Barbeque Baked Beans

Memorial Day weekend is coming up and that means three things: The Indianapolis 500, Irish Fest at Gaelic Park, and cookouts.

I’m a big fan of cookout food, especially baked beans. But I’ve never found a storebought baked bean product I’ve really liked, and most homemade versions I’ve tried have lacked oomph.

I think baked beans should stand up and poke you in the eye with their barbeque flavor. With this barbeque baked beans recipe that I modified from this one I found on the excellent How Sweet It Is blog, your baked beans will be noticed at your weekend holiday cookout.

It’s bold. It’s brassy. It’ probably gassy. But it’s super delicious and your guests won’t soon forget it.

Plus, you can make it in the crock pot. Bonus!

Barbeque Baked Beans

1 lb Navy beans, dry

10 slices bacon

1 White Onion, medium dice

2 Garlic Cloves, crushed

2 cups Water

3/4 cup Barbeque Sauce (Any kind, I use Sweet Baby Ray’s)

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Ketchup

2 TBS Molasses

1/2 cup Kentucky Bourbon (I used fake Jake Daniel’s)

1-1/2 TBS Dry Mustard

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

2 TBS Worcestershire Sauce

1. Place beans in a large pot and cover with water. Soak at least 4 hours up to overnight. Drain, return beans to pot, cover in water again and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for approximately 1 hour. Remove from heat, drain again, then pour out onto a sheet pan to cool.

2. Cook bacon slices in cast iron skillet. When all the bacon is cooked, chop it into small peices and set aside. Drain all but 1 TBS of the bacon grease from the pan, then return it to the fire and add onions. Cook over a low heat for 10 minutes to carmelize, stirring frequently. Add garlic for the last minute, then remove from heat.

3. In a crock pot, combine water, bourbon, brown sugar, barbeque sauce, ketchup, dry mustard, vinegar, molasses and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in beans, onions and bacon. Cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours. When cooking cycle is over, leave crock pot on the warm setting for at least an hour so the beans can thicken up really nicely.

These beans are miraculous. I served mine with jalapeno cornbread and the pairing was so rich it could have been a meal in itself.

This recipe makes a large batch, so there will be plenty to share. They can be reheated the next day and in fact will taste even better. If you have an electrical connection in your backyard, bring the whole crock pot outside and keep your beans warm until you are ready to serve them.

What Memorial Day/beginning of summer food rituals do you look forward to every year? Share your story in the comments section below. And thank you for supporting my blog!

Country Style Pork Ribs

Barbeque season is here so it is a good time to review some BBQ basics.

When you cook barbeque, you have three major choices to make:

1. What to barbeque

2. Cooking method

3. Type of BBQ

There are almost an unlimited combination of these three choices. For example, you can barbeque any kind of meat or poultry, even fish or vegetables if you want, although that’s a little more exotic. And within each meat category, there’s different cuts to consider: ribs, briskets, shoulders.

Within the rib category, there are still more decisions to be made: baby back ribs, spare  ribs, country style ribs, rib tips. Baby backs are narrower and have curved bones, for example, while spare ribs — sometimes called St. Louis Ribs or Kansas City ribs, depending on how they are butchered — are longer and flatter. All are delicious and perfect for BBQ.

For this dish, I selected country style ribs. They are cut from the blade end of the pork shoulder and are meatier than other types of ribs. They usually contain just one long flat bone at the bottom, making them slightly less messy to eat.

Cooking methods include grilling, smoking, boiling, braising, baking or any combination of any of these methods. Because it was raining, I opted to go with braising.

Finally, there is the type of barbeque to consider. There are two primary types: Dry rub and wet.

Wet entails generously basting what you are cooking with a liquid barbeque sauce during all or part of the cooking process. The result is a sweet, smokey and tacky sauce that perfectly complements sweeter meat such as pork and chicken.

For this dish, I selected dry rub, which is when you rub the meat with a barbeque seasoning made up of a combination of many different herbs and spices before cooking it. You can buy a pre-made rub or you can make one yourself.

Most of the time, I use both methods, starting with a dry rub then brushing barbeque sauce onto the meat during the last portion of the cooking time. Abundanza!

Barbeque has become a rich summertime tradition. Many people ritualize the experience, and there are numerous BBQ competitions and festivals where people share their techniques and serve their secret recipes.

This recipe is no secret, but it is a quick and convenient barbeque dinner you can make to kick off the BBQ season. I served my ribs with a traditional homemade potato salad and some steamed, buttered green beans. If you like, you can serve barbeque sauce on the side, but these ribs were so succulent and flavorful that I didn’t find it necessary.

Country Style Pork Ribs

2 to 3 lb Country style pork ribs

1/2 cup Barbeque rub

1 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Generously rub the pork ribs on all sides with the barbeque rub. Place in a 9″x13″x2″ baking pan and pour the water into the bottom of the pan, being careful not to wash off the rub from the ribs.

2. Use aluminum foil to seal the pan and cook for 90 minutes.

Super easy, right?! Here’s the potato salad recipe:

Traditional Potato Salad

6 to 8 Medium red potatoes

2 eggs, hard boiled

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 white onion

1/3 cup Pickle relish

1 cup Reduced-fat mayonnaise

2 TBS Dijon mustard

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

Paprika for garnish

1. Boil whole potatoes for about 25 minutes or until cooked through. You can test doneness by sticking a fork into the potato. If it easily slips off the fork, it is ready. Remove from water and set aside until cool enough to handle.

2. Cut potatoes into large dice peices and place in a mixing bowl with the celery. Grate the onion and egg into the bowl. In a separate bowl, make the dressing by combining the mayonnaise, mustard and pickle relish, tasting it to make sure you have the proper balance. Then dress the salad and mix with a spatula. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

This salad tastes better if you let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving it so the flavors meld together. Garnish with the paprika.

Do you have any barbeque traditions that you would be willing to share? Tell us all about them in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

 

 

Grilled Baby Back Ribs

The grilling season started early this year and I’m happy about it.

Whenever the weather’s even the slightest bit warm, I can’t wait to abandon my kitchen and head into the backyard to do my cooking.

In celebration of the warmest Spring in Chicago history, I decided to grill baby back pork ribs, one of my favorites. When it comes to grilling pork ribs, I usually use either baby back ribs or spare ribs.

Baby back ribs are shorter, meatier and more curved than spare ribs. They usually are a little more expensive than spare ribs, but they make for better grilling.

My secret to making the best ribs is to boil them in salted water for about an hour before putting them on the grill. This completely cooks them until they are nearly falling off the bone and it makes it easy to grill them just right.

Another option is to roast the ribs for about an hour, but this dries them out more. A third option is to smoke your ribs all day in a smoker, which gives them a rich, smoky flavor. But if you are pressed for time, boiling the ribs is the best solution.

You can boil them up to a day ahead of time if you want, then let them cool before refrigerating your ribs until you are ready to grill them.

Make sure you peel off the sheet of cartilage on the back of the ribs. It’s easily removed once they have cooled. Removing this piece makes the ribs easier to eat and taste better.

Finally, I finish my ribs by spraying them with pan spray, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and marking them briefly on both sides on the hottest part of the grill. Next, I brush on a generous amount of barbeque sauce, move the ribs to a cooler part of the grill with indirect heat, cover them and then cook the ribs until the sauce gets tacky, about 10 minutes.

The result are delicious, sticky and delightful baby back ribs that are fun to eat and taste amazing. I always serve extra barbeque sauce on the side and have plenty of napkins available, as well as a bucket to throw the bones.

I like to serve my ribs with some charred sweet potato discs. These are easy to make are great for plating just about anything because you can stack them any way you want.

Wrap a sweet potato in a paper towel, stick it a few times with a fork and then microwave it for 10 minutes. After it’s cooled, cut it into cross sections, spray them with pan spray, season them with salt and pepper, then put them on the hottest part of the grill until they get a nice char.

You can easily make these way ahead of time and just reheat them whenever you’re ready to use them. They are great for adding height to a plate or giving a dash of color. Plus they taste great!

Charred corn on the cob naturally goes with ribs, of course, but the final part is a cole slaw. The acidity of the vinegar cuts the fat in the pork ribs, so the two pair perfectly together.

This baby back rib platter is the perfect start to what hopefully will be a long and rewarding backyard grilling season!

Asian Cole Slaw

2 cups Napa cabbage, sliced thin

1 carrot, peeled and grated

4 radishes, grated

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 TBS sesame oil

2 TBS Extra virgin olive oil

2 TBS honey

Sea salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

1. Combine cabbage, carrot and radish in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sesame and olive oils and honey. Taste the dressing so that it is balanced between sweet and tart.

2. Dress the slaw with the dressing and season with salt and pepper. It tastes better if you refrigerate it for at least an hour before serving it.

What are your favorite things to cook out? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

 

Barbeque Pork Chops

Probably the thing I miss most in the winter is not being able to use my grill or smoker.

It’s not that I can’t use them exactly. They are operable. They can be turned on.

The problem is the sun. It goes down too early, long before the time I normally make dinner. And I can attest from experience that grilling in the dark is not really a good option.

That’s why I love to find a barbeque recipe that can be made indoors. This one is an inexpensive, reduced fat version of breaded pork chops, with a BBQ bent.

Fried pork chops, chicken or chicken fried steak are some of my favorite things to eat, but unfortunately they are too high in fat to have very often, if at all. Usually once or twice a year at a family party is my limit.

But in this version, the pork chops are fried in only a very small amount of oil and most of the cooking is done in the oven. This is hardly a no-fat recipe, however, because potato chips and pancake mix is used in the breading, both of which are loaded with fat, plus the BBQ sauce is mostly high fructose corn syrup. So I won’t pretend this is health food.

Still, it’s a trade-off I’m willing to make in order to enjoy barbeque in the middle of winter. I served this with Rosemary Roasted Red Potatoes and steamed broccoli, and it was a delicious, wonderful mid-winter treat.

Barbeque Pork Chops

1 cup barbeque flavored potato chips (about 1 oz)

1/2 cup pancake mix

1 egg, beaten

2 TBS BBQ sauce

6 boneless pork loin chops 1/2 thick (about 1-1/2 lbs)

1 TBS vegetable oil or shortening

3/4 cup BBQ sauce

1. Place BBQ chips in 1 gallon plastic freezer bag and crush with rolling pin. Add pancake mix, seal bag and shake well.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and 2 TBS BBQ sauce. Dip pork chops into egg mixture, then place in bag and shake to coat with breading. I realize this is just like Shake & Bake, from the 1970s. You could just dredge the chops in the breading if you preferred. Me, I liked the irony.

3. Preheat oven to 375F. Put cast iron skillet on the fire. When hot, add oil. When smoking, add pork chops a couple at a time and fry on both sides until just golden brown. Set aside on sheet pan. When all pork is marked, place sheet pan in oven and bake 25 minutes. To plate, nap the chops with BBQ sauce, leaving most of the breading exposed.

Pork is still relatively inexpensive — the chops were about $2/lb – compared to beef, which has been insanely high lately, so this worked out to be a pretty inexpensive meal as well.

What do you do in the kitchen during winter to keep sane? Share your ideas in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

When the weather is nice outside, I love to use my backyard smoker to smoke pork, chicken and beef for barbeque.

Now that Chicago’s warm weather is going into hibernation until next Spring, I need to find another way to satisfy my barbeque craving. The solution? Crock pot BBQ pulled pork.

This recipe is great because it makes its own barbeque sauce in the crock pot as the pork slowly cooks. All day long, the juices from the pork combine with the ingredients of the sauce. The result is a pot of sweet and tangy heaven.

There is a debate about whether these sandwiches should be served with or without dill pickle slices on them. I don’t know where this tradition started, but I usually include the pickles because the vinegar in the pickles is effective at cutting the fat from the pork. But I happily will serve them on the side or leave them off altogether if anyone requests  it.

In the same vein, this kind of tangy barbeque really needs to be served with some sort of slaw — cabbage, fennel or another kind. Not only does the vinegar help enhance the flavor of the pork, but the contrast between the cold slaw and the piping hot pulled pork is delicious.

So until Chicago weather allows me to fire up my smoker again – and it’s not looking like that will be anytime soon — I’m happy to hunker down with this easy-to-make crock pot classic.

Crock Pot BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches 

2 TBS chili powder

1 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1-1/2 to 2 lb bone-in pork loin or pork shoulder

3 tsp EVOO

2 large white onions, sliced

1 cup ketchup

1/2 cup chili sauce

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1. Put cast iron pan on fire. Combine chili powder, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a bowl and mix well. Roll pork in spice mixture so that all sides are covered. When pan is hot, add 1 TBS EVOO. When smoking, add pork, turning frequently so all sides are browned evenly. Place pork in crock pot to wait.

2. Return pan to fire. When hot, add 1 TBS EVOO. When smoking, add onions and cook until carmelized, about 7 minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl stir together the ketchup, chili sauce, molasses, coffee, hot sauce and remaining spice mixture. When onions are nice and brown, pour sauce over onions, reduce heat and cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently so the sugars don’t burn.

3. Pour onion and sauce mixture over pork. Set the crock pot timer for 8 hours and the temperature on low. Cover and forget about it until its ready. After about six hours, you can easily pull the pork apart with two forks, or you can just wait untli the end. Remove any bones before serving.

To serve, use a tongs to pile shredded pork on whole wheat burger bun. Top with dill pickle slices and serve with any sort of slaw.

Do you have any summer favorites that you crave during the winter? Tell how you satisfy your craving in the comments section below. And thanks for looking at my blog!