The Magic Behind BBQ Sauce

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!

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.

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.

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.

No More Chefs!

So they say, “The way to a man's heart is through his stomach,” and contrary to popular belief the same can be said for women. Now I know we have all taken a lovely woman to an expensive restaurant, ordered a nice bottle of wine, broke our budget, all to impress them, but our logic is flawed. See, while were thinking “yeah she loves us,” she’s thinking, “I’d love to date the chef.” Well fellas its time to give ourselves the home court advantage. Now I know some, possibly most of you are thinking “dude I can’t cook, I mean I reaaaalllllyyyy can’t cook!” I’m here to tell you with a little bit of help from yours truly, dude, you really can. Some of you are still skeptical at this point but follow my logic.


1. She is already at your house. I do believe that’s a plus in anyone’s book.

2. Even if the meal turns out to be a disaster, she will love the effort and get a good laugh, and comedy is very good in a dating scenario.

3. (You can look this up) Pizza and a good bottle of wine is one of the best aphrodisiacs.

So no matter which way you look at it, I’ve got you covered from all angles.
 
So what are we making? An appetizer of mussel and clam saute, followed by swordfish, baby white potato's, prosciutto wrapped green beans, and a brown butter, lemon and chive sauce.
 
Now don't be overwhelmed the whole process including taking about 50 pictures only took me about 2 hours and you in theory will be cooking for less people. With that being said lets get started!

Ingredients

Sea food
1/3 pound fresh mussels
1/3 pound live clams
2 fillets of sword fish

Vegetables
1/3 to 1/2 pound baby white round potatoes
1/3 to 1/2 pound green beans
1/4 pound cherry tomatoes
2 Lemons
1 head of garlic (bulb) and 1 clove of garlic
Handful of Chives

Other
1/4 pound thinly sliced Prosciutto Crudo (Parma Ham)
Olive oil
White cooking wine
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Lets start with our Mise En Place which is french for things in their place, better known as prep work. Start by refrigerating the seafood this is VERY IMPORTANT. Be sure to keep the clams in the water you get them in like figure 1.

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Next toss (coat) the potatoes in olive oil and salt. Place the potato's in a low rimed baking dish seen in figure 2. Now take the head of garlic and slice the bottom of the visible cloves seen in figure 3 and 4. Place in the middle of the potatoes and voila the potatoes are prepped! Now about an hour to an hour and a half before you serve the main course roast them in the oven at 350 degrees or until cooked and soft.

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Next is the green beans. Get a pot of water boiling. Meanwhile snap the stem ends off of the green beans as seen in figure 5. You don't have too, but I snap both ends of them, it helps to cook faster. Once the water is boiling place the green beans in and boil for about 6-8 minutes. You're looking for them to be vibrant green, pliable but still have the slightest and I do mean slightest crunch in figure 6. As soon as they're done, drain them into a colander and run them under cold water to shock them and stop the cooking process as seen in figure 7. This step allows them to retain their bright green appearance and prevents over cooking.

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Once the green beans have cooled we saute them with butter and salt for about 3-5 minutes like in figure 8. This is to infuse more flavor into the beans and to basically finish cooking them. Let cool once again. While the are cooling get your prosciutto laid out in strips as seen in figure 9. Once cooled, grab a handful and lay it in the middle of a strip of prosciutto. Roll one end over the green beans and tuck, then continue to roll until they are wrapped (check figures 10-13 for this process). Put them to the side and we will move on.

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Around about an hour before you cook the sword fish lay the fillets on a tray and marinate them in olive oil, salt, lemon, and a few whole chives as seen in figure 14. Cut the ends off the chieves to open them up and release the aroma. Also at this time we will make the brown butter. In a small sauce pot melt a half of a stick of butter and bring to a boil. As it begins to boil skim the fat (the white stuff) off the top. Be careful here you want brown butter and not burnt butter. Once you see the butter start to brown take it off the heat and let it cool. Once cooled ad a table spoon or two of chopped chives.and a tablespoon of juice from a lemon. Stir in and let set.

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OK it's go time! Time to make our appetizer. Cut about 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes in half and chop the clove of garlic. In a pan, saute olive oil, the halved cherry tomatoes, and the chopped clove of garlic over medium low heat as seen in figure 15. When the tomatoes become soft and the oil turns slightly reddish, add about a 1/3 cup white wine. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil. Mean while in a pot add the clams drained of course and the mussels and heat on medium high heat with the lid on for about 7 minutes or until all the clams and mussels open. Once that's done drain them and add them to the saute pan in figure 16. Stir them around for a few minutes. Pour it all into a dish and serve!

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Now that you've eaten the app' it's time for the main course. Heat up your stove top grill or griddle, place fillets on the griddle. Now here's the difficult part, I cooked this dinner in Italy so my fillets may be a little different so ask your fish monger about who long to cook these for. What you're looking for is a nice soft flaky texture. While the fillets are cooking in a saute pan heat up the green beans for about a minute on all four sides to warm the beans and give the prosciutto a crispy texture, and over low low heat warm the brown butter sauce. At this time your potato's should be ready and you're ready to plate as seen in figures 17-20!

Start with a nice drizzle of the brown butter sauce on the plate. Next load up some potatoes on top. Place a green bean bundle next to the potatoes. After that place the sword fish on top of the beans and potatoes, finish off with a drizzle of brown butter and a quick squeeze of lemon juice and bam your the man. All I can say is eat and enjoy and maybe you just might do some impressing. Also pair with a nice crisp chardonnay and your golden!

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