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the water-yeast mixture. Use your fingers or a wooden spoon to combine everything together.

When it comes together into a ball turn it out onto the counter along with any extra flour in the bowl that hasn’t yet gotten worked in. Knead the dough until all the flour is incorporated and its smooth and elastic to the touch–about five minutes worth.The dough should still feel moist and slightly tacky. Use a bench scraper to divide the dough in two. Tear off two pieces of parchment paper roughly 12-inches wide. Work one piece of the dough in your hands and form it into a large disk. Lay the disk of dough on the parchment paper.

Working from the middle of the dough outwards, use the heel of your hand to gently press the dough outward until it’s about 1/4 of an inch thick or less. Repeat with the second piece of dough. The dough will stick to the parchment paper, making it easier for you to roll out. You’ll bake the pizza right on the parchment paper on top of your pizza stone. As it cooks, the dough will release from the parchment, and you can slide the paper out before serving.

The toppings:

For tonight’s pizza we decided on the sauce, beef pepperoni, prosciutto ham, artichoke hearts, black offices, garlic, mozzarella, cheddar and salt & pepper. Here’s where you can play around a bit or a lot. Place whatever floats your boat on your pizza. Experiment, have fun with it and try out different combinations.

The Egg:

Preheat the Big Green Egg to 500 degrees F with your plate setter in and the legs down. Add your pizza stone about three minutes before you’re ready to fire up your “za”… When ready, gently place your rolled out pizza onto the pizza stone. Set your timer for 8 minutes and do one pizza at a time. While you’re firing the second pizza, the first can rest on a rack and cool down a bit…nothing worse than burning the roof of your pallet with a scorching dolup of pizza sauce! After the first three minutes, you can easily (but carefully) remove your parchment paper, enabling a more even cooking of the crust.

Set it on the table, sprinkle some extra garlic granules on top, pour a cold glass of beer and tuck in!  Great dinner…a bit of a faff, but well worth it!

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10

 

 

Knuckle Sandwich?

A very happy weekend from sunny Singapore! Yesterday was one of those days where the rule book was thrown away and I tried something slightly different…a knuckle sandwich! It was intended to be a type of pulled pork/sauerkraut sandwich but it didn’t turn out that way mainly because we couldn’t get our hands on a tin of sauerkraut…anywhere!

We have a freezer that holds all sorts of wonders and on Friday night I pulled out a softball sized boneless pork knuckle. Now, you have to love this because the retail price of this knuckle was $4.75 SGD or $3.84 USD. When you can feed 5 people on less that four bucks, you know you’ve got a winning combination for a cheap but tasty dinner.

So it all starts with the marinade. I tweaked one from a pork loin recipe that we use and it went something like this:

• 1 boneless pork knuckle
• 1/2 cup of Shiraz
• 3 Tablespoons roasted sesame seeds
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1/4 Teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 Teaspoon Mustard powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 Teaspoon dried rosemary
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed and minced

Combine all the ingredients above (minus the knuckle) in a non-reactive bowl. Once blended well, put your pork knuckle into a zip top bag and pour the marinade over the knuckle. Pop the back into a bowl (in case you’ve not closed it well or if there happens to be a small tear) and place it into the fridge for a few hours. I had our knuckle in for 8 hours before I put it on the grill. Make sure you flip the bag every so often and give it a gentle squeeze. You want to make sure your knuckle is covered well and soaks up as much of the marinade as possible.

Pull out the knuckle about 45 minutes before you’re ready and bring it up to room temperature or as close to it as possible. Set up your grill for direct cooking and stabilize your temperature at 225F. Throw in a few chunks of hickory, adding a wonderful smoky flavor. I placed the knuckle on a v-rack and roasting pan lined with aluminium foil. I also put in 2 cups of chicken stock in the pan to help with keeping the knuckle nice and moist.

I roasted the knuckle as is for just over 2 hours at 225 – we were on a timeline and so I removed the knuckle just after the 2 hour mark, covered it in foil to rest for 5 minutes before carving. Now I know, I know, I know….this knuckle could have easily stayed on the grill for another 2-3 hours, adopting a low and slow approach. The next time I do the knuckle, for sure. By pulling it off at 2 hours it was cooked through nicely and the flavour was excellent but it was still a bit tough and the fat hadn’t rendered as well as it could have. So, lesson learned, always take your time.

Once properly rested, I sliced the pork knuckle into thin slices for our knuckle sammiches! The sandwiches were also a bit unorthodox but my oh my, they tasted fantastic. We loaded up fresh kaiser rolls with a bit of homemade KC barbecue sauce, dijon mustard, pickled artichoke hearts and shredded old cheddar. The result was an excellent flavour combination that we’ll just have to work on improving.

The point of the entry is that you don’t need to spend a fortune to eat well and this little knuckle sandwich proved the point.

Bon apetite!

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Overall Heather Rating (4/10) SHOCKING but true…if the knuckle had turned out as a melt in your mouth piece of pork…this would have been a 9! Now, to be fair, our son Alex is complaining that the score is waaaaay too low. The sandwiches were “awesome” according to the first born son! Thanks buddy!

“Levi Had a Little Lamb…”

Over this past weekend I connected via Facebook with an old friend that moved from tropical Singapore to not so tropical Saskatchewan and so I wanted to dedicate this post to him and his crew….Levi, this ones for you. (Besides, I kept singing “Levi had a little lamb….” as I was cooking this wee beastie!)

OK, so simplicity reigns supreme with this recipe. Get yourself a 1.8 kg boneless leg of lamb from your local butcher. Ours was purchased at QB, which incidentally has become my new favorite place for meat.  You just can’t beat the prices there!

Anyway, bring your lamb up to room temperature and simply stab it repeatedly with a small but sharp little knife. In the incisions, insert a sliver of garlic and a 1″ sprig of fresh rosemary. Once done, get your extra virgin olive oil ready and smear the leg, coating it on all sides. Then, as a final touch season with fresh black pepper and some Kosher salt.

Prep your Big Green Egg like this:

• Stabilize the temperature (for direct cooking) at 300 degrees F
• Place the leg of lamb into a V-rack and into a roasting pan
• Put the roasting pan, rack and lamb right onto the hot grates and let the magic begin.

A leg of lamb this size will take 2.5 hours or until the internal temperature hits 140 degrees F.  Once the thermometer “pings” – wrap the roast in aluminium foil and a tea towel and let it rest for a full ten minutes.

Carve and serve…

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Overall Heather Rating: 8/10 

Bacon & Cheese Herb Burgers

So last night Heather and I tried a new tool out, the Williams & Sonoma “Stuffed” Burger Press. I’d give it a 6/10 for performance but for $18 who can complain? The point is though, that it did what it was supposed to do and that was, to produce an amazing burger filled with yummy goodness inside.

For incredibly tasting backyard sliders, try this recipe out:

• 500 grams of premium ground beef
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp fresh chives (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp of your favorite rub – for these bad boys I used Meathead’s Rendezvous Rub
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 4 rashes of back bacon (fried up nice a crispy like)
• 1/2 cup of grated Old Amsterdam cheese (from Amsterdam of course!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients above, save for the bacon and cheese, that you’ll do just before you grill. Once the mince is combined with all the ingredients, let it rest in the fridge in a zip top bag for about thirty minutes.

When ready, pull out your mince and get your press ready, that is, grease it a bit with some olive oil. This ensures the patties come out nicely instead of a sticky mess (which was exactly what happened with our first attempt!) Add enough meat into each of the halves, then to each side, press the “well maker” which makes a nifty little nook for the inside goodness. Fill that with a bit of bacon and a bit of cheese and crimp the press together. Voila. Pat the patties together a bit more (this is where the press kind of fails) but if you don’t mind this step, you’ll save yourself your burgers falling apart.

I grilled the burgers for 2.5 minutes per side at 400 degrees F and then let them rest for another 2 minutes. The result? Big smiles all the way around. Also, in an attempt to lower our carb intake, we used two lettuce leaves instead of buns and it all turned out wonderfully well. Check out the photos below!

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10

Live from Toronto on a Gas Grill

So we just returned from a two week holiday with our family in Toronto, ON. As part of the lodging deal I had to grill a few nights to make up for our stay. I promised my big brother Mark I’d write him a special blog entry customised for his Weber gas grill. Now, I’m no expert in these gas grill matters but I did give it a good go and I think if you follow these directions on your gas grill, you’ll pull off some seriously good steaks.

Step 1 always starts with selecting your meat. We chanced upon some excellent ribeye at Costco – which I’d never get the chance to do here in Singapore but in Canada, it’s an inexpensive way to feed a large family. The quality is good enough and the prep of the steaks adds to the flavour of any steak. Having said this, always go with the ribeye cut – they don’t call it the king of steaks for nothing. Cut your ribeye steaks to an inch and a half thickness.

Step 2 is a dry brine – about 1 hour before you’re ready to grill, liberally coat both sides of your steaks with Kosher salt. Not sea salt, not table salt but Kosher salt. If you use the others, you’ll over-salt the steaks and ruin them for sure! Once coated, throw the steaks back in the fridge.

Step 3 calls for setting up your gas grill. At the same time, pull out your steaks from the fridge and cover them with a paper towel. Let them get to as close to room temp as possible. Set up your grill for indirect heat. What that means is if you have four burners like my brother does, heat up the far right burner and stabilise the internal temperature at about 225 to 250 degrees F. If you have a smoker adaptor, plonk that on top of the burner and get the smoke going.

Step 4 – place your steaks on the other side of the grid away from the burner thats on. Close the lid and let the temp stabilise again at 225-250 degrees F. Leave the steaks on for 15 minutes then flip them. In total this step should take no more than 30 minutes – I went 40 and although the steaks were delicious, they came out medium instead of medium rare.

Step 5 – take your steaks off and put them on a platter and liberally coat them with clarified butter (or regular butter if you can’t be asked) – At the same time, crank up all four burners and get that grill up to maximum temperatures!

Step 6 – with the lid open place your steaks back on the scorching grid and let them caramelize! Basically you’re doing the reverse sear method that produces a wonderful crispy outside with a juicy inside. Keep flipping your steaks until you’ve reached a nice dark brown crust on both sides of the steak surface. This should take about 5 minutes.

Step 7 is very important. Get your steaks off the grid and cover them in some aluminum (aluminium) foil and let them rest for 5 to 7 minutes.  Now get your plates ready and any sides you wish to serve and you’re good to go.

Save any and all cuts that aren’t eaten that night and use them up for steak and eggs – on our last morning with my family, Mark made us a wonderful breakfast with all the left over trimmings! Delicious the next morning.

So, in all I’m used to this method on the Big Green Egg and way more comfortable that way but I must say, the challenge on a gas grill was worth the sweat – thanks again Mark, Christine and the kids for making our stay so memorable!  Hope you replicate this recipe and blow the minds of your guests during the short BBQ season that Canada has to offer!

Cheers!

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PS – sorry for the delay in getting another entry out. We’ve been so busy lately that I just haven’t had the time to write. The grilling continues the writing was in a bit of a rut!

Awesomest Cheese Steaks

So what do you do with leftover ribeye steak that couldn’t be eaten the night before? You make the most excellent, awesomest, yummiest cheese steaks you can!

Thanks to our pals Gio and Michelle for leaving us some steak from Saturday night, I was able to come up with a great homemade cheese steak sauce and the tastiest topping ever.  Try this original take on a classic Philly meal…made in Singapore of course!

What you’ll need to do is pull your leftover ribeye steak from the fridge and take a very sharp carving knife and slice the thinnest slices you can. Preferably go 45 degrees against the grain of the steak that way you’ll get a tender chew on each piece of steak. Carve it all up and set it aside…don’t bother putting it back in the fridge.

Now is the time to prep all your fixins’: the sauce, the shrooms, the peppas’ and the caramelized red onions.

The sauce:

• 2 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 Tbs white flour
• 2 cups of warm whole milk
• 1 cup of freshly shredded provolone cheese
• 1/2 cup of freshly shredded parmigiano cheese
• 1 pinch of Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Take 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and melt it over medium heat in a small saucepan. Add the flour and keep whisking until it combines. At this point, SLOWLY add the warm milk and keep on whisking. Its a bit of a pain the wrist but keep it going for a good 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to thicken.  Take it off the heat and then add the provolone and parmigiano, whisking and combining the cheese into a melted goo that tastes unreal! Add a pinch of salt and some ground black pepper to taste.  Set it aside and now go prep the veg.

Toppings:

• Slice up 2 or 3 small red onions really thin, into ringlets
• Melt a 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter on a cast iron skillet
• Add the onions and sauté until just before they start to crisp up. A few crispy pieces are deliciously yummy too!
• Now slice up your green pepper (capsicum) nice and thin and prepare your same skillet with a tablespoon of butter
• Sauté your peppers until they’re nice and soft but still nice and green
• Now, slice up some baby shitake mushrooms and saute them in a bit of butter. Before you remove your shrooms, hit them with some salt and pepper and then add some freshly chopped parsley

The Meat:

Lastly take your steak pieces and melt the pieces of fat that you’ve trimmed off in the iron skillet. The flavor retained by doing this is incredible. Now flash fry the steak pieces in two batches and only for about two minutes. I also placed a metal bowl over the skillet to retain the steam, therefore retaining the moisture. What you DON’T want to do is dry out the steak in the frying process.

Now you’re ready to construct your masterpieces! Heather was kind enough to nip up to the bakery at our local supermarket and picked up two fresh bâtard bread – similar to a standard baguette but a bit wider.  Slice the bread in half and then slice it again like you’re prepping a submarine sandwich. Now scoop out some of the bread from both sides of the cut bread and set it aside for future bread crumb makin’. What you’re effectively doing is creating a reservoir for your toppings.

Now load up one side like this:

• Drip a good amount of the cheese sauce into the bread
• Load up the steak pieces next, and dont be shy here – this this the heart and soul of the sandwich
• Next add your caramelized onions
• Follow this with the green peppers
• Add the mushrooms
• And finally, give it another topping of the cheese sauce!
• A bit of black pepper and you’re sorted!

Take your top piece and fit it like a cap on top of the loaded bottom piece. By hollowing it out a bit it makes a beautifully neat sandwich and doesn’t overly fill you up with bread! Serve it up nice and hot with a glass of red wine and enjoy this INCREDIBLE way of saving leftover ribeye steaks!

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Overall Heather Rating: 9.5/10

The Best Things in Life are Worth Waiting For…22 Hour Pulled Pork!

To celebrate Easter 2012, Heather, the kids and I invited 7 of our close friends to try our first attempt at pulled pork, a.k.a. Boston Butt, a.k.a. Singapore Swine. The result? Without exaggeration, this was the single BEST result we’ve had on the Big Green Asian Egg to date. Heather screamed out….”this is a 15 out of 10!!!!” in front of a packed house.

The secret to the success of the “Singapore Swine” was the super low and super slow approach that was employed. From start to finish, the butt was consumed ten minutes short of 22 full hours on the BGAE! I was so excited to try this out and my hat and my BBQ mits come off to Craig “Meathead” Goldwyn, the Barbecue Whisperer for his step by step guide to PERFECT pulled pork! Click here for the link! Another shout out goes to my peeps at The Butcher for carving up 4.818 kg of pork lovin’!  Jack, you’re a star!!!! For those who aren’t metrically inclined, that’s about 10.6 pounds of pork shoulder!

Right, so two days before I prepped three homemade sauces that are very worthy of being shared. Make these and if you actually combine the Lexington Dip with the Columbian Gold…you’ve got Lexington Gold which goes beautifully on a pulled pork sammich!

Sauces:

Kansas City BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 2 cups Heinz ketchup
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup molasses
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup yellow mustard
• 2 tablespoons of your favorite BBQ rub
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir until blended. Remember to use a wooden spoon. Simmer on low heat, stirring once in a while, for about 10 minutes. Makes 3 ½ cups.

Lexington Dip – North Carolina Barbecue Sauce

Yield: Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Ingredients

• 1 cup distilled vinegar (do not use cider vinegar)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon hot chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Heat this up for about 10 minutes until it starts to simmer….this step unlocks all sorts of crazy flavours!

Columbia Gold Barbecue Sauce Recipe

Ingredients
2 cups prepared yellow mustard
2/3 cup cider vinegar
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon chipotle Tabasco sauce or you favorite hot sauce
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules or 1 cube
2 teaspoons dried rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon celery seed
3 teaspoons mustard powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl - If you are using a bouillon cube, crush it with a spoon in a bowl or mortar & pestle and add it to the bowl. Crush the rosemary leaves and celery seed in a mortar & pestle or in a blender or coffee grinder and add it to the bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly. Let it sit for an hour in the refrigerator for the flavors to meld. No cooking necessary. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for a month or more.

OK, the rest of it kind of goes like this…read “Meathead’s” method and remember to use the 2 hours per pound at 225 F. It works beautifully. Make sure you also stock good batteries for your digital thermometer. I have an IGrill and went through 16 AA batteries before I chucked in 4 Energizer Lithium batteries. $15 bucks well spent.  I kept one probe for ambient temperature (kept at 225 F or thereabouts) and one in the butt waiting for a magic 190 F. If you read the article and follow it precisely, you won’t be disappointed.

Thanks Heather, Alex, Kalyna, Gio, Michelle, John, Angi, David, Mayeth, Richard and Billi for a great Easter meal and sorry to the gang at work…NO LEFTOVERS!

Enjoy!

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Overall Heather Rating: 15/10