Month: August 2013

I, (like most with taste buds) love BBQ.  If my wife wasn’t so rad, I might’ve married it. (I looked into it..totally okay in Mississippi.)  BBQ comes in all shapes, flavors and sizes. Everyone tweeks their recipe just a little different than the next person, as they should.  But South Carolina style looked to separate itself.

So much variety from just a few basic principles. Season meat–smoke or slow-cook meat–dress meat (with something sweet and sour).  How you get those three rules done is up to you.

SC Gold

Another regional wrinkle in the BBQ tradition is the mustard based style made popular in South Carolina.  The areas from Columbus to Charleston were settled by German immigrants. Maybe the Germans familiarity and love for mustard led to the regional style loved there today?  I dunno…seems logical enough, Germans do some crazy rad shit.  Here is a recipe that is versatile for any pork product or fatty meat.  The addition of the liquid smoke in the recipe is for those who can’t, or don’t smoke their meat. Similarly, the butter is for those that like a little cheat to their meat. It’s not needed, but it’s nice.

The Recipe

2c prepared yellow mustard  
1c sugar
½c brown sugar
1½c cider vinegar
½c water
½tsp cayenne
2 tsp ground cumin
4 garlic cloves minced
4T minced onion
1tsp fresh black pepper
2tsp Worcestershire sauce
2tsp liquid smoke (Hickory)
2T butter (optional)

Simmer everything together for about twenty minutes over low heat; then whisk in the smoke and butter.  Season to taste with salt…I can’t remember if I added any because the meat is already salted from the spice rub.  Speaking of spice rub…

2T kosher salt
1T sugar
1tsp paprika, pepper, cumin, thyme

Mix and liberally dust over your pork shoulder before baking or crock potting.   Always good to do this the night before, but if you didn’t. Just try to do it as soon as possible before baking, mine was 5 minutes :-|

The bounty of a wine paired dinner is because I have a lot of notes to hit.

Sunday was another wonderful wine pairing dinner that left 8 people very happy, a little full and perfectly faded. Those three ingredients always make for a memorable evening.

I like requests

If you don’t know me or know how I roll; I use the San Diego farmers markets to guide my menus.  Most of my parties, (especially pairing dinners) are driven by what is seasonally awesome.  I’ll get an idea of what you want–and don’t want, then I head off to the market. Once there, I pick what is interesting and/or beautiful.  The host usually has a request regarding proteins, for this party, no red meat.  I actually love dietary requests because I enjoy narrowing my scope of thought.  Sometimes I get a little twitchy if I have too many options.  

If you’re curious what I did; here is a synopsis.  Sorry I don’t have more pics, but the ones I took, just don’t do the food justice.  Maybe I need to hire a photographer.

The Business

Starting with the cherry peppers, they were stuffed with a luscious onion bread pudding and roasted. Then drizzled with praline olive oil.

Baby green tomatoes were then served. Kept whole and breaded with corn flour and ground panko, then fried in peanut oil and served with sweet jalapeno remoulade.

The corn was used for corn soup with crispy onions, oregano flowers and avocado that was pressed in sea salt and smoked paprika (Chardonnay)

Baby turnips were braised in achiote butter with wilted spinach around pickled and seared Armenian cucumber, seared scallop and peeled white plum. (Pinot Noir)

The tomatoes were simply roasted and plated with ricotta gnocchi, sauteed shitakes and fresh thyme; topped with cinnamon and sugar broiled grouper and soy truffle broth. (Cabernet Sauvignon)

Strawberries were macerated with habanero over a fresh orange, vanilla biscuit filled with passion fruit crème fraiche. (Riesling)

Thermo wars have wreaked havoc on your fridge. Protect yourself, for the love of God.

Hot soup:

How do you cool it down, and why?  Let’s dive into a little science and a little wives tale.

Soup or broth is a protein rich environment for bacteria to quickly propagate when the liquid is between 40 and 140 degrees.  So, cooling broth down for refrigerator storage should be done as quickly as possible.   To do that, place your hot bowl into a large ice bath and stir regularly.  Ice bath is ice water held in a larger container than the one you’re trying to cool. Remember to stir regularly and keep the water icy.

Things being as they are, sometimes your choices for action are limited.  Some people might decide to place the hot broth in the refrigerator. Seems logical. To put the hot bowl into a colder environment. The problem is not, whether or not the broth cools better in the fridge; but that the difference in heat reduction is miniscule, and does nothing more then condensate and heat your fridge.  So, if you don’t have ice, or an ice paddle. Placeit somewhere dense and cold like a garage floor. Then move and stir it often until cool enough to refrigerate. If you do not have a garage, try to ventilate the area and move as much air as possible. Placing it on a cookie cooling rack would help a well.

I still have people ask me about this and sometimes it’s nice to know the whys along with the actions.  So if an ice bath is not an option for you, leave it on a cool dense surface and stir regularly to distribute heat and incorporate cool air.