First, you start with a stiff drink! Beach Bourbon Slush to be exact. I wanted to make an iced tea to take with me down to my sister's house but there is only so much a person can pack into 2 (yep, I took 2 vehicles to get grill, 100 pound piggy, 2 cakes, 2 types of cole slaw, 3 BBQ sauces, 80 pounds of charcoal, 6 large Weber charcoal chimneys, large table, tarps just in case, 10 pounds of hamburger, 7 pounds of brats, 5 pounds of hot dogs, buns galore, all types of toppings for all of the above, cases of soda, large watermelon, and dishes that will be mentioned below.) vehicles so there was limited space on account of also taking people with me too. The Beach Bourbon Slush does have 2 cups of brewed unsweetened black tea in it. That has to count for something. I think I will do this blog with recipes in a story setting. The Bourbon Slush is as follows:(recipe found in Taste of the South magazine)
Ingredients:
2 c. brewed unsweetened tea
5 c. water
1 pint Jack Daniel's Black Label sour-mash whiskey
1/4 c. sugar
1 (12-oz.) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 (6-oz.) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 (33.8-oz.) bottles ginger ale, chilled
Chilled Glasses
Directions:
Combine tea, water, whiskey, sugar, and both concentrates in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan, or any shallow container large enough to hold mixture.
Place in freezer. Once every 45 minutes or so, stir mixture with a fork. Continue this for a couple of hours, or until mixture is the consistency of a granita; icy, slushy, and granular.
serve, use an ice-cream scoop or heavy large spoon to fill a chilled glass two-thirds full with chunks of frozen tea. Top with ginger ale. Don't stir. Let ginger ale coagulate with frozen tea, then drink up.
Next, I took with me Hog-Apple Baked Beans. Would you believe this recipe has a can of non-sweetened apple pie filling? I come from a long line of country cooks specializing in baked
beans and this recipe screamed "just try me!". So, I threw all my family baked bean recipes BACK into the recipe box and went with a fellow food blogger called Bossman and this gentleman specializes in BBQ. Everyone that tried these baked beans swore they were the best EVER! These people INCLUDE my MOM. WoW! Hog-Apple Baked Beans
(care of BossmanBBQ blogger)
3 or 4 slices bacon, diced
2 (16 oz) cans pork and beans, mostly drained (modified to 2 28-oz cans Bush’s Baked Beans)
1/2 c. Blues Hog BBQ Sauce (or other sweet-spicy favorite)
1 lb. smoked leftover smoked pork or beef, more or less, or 1 lb crumbled cooked pork sausage
1 can apple pie filling (chop up the big chunks)
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. Mustard (prepared)
1 tsp chipotle or cayenne powder (optional, to taste*)
1 tsp barbecue rub
Directions:
Brown bacon, and saute onion and green pepper in bacon grease. Mix in remaining ingredients. Bake at 325ยบ for 1 hour, or simmer on stove top in large pot for 30 minutes if you don’t have time to do them in the oven. Serves 12.
Next, there is the Carolina Cider-Vinegar BBQ Sauce. The sauce is mustard based with kick and also a first time trial for me BUT in my defense, I looked at over 200 recipes for BBQ sauce and pulled pork. There are a LOT of recipes for pulled pork and sauce that originate from ALL parts of Carolina so I doubled this recipe that originated with Tyler Florence from the Food Network. The sauce has a little sweetness from the brown sugar and a little kick from the cayenne pepper. All and all, EXCELLENT!
Cider-Vinegar BBQ Sauce
(Adapted from Tyler Florence)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
1 cup yellow or brown mustard
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
To make the barbecue sauce: combine the vinegar, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, garlic, salt, cayenne, and black pepper in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently, stirring, for 10 minutes until the sugar dissolves.
Pour 1/2 of the sauce on the shredded pork and mix well to coat. ( I used a squirt bottle and everyone squeezed the desired amount onto their pork. I also had tomato based BBQ sauces so the topping choice was up to each person.)
The coleslaw that I made to put on top of the pulled pork and sauce is a spicy cabbage mix. There is a little red pepper chopped in along with onion and other seasonings. The slaw is also Excellent!
Spicy Coleslaw
Ingredients:
1 head green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions, chopped
1 red chile, sliced
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
1/4 cup Creole mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
Pinch sugar
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Several dashes hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Combine the cabbage, carrot, red onion, green onions, and chile in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and sugar; stirring to incorporate. Pour the dressing over the cabbage mixture and toss gently to mix. Season the cole slaw with celery seed, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Chill for 2 hours in refrigerator before serving.
When I got home! Oy! What a lot of pork to work with! I wanted to show myself that I could use all the parts of the left over pig. . .including the pig's feet! Dad said that he has been trying to get Mom to make Ham hocks and beans but I think Mom had other ideas! So, that is where I started. Get out the pig's feet!
This recipe that I used came from my fellow Group Recipes friend, chef2, and I definitely messed with the spices. The pinto beans with ham hocks to flavor was also excellent! I added small pieces of pulled pork later on because I had no idea that the ham hocks just added flavor and that there really isn't any meat in the ol' piggy foot. =D
Pinto Beans and Ham Hocks
Ingredients:
3 smoked ham hocks
2 lbs. dried pinto beans
2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons hot sauce
1/2 medium chopped onion
Directions:
Boil ham hocks on high heat for 45 minutes. Add all seasonings except hot sauce and onion. Continue boiling for 20 minutes. Add pinto beans, hot sauce, and onion. Boil on medium heat until beans are done to taste.Note: To speed up cooking of beans and reduce the gas beans produce, soak beans in cold water overnight or for three hours during the day. (I soaked the beans in hot water according to the package directions.)
I took the ham hocks out of the bean dish, added small pieces of pulled pork and finished seasoning according to taste. Delicious!
For tonight, this will be the last recipe that I add to this blog. I had about 5 pounds of pork ribs left over with just a little bit of meat on them so I made pork stock. I had 1 piggy foot left over and excess rib bones, so I adapted accordingly. I think I am doing great using all pieces of pork and I have been cooking all day trying to make this happen. So help me, I better NOT see another piece of pork for a long time!
The Pork Stock came from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. I would like to add that the flavor coming from this stock is rich and delicious! I could see adding this stock to rice, risottos, stir frys, soups, all kinds of things. Yummy!
Pork Stock
Ingredients:
4 pigs feet, split (I had 1 leftover piggy foot)
2- to 3-pound pork shoulder or shank (I used 5 pounds of ribs)
1 quart homemade chicken stock (You can use water instead, but the results will not be as hearty. Do not be tempted to use store-bought stock, even the fancy kind that comes in a box.) **I used my homemade chicken stock and Boy, am I glad that I did!
Water to cover
1 garlic whole and unpeeled, halved through its equator
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 to 2 carrots
1 to 2 bay leaves
A few peppercorns
Directions:
Brown the bones, meat, onion and garlic in a roasting pan. Cover with water, bring to boil skimming off any scum as it appears. Add the chicken stock, carrots and spices, reduce heat, and allow to simmer, at least four hours, adding water to cover as needed. Strain stock – you may want to spray the solids with the sprayer from the sink to extract more stock from the solids. Allow to cool and refrigerate, leaving layer of fat intact.