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BBQ Sauce 2.0

After a lengthy time stalled on the BBQ front, I'm now back on the trail of a signature BBQ sauce, thanks to Steve Reichlin's BBQ book and his advice to go with Ketchup: it's OK.

This sauce came out extremely well, with a solid flavorful foundation and excellent kick that was enough to please but not too much for the DW and 4-year old son.  The key was some different varieties of pepper that brought a great flavor profile and different heat attack, I think:

• 1 Medium Sized Onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 2 cups ketchup
• 1/3 cup Molasses
• 1/3 cup French's Mustard
• 1/3 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 3/4 tsp Urfa Pepper
• 3/4 tsp African Bird Pepper
• 1 tsp Tamarind Powder
• 1/2 tsp Allspice
• 1/8 tsp Vanilla Extract

Saute Onion in 2 Tbsp Butter slowly, until translucent, about 15 minutes.  Add garlic for 1 minute.  Add all other ingredients except Vanilla extract.  Bring to a simmer over low heat and hold for 1 hour, as flavors combine.  Add vanilla extract, still, and take off heat.  Keep warm for glaze, or refrigerate for later use.

The resulting sauce has a classic BBQ base, and the exotic peppers bring an upfront heat that tingles on the lips and tongue, but doesn't catch in the throat.

The Dave/Julie/Julia project

The fad is fading.  Mastering the Art of French Cooking is no longer the #1 best seller at Amazon.com.  But to me the big revelation was that there was such a thing as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, being written 50 years ago for people like me, people who want to be better cooks, who are willing to dip a toe in one of the world's great cuisines, but who speak crappy French, have no formal grounding in kitchen arts, and don't have the time or money to jet off to L'Escoffier or the CIA.  Who knew that Julia's book was written as a guide for me.  Who knew that there on the shelf was a roadmap to a whole new world of really good food, of really excellent food, food that you would never ever enjoy if you didn't do it yourself?  

Julie Powell knew.  At least I guess she knew. She at least knew there was enough in that old cookbook to take off on a year-long performance art project.  And thanks to that, and all the press years later, now I know.  And, now I'm cooking things I never knew I even wanted to eat.

The Dave/Julie/Julia project is nothing as elaborate as Julie Powell took on.  If her effort was a reflection of Julia Child's act of genius, then mine will be at best a reflection of a reflection; muted colors, dim outlines merging together, ghost images emerging from the distorted shapes of the originals.  For one, I'm not even contemplating cooking every recipe in the book.  There's a whole chapter on cold buffet that brings along way too much aspic and gelee.  For the other, my goals are entirely different.  Where Julia was a teacher, and Julie a performer, I just want the challenge of doing things I didn't know I could do, to the delight of my family and friends, and to the satisfaction of myself.

This project will be an unstructured ramble through the MtAoFC, and like Julie's blog on her efforts, this will be as much personal as infotational.  And like Julie, I'll share the failures with the successes.  For, like Julie, I've found that cooking French food a la Julia is wicked hard, and when you mess up, you mess up but good.

Crispy Cream Ale

Planning for the next beer.  News to me: Cream Ale is lagered, and this will be my first attempt at a lagered brew. With winter coming on, keeping the beer cool in the cellar shouldn't be too hard.  My goal with this brew is to do a cream ale, with a strong head, lots of mouth feel, a little sharpness, and lots of lingertaste.  How will that plan play out?

• 6 lbs. Extra Light Malt Extract
• 1 lbs. Rye Malt Extract
• 1/4 lb. Cara-pils/Dextrine
• 1 oz. American Hallertauer hop variety for brew
• 1/4 oz. American Hallertauer
• Irish Moss

Beer Money Brew

Brewing "Beer Money" Homebrew today, a based around an English Pale Ale:

• 3 lbs. (less 1 1/2 cups) Munton's Light Malt Extract Powder
• 3 lbs. Munton's Amber Malt Extract
• 7/8 lb. Crystal Malt (40), lightly crushed
• 1/8 lb. Crystal Malt (40), lightly crushed and toasted
• 1 oz. Challenger Hops pellets (7%) mostly in the boil
• 1 oz. Super Styrian Hops pellets (7%) 2/3 flavor, 1/3 aroma
• 1 oz. U.K. Goldings Hops pellets (5%), 2/3 flavor, 1/3 aroma
• An american pale ale yeast.

As is typical of my cooking, I couldn't just follow the recipe.  My goal was to have the crystal malt give the beer some depth and head structure.  By lightly toasting a small portion of it, I expect to give the flavor some depth, but not to overwhelm it.

For the hops, I went with a mix of English hop varieties. Both the Styrian and Goldings had a bright floral character, while the Challenger struck me as overwhelming.  So, for the hop profile I decided to bury the Challenger in the role of bittering, keeping it in the boil for the full 45 minutes.  (I did put a few plugs in the latter parts of the brew).  The Styrian and Goldings are given about 8 minutes for flavor and 1 1/2 minutes for aroma.

The American Ale yeast, well, it is what it is.

Party Menu

We're planning a dinner party for friends.  Here's the menu:

• Firsts - Bitter green salad with walnuts, gorgonzola, and strawberry streamers.
• Seconds - Surf party: Flaked white fish in sweat-cream foam with lemon dust.
• Thirds - Select olives
• Fourths - Smokehouse Blini - Baby Back Blini with BBQ Caviar and smoke
• Fifths - Mint Julep Parfait
• Ends - Select cheeses

Children's BBQ Ribs Dry Rub

Friends are coming over for a cookout.  You want to satisfy young and old alike.  Here's a rub that'll get everyone licking their fingers and asking for more.

This BBQ Rib dry rub uses the same base as Dave's Super-Triple-Thousand Ribs dry rub: Dark Brown Sugar and Paprika.  This variant leaves out some of the red pepper and substitutes the sweet and savory flavors of allspice, lemon peel, italian seasoning, and clove.

Not everyone wants neutered ribs, so top off the parent's protions with a spicy BBQ sauce and the kids with a sauce that's sweet.

Dry Rub for 2 racks of Baby Back Ribs:

• 2 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Paprika
• 1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Peel
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
• 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
• 1/2 Teaspoon Allspice
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric
• 1/2 Tablespoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 Tablespoon Sage
• 1 Tablespoon Granulated Garlic

Piro Special Martini

This is a refreshing, richly perfumed Martini that is great on a hot summer day.

• Bombay Sapphire Gin
• Splash of Grand Marnier

Shake with ice until very cold.  Strain. Serve up in a cocktail glass with a slice of orange or an edible blossom.

Dave's Super-Triple-Thousand BBQ Ribs

What makes these Super-Triple-Threat BBQ Ribs?

• 3 Bold Layers of Flavors
• Firm and Succulent flesh
• Easy preparation on the Grill

How are these ribs constructed?

• Coat ribs with a sweet and spicy dry rub
• Cook ribs with the indirect method
• Add smoking wood chunks to charcoal or gas for plenty of smoke flavor
• Slather on BBQ sauce through second half of cooking for flavor and texture

Dry Rub

Prepare a sweet and spicy dry rub.  In a medium sized bowl, combine:

• 1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Paprika
• 1/2 Tablespoon ground Cayenne Pepper
• 1/2 Tablespoon dried Cilantro
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground Turmeric
• 1 Teaspoon ground Cumin
• 1 Teaspoon ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 Teaspoon ground Ginger
• 1/4 Teaspoon ground Curry Powder

Mix together with a fork until the spices are thoroughly mixed and all lumps are gone.

Dark brown sugar is better than the light brown sugar as it flows better when you mix, and has a stronger flavor to serve as the base.  Don't go to the store if all you have is light brown sugar, that will work fine, too.

Paprika forms the foundation of the spicy side of the rub.  Paprika imparts a flavorful, aromatic, and mildly spicy flavor from which you can extend both depth and heat.  This blend does both with cayenne and red pepper flakes for heat, and the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and curry for depth.

Preparation

Prepare the ribs as follows: 

• Pat dry raw ribs.  Spare ribs, baby back ribs, or any other ribs will do.  Use what's available.
• For spare and baby back, remove the membrane on the back side of the ribs.  Do this by peeling a small corner back by hand, then grasping it with a paper towel and pulling down and away with your hand as close to the ribs as possible.  Don't worry if you leave some.  If this is a PITA, skip this step.
• Coat ribs with dry rub.  Rub in as much as you like.  Do this over a large plate.  Dip the edges in the rub that rubs off for extra flavor.
• If there's left-over rub, close up in an airtight container (bowl with Saran wrap) and keep until next time.  Important: if you think you'll have leftover rub, separate the rub you use from the rub you store before you dip your pork covered hands in the bowl.
• Set ribs aside for between 5 minutes and 5 hours.  Longer times means more flavor from the rub in the meat.  Shorter times means flavor in your mouth, sooner.

Cooking

• Fire up your grill. 
• Setup for the indirect method.  With charcoal mound coals to one side.  With gas, use burners on one side only.  Ribs take space, so avoid the "surround" approach with the coals on either side and the meat in the middle.
• When you are ready to place the food on, add wood chips to fire.  Soak the wood chips in water, or not.  Use any flavor of wood chips.  Mesquite and Hickory are popular.
• Place ribs on grill, away from the heat. 
• Close lid.  If you have a charcoal grill, place the vent on the top over the meat, to draw the smoke pouring off the wood chips over the meat.  If you have a gas grill, the smoke will circulate the way it will.
• After about 15 minutes, flip ribs.
• After about 15 more minutes, flip ribs again.
• Coat ribs with BBQ sauce.  I prefer Dinosaur BBQ Sauces from Syracuse, NY.  They have great flavors, from the sweet Honey Garlic through the spicy Wango Tango.  And they are made from real ingredients. I use the milder ones for the kids and the spicier ones for the grown ups.
• Every 15 minutes, flip the ribs and reapply BBQ sauce until done.  Cooking time varies based on grill heat.  If you are cooking low and slow expect to go 3 hours.  If you are cooking hot, ribs will be done in as little as an hour.

Serve within a few minutes of taking ribs off the grill.  Not sure what it goes well with, though, as you won't have room left for fillers.

Enjoy!