Pulled Pork Barbecue

Pulled Pork Barbecue, Slow Smoked, with a Spicy Homemade Barbecue Sauce

The Dry Rub:

2 Tbsp Salt

2 Tbsp White Sugar

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Ground Cumin

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

¼ Cup Paprika

The Sauce:

1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Cup Ketchup

½ Cup Water

2 Tbsp Minced Onions

2 Tbsp Minced Garlic

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Molasses

2 Tbsp Mustard

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 Tbsp Paprika

1 Tbsp Chili Powder

2 Tsp Oregano

2 Tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Black Pepper

1 Tsp Cayenne

The Meat:

8-12 Lbs Pork Shoulder

Preparation:

Unwrap the pork and rinse briefly.  Dab dry with a paper towel.  Do not remove any fat or the thick hide that likely accompanies the shoulder.  The fat helps keep the meat moist while cooking, and much will drip away slowly anyway.  The skin is a wonderfully natural barrier between your heat source and the meat.  And once everything’s been cooked for many hours, all the unwanted excess will pull away from the meant easily.

Dry-rub the seasonings onto all sides of the meat, except for the skin.  Be sure to work it into every crevice.  Wrap the meat and place in the refrigerator for 12-16 hours to allow the flavors from the rub to work their way into the meat.

About a half hour before you’re ready to start smoking the meat, get some charcoal going and place in the bottom of your smoker or grill.  If you’re using a smoker, you can likely use a bit more charcoal initially than if you’re limited to a regular charcoal grill because the distance between the heat source in a smoker is a few times greater than that of a regular charcoal grill.  Therefore, the chance for burning the meat will be a bit greater in a regular charcoal grill.

My smoker, and therefore I assume all smokers, come with a metal pan that seems to fit well on some hooks located a few inches below the meat rack.  I’ve found this to be not only an excellent fat dripping tray, but a very effective heat shield.  Thus, the meat is protected from the most direct of radiant heat, and cooks more smoothly throughout.  The tray has yet another added benefit all that dripping fat burns off, forming excess smoke.  I can’t be positive, but I assume this smoke can only add to the flavor of the meat.

Check the temperature of your smoker and make sure it’s in a good range.  If you have an actual temperature gauge, shoot for around 220 – 250 degrees.  If you have time to spare, you could even cook the meet around 200, but of course, this extends the cooking time.

Add the meat to the smoker and insert a temperature probe (if you have one) that can monitor the temperature continuously.  Close the lid and wait…which could be anywhere from 6 to 16 hours, depending on the thickness of the meat and the cooking temperature.  You’ll need to periodically replace charcoal to keep the heat going.  Have at least one full bag on-hand, preferably the natural type.  Did you know that the more common charcoal briquettes have coal dust in them?  Once I learned that, I decided to not use that charcoal whenever possible.

Your goal is to cook the meat until its internal temperature reaches 185 degrees.  I’ve read that it’s at this temperature (or very near it) that the tissue fibers themselves break down, resulting in a sweeter, soft meat that we all love as pulled pork.  In fact, when cooked correctly, the entire pork shoulder should very simply be able to be “pulled” apart. 

Once cooked, you have two main options:

1. Serve the pork immediately as-is.  Provide your guests with sauce(s) and buns, and of course, a large fork so they can pull the pork off the bone.


2. I prefer to go with option 2, which is what I’ll describe below.

Allow the pork to cool for about a half hour or until cool enough to begin pulling the meat.  Do so in whatever way works best.  Chunks of meat longer than 1-2” (your choice) measured along the lines of the muscle should be cut into smaller pieces.

Throw everything into a large Dutch oven or crock pot.  Mix all the ingredients listed above for the sauce and add to the pot.  Cook everything for an hour or two, periodically using a spoon to press any chunky pieces of meat against the sides / bottom of the pot to break apart.  If the mixture seems to need a bit of moisture, add water and/or vinegar as you deem appropriate.

Serve your pork directly from the pot or Dutch oven, piping hot, with the heartiest buns you can find.  Be sure to provide some Brawny paper towels, because simple napkins probably won’t be enough.  Hope you enjoy it.

- Jeremy -

Dutch Oven 4-Meat Chili

Dutch Oven 4-Meat Chili

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Lg Onions, Diced

4 Bell Peppers, Diced

2 Tbsp Diced Jalapenos (Fresh or Pickled)

1 Tsp Salt

2 Lbs Chicken

2 Lbs Hot Italian Sausage

2 Lbs Ground Turkey

2 Lbs Ground Beef

56 Ounces (2 Large Cans) Diced Tomatoes

58 Ounces (2 Large Cans) Black Beans, Drained

1 Tsp Thyme

1 Tsp Black Pepper

¼ Cup Chili Powder

Fry the vegetables with olive oil and salt until limp and cooked.  As always, cast iron works best, but any frying pan will do.

Cook each meat separately in a frying pan.

• Chicken: Fry breasts whole in a hot frying pan with a little oil, salt, and pepper; cool, and then dice into ½ x ½ x 2” strips.
• Sausage: Start with cold sausage to make removal of the casing easier.  Slice the sausage lengthwise just enough to cut the skin.  Peel back the casing and fry the sausage as you would ground beef.  At first, the sausage is thick and sticky, so I’ve found it best to use a potato masher (the wire kind) to break up the sausage as it cooks.  Eventually, the consistency should be like that of ground beef.
• Ground Beef: Fry normally and drain the fat.
• Ground Turkey: Fry normally and drain the fat.

In a large Dutch oven or soup pot, add all the cooked ingredients together and then add the remainder of the ingredients.  Bring the mixture to a simmering boil and cook for a half hour, periodically stirring.  After 20 minutes, begin taste testing the chili to determine if you need to add more chili powder, salt, pepper, or any other seasonings to taste.

Serve hot with cheddar cheese, rice, and/or diced scallions as toppings.  Enjoy.

- Jeremy -

Russian Shashlik (Шашлы́к)

Russian Shashlik (Шашлы́к)

Ingredients:

~10 Lbs Pork Shoulder

3 Cups Pomegranate Juice

3 Cups Sparkling Water

2 Onions, Sliced

1 Tbsp Salt

1 Tbsp Pepper

1 Bottle (30oz) Mayonnaise

Unwrap and wash the pork shoulder.  Begin cutting it into 1.5” strips, following the grain of the muscle whenever possible.  Remove the bone as you cut.  Continue to cut the meat into cubes that are roughly 1.5” on a side.

Mix the pomegranate juice, sparkling water, salt, pepper, and mayonnaise in a large bowl.

Add a single layer of pork to a large pot (at least a 2 gallon pot).  Add a layer of onions and some of the sauce.  Continue adding layers of meat and onions until all of the meat is in the pot.  Allow to marinade for at least 12 hours before cooking.

Traditionally, the shashlik are cooked on a small grill called a mangal (мангал) with large metal skewers that are wide and flat so as to prevent the meat from twisting.  Of course, if you don’t have any of these, more “American” shish kebob skewers and a charcoal or gas grill would work nearly as well.

 

Skewer similarly-sized pieces of pork on skewers, periodically wrapping some of the sliced onions between pieces of meat.

 

Grill slowly until fully-cooked.  You could check the internal temperature of some of the pieces (145 degrees), but the easiest way is to just check for firmness of the pieces and then cut one open.  You want the meat to be mostly grayish, but a little gray-pink is ok.

As you remove the shashlik from the grill, remove them from the skewers and place them in a bowl.  Enjoy them the Russian way by eating with your fingers!  No forks allowed.

Sunflower Seed Halva (Халва)

Sunflower Seed Halva (Халва)

Based on the recipe at russiancuisine.us

Ingredients:

2 cups sunflower kernels*

1½ cups flour

½ cup sugar

¼ cup canola oil

½ cup water

* We bought the sunflower kernals (unsalted) at our local Giant Foods in the bulk foods section.

Preparation of a Light-Colored (Untoasted Seed) Halva

Use a food processor or blender to finely grate the sunflower seeds.  I don’t see why you couldn’t chop them to any desired consistency, but typical Russian halvah is made of ground seeds that are of a consistency close to that of rough-ground flour.

For the batch I’m preparing today, I’m not going to toast the seeds any further than they may have already been.  Light-colored halva is reminiscent of store-bought variety that Anastasia has bought many times in St. Petersburg (i.e., it’s very light).  Later in this blog post, I’ll walk you through the toasting process with pictures of my first batch from a few months ago.

In a frying pan (cast iron is the best!), heat at medium until the flower reaches a light cream color.  If you’ve ever made a roux, dry-toasting flour seems to take less heat and time…so be careful.  Mix the flour frequently to ensure complete toasting.  You should turn the flame off about one minute before you expect the flour to reach the desired color.  This will give the pan enough time to cool down.

Once the flour has cooled, add it to the food processor and mix with the sunflower seeds.  This will not only mix the two completely, but also break up any remaining clumps of flour.

In a large saucepan, heat the half cup water and then add the sugar.  Mix well until the sugar dissolves and add the oil.  Add the sunflower-flour mixture and mix well to an even consistency.

Spread the halvah mixture in a glass or metal container.  I’m using a 6x6x2” Pyrex food storage container, which works perfectly for the task.  Chill in the refrigerator overnight until hard.  Remove from the container (if possible) and slice to serve with tea or dessert.

Making a Toasted Seed (Darker-Colored) Halva

You can alter the flavor of your halva by toasting the sunflower kernels before processing.  I haven’t experimented with different amounts of toasting, I presume the flavor will change with more or less toasting, much in way that coffee beans’ flavor changes with the intensity of roasting.

In a dry cast iron frying pan, add the sunflower seeds and heat over medium heat.  Stir frequently until the seeds have reached the desired consistency.

Blackened Salmon with Citrus Yogurt Sauce

Based loosely on “Broiled Salmon with Citrus Yogurt Sauce” from epicurious.com and “Blackened Salmon with Blue Cheese Sauce” from foodnetwork.com.

Ingredients:

1-4 lbs Salmon*

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

* The quantities listed are easily enough for four pounds of salmon, and probably more.

For the Dry Rub:

1 Tsp Oregano

1 Tsp Parsley

1 Tsp Black Pepper

2 Tbsp Paprika

1½ Tbsp Salt

1½ Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

For the Sauce:

1 Cup Unflavored/Unsweetened Greek Yogurt

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

2 Tbsp Water

1 Tsp Grated Lemon Zest

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 Tsp Grated Orange Zest

2 Tbsp Orange Juice

¾ Tsp Salt

½ Tsp Honey

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash salmon fillets in cold water and remove any pin bones that may be present.  Mix all the spices together for the dry rub, mix well, and then use to coat the salmon.  If the skin is on one side of the fillet, only rub spices on the opposite (eating) side.  If you can spice both sides, be aware that to spice both sides may make the fillet too spicy for the sauce.

In an oven-safe skillet, preferably cast iron, preheat the pan on medium-high heat before melting the butter.  Add the olive oil and mix.  Quickly add the fillet, spicy side down (if there’s a skin side) and fry for about 2 minutes.  Carefully flip the fillet and fry for about one minute before placing the whole pan and fish in the oven.  Bake for about 5 minutes, during which time, you can quickly prepare the sauce.

In a small sauté pan, mix all ingredients for the sauce and warm over low heat.  Your goal is not to cook the ingredients, and in fact, because I’m not a chef, I can’t even say that heating to higher temperatures would work.  Heat and mix the sauce for a few minutes until warm to the touch…about 100 degrees.

Remove the fish from the oven, cut to size, and serve with a healthy serving of sauce on each portion.

You may wonder if the combination of citrus and yogurt with a salt and paprika-based dry rub would work well.  And I can tell you that we were thinking the same thing.  The best I can describe the taste is to say that when you take a bite, your first taste is of the citrusy creamy sauce.  You have enough time to enjoy the sauce before the heat and salt of the rub takes over.  Eventually, the mixing of the flavors is complete, as is the eating experience.

Candied Citrus Rinds

This recipe is based on one found in Put ‘em up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton.  The book is filled with many interesting and unique food preservation recipes.  It is currently my go-to book for unique and new recipes of this type.

Ingredients:

Peels from 6 grapefruits (or other citrus)

1 cup water (plus more for boiling rinds)

4 cups sugar (to make a syrup)

1 cup sugar (for dusting)

1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cut the grapefruit, orange, or other citrus rinds into ¼” strips.  Any shape or size of strip is usable, so don’t throw anything away.

In a medium saucepan, add the rinds and enough water to cover them completly.  Bring the rinds to a boil, stir once or twice, and drain the pot.  Refill the pot twice with water, boil, and repeat.  The rinds should go through three complete rinses of water to sufficiently remove the bitterness from the rinds.  Drain the rinds after the final boiling and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a boil.  Begin adding 4 cups sugar slowly and stir continuously until all the sugar has been added.  As the syrup heats and the sugar dissolves, the syrup will go from a cloudy suspension of sugar to a clear (but bubbly) syrup.  Mmmmm, yum.

Add the vanilla bean (or extract) and the rinds to the syrup.  Boil the mixture with periodic stirring for 1 hour, or until the rinds are translucent.  Do not cover.

Remove the candied rinds from the syrup (but save the syrup!).  Drain in a colander for a few minutes until cooled enough to handle.

Spread the rinds on a drying sheet (using wax paper is a good idea, but optional) and allow to air dry for at least 2 hours.

Once dry, but still somewhat sticky to the touch, shake small batches of the rinds in a Ziploc bag filled with the last 1 cup of sugar.  Store the rinds in a bag or cookie container and enjoy.

As for the remaining syrup: I know sugar is pretty cheap, but you shouldn't let this citrusy syrup go to waste.  You could use the syrup as-is on pancakes and waffles, or as a source of sweetness in your tea.  It also makes a delicious glaze on cakes and pastries.

You might find it inconvenient to sacrifice so many citruses just to make this candy...but that's not the point.  You can easily freeze the rinds over many months as you eat your citrus normally, and then thaw before slicing and boiling.  This is a great way to make the most of the foods you buy in the store.  Think of this as just one more way to recycle and get the most out of your money.

And here’s another idea: don’t go out of your way to sacrifice a boat-load of grapefruits just to harvest their rinds.  For this current batch, I had actually sliced the rinds of various grapefruits over a few months and froze them.  They keep quite well in the freezer and it didn’t seem to significantly affect the taste.  So whenever you eat your grapefruit, just remember to remove all the leftover innards before slicing the rind.