Barr's Texas BBQ Sauce Recipe

Ingredients:
2 Cups apple cider vinegar
3 Cups water
2 Cups sugar
1 Cup honey
1/4 Cup yellow mustard such as French's
2 Tsp black pepper
2 Lemons (juice of) or 6 Tbsp bottled lemon juice
4 Clove garlic minced
1/4 Cup freeze-dried or 1 1/2 cups diced onion
1/2 Stick butter
1/4 Tsp cayenne
1/4 Cup chili powder
2 Tbsp table salt
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp paprika

5 Cups (40 ounces) of store brand ketchup
3 Tbsp Worchester sauce
1/4 Cup liquid smoke

Procedure:
Combine all of the ingredients in the first group of ingredients a large pot and stir to combine at medium heat to dissolve the sugar and until the onions are tender. About 20 minutes.

Add 5 cups (40 ounces) store brand ketchup, 3 Tbsp Worchestire sauce and 1/4 cup of liquid smoke.

Stir well and bring to a boil and then back off and simmer for about 45 minutes stirring frequently. Let stand to cool.

For best results once at room temp put the pot in the fridge overnight.

If my memory serves me right, this recipe makes about a gallon of sauce and it freezes very well although it really doesn't freeze solid.   

Chicken, Pork or Beef Satay Recipe

Satay

Click on image to enlarge - A Chef John's Food Wishes Recipe  

2 lbs chicken, pork or a tender cut of beef about ½ -inch thick

Satay Marinade: 

1 tbsp grated ginger

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 Tbs minced onion

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup fish sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp ground coriander

1 Tbsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 rounded Tbsp minced lemongrass 

Mix the ingredients and combine with the meat(s). Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours to as many as 24 hours.  

Peanut Dipping Sauce - Makes about 1 1/2 cup

3/4 cup smooth all-natural, pure peanut butter

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp fish sauce 

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp sesame oil

1/2 lime, juiced

sriracha or other hot chili sauce, to taste

1 small can (5.6 oz) coconut milk

Combine at low-med heat and serve or refrigerate and microwave when needed. Ladle over the grilled meats.  

BBQ Pork Belly

I have recently been reading several articles that spout the virtues of BBQ'd pork belly so I decided to give it a try but trying to find a pork belly is not the easiest thing to find in stock at your local grocery store. I checked a source two on the Internet and the prices ranged from 15-50 dollars per pound. For me these costs were outrageously outrageous. Seriously folks, how many of us can afford $50.00 per pound for fatty pork.

I made some inquires with grocery stores near my home (a few miles from New Orleans) when amazingly I found a Winn Dixie store who had one. The meat market manager told me that he had received an order from someone who wanted three belly's but since there were four to a case he had the remaining one in the freezer.

It was a tad bit more than 14 Lbs and much more than I had planned on buying and obviously that's a bunch of belly and I was worried about the cost. I had hoped that the per pound cost would be somewhere in the $5-$6 bracket I was shocked when he charged me $2.08 per pound.

Enough about that; so what exactly is a pork belly? Well its exactly that, the belly of a pig that is most often used to create one of the tastiness pieces of meat known as... Bacon.

To make bacon, the pork belly is cured and cold smoked, but for BBQ it is not cured or brined but smoked for hours until the fat had rendered and the meat is as tender as a fine steak. Just think of BBQed pork belly as high-end pulled pork from a pork butt.

I trimmed the belly into several manageable pieces leaving one large piece to cook but since this was the only piece of meat that I was cooking I used my Weber Performer Deluxe instead of my Weber 22 inch WSM.

I set up the Performer fueled with Kingston charcoal and hickory chunks and hoped to smoke the belly at 225-250 degrees but that was not working. Suffice it to say, 300 degrees worked without a hiccup.

After about three hours in the Performer the belly had a significant amount of smoke but was still tough, so I double wrapped it in foil and put it in the oven set at 225 degrees.

After about an hour I was enjoying the wonderful smell of BBQ pork in my kitchen so I pulled it from the oven. It was oh so tender so I stripped it of its foil and placed to on a cooling rack to set.

With fat rendered, the succulent and juicy belly meat was indeed a culinary experience.

Asian BBQ Glaze for Pork

Glaze for 2 pork chops

1 Tbsp Ketchup
1 Tbsp Hoisin Sauce
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp packed light brown sugar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp Asian chili-garlic sauce
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

Combine the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Pork Tenderloin With Balsamic Vinegar / Mustard Marinade Recipe

1/2 cup veg oil

1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar

2 TBS Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 TBS Guldnen's Spicy Brown Mustard
2 pound Pork Tenderloin

Dissolve the  steak seasoning in the vinegar.  Add in the oil and combine.

Put a pork tenderloin in a plastic storage bag, add the mixture, squeeze out the excess air and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Leaving the residual marinade on the roast, place the meat in a 500 - 600 degree preheated grill (use the upper rack if your grill has one) and roast until the internal temp is 135.  

Remove and let the roast rest for 5 minutes.

Tenderloin Tip:  These roasts come with both a thick and thin end.  To keep the thin end from becoming over cooked fold it back against the roast towards the thicker end and secure with two tooth picks.  

Note: Beyond the usual mashed potatoes and corn sides I decided to make a sandwich instead that consisted of two hearty slices of toasted home-made white bread, a bit of mayo on the bread (both of them) and a thin slice of Manteche cheese on both the top and bottom.  The roast was thinly sliced and mounded as I like.  I suspect that most any cheese that goes with pork would be a winner.   

(This is not my recipe)

Great Homemade Burgers

 Click on Photo to Enlarge

When was the last time you made a really "great" burger at home from either a frying pan or your backyard grill?  Well, probably never.  What I suspect is that you have been trying to make a great burger from the mystery meat sold at your local grocery store and incorporating a bunch of unnecessary ingredients to the meat just to make it taste good.  And beyond the meat, I bet your technique has contributed greatly to maybe an okay burger but not one that comes close to rivaling the ones that you have had at a decent restaurant.  And I don't mean Burger chains!

Well, it's not all that difficult to make juicy and tender burger at home and I will explain.

There is no better beef than freshly ground beef.  And to do this you will need a meat grinder and a chuck roast.  That's about it.  Or, you can buy a chuck roast and ask the butcher to grind it for you.  That said, I suggest that you wait until they are on sale or buy a nice USDA Choice Chuck Roast from Sam's Club, Costco or the like.  

After you grind the beef, make sure that you distribute the fat evenly throughout.  The most important recommendation that I can make is to make sure that you handle the ground beef as little as possible.  Over handling ground beef will make it tough.  Also, home-ground beef does not resemble the stuff that you buy in the grocery store.  For instance, the grinding plate that I use is perfect for everything from burgers, to ravioli filling, to Italian meatballs, etc.  But you may like a different grind.  

When forming burgers, gently, but firmly form the meat into patties that are a bit larger than the diameter of your bun. I suggest that you do not smooth the surfaces of your burger until they resemble a hockey puck.  In a perfect world you would want your burger to have nooks, crannies and rough edges that crisp up during the cooking process which add a wonderful flavor.  Besides, they provide a nice place for your topping, such as cheese, to reside.  

Also, I think that taking burgers directly out of the refrigerator and onto the cooking surface choice is a better way than cooking them at room temperature.  The reason that I say this is that what I'm looking for in a great burger is a nice crispy flavorful exterior with a tender and juicy interior and a longer cooking time provides this important dimension.   

Important Note: Because home-ground meat is very "loose" vice the glob that you are probably accustomed to, extra care must be given on the grill or in the frying pan.  That said, once you have laid the burger on the cooking surface do not, repeat, do not make any attempt to move the burger until it no longer sticks to the cooking surface.  This is usually when the burger is close to being fully-cooked on the first side.  

I know that there has been a lot of of talk about applying a salty seasoning on your burger.  It has been my experience that it will serve you well if you season the meat with salt and pepper before you form the burgers.  I say this because applying seasonings on a burger is completely different than seasoning a steak since you are probably going to add a few condiments that already contain a degree of sodium.    

Spiced Roasted Chicken Breasts

Spiced Roasted Chicken
2 chicken breast halves (for recipe that follows) or even a whole chick but adjust spice proportions accordingly
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons water
  

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Pat chicken dry. Stir together spices, salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons oil and rub evenly all over chicken. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in an ovenproof heavy skillet (preferably cast iron) over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chicken on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer skillet to middle of oven and roast chicken, skin side up, until just cooked through, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Add water to pan and deglaze over high heat, scraping up brown bits. Pour pan juices over chicken.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Roast-Chicken-Breast-103314#ixzz1jlRRR546

Using a digital temp probe I roasted the breasts to 160 degrees. Oh Yeah!  Done perfectly...moist and juicy.  Try it, you'll like it for sure!