Though Memorial Day is over I still find my self in the mood to barbecue, and with summer on our door step and the 4th of July right around the corner, now is the time to brush up on those skills not used since last summer. I assume most of you already know how to grill, considering it's a right of passage for young men, passed down from their fathers, almost dating back to the beginning of mankind. However how many of you use a store bought BBQ sauce or your favorite local brand? How many of you can actually make your own sauce? Think its hard? Guess again!
The basis for any good BBQ sauce is simple and after you get that down, you can experiment with flavors textures and so on... For the base you'll need:
Olive oil.
Catsup.
Mustard.
1 medium onion chopped.
1 clove of garlic minced.
Brown sugar.
Salt an pepper tt.
I'm sure you've noticed I haven't given any measurements but BBQ sauce is a lot like humans, we all start of the same but grow to be very different. Start of by sauteing the olive oil, onion, and garlic in a sauce pot on medium low heat until the onions become translucent. Next add the ketchup and mustard. A good rule of thumb here is 3 parts catsup to 1 part mustard, and the options are already endless as to what type of catsup and mustard you can use. Mix together well and bring to a light boil. Slowly add the brown sugar to taste. The brown sugar not only acts as a sweetener but also a thickener. Once you've reached a desired thickness and flavor your done.
Now that you got the base down lets talk a little about creativity. There's a whole world of spices and herbs and what not you can use to put your own stamp on BBQ sauce. Molasses is a great example and the right amount will bring your BBQ sauce to life. Another great ingredient is liquid smoke. Use just a little bit of this concentrate, and you'll get a wonderful smokey flavor. Paprika and cumin also add smokey flavors and spices like chili powder and red pepper flakes add a good heat to a BBQ sauce.
Now I've made and had plenty of types of BBQ sauce, all of them very different. If your looking for sweet, using sugars, molasses, syrups, and even soda's will give you a the desired flavor. If you like tangy, using more mustard, mustard powder, and or vinegar's will result in a nice tangy flavor. And of course "some like it hot!!!" Like I said chili powder, and even fresh chillies can be used, or you can add hot sauces like Tabasco, Blair's, and CaJohn's.
For me personally I like a little bit of all three. Now just like any other Grill Master I can't give my full recipe but I can tell you some of my ingredients. Jack Daniels, brown sugar, a specialty French Dijon mustard, chipotle and ancho chillies, another type of alcohol and a few un-named spices. Sorry folks a magician never reveals his secrets!
So hopefully you get the picture that BBQ sauce is what you make of it, and I honestly would like to hear back from y'all and maybe tell me some of your magical ingredients!
Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BBQ. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Monday, May 31, 2010
Memorial Day Menu!!!
Happy Memorial Day to all! One of my absolute favorite things to do during memorial day and during the summer months is to barbecue. However being an apartment dweller with strict codes against grills, fire, and smoke you kind of have to adapt. So here goes my Memorial Day cook out with gourmet sliders, pasta salad, and home made baked beans.
First things first, getting the beans going. You're going to need:
36 ounces white, navy, or canellini beans (in a jar.)
About 2 ounces of chopped pancetta if you cant get pancetta substitute bacon.
About a 1/4 chopped onion.
About 1/3 cup of catsup.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard.
About a 1/3 cup of brown sugar.
About a teaspoon of mustard powder.
Salt and pepper to taste.
In a pot, start by sauteing the pancetta and onions on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. Now this gets difficult so follow along carefully (lol), add the beans and the rest of the ingredients. Stir together and cook over low heat for about an hour and half stirring occasionally. Wheeew!!! Pretty hard right! (lol)
Now on to the pasta salad, mmmmm yummm! You'll need:
1 package Fusilli (spiral) pasta.
3/4 pound cherry tomatoes halved.
1 bell pepper red, green, or yellow its up to you.
About a half pound good salami chopped.
About a half pound good Swiss chopped.
About a 1/3 cup of parmeggiano cheese shredded or ground.
Salt and pepper to taste.
For the dressing;
1 cup extra virgin olive oil.
1/3 cup red wine vinegar.
1 clove of garlic minced.
fresh or dried parsley, thyme, and oregano.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Start by boiling the water for the pasta. While the water is boiling, mix the ingredients for the dressing and set aside allowing the flavors to come together. Now follow the directions on the package of pasta for cooking time, but here is a trick I figured out for a perfect aldente pasta. Cook the pasta 1 minute to 30 seconds less than the time on the package and you'll get a perfect aldente pasta every time. When the pasta is cooked drain the pasta and do not rinse, I repeat DO NOT rinse (never rinse pasta). Add the pasta back into the pot and mix the dressing while the pasta is still hot, set off to the side and let cool.
When the pasta has cooled add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. If the the goodies don't seem to be getting coated very well just add a little olive oil and mix thoroughly. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Don't worry about leftovers, pasta salad lasts about three days, so enjoy!
For a good slider your going to need:
1 pound 80/20 ground beef (80% beef and 20% fat).
1 egg
Anywhere from a 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoon of pepper.
1 teaspoon of paprika.
1 teaspoon of mustard powder.
First things first, getting the beans going. You're going to need:
36 ounces white, navy, or canellini beans (in a jar.)
About 2 ounces of chopped pancetta if you cant get pancetta substitute bacon.
About a 1/4 chopped onion.
About 1/3 cup of catsup.
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard.
About a 1/3 cup of brown sugar.
About a teaspoon of mustard powder.
Salt and pepper to taste.
In a pot, start by sauteing the pancetta and onions on medium heat for about 4-5 minutes. Now this gets difficult so follow along carefully (lol), add the beans and the rest of the ingredients. Stir together and cook over low heat for about an hour and half stirring occasionally. Wheeew!!! Pretty hard right! (lol)
Now on to the pasta salad, mmmmm yummm! You'll need:
1 package Fusilli (spiral) pasta.
3/4 pound cherry tomatoes halved.
1 bell pepper red, green, or yellow its up to you.
About a half pound good salami chopped.
About a half pound good Swiss chopped.
About a 1/3 cup of parmeggiano cheese shredded or ground.
Salt and pepper to taste.
For the dressing;
1 cup extra virgin olive oil.
1/3 cup red wine vinegar.
1 clove of garlic minced.
fresh or dried parsley, thyme, and oregano.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Start by boiling the water for the pasta. While the water is boiling, mix the ingredients for the dressing and set aside allowing the flavors to come together. Now follow the directions on the package of pasta for cooking time, but here is a trick I figured out for a perfect aldente pasta. Cook the pasta 1 minute to 30 seconds less than the time on the package and you'll get a perfect aldente pasta every time. When the pasta is cooked drain the pasta and do not rinse, I repeat DO NOT rinse (never rinse pasta). Add the pasta back into the pot and mix the dressing while the pasta is still hot, set off to the side and let cool.
When the pasta has cooled add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. If the the goodies don't seem to be getting coated very well just add a little olive oil and mix thoroughly. Cover tightly and refrigerate. Don't worry about leftovers, pasta salad lasts about three days, so enjoy!
For a good slider your going to need:
1 pound 80/20 ground beef (80% beef and 20% fat).
1 egg
Anywhere from a 1/3 to a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
2 teaspoons salt.
1 teaspoon of pepper.
1 teaspoon of paprika.
1 teaspoon of mustard powder.
Mix all ingredients together, slowly adding the breadcrumbs. You're looking for a smooth moist texture that doesn't stick to your hands. Once you have the right consistency, break the meat up into 8 even piles. Form said piles into big meatballs, and then smash down into patties. Something to consider, when burgers cook they shrink by about 7 to 10 % so make yor patties slightly larger than your buns. Now I used a local brioche bread cut into rounds, but if I'm being honest I didn't quite get the effect I was looking for. In theory challa bread or some gourmet rolls, or if you can find slider buns would be perfect.
Now cooking a slider is a bit of a science. For a tender medium to medim-well cook the sliders on high heat either on a griddle or in a non stick frying pan, for about a minute and a half on each side, and then finishing them in an oven at 350 degrees for about three minutes. Pull them out of the oven and then add your cheese. Place them back in the oven for about 1 more minute or until the cheese melts. Again don't just follow my recipe take some creative liberties, but if you want to do the prosciutto cotto and provalone burger just saute the prosciutto in a pan until crispy. All thats left is assemble and serve! So whatever you have today, enjoy Memorial Day and remember to always drink responsibley.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Dry Rubs and Marinade's
So it's coming up on that time of year again where the temperature heats up, the sun is out, where summer is all but upon us. I figured with memorial day coming up I would dedicate a few posts to the love of summer foods and barbecuing. However lets start of at the beginning with Dry Rubs and Marinades.
A dry rub is any mixture of ground spices that is rubbed on raw meat before it is cooked. The secret to dry rubs is to cover the meat enough that when you cook it, it forms a nice crust or coating. It is in my opinion that all dry rubs should have both salt and pepper and those two spices should be the basis for any rub. For example, if I were to do a chicken fajita, I would rub the chicken with a mixture of salt, pepper, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and ground red pepper. If I were to do say a pork rump for a pulled pork, I would use salt, pepper, cumin, brown sugar, a touch of ground chipotle pepper, and a touch of mustard powder.
Another factor to consider with a dry rub is time. How long does one rub before cooking? Well the rule I go by is, at least one hour before cooking. The hour allows the rub to set and begin to incorporate into the meat, but the time frame is entirely up to you. I find with dry rubs, the longer the better, up to about a day or so. Again always consider the dish your trying to make before doing a dry rub, you don't want to use the wrong spices and wind up with a not so tasty dish.
Marinating is the process of soaking meat in a seasoned and often acidic liquid before cooking. Before continuing, lets go over some acids, and I'm not talking about batteries. In the food world there is quite a range of acids, but the most used are citrus fruits i.e. lemons, limes, and oranges, and vinegars such as white wine, red wine, balsamic, sherry, cider, malt, and many more. Sometimes wine itself is used as the acid in a marinade, and I've even heard some grill masters use soda like coke and root beer in their marinade's. One of my favorite acids to use though has to be the almighty beer, and a good ale can add so much flavor to a marinade. The use of acid is to break down the muscle fiber to allow more liquid to enter the meat creating a tender juicier meat. However using acid is some what of a delicate science and using too much and for too long can easily ruin the meat.
Most marinade's also contain oil, generally olive oil, and both fresh and dried spices. A general rule I live by is two parts oil to one part acid and some times less. Lets take those same fajitas again only this time as a marinade. I would keep the same dried spices (chili powder, paprika, cumin, ground red pepper, salt and pepper,) but then I would add olive oil, fresh garlic, a touch of fresh cilantro, and for the acid a mix of orange and lime juice and a touch of tequila and beer. As you can see a marinade can wind up having a ton of ingredients, and the trick is to balance them out, and to be honest I can't tell you how much of anything I use. A good rule to have though, is your only coating the meat and not drowning the meat, so if you use the 2 parts oil 1 part acid rule in conjunction with the coating rule you'll be on your way to creating your own flavorful marinade's in no time.
I leave you with a few flavor profiles and ingredients you can use for your own dry rubs and marinade's.
Dry Rubs
BBQ
Your looking for sweet and smokey savory flavors use any of these ingredients together to create your own dry rub, also salt and pepper are a given in all.
Chili powder's, mustard powder's, brown sugar, regular sugar, garlic salt and or powder, cumin's, paprika's, oregano's, and dried ground chillies i.e. chipotle, ancho, gaujillo and pasilla.
MEXICAN
Basically looking for the same as BBQ minus the sweet so all the ingredients listed above will work well for Mexican flavors minus the sugars and mustard's.
GREEK
Your looking for savory crisp Mediterranean flavors.
Oregano, thyme, rosemary, paprika, cumin, white pepper.
ASIAN
This is actually a wide range of flavors from sweet spicy hot savory and more.
Oregano, basil, chili pepper, 5 spice, ginger, anise, coriander, sugars, and garlic salt or powder.
Marinades
BBQ
Using the same spices, adding olive oil, ales, sodas, specialty vinegars such as balsamic, and apple cider, fresh chopped garlic and even some citrus juices will create a wonderful marinade.
MEXICAN
Same spices, tequila, light beers like corona, and dos xx, lime, lemon, orange, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, fresh oregano, olive oil, fresh chilies i.e. poblano, jalapeno, habanero (be careful), and serrano chilies.
GREEK
Again using the same spices, adding olive oil is a must, lemon juice, fresh garlic. I use these three ingredients, salt and pepper for my New York strip steak marinade. Also white wine vinegar, and red wine vinegar.
ASIAN
Same spices, olive oil, sesame oil, vegetable oil, fresh basil, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh chilies like szechuan and padi, soy sauce, hoisin, sriracha, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce,and way too many more but this should get you started.
A dry rub is any mixture of ground spices that is rubbed on raw meat before it is cooked. The secret to dry rubs is to cover the meat enough that when you cook it, it forms a nice crust or coating. It is in my opinion that all dry rubs should have both salt and pepper and those two spices should be the basis for any rub. For example, if I were to do a chicken fajita, I would rub the chicken with a mixture of salt, pepper, chili powder, smoked paprika, cumin, and ground red pepper. If I were to do say a pork rump for a pulled pork, I would use salt, pepper, cumin, brown sugar, a touch of ground chipotle pepper, and a touch of mustard powder.
Another factor to consider with a dry rub is time. How long does one rub before cooking? Well the rule I go by is, at least one hour before cooking. The hour allows the rub to set and begin to incorporate into the meat, but the time frame is entirely up to you. I find with dry rubs, the longer the better, up to about a day or so. Again always consider the dish your trying to make before doing a dry rub, you don't want to use the wrong spices and wind up with a not so tasty dish.
Marinating is the process of soaking meat in a seasoned and often acidic liquid before cooking. Before continuing, lets go over some acids, and I'm not talking about batteries. In the food world there is quite a range of acids, but the most used are citrus fruits i.e. lemons, limes, and oranges, and vinegars such as white wine, red wine, balsamic, sherry, cider, malt, and many more. Sometimes wine itself is used as the acid in a marinade, and I've even heard some grill masters use soda like coke and root beer in their marinade's. One of my favorite acids to use though has to be the almighty beer, and a good ale can add so much flavor to a marinade. The use of acid is to break down the muscle fiber to allow more liquid to enter the meat creating a tender juicier meat. However using acid is some what of a delicate science and using too much and for too long can easily ruin the meat.
Most marinade's also contain oil, generally olive oil, and both fresh and dried spices. A general rule I live by is two parts oil to one part acid and some times less. Lets take those same fajitas again only this time as a marinade. I would keep the same dried spices (chili powder, paprika, cumin, ground red pepper, salt and pepper,) but then I would add olive oil, fresh garlic, a touch of fresh cilantro, and for the acid a mix of orange and lime juice and a touch of tequila and beer. As you can see a marinade can wind up having a ton of ingredients, and the trick is to balance them out, and to be honest I can't tell you how much of anything I use. A good rule to have though, is your only coating the meat and not drowning the meat, so if you use the 2 parts oil 1 part acid rule in conjunction with the coating rule you'll be on your way to creating your own flavorful marinade's in no time.
I leave you with a few flavor profiles and ingredients you can use for your own dry rubs and marinade's.
Dry Rubs
BBQ
Your looking for sweet and smokey savory flavors use any of these ingredients together to create your own dry rub, also salt and pepper are a given in all.
Chili powder's, mustard powder's, brown sugar, regular sugar, garlic salt and or powder, cumin's, paprika's, oregano's, and dried ground chillies i.e. chipotle, ancho, gaujillo and pasilla.
MEXICAN
Basically looking for the same as BBQ minus the sweet so all the ingredients listed above will work well for Mexican flavors minus the sugars and mustard's.
GREEK
Your looking for savory crisp Mediterranean flavors.
Oregano, thyme, rosemary, paprika, cumin, white pepper.
ASIAN
This is actually a wide range of flavors from sweet spicy hot savory and more.
Oregano, basil, chili pepper, 5 spice, ginger, anise, coriander, sugars, and garlic salt or powder.
Marinades
BBQ
Using the same spices, adding olive oil, ales, sodas, specialty vinegars such as balsamic, and apple cider, fresh chopped garlic and even some citrus juices will create a wonderful marinade.
MEXICAN
Same spices, tequila, light beers like corona, and dos xx, lime, lemon, orange, fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, fresh oregano, olive oil, fresh chilies i.e. poblano, jalapeno, habanero (be careful), and serrano chilies.
GREEK
Again using the same spices, adding olive oil is a must, lemon juice, fresh garlic. I use these three ingredients, salt and pepper for my New York strip steak marinade. Also white wine vinegar, and red wine vinegar.
ASIAN
Same spices, olive oil, sesame oil, vegetable oil, fresh basil, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, fresh chilies like szechuan and padi, soy sauce, hoisin, sriracha, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce,and way too many more but this should get you started.
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