Ultimate Pulled Pork

   Last week I offered up a recipe for a great Carolina barbecue sauce that is a perfect companion to any smoked pork product. Well here is the greatest canvas to add that sauce to, the ultimate pulled pork sandwich.

   As I wrote about last week, "pulled pork" has become somewhat of a food marketing term that you can find in a lot of restaurants these days that refers to any shredded pork that is drenched in barbecue sauce and added to sliders, generic sandwiches, quesadillas, nachos, wontons, egg rolls, etc. In my mind pulled pork has become a chain restaurant's dream as it is a great canvas to make a variety of menu items that will cause those consumers who have drank the "pulled pork craze" kool aid to salivate at the very mention of pulled pork. The only problem with this? This is not real pulled pork!!!

   To be a true pulled pork, you need a pork butt that is smoked at low temperatures for hours and hours to create that beautiful smoke kissed interior and blackened crust packed full of flavor commonly known in the BBQ world as "bark." I have a hunch that Applebees isn't smoking a pork butt out back in the parking lot to create their "pulled pork" sliders and wontons. These restaurants have mastered creating an oven or crock pot version of pulled pork and smothering it in some store bought barbecue sauce.

   Next time you want to spend a weekend day at home watching some games with friends or in my case give yourself a real good reason to stay home and get some house chores done on a Saturday, fire up the smoker, crack open some good home brews, and try my "ultimate" pulled pork recipe. I promise you will never go back to the oven made faux pulled pork ever again. If you love all these fancy pulled pork sliders, wontons, and quesadillas, that's great, they will taste even better with a real smoked pork butt highlighting the show.

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   Smoking a pork butt for fourteen hours is a long process so don't go with too heavy of a beer during the process, or you might wind up napping in the corner instead of monitoring your smoker to keep that magical temp at 225. Last weekend as I tended to the smoker all day I opted for a mixed bag of some lighter ales from one of my favorite California beer makers, Ballast Point Brewery. Their Wahoo Wheat and Yellowtail Pale Ale are perfect for a fall day hovering around the smoker.

  

 Once the mighty pulled pork is off the smoker and ready to be pulled apart, I think the rich flavors of the pork and bold smokiness from the bark needs to be paired with a beer that can match the smokey rich notes but isn't super heavy on the alcohol or full bodied like a stout. A good smokey, roasted Porter is a great match, such as Black Butte Porter from Deschute's Brewery in Bend, OR. Enjoy the beer and the pulled pork, and let me know how it all turned out. Remember, if it looks tasty, smoke it! If it looks hoppy, drink it!

CHEERS!!!

Ultimate Pulled Pork

Ingredients

1 pork butt, bone in (about 6 pounds)

1/2 cup BBQ rub (see previous post for recipe)

Carolina BBQ sauce (see previous post for recipe)

1. Take the pork butt and place on a baking sheet or roasting pan and cover in spice rub, making sure to evenly coat the pork butt and massage spices into the meat.

2. Cover the rubbed pork butt with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator over night.

3. Remove pork butt from the fridge and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes. While this happening get your smoker ready. Bring your smoker to a temperature of 225 degrees, using applewood chunks. You can use mesquite or hickory for a heavier smoke flavor but I think applewood is the best for long smoking times with pork.

4. Once your smoker is ready, take the pork butt and place in the smoker on a rack and smoke for 12-14 hours at 225 degrees or until your meat's internal temp is about 195 degrees. This is important as this is when the butt's collagen melts down and creates that juicy tender final product that allows you to easily pull the pork apart. Another way to test for doneness is to stick a fork into the pork butt and twist. If the fork can turn 360 degrees easily then the pork butt is finished.

5. Once cooking process is complete, remove the butt from the smoker and let rest for about 15 minutes and then begin to pull apart the pork using two forks or your hands if you have those heat callused fingers of a true pitmaster. This will create those shredded pieces of a traditional pulled pork. Do not use a knife to chop or cut pork into chunks!

6. At this point your pulled pork is ready to eat. To create a sandwich, place the pulled pork on a soft roll or sliced white bread and mop the Carolina BBQ sauce over the top of the meat. You can top with a coleslaw if you like.

This pulled pork is great on its own dipped in the Carolina sauce or in a sandwich served alongside a creamy potato salad.

Write me a comment and let me know what you think or how yours turned out.

Enjoy!!!

BBQ Pork Rub

Here is a simple recipe for a barbecue rub that I use on everything pork. It is great on ribs and pork butts for pulled pork. You can adjust the amount of cayenne to meet your needs for heat or lack of heat. This recipe makes about one cup of rub. If you're like me and barbecue regularly, you can double or triple the recipe to make a bigger batch that you will always have ready to go. I just place the rub in a mason jar and seal with a lid and it will last quite awhile and always be ready for your next BBQ.

Ingredients

1/3 cup paprika
1/4 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 teaspoons dry mustard

1. Place all of the ingredients in a mason jar or ziploc bag and shake vigorously until well combined.

2. Sprinkle on ribs or pork butts prior to smoking and rub into the meat.

Carolina BBQ Sauce

  Something I like about barbecue is that everyone has their own variation on what is the "best" way to grill, smoke, or barbecue a piece of meat. There is the great slow smoked beef brisket of Texas, pork ribs and whole hogs of Carolina, open oak pit tri tips of California, and of course the variety of slow cooked beef, pork, chicken, and sausages of the self proclaimed "bbq capital of the world", Kansas City. As many different ways as there are to cook a piece of meat, any true barbecue enthusiast will tell you that the true personal touch that makes his/her barbecue superior to the next person lies in the sauce.

  Planning on smoking a pork shoulder, or "butt" as its known in the barbecue world, this weekend I figured I need to make a sauce to accompany the pulled pork. Every restaurant you turn to these days has some sort of pulled pork item, whether its pulled pork sandwiches, sliders, quesadillas, or a bbq pulled pork taco that would make any good Mexican food aficionado want to throw back four shots of tequila to erase the idea from their mind. But real pulled pork isn't made in an oven and then drenched in a tomato based barbecue sauce as many of these restaurants try to pass off. The only way to make the real thing is to slow smoke a pork shoulder for 14 hours to build that crispy black bark on the outside that adds all the flavor to a true Carolina style pulled pork.

 Every good pulled pork has to be accompanied by a good Carolina sauce. For those of you that don't know what Carolina style sauces are like, they are a vinegar based sauce that is thinner than the commercialized barbecue sauces out there that are tomato based and more closely resemble a Texas or Memphis style sauce. I think you'll find that Carolina sauces are easy to make and delicious on anything pork with its perfect mix of tangy, sweet, and spicy. Here is my version of a Carolina sauce that I came up with that matches up perfectly with pulled pork on its own or piled high in a sandwich. Try this one next time you make a barbecue pork dish and it will last for months in the fridge.

My Sweet Carolina Sauce

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of distilled vinegar
1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons of light brown sugar
1/4 cup of ketchup
2 teaspoons of salt
2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a quart size mason jar.
2. Tightly seal the jar with a lid and shake vigorously for a couple minutes until all of the ingredients are dissolved.
3. Refrigerate the sauce overnight to let the flavors come together.
4. Use sauce over pulled pork or as a mop sauce on ribs or pulled pork during the smoking process.


 

Smoked Fish Dip

 



If you read my last post, I gave you a simple yet delicious recipe for smoking trout. Well if any of you have smoked trout or any fish in the past, you probably have smoked way more than you can eat at one time. So here is an idea of what to do with that leftover or extra smoked fish.


  This recipe was one that I came up with years ago after returning to the docks of San Diego after being at sea for a week aboard the long range sportfishing boats in search of the hard fighting tunas of the pacific ocean. Most trips were met with a return of hundreds or even thousands of pounds of fresh albacore, yellowfin, and bluefin tuna. The select pieces met the sharp edge of my sushi knife, the beautiful tuna steaks were seared over a red hot grill, and the tail pieces, well they were brined and smoked using the recipe I shared with you last weekend. While a nice piece of smoked tuna is perfect just as is with a frosty cold beer, I wanted something more, and out of that came this recipe for a smoked tuna dip.

  This dip has always been a party favorite as an appetizer served alongside some fresh toasted slices of baguette, pita chips, or even a simple Ritz cracker. Try it out for yourself and in a pinch you can even substitute a good canned tuna and add just a little more of the liquid smoke to fool your guests into thinking you spent hours outside tending to the smoker.


Smoked Fish Dip

Ingredients:
8 -10 oz. smoked fish (trout, salmon, tuna)
1  block of light cream cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 light sour cream
1 tbls. liquid smoke
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce
1 stalk of green onion (for garnish)

1. In a bowl combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, liquid smoke, salt, pepper, and  worcestershire sauce. Blend well using a whisk to incorporate all of the ingredients.

2. Flake apart the smoked trout and then fold into into the mixture until it is well combined.


3. Refrigerate the dip at least four hours so that the flavors can incorporate throughout.








4. Place the dip in a serving bowl and garnish with diagonally sliced green onion. Serve with toasted slices of baguette, pita chips, or crackers.

Smokey the Trout

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   It has finally cooled down in Walnut Creek, CA with night time temperatures dipping into the 30's on an almost regular basis. Being a bass fisherman, that also calls an end to tournament season and a tougher bite on the Delta, which makes you work so hard that it sometimes takes the "fun" out of "fun fishing." Well that is when I switch over to other types of fishing that thrive in colder weather of fall and winter. I dusted off the 5-foot ultralight rods and 2 lb. test the other day and headed to Lafayette Reservoir for some trout fishing.

   For the short amount of time I spent early in the morning the outcome turned out well with two very nice rainbow trout that were about 2 1/2 pounds each. I immediately knew how I was going to spend my Saturday on a long Veteran's Day weekend. It would be a day filled with college football, a few good brews, and tending to a smoker full of two of the freshest trout. If you haven't had "hot" smoked trout, it is delicious and probably my favorite way to eat a trout.

   There is a difference between a "hot" and "cold" smoked fish. Cold smoked fish is what you typically see, such as salmon in the store that is more dried out and takes as much as a couple days to complete. Hot smoking a fish is different in that it creates a moist piece of fish that still has that smokey goodness and only take a few hours to complete.

   The first step to a good smoked fish is to brine it. This prevents the fish from drying out during the cooking process and gives you a chance to add some good flavors to the trout. Don't get scared of this process as making a brine is simple and for this recipe, a trout only requires a few hours in the brine. Here is my brine solution recipe.

Trout Brine

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup of kosher salt
-1/2 cup of light brown sugar

-1 quart of water

-1/2 can of light lager beer

1. In a bowl or pitcher combine the water, beer, salt, and brown sugar.

2. Stir until all of the salt and sugar has dissolved.

3. Place the two whole trout in a gallon sized ziploc bag and pour the brine over the fish.

4. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for 4-5 hours making sure that all parts of the fish are submerged in the brine.

  While waiting for the brining magic to happen, I flipped on the Penn State-Nebraska game (on scandal Saturday) and cracked open a six pack of Black Diamond's Steep Trail Amber Ale. Four hours have passed and it's time to get your smoker going. Fire it up to about 200 degrees and fill it up with either alder or hickory wood. Yesterday I went with hickory, which has a little bit stronger smoke flavor, which I don't mind on fish when only in the smoker for a few hours. Ok, it's time to SMOKE!!!

Smoked Trout

Ingredients:

-Two whole trout (about 3 lbs. total) brined

-1 tbsp. olive oil

1. Remove the trout from the brine and rinse well with water and then pat dry.

2. Rub olive oil on the outside of the trout and place on one of the smoker's racks.

3. Place the rack in the preheated smoker, close the door, and add more wood as needed during the smoking process.

4. Smoke the trout at 200 degrees for about three hours.

5. Remove the trout from the smoker and remove skin and bones while the fish is still warm.

6. Flake the fish apart and enjoy.

  This fish is excellent on its own as an appetizer or main dish. You can also serve it any way you would serve smoked salmon such as on a cracker or bagel with cream cheese and capers. Later on this week I will share a recipe for an amazing smoked fish dip that is an excellent way to use the leftovers. However you choose to enjoy this great smoked trout remember it always tastes better when you were the one that harvested the fish from the water and when enjoyed with good friends and an amazing craft beer.

CHEERS!!!

Chicken and a Brick

   Artists talk about a blank canvas and the thousands of ideas that run through their head to turn that blank canvas into a masterpiece. Well a chicken is the blank canvas of cooking as far as I'm concerned. So many options, so many different cooking styles, and so many ways to turn this simple piece of poultry into a culinary masterpiece.

   So having Hawaiian and Filipino in my blood, I have an affinity for a well cooked dish of chicken adobo, chicken and long rice, or chicken papaya, but this is a barbecue site so I'm going to tell you about one of my favorite ways to plop some poultry on the grill. I know what you're thinking, beer and barbecue site. He must be getting ready to go into a ten step process of how to stick a can of Budweiser up a chicken's tail feather and brag about how moist the bird will turn out due to a steaming can of America's (well now Belgium's) classic lager on the grill.

   Well I'm not a beer can chicken kind of guy so here's my recipe to one of the best ways to treat a whole chicken on a grill. Try this "brick chicken" recipe for a perfectly cooked whole bird with a mildly spicy southwestern style rub and a crispy exterior that will crackle when you bite into it, only to release a flavorful and juicy piece of chicken underneath.

  When dining on a warm sunny afternoon BBQ, try pairing this chicken with a nice pint of a light Bavarian hefeweisen, like Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.'s Kellerweis. Or if you are trying this recipe now that the darkness and chilly nights of Fall comes earlier, pair it with something with a little more body and hoppy warmth like Mad River Brewing Co.'s Steelhead Pale Ale.

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  Enjoy my version of Chicken and a Brick, with a beer in hand of course.

CHEERS!!!

Chicken and a Brick

Ingredients
1 Whole Chicken (about 3 lbs.)
1 Lime (juiced and zested)
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Paprika
1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
1/2 tsp. Dried Thyme
1 tsp. tsp. Red Chili Flake
4 tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 bottle of a Pale Ale

1. First step is to prep the chicken. Using a pair of kitchen shears or a knife cut along both sides of the backbone and remove the backbone and discard.

2. Place the chicken on a cutting board, breast side up and push straight down, flattening out the chicken.

3. Put the chicken in a storage bag along with the beer and marinate in the refrigerator for one hour.

4. Remove chicken from the beer marinade and pat dry with paper towels.

5. Combine lime juice, zest, and the remaining spices and olive oil in a small bowl to form a paste.

6. Place the chicken in a baking dish and rub the spice paste all over the chicken. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

7. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to cooking so that it comes to room temperature.

8. Prepare a grill to medium heat. If using charcoal prepare a shallow layer of coals that are not too hot but a good medium heat.

9. Place the chicken skin side down on the grill, making sure the chicken is nice and flat. Place a cast iron skillet on top of the chicken to weigh it down. You may also use a baking dish with 3 clean bricks inside to apply the weight.

10. Cook skin side down for 15 minutes until the skin is golden brown and crispy.

11. Flip the chicken over and DO NOT place the skillet or bricks on the chicken. Cook an additional 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear.

12. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes and then carve into separate pieces.

I suggest serving alongside fresh grilled vegetables such as zucchini and onions or slice the breast and thigh meat and serve inside of a warm tortilla along with simple street taco toppings such as fresh cilantro and cotija cheese.

ENJOY!!!!

An EJ Phair's Homecoming

EJ Phair's, Concord (source)

   Being a teacher in California's Bay Area for the last 5 years I have had a chance to try out most of the local breweries at one point or another. I remember the first East Bay brewery I ever came across was a little place called EJ Phair's in Concord, CA. They had a booth at the Lafayette Art and Wine Festival back in 2007 where they featured two of their craft beers that I remember being very good.

   Unfortunately a year later, when I began working at a school within walking distance of EJ's on Todos Santos Square in Concord, I learned they were no longer brewing their own beer and only featured "guest" beers.

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   Well, EJ's is back! With a new brewery and restaurant in Pittsburg, CA they now regularly have a selection of seven EJ Phair's own craft beers (Face Puncher IPA, American Wheat, Shorty's Revenge, Double Cross Eye-PA, Plank Walker Pale, Bocktagon, Duck Face Pilsner) on tap at both locations. EJ Phair's also hosts a great selection of guest beers including one of my favorites, Racer 5 from Bear Republic Brewing Company in Healdsburg, CA. Being only a five minute walk away from work, I have come to frequent EJ's on a regular basis for their beers and a menu of food that has the quality of a restaurant beyond your ordinary brew pub.

   On Friday night it was my school's homecoming and what a better way to celebrate than to hit up EJ's after the big game. My fiance and I met up with some friends for a late night nosh and beer. First the food. I have sampled about all they serve and highly recommend the burgers and wraps. The burgers are custom and cooked the way you would like it. I would recommend the San Franciscan, served on a sourdough bun with sauteed mushrooms and bleu cheese.

   As for beers I have my favorites including the cleverly named Double Cross Eye-PA, which is a double IPA that has enough of that hoppy IPA punch without being overwhelming as some of those over the top double and triple IPAs frequently are.

   EJ Phair's is a great after work hangout for good apps, burgers, pub food, and of course beer! Being on Todos Santos plaza it has a great atmosphere with the farmer's market on Thursday nights. Stop by for a pint and I'll see you there.

 CHEERS!!!