Slow Cooked Melt In Your Mouth BBQ Pulled Pork

 

Well, I'm not a born and bred Southerner but I know one thing.  No BBQ is complete without pulled pork.  It's a perfect party food. 

 I'll be honest, when I first saw this on a menu I turned my nose up at it but after tasting this soppy, sloppy delicious mess I couldn't wait to make it.  BBQ pulled pork is on the "crowd favorite" list at home.

It's easy and makes a hearty meal for the masses at a reasonable price. So break out your slow cooker turn it on and forget it. Roasting works well too, just cover it tightly, cook it all day or really slowly over night. You can’t cook this too long, just think slow and low. If you don't feel like making your own BBQ sauce, just use your favorite from the supermarket.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

3.5 lb bone in Boston butt

2-3 cups apple cider

1 bottle of beer

2 bay leaves

2 cloves of garlic left whole

A few whole peppercorns

1 medium onion peeled and quartered

Canola oil

Meat Rub

1 teaspoon each:

Cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, marjoram,

½ teaspoon each:

White pepper, garlic powder

Salt to taste 

BBQ Sauce

Makes about 5 cups

1 28oz can crushed or pureed tomatoes

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

1-cup molasses

½ cup cider vinegar

½ cup brown sugar

1 6oz can tomato paste

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Simmer the above ingredients in a medium sized heavy saucepan on low until the sauce thickens. At least 2 hours. Sauce will keep in fridge for a few weeks.

For the pork:

Season meat with rub – Leave to marinate for at least an hour or in a plastic bag refrigerated over night.

Pour enough oil to coat the bottom of a large skillet. Brown pork on all sides over medium heat. Transfer pork to the slow cooker. Pour in the apple juice and beer; add peppercorns, bay, cloves and onion. Cover then let the slow cooking begin. Cook for 8 hours on low or 4 hours on high. Remove pork from slow cooker and discard the cooking liquid. Shred pork using two large forks, mix in BBQ sauce to taste, return to slow cooker and keep warm until ready to serve.

Great Grandma Florence's Molasses Baked Beans and Terri's Potato Salad

There are certain things that are absolutely de rigueur when it comes to a BBQ around here.  The first thing is my grandmother’s molasses baked beans.  The second is my friend Terri’s potato salad (with her secret ingredient). 

The main courses can change.  I’ll throw anything on the grill; fillet mignon, salmon, grouper, chicken, sausages even a whole turkey (that takes hours over indirect heat) you name it and I’ll find a method to grill it. But there would be an uproar if these two sides were not included on the menu. 

Molasses Baked Beans

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

1 16oz can each of:

     Red kidney beans

     White kidney beans – Cannellini beans

     Black beans

1 medium onion, diced

½ cup molasses

½ cup Worcester sauce

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon mustard

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 6oz can tomato paste

6 strips of smoky bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

Preheat oven to 325F.

Drain and rinse beans, set aside.  Whisk the molasses, Worcester sauce, sugar, mustard vinegar, tomato paste and paprika together in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

Add beans, bacon and onion to a large ovenproof dish; stir to combine being careful not to break up beans.  Pour molasses mixture over beans, stir to combine.  Cover dish with foil and place on a baking tray to catch any drips.  Bake beans for 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until tender when pierced with a fork.   

Potato Salad – With Terri’s Secret Ingredient

I love this potato salad especially with the addition of my friend Terri’s secret ingredient...pickles!  It’s the southern way just like her Momma used to make.  Perfect for a traditional American BBQ.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

1-½ lbs new potatoes

1 red pepper, roasted

3 eggs, hard-boiled

1 bunch green onions

7 bread and butter pickles

1-tablespoon pickle juice

1-cup mayonnaise

Paprika

Boil potatoes until tender.  Cool and cut in half.  Dice the red pepper and slice the green onions.  Peel and chop the eggs.  Dice the pickles.  Throw it all together in a large bowl, mix in the mayonnaise and pickle juice then sprinkle with paprika.  Refrigerate until ready to serve

It’s All Delicious notes:  These recipes can easily be doubled, tripled, quadrupled or quintupled.

Orange Chipotle Glaze - from the Shelter Cove Wingfest

This glaze was a hit at the 2010 Wingfest.  Loved by many just not the judges..UGH!  Anyway, there’s always next year and I’ll be winging it again with the IAD team!  We could have at least received the “Best Dressed” prize for our team or the  “Neat As A Pin” award for our very crisp clean looking booth. I think I’ll put that in the Island Rec Center’s suggestion box.  Thanks Terri, Mic, David H, Cindy, and the girls, Sophie, Maddy, Kirstin, and Alex.  I could not have flown through the 160lbs of wings without all of your help.

Also, thank you to all the Wingfest-ers who stopped by our booth and voted for us.  As promised here’s the recipe which should not just be saved for wings.  There’s been a consensus amongst the team that this glaze is about as versatile as could be.  Try it on fish – salmon comes to mind for me - chicken breasts, duck, turkey, pork, little lamb chops...pretty much you name it.  It’s also a nice dipping sauce.  Perfect for anything grilled so whip up a batch, give it a go, and get glazing and dipping.  It truly couldn’t be easier to make.  As with most of my recipes, this is very much a personal taste thing.  I like a bit more chipotle so take the ratio’s below and tweak them to your hearts content.

Orange Chipotle Glaze for wings or anything else you like

Ingredients

1 32oz jar of orange marmalade

3 tablespoons chipotle puree*

Stir the marmalade and puree together in a medium sauce pan.  Heat on low until glaze simmers, stirring to prevent sticking and burning.  Re-heat gently to a brushing consistency when ready to glaze.

* To make chipotle puree process a can of chipotles in adobo sauce in the bowl of a food processor until smooth.  The puree will keep in the fridge for a few weeks. 

Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs Slathered in Really Good BBQ Sauce

This BBQ sauce is from my great grandmothers family cookbook that was typed out on an old Royal typewriter. I love that book with all her old recipes and their simple names like this one...Really Good BBQ Sauce. This is so easy to make and so tasty, there’s no reason to buy store bought again.

Ingredients

Serves 2

2 1lb racks baby back ribs

1 ½ cups BBQ sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place ribs in a glass-baking dish just large enough to hold them. Pour BBQ sauce over. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and baste ribs. Continue baking uncovered for another 15-20 minutes

BBQ Sauce

Makes about 5 cups

1 28oz can crushed or pureed tomatoes

1 cup Worcestershire sauce

1-cup molasses

½ cup cider vinegar

½ cup brown sugar

1 6oz can tomato paste

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Simmer the above ingredients in a medium sized heavy saucepan on low until the sauce thickens. At least for 2 hours. Sauce will keep in fridge for a few weeks.

It’s All Delicious Notes: This sauce is great on chicken wings too!

A Girl and Her Grill - Beer Marinated Flank Steak

I used to turn my nose up at flank steak not any more (as long as it is not over cooked) This recipe was inspired by this month’s Bon Appetite grilling issue. In fact the recipe is pretty much theirs except for a few additions, deletions and substitutions.

The great thing about flank steak is that it grills up in about 8-10 minutes – 4-5 a side – for medium rare on a medium hot grill. Just make sure your meat is room temperature before slapping it on the grill.

Ingredients

1 2lb flank steak

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1-teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoons garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/8-teaspoon salt

1 12oz can dark beer, like Guinness

½ cup Worcestershire sauce

Olive oil

Mix oregano, cumin, garlic powder and smoked paprika together in a small bowl.

Lightly score each side of the steak in a diamond pattern on each side. Drizzle oil over one side and rub half the spice mixture into steak. Repeat on the other side. Place steak in a glass-baking dish just large enough to hold it and pour over beer and Worcestershire sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or over night (overnight is better!)

Grill for 4-5 minutes a side on a medium hot grill for medium rare. Do not over cook this or it will be like eating the bottom of a shoe!