It’s All About the Pig

For the past few months, I’ve tested “The Sauce” with various recipes, including creating a few recipes. I knew the ultimate test would be using “The Sauce” with a pulled pork sandwich. In my region, “It’s All About the Pig” when it comes to barbecue, and Chopped Barbecue sandwiches reign. Typically, this “sandwich of love” consists of smoked pork shoulder or Boston Butt, the meatier portion of the shoulder, chopped into small pieces, piled high onto a hamburger bun, and topped off with slaw and sauce.  

Each pit boss has a different view on how to prepare their pork, and there’s a myriad of sandwich possibilities. With slaw or without, mayonnaise-based, vinegar-based, or “red” slaw, with or without sauce. And the sauce…. There’s tomato-based, vinegar-based, mustard-based, and even mayonnaise-based sauce. Every now and then, you find a locale that changes it up….they exchange the slaw for pickles, use a different bun type, or even use a different protein. In most cases, you see the same sandwich type.

So… I took a Boston Butt and “poured on the love”. I injected it with love. I brushed it with love. I rubbed it with love. What is love, you ask? Love is flavor. I loved the Butt, then I put it to bed.

The next day, I woke up the Butt and put it to work in the smoker. Now, the Butt didn’t go directly into the smoker; that’s too extreme. Since it spent overnight in the refrigerator, we had to slowly warm it up before placing it in the smoker. Plus, I sneak more love in with the smoker. How? Well, that’s one of my secrets. Fellow pit bosses know how, we just have different opinions on how to do it.

 So, on a cold, wet, and dreary day I tended to my Butt. I added more fuel to the fire. I mopped it with more love. I took its temperature, and just when it hit its optimum temperature I removed the Butt from the smoker and onto a platter where it was laid to rest under an aluminum foil blanket.

After it fully rested, I gently opened its foil wrapping to find a bundle of goodness on that platter. With surgical precision, I used two forks to transform the Butt into my main ingredient for The Ultimate Pulled Pork Sandwich. I didn’t need anything other than two forks because the meat just fell apart in my hands….exactly what I wanted.  

 Once the meat was fully shredded, I began to build my ultimate sandwich. Open the bun and place the bottom layer on a plate. Construct a mound of pulled pork so that it sits high on the bun, but does not fall out of the sandwich. Drizzle just enough sauce onto the mound to add more love. Top it off with a covering of slaw and the bun lid. Man, that was good….  

Gift ideas

I’m always on the lookout for that unique Christmas gift. When I was a “road warrior” I looked for items I couldn’t find at home. Now that I’m not traveling, I’m still on the lookout for that local fare. Anytime I can find a gift idea that’s unique, it rises to the top of my gift list.

How about giving BBQ Sauce this year?

Nugget Savior

How many times have you reached for that sauce packet and been completely disappointed with its contents? With the exception of one or two fast-food sauces, I usually omit their sauce and use mine. The other day, I heated up frozen chicken nuggets. I know, I know.... I wanted something quick, totally different from our Thanksgiving menu, and they were in the freezer.....so there you go.

Granted, the nuggets still tasted like processed meat. Adding the sauce though, well, you get the idea...... 

Name suggestions....

Several readers have posted name suggestions, so I've compiled them and they're listed in a poll. If you're just not "feelin the love".... give me some ideas!!! I'd love to see them!!!

Smoked Turkey Quesadillas

Another one of my “To Do’s” was to create recipes using the barbeque sauce. Of course we have the obvious… using it over grilled chicken or pork. A new one was basting grilled salmon with the sauce….sounds really good!!

Anyway, last week I smoked a turkey breast, so I carved a few slices and julienned them. I heated up several flour tortillas, and grated some Colby Jack cheese, then added barbecue sauce. So to recreate,

1.       Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and warm them in a preheated 350-degree oven.

2.       Preheat a cast iron grillpan.

3.       Layer julienned smoked turkey breast, barbecue sauce, and Colby Jack cheese onto a warmed tortilla, then cover with another tortilla.

4.       Grill both sides until grill marks are present and cheese melts.

5.       Cut quesadillas into quarters and serve.

Enjoy!!!

Sample, Sample, Sample

The first item on my “To-Do” list was find sample jars. Off to the Internet I go, and after a few minutes I found 1.5 oz jars. I ordered the smallest amount available, and when they arrived I whipped up a batch of sauce.

Now, let's give out the samples and see what people think....

A Sauce is Born

Some time ago I found a basic barbecue sauce and said, “I can do better.” I added and subtracted ingredients, changed how I cooked the ingredients, then played with water-bath canning until I came up with a sauce I’m proud of. I didn’t just dump ingredients into a pot, whisk it together and come up with a sauce. This took years of changing spice combinations, base ingredients, even what order I added ingredients. Each time I made a batch, I listed what I liked and what I didn’t like. That way the next time I made up a batch of sauce I knew what to change.

I didn’t realize the sauce was that good until two things happened. The first was when I was preparing the sauce. My mother hovered over the simmering stockpot holding a bowl in one hand and a slice of bread in another. She remembered me telling her about a barbecue joint in Alabama where they greet their patrons with sauce and a loaf of white bread for dipping. Needless to say, she did eat a bowlful of sauce.

After I finished the batch, the second good thing happened. My neighbor shared her frustration with finding a barbecue sauce they liked. They’re from Texas and to date, they haven’t found a local sauce that resembles something from home… until they tried my sauce. The tomato-base and back-door heat reminded them of what they would find outside of Dallas Texas. “You’ve got to sell this! People would buy this!” she exclaimed.

Maybe she was right…..maybe people would buy this sauce.

First step – get feedback from my Mastermind group. I canned enough sauce for each member to take home. Well, instead of waiting until they arrived home, they opened a jar and tried it during the meeting. They loved it!! Next thing I knew, I had a list of To-Do’s to launch my sauce.

A sauce is born….