'tis The Season of Giving

... and when you care to give the very best, give the taste of victory - and that's exactly what I did. I gave my very own BITE ME Beastro Char-B-Q Sauce & Rib Slather.

So let's talk BBQ sauce. For starters, 98% of what is on the shelves at your local grocery store is utter crap. Since when did corn syrup and liquid smoke equal BBQ? My epiphany was meeting up with the Crazy Cajun (aka Charley Addison) at the local fair. I'd seen his product in the better groceries, but here he was in person sampling his product - for free. "Free you say? Why yes, I shall try your savory wares." His sauce was a revelation - BBQ sauce didn't have to be a corn syrup based napalm. It could actually add flavor - dare I say, enhance the meat. He was effusive in explaining that the base for his sauce, and hence it's success, was that it's base ingredient was coffee (cue angel trumpets and devil trombones).

Armed with this info, I began experimenting early in the year on my own recipe. After many a tasty trial, I found what I felt to be a properly balanced sauce. To better judge my success, I wanted to enter it into a local contest. To do that, I would have to learn the art of canning. Luckily, my family has a long history of just such work, so I was in good hands. After some quick lessons and hand written notes (thanks mom), I completed my sauce and entered it into the 2009 Sonoma County Harvest Fair - amateur division. A separate judging is held for the professionals who operate restaurants and catering services. As my introduction suggests, I did indeed take first place - quite a thrill for my first ever entry. No less a thrill was having the knowledge that my first attempt at canning did not result in gut wrenching nausea and frantic rushes to the ER.

Here's why I like my sauce, and why I think the judges liked it too: I want to create multiple layers of flavor that build upon one another while not masking the flavor of what I assume to be a great cut of meat. The main base to my sauce is vinegar, so the most upfront flavor component is a nice acidic tang, followed by sweet, then smoke and then finishing with heat. Not to worry gentle readers, I do not use liquid smoke. Instead, I use chipotle peppers to provide the smoke and heat elements. The results speak for themselves.

I'm looking forward to entering more contests in 2010, and will continue to refine the recipe. In the meantime, here's a very easy recipe - the first one I used to test my sauce.

Char-B-Q'd Beast Ribs

Ingredients:
Beef ribs
Bite Me Beastro Char-B-Q Sauce & Rib Slather (or sauce of your choice)

Preparation:
Remove as much of the membrane from the back of the rib as you can.
Bring a stock pot of water to a boil, add ribs and reduce to a simmer.
Simmer for 45 to 60 minutes depending on ratio of ribs to water. This will actually cook the ribs through. Ribs are done when tender, and the meat has pulled back from the end of the rib bone about half an inch.
Just after starting ribs to simmer, start your fire if using charcaol.
Remove from water, and cover lightly with foil and allow to set for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Paint with sauce, and place on grill.
Turn every 3-4 minutes, grilling all sides of the ribs, and basting with Char-B-Sauce as you go.
Ribs will be heated through in about 15 minutes and a nice char will be on the rib.
Finish with one last basting of Char-B-Q Sauce and you're all set to go full Flinstone on those bad boys.

Obviously, if you weren't on my Christmas list, you don't have my sauce - but don't despair. Leave a comment on how your life will forever more be an endless, swirling pit of misery and pain without my Char-B-Q sauce and I'll see what I can do to get you a jar. In it's place, I definitely recommend Crazy Cajun sauce, or any sauce that shies away from having tomato as its base and a large degree of corn syrup.Instead, look for a sauce which has a high vinegar content. This kind of sauce allows for additional basting which keeps the meat moist and resists burning.

Have a favorite BBQ sauce? By all means share.

And for an appreciative nod to Crazy Charley, I've linked to his site under "Blogs/Sites I like". Definitely check it out. I've also had the West Indies hot sauce featured there. I killed that bottle off in about 2 weeks - great stuff.

Let's Dive Right In

Holiday season in Northern California means dungenous crab season. I live just a half hour drive from the coast, so it’s almost unavoidable to come across fresh-caught live crab. Still, even though current prices are outstanding, it’s still something of an extravagance. So, when I was recently gifted a freshly cooked crab, I was determined to make the most of it.
In my opinion, dungenous crab is by far the best domestic crab, if not the world. I’ve had Alaskan King, blue, and even Maryland soft shell just flown in and still crawling around in the shipping crate. Perhaps coconut crab has a chance to beat it given its ultra high fat content. Anyone know where I can get my hands on some coconut crab?
My goal was a 3 course meal for two from this one crab. I cleaned and cracked the crab, keeping the body meat separate from the leg and claw meat. I was also able to extract about 2 tablespoons of the “butter”, which is located in the upper shell, close to front. I knew I’d be serving the leg and claw meat very simply so as to not mask the flavor. The crab butter I’d incorporate into a light sauce to toss with pasta. I quickly came up with a recipe to use for the body meat (3.5 oz total), something that would be hot, bubbly and rich and provide something warming against the weather which had just turned bitter cold. As it turned out, all the dishes were very good (which means I didn’t kill the crab) but the gratins proved to be a surprise hit so that’s the recipe I’m putting up as my first contribution. I think this is also the most versatile as it would work very well with canned crab. As of this posting, I’ve made this recipe twice, both times it was very well received.

Crab Gratins
Ingredients:
3.5oz crab meat - more or less
2oz cream cheese
2tbsp mayonnaise
2tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 medium sized jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, then diced
1 tsp milk
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
2 dashes Tabasco sauce
pinch of salt and pepper
bread crumbs to top
olive oil for drizzling


Combine all ingredients in a bowl, gently stirring in the crab meat until all ingredients are combined. In this case, I filled two single serving ramekins (about 1/3 cup each) or a single casserole dish of appropriate size will do. Chill for one hour. When ready to bake, top with bread crumbs and drizzle with olive oil or melted butter and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until hot and bubbly and bread crumbs have browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes, so the gratin comes together and then serve with French bread or crackers.

For anyone who has questions on the crabbutter pasta, let me know and I'll post how I put that together. It's not so much a recipe as it is working with what you have.