... 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.
8 comments:
Nice blog! A friend at IAMNOTACHEF sent me over here. Believe it or not, I guess I must know someone on your Christmas list because I have sampled your "slather", which I found to be excellent. Good work. IANAC has a dry rub recipe that is also damn good.
Question #1: I notice you cleverly did not reveal the ingredients in your sauce...is there coffee in there or not?
Question #2: you specify beef ribs...how about pork?
Thanks for the kind words on the rib slather b-fin and glad you liked it. In regards to your questions:
#1 A: I do not use coffee. I had considered it, but Crazy Charley has done such a good job I didn't feel I could equal it. I may incorporate coffee in future recipes depending on how my sauce performs in 2010.
#2 A: Pork ribs are king, no doubt and in fact my sauce is truly meant for pork. Why did I use beef? I had found a great deal at the local grocery on the beef ribs. Also, I'm a lazy SOB, and it was 30 degrees out and didn't want to hover by the grill for 3 hours.
Forgot to give a hat tip to IANAC - thanks for sending hungry readers my way.
I'll definitely have to look up the dry rub recipe. The pic of the pulled pork looked great - nice crosshatching on that pork butt.
Thanks for the link, but there is no dry rub recipe to be found on my site. I could arrange a trade however...
Chipotle is one of those ingredients that seems to improve everything it touches. I haven't tried it in sauce yet but I will. I have been concentrating on a vinegar and mustard based sauce for pulled pork, and that seems to be the gold standard. When I run out of my last batch I'll try chipotle.
When and if summer rolls around, try a long gentle smoke on those beef ribs. I have cooked them at 240 degrees for about 7 hours, and the results were spectacular.
iamnotachef - you are most welcome for the link. I believe we can most definitely work out a trade. Would you believe I just finished a batch of Char-B-Q Sauce not more than a half hour ago?
Vinegar and mustard with pork is true South Carolina style (if i'm not mistaken) and my personal favorite. I use chipotle to round out the character of the sauce so that it can be a condiment as well as a mop sauce. It's definitely worth trying. As a measurement, I use 1 whole chipotle (in adobo) for each 1 pint jar of sauce. So far, it's produced a good balance of flavor and heat. You can add some of the adobo sauce as well for extra kick.
...one last thought - thanks for the tip on smokin' the beef ribs, IANAC - 240 degrees is perfect. Low and slow. And as always: "If yer lookin' yer not cookin'".
IANAC is correct, there is no dry rub recipe on his blog. He must have removed it. This is probably due to the fact that he minces and sashays about quite frequently.
On a partially related topic, tomorrow night I am eating at a restaurant in Brooklyn that serves the following sandwich (from NY Magazine):
“…the best meatloaf sandwich in New York, and possibly the entire world, is the $14 pork-belly-ground-pork-duck-ground-beef-ground-veal-and-short-rib-larded monster served at Rye"
I will report back.
Well if IAMAC intends to receive any Char-B-Q Rib Slather, he will need to mince up a batch of said dry rub. I'm sure we can work something out in that regard.
Now, after having wiped the drool from my chin - that sandwich alone is worth a trip to NYC. Make sure to bring a lipitor drip. GastroHounds looks forward to you after action report.
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