Classic Smoked BBQ pork spare ribs

This is an easy rib recipe that should make anyone happy with the results.

Ingredients and equipment

• Two racks of pork spare ribs trimmed (these have the skirt removed but the rib tips are still attached, up to you)
• plain yellow mustard
• Dry Rub (recipe follows)
• wet mop
• BBQ Sauce (recipe follows)
• hickory chunks or chips soaked overnight
• Good real charcoal (Cowboy Charcoal is the brand I use but any real charcoal will work)
• Chimney Charcoal Starter
• mopping device
• Smoker (I use a cheap Brinkman offset firebox model - if you have different you’ll need to adjust- if you have better, I’m jealous)

Dragon’s Milk Ale

Picked up a bottle of this from Winston-Salem’s finest beer store (City Beverage) last time I was in the area. Coming in a dark glass bomber style 22 oz bottle with white screen printing. Dragon’s Milk Ale is brewed by New Holland Brewing Company in Holland, Michigan.

I poured it into a pint glass after chilling it overnight. It pours dark with some red/amber highlights has a strong malty aroma with some vanilla and some oak. The creamy head is slightly tan and didn’t hang around too long. It is not as strong a brew as I expected but was pretty good overall. Tastes of caramel, dark roasted to chocolate malt, vanilla and a slight bit of coffee. It does have a creamy smooth mouthfeel and is very easy drinking for 9 ABV. Similar “weight” to a Guiness, but with a more noticable kick. A good ale that I’d drink it again but I doubt I’ll search it out.

Shrimp, Tasso Ham and Okra Gumbo

 

Since I made the Tasso ham a while back I’ve been wanting to make some gumbo. Tasso with its strong cajun flavor and nice texture is a perfect addition to any gumbo. I also wanted to use local shrimp and fresh okra. Charleston and many of the neighboring towns in the Soth Carolina lowcountry are shrimping communities. Imported shrimp have a large negative impact on the SC shrimping industry so I always buy local or I don’t buy. Period. Besides the obvious impact on my neighbors I always try and buy food and produce that is local to the area. It’s always fresher and fresh equals better flavor and quality. Plus who wants to eat shrimp that have been frozen and flown half way across the world? Ok now I’ll step down off the soapbox and continue…

heaven?

A fridge full of good beer and good hotsauce. One of the many reasons a second refrigerator is a necessity.

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey

Sorry for the time between posts but I’ve been busy with work and a few other things. Yes I’ve got a few in the hopper I hope to push out this weekend including but not limited to the ones I’ve promised before. Soooooo to kick off getting back in the swing I bring you Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey.

I first heard about this Whiskey while reading the Flying Dog Brewery’swebsite. It turns out that Stranahan’s Brewery shares physical space and history with Flying Dog Brewery. The Whiskey is named after one of the founder’s of Flying Dog Brewery, Woody Creek resident and good friend of Hunter S. Thompson, George Stranahan. The majority owner is Jess Graber who met Stranahan while working as a firefighter on a call to put out a fire in one of George’s barns. They celebrated tapping barrel #1 in April 2004. From their website:

Full-bodied as the fire that bore it, this whiskey glowed amber from the start. When volunteer firefighter Jess Graber responded to a neighbor’s barn fire down the road, he never imagined any good could come of it. But the barn he made effort to save belonged to George Stranahan, long-time liquor connoisseur. When the fire settled, the two discovered a shared passion for the Colorado outdoors and a good pour of fine whiskey. And so Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey was born. They developed a recipe for the smoothest, most flavorful whiskey in the world using the purity of their mountain surroundings to their advantage. Well, to your advantage. They say from each thing bad comes something good. For Jess, George, and fine whiskey drinkers alike, it’s amazing just how good it can be.

Sorry, hit a bit of a busy stretch there

I have a few posts in the hopper but I’ve been slammed at work. I’m still planning on a Gumbo post with the Tasso ham, I used the Guanciale but didn’t take photos so that will be a non visual post. I’m home this weekend so I’m planning on a few food projects. Don’t despair all three of you that read this blog, there is more coming.

Tasso Ham

Tasso ham is  quick cured and smoked pork shoulder (boston butt). It’s very easy to make and is an important ingredient in dishes like Gumbo, Shrimp and Grits, soups and gravys. Again, as you’ll hear me say through out this blog, a high quality cut of pork is important. Quality ingredients give you quality product. Small heritage and organically fed breeds tend to not have the dried out lean meat that the mass produced breeds do and therefor are going to have more flavor and more fat. Fat is good. Maybe not good for you but good when you are making things with pork. Get fatty, well marbled pork. Period. If the hog is high quality the fat on it will also be high quality. Trust me, there is a difference. Ok back to the Tasso.

This recipe calls for a boston butt weighing around 3 pounds. The boston butt is a cut from the front leg of the hog at the shoulder. It is a muscle group that sees heavy use and that gives the meat a nice marbling and a stronger pork flavor. Have your butcher debone the butt which will make slicing it much easier. Slice the butt into 1 to 2 inch thick slices. I tend to do 1 inch because the cure has more surface area to act on, and the meat doesn’t spend that much time in the cure.

Upcoming posts

When ever I get around to finishing these up

Spicy Cherry Glazed Pork Ribs

Taso Ham and then probably some Gumbo using the Taso ham this weekend

Some recipe this week / weekend using the fine Guanciale I picked up from Ted’s Butcherblock today.

I’m trying a larger batch of Bacon without the Pink Salt (nitrate curing salt).

Noah’s Mill Bourbon

I was perusing the bottled libations at the neighborhood liquor store and saw this tall wine bottle full of a dark bourbon and figured I should probably suck it up and give it a taste. Sacrificing for the blog you know.

Noah’s Mill is distilled by in Bardstown, KY by Kentucky Bourbon Distillers, INC. (formerly Willet Distilling Company). It is a Bourbon that has been aged 15 years in wooden barrels and hand bottled at 114.3 proof. It’s definitely not the cheapest whiskey I’ve ever purchased (I think I spent $36.99 for 750 ml) but it’s not the most expensive and what the hell, why not. The first thing I can tell you about Noah’s Mill is that it might bethe darkest Bourbon I’ve poured in a long time if not ever. It has a deep rich reddish brown color that strongly points to what you can expect in its flavor. The high alcohol content is evident in the nose as is dark brown sugar. The first taste is surprisingly smoother than the 114.3 proof would let you believe. It’s actually very smooth, more so than some other high proof small batch bourbons I’ve tried. The taste is strong with with caramel and some dark dried fruit flavors but nothing overpowering. This find is a huge wonderful surprise for me because it is one of the favorite bourbons I’ve tried. I’ve always been a Jack Daniels drinker (yes I know not Bourbon) but recently have been branching out to small batch bourbons when I head to the liquor store. Knob Creek, Bakers, Bookers, Woodford Reserve are all go-to bottles for me but I think I’ve found a winner. This bourbon can stand alongside some of the best Single Malt Scotch Whiskeys I’ve tasted. The character and depth of flavor is simply amazing. My understanding is that Noah’s Mill has limited distribution so if you see a bottle at the local store, grab one and give it a try. You will not be disappointed.

Maple Cured Hickory Smoked Bacon

Ultimate porky goodness.

I love bacon. I love how it smells, the way the crispy fat explodes when you bite it, the way it makes every thing and anything taste better, the way it permeates the house after cooking up a good batch, the usefulness, the smokeyness….the…the…. god damn everything. So I figured it was about time to go through the surprisingly easy process of making my own bacon. I headed down to my favorite butcher here in Charleston and picked up a 2 lbs. slab of pork belly (the recipe below calls for 5 lbs.). Using the handbook for cured meat, Charcuterie, I got my mise en plas ready and set forth to make the greatest thing that has ever been created in the history of man… bacon.

Ingredients

• 2 oz. / 50 g kosher salt
• 2 tsp / 12 grams pink salt (curing salt with nitrite that is dyed a pink color to distinguish it). Pick up the book to find out why. You can leave this out, I do now.
• 1/4 cup / 50 g maple sugar or packed dark brown sugar. I actually used the darker molasses sugar for this
• 1/4 cup / 60 ml maple syrup (I used a higher quality pure maple syrup)
• 1 5-lbs. slab of pork belly (skin on or off)