I can’t take credit for this luscious barbecue sauce. The original recipe is at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I was looking for a new recipe that was liquidy, not chunky, and I was happy to find this one. I used it in my recipe for Father’s Day Ribs Fit for a King. I’ve used it several times before and after Father’s Day, and just love it. It’s a good all purpose sauce for ribs, chicken, pork chops, brisket, sausage, pulled pork – whatever grilling mood you’re in.
Prior to finding this recipe, I made Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Barbecue Chicken sauce. It was delicious, but I grew tired of little chunks of stuff falling off the meat into the grill. And I like my BBQ sauce hot and sweet, made with sugar and molasses. I tweaked the original just a bit by substituting jalapeno jelly for some of the brown sugar. Richard was happy the recipe also includes liquid smoke, which is one of his favorite sauce ingredients.
Last week Richard asked me if I wanted to invite his boss for a Saturday dinner. Harold, my husband’s 88-year old friend, was on his own for a few days while his wife went out of town for a granddaughter’s high school graduation. As much as I love to cook and to eat, I get a little nervous when we have guests for whom I’ve never cooked. When you cook often for people, you get to know their likes and dislikes, if you can get away with a casserole, what allergies they have, etc. But I couldn’t refuse an opportunity to host a dinner for Harold, despite my fears. And because I’ve had my eye on these beautiful pork tenderloins in the meat counter for months, I decided the dish would be quick, tender, and succulent – really, a great meal for a special friend, cooked with apples, onions, garlic and rosemary. I mean, who doesn’t like pork – right? So off to the market I went, very happy to have an excuse to pick up a couple of tenderloins, the filet of pork. i was confident I’d scored a hit when he reached for his third piece of meat and topped it off with more onion sauce. We even had enough to send him home with some leftovers, and enough for Richard and I to gnaw on for a late night snack. Hooray!!
Who doesn’t love barbecued pork ribs? I just love pork in any form. My mother made ribs for us on several occasions, but she used an entirely different technique. Mom cut the ribs into 2-3 rib portions, boiled the ribs until they were barely tender, cooked them for a while longer in a sauce of ketchup and vinegar, and baked them for a bit before serving. Mom said this was her father’s favorite way to prepare ribs. She put a “garbage bowl” in the center of the table where we would discard rib bones devoid of meat, gristle, everything. We loved ribs. If we’d figured out a way to eat the bones, we would have done that too with another slathering of her very simple sauce.
Through the years, I’ve experimented with a variety of porksicle cooking methods. Regardless of the technique, I had empty plates and lots of bones. But during a visit last summer, I decided to give the ribs a dry rub gently baked in the oven and then sauced. The recipe was a special treat in celebration of my daughter’s family’s visit to Montana. Brock, my son-in-law raved about them, so I knew I was onto something good. I tried to finish the ribs on the grill, but they were so tender, falling off the bone, that I decided to bake them off in the oven.
My mother was a clever cook. Before it was chic to disguise vegetables into ordinary foodstuffs for young picky eaters, Mom used a variety of techniques to surreptitiously keep us climbing the food pyramid. Equipped with her trusty blender, she whirred a veritable smorgasbord of vegetables and fruits into drinks, soups, and binders for healthy and hearty dishes. Meatloaf was truly a “mystery meat,” but one we all loved and gobbled up, and unknowingly eating “kid poison.”
As easy as coleslaw seems to put together, I’ve found literally hundreds of recipes. Some folks like their cabbage finely shredded. Others like cabbage chopped in small pieces. There are variations with green onions, vinegar and sugar dressing, fennel – the options seem endless. I absolutely love coleslaw, creamy and freshly made with celery seed and dill.
I can’t take credit for this luscious barbecue sauce. The original recipe is at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I was looking for a new recipe that was liquidy, not chunky, and I was happy to find this one. I used it in my recipe for Father’s Day Ribs Fit for a King. I’ve used it several times before and after Father’s Day, and just love it. It’s a good all purpose sauce for ribs, chicken, pork chops, brisket, sausage, pulled pork – whatever grilling mood you’re in.
