First Butt of the Summer

Summer ‘12

           It has been a while since I’ve posted anything, and I do apologize for that. I have excuses, but as the saying goes “excuses are like butt-holes, everyone has one and they all stink.” But I will say, I just haven’t found any places really worth writing about... And I am working on that. Hopefully I can remedy that soon, might even have to travel outside Waco a tad more. That’s why I planned on incorporating recipes and such into my blog, alas I have been dragging my tail on that too. But have no fear, I will get my act together and this is the start!

            This past week one of my co-workers brought some homemade BBQ spaghetti to work for me to try and it was delicious. Not my first time, but was definitely better than my first time- sweet, juicy, a mean bite that crawled up on you… very good. So I decided I was gonna smoke a pork butt and make my own with any leftovers. Unfortunately “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry” or something like that… all the pork was eaten in sandwiches that night rendering us with no leftovers. Least this gives me reason to smoke another pork butt and make the spaghetti that day.

This post will not contain a recipe for BBQ spaghetti, but instead I will share a recipes for; Pulled Pork, Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Cole Slaw.


1) The first dish served up is Cole Slaw. I usually make this the day before or early in the morning once I have the meat into the smoker and ‘chilling’ comfortably. Now usually when I’m making this for a big group I will buy fresh head(s) of cabbage and raw, fresh carrots and do it all from scratch. But when it comes to just 4-6 people, I don’t need that much so I go the easy route and buy a bag of Dole’s, 16 ounce, pre-shredded slaw mix from HEB.

So the ingredients are:
-16 ounces or Slaw Mix
-1 Cup Hellman’s Mayo
-1/3 Cup Sugar
-1/3 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
-2 Table spoons chopped Sweet n Spicy Jalapenos                     *Forgot to take Pics of Slaw :(*
-1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice (optional)
- Salt and Black pepper to taste

Very simple, mix together in bowl cover with lid or plastic wrap and let marinate.


2) Mashed Sweet Potatoes. To be honest, I just threw this together. I had 3 lying around and I wasn’t in the mood to bake them. So I decided to make some mashed.

Ingredients:
- 2 to 3 good size sweet potatoes, peeled and medium cubed

- 1 Apple peeled and chopped
- 2/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 Table Spoon Cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Table Spoon Unsalted butter
-  ½ Cup Heavy Cream

- 2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (optional)

Make sure to wash and peel the potatoes and soak in light lemon water until ready to boil. I also peeled and chopped up an apple to throw in. Boil the potatoes and apples together, and just like you would regular potatoes cook until tender. Drain thoroughly and pour into stand mixer bowl or regular bowl if using hand masher or hand held mixer. Beat/mix to mushy consistency, slowly add dry ingredients first. Once they dry ingredients are well incorporated, whip in the butter then start adding the heavy cream until desired consistency is attained.

3) Last, but far from least the mighty Boston Butt! I bought this one at HEB, a nice 8 pounder. But you can also get them at Waco Custom Meats and Waco Beef & Pork. Usually I will rub them down and let them season for a couple days before throwing them on the smoker, but if I am just gonna throw it in something like spaghetti then it really doesn’t need to season as long. 

Since I was only planning on making a couple sandwiches that night with it I cut the pork butt in half, cryovacced and saved the other half for a rainy day. Speaking of rain, when I had decided to smoke this hunk of meat I didn’t realize it was expected to rain that day, a good 50-70%. It actually poured cats n dogs the night before, but I wasn’t gotta let that stop me. Would’ve put up my EZ-Up before calling it quits, but luckily the BBQ Gods smiled good fortune on me and I only got a light drizzle early in the morning while lighting the chimney.

- Boston Butt, bone in.

- 4-6 Sour Dough buns, toasted with butter.
- Your own special seasoning, I can’t give you mine!
- I prefer to smoke with hickory and apple wood, giving it a sweeter complex.
- ¼ Cup Heated Sangria, chill the rest and enjoy with the meal.

            Smoke at 250F until at least 190F internal temp and bone pulls out cleanly. The meat should be tender enough to pull apart and shred to desired consistency. I like mine a little meaty and don’t fully shred the pork. Pour the sangria and about 2 tablespoons of your seasoning over the pulled meat, mix together and let sit covered with plastic wrap for a couple of minutes. I’ve never tried it with beer, but with room temp beer you could get similar results… will have to try that next time.  While pork is sitting, toast the buns.

Now it’s Chow Time! Pile the pork on the bun, top it off with some slaw and go to town. MY family completely devoured it, so no BBQ spaghetti this time around as previously mentioned. But ever one loved the pulled pork, and I’d love to give out the exact recipe and method I used… but I plan on using this for a competition soon so I'm keeping it under tight wraps. And one of the best things about BBQ is making it your own in the first place.

Now if you have never smoked a Boston butt before and would like more guidance, since I really didn’t dive that much into the method. Same goes for any of the recipes I post; Please feel free to contact me on my blogs Facebook page. I will be more than glad to help you out and answer just about any of your questions… if you get my drift.

Tired of the Cookie Cutter

El Ranchito #5

2310 West Waco Drive
Waco, Texas 76702

254) 235-9470

Web Page

El Ranchito numero Cinco… hey I can speak Spanish! Okay, maybe choppy Spanglish.

I ate here once before last year with my dad, and I believe I tried the carne guisada. It was a delightful lunch, but at the time I didn’t write about it. I thought it might’ve been a chain and didn’t really put much research into it like I should have… I was being lazy. 

            I went by there today for lunch, probably about a year since the 1^st time. I met up with a new friend, who owns and runs the Waco RelyLocal chapter, Mr. Sal Ali. RelyLocal is a business, that is aimed at progressing, helping and expanding locally owned and operated businesses.  A Business that is right up my alley, as many of you know. We decided to dine here, since they just joined RelyLocal and I’ve been needing to add some Mexican restuarants to my blog… it just isn’t that easy in Waco. Waco is a harbor for cookie cutter Mexican restaurants, all trying to please the typical American’s simple palate. 

            Earlier last week Sal and his wife ate here and really liked their Shrimp Diabla and since he was hoping I could write a review about this place we ordered a couple of different items, instead of ordering each a separate plate. What we ended up sampling was: 1) Chile Relleno- A poblano pepper topped with ranchero cheese sauce, and stuffed with your choice of meat or cheese.   2) Chicken Chipotle- A chicken breast topped with chipotle sauce, and melted cheese.  3) Shrimp a la Diabla- Shrimp cooked in diabla sauce.

             I have had Shrimp a la Diabla before, at a local joint called Sergio’s (formerly Siete Mares). His version is a little bit different than the one I tried today. Sergio’s is lightly marinated then grilled, whereas this version is cooked in a spicy tomato based sauce. This style was pretty good, the sauce was very excellent- definitely has a spicy kick, a tad sweet, little garlic and pepper, don’t really taste the tomato base. I bet the sauce would hold up nicely on a heavy fish like Snapper or Mahi-mahi. I was dipping the home-made corn tortillas in the sauce… Mmmm. The shrimp though were lacking, a little over cooked and chewy.

            Next I tried the Chicken Chipotle, It was alright; the chicken was fairly bland with a little seasoning flavor coming through, and some nice flavorful cheese melted on top. But nothing that just struck me as WOW or even “man, I wanna order this again.” The chicken was a little chewy too. At least the avocados were nice and fresh, thrown in a corn tortilla with some of the diabla cause…. It wasn’t too bad. Speaking of their corn tortillas, they were pretty dang good. They were light, sweet, and they didnt crumble apart like so many. 

            I love poblanos, I love beef and I love cheese; sounds like a triple win to me, so we had to order one of these bad boys > Chile Relleno. I was not let down, this dish was delicious and plan on getting this next time I go by. The entire dish was nicely cooked; the poblano tender, the meat juicy and flavorful, the cheese equally as delicious. If you like poblano peppers or green chiles (New Mexico), I highly recommend you give this dish a try.

            This place doesn’t fall in the category of cookie cutter Mexican restaurants. Owned and operated by brothers, they have tried to change the pace up some in Waco’s Mexican restaurant scene. They have many dishes that you CAN find at many Mexican joints, but they also have plenty of items others don’t serve. I hear they also serve a mean breakfast. The place was very clean, the waitress very nice and attentive (cute too). Since I don’t live too far from them, I will definitely be stopping in more often… maybe even stop by for some margaritas one evening in their mini bar area.

Maybe its just me, but I've never seen #1-4.... Hmmmm

West Philadelphia Born n Raised

In west Philadelphia born and raised….

 
            One thing I’d like to do more often is try out recipes at home and once finished, post about it; Post the Recipes, maybe some history behind the recipe, anything I did differently, the steps I took, the end result and what I would change.             So I decided to start out with one of my favorite dishes and one that is fairly simple: a version of the Philly Cheese Steak. I love the Philly, can’t stand the Football team or their fans, but they have produced one of the best sandwiches ever created; sooo good, even its altered children are pretty tasty- The Texas Philly, The Roast Philly, even the Gourmet Philly. Truth be told, I probably love the Texas Philly a bit more since it comes with jalapenos and jalapeno cheese. 
             

          The classic version as we all know is; A Toasted Hoagie Bun, Thinly sliced Beef (usually rib-eye or top-round), grilled onions, shrooms, occasionally bell peppers and of course Cheez Whiz. Yes, the traditional is with Cheez Whiz from the jar, Not Provolone, cheddar, Velveeta, or any other.

This my family friendly recipe I used and I came up with- nothing really special though::
*Feeds 4*

Ingredients::

1lb Rib-eye or Eye of Round-  I recommend the rib-eye, since it is more tender.
1 Jar of Cheez Whiz or 8 slices of Smoked Provolone
 4 fresh Hoagie Buns; I got mine from HEB Bakery in a 4pack
2 tsp Liquid Mesquite Smoke
2 tsp Louisiana or Krystal Hot Sauce (no tobascco)
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Ground Rainbow Pepper
2 tsp Kosher Salt
½cup 1000 Island of your choosing (home-made is the best)
2 Bells peppers, any color; Red and orange tend to be more sweeter, but pricier

½ White or Sweet Yellow onion
½ stick of Butter
2-3 tbsp Corn Oil

Steps:

1) Freeze or semi freeze the beef, then slice. It’s a pain in the butt to get extra thin slices when raw & raw. Trust me.

2) Throw all the sliced beef into a bowl and mix in; Liquid smoke, hot sauce, garlic, pepper, salt. Let marinate for 5-10 minutes.

3) While meat is marinating: Slice up the bell pepper and onions. Then heat up the skillet or griddle and grease up with 1tsp butter & 1 tsp oil.

4) Once skillet is medium-high, sauté the bell peppers and onions. Once nicely browned, set aside.

5) Add another teaspoon of butter and oil to the skillet and heat back up. Once hot, add the beef. Cook the beef on medium-high heat until fully cooked. While beef is cooking, if going with the classic Cheez Whiz, heat up some up in a microwave safe bowl.

6) Slice buns in half and toast either in toaster or on griddle with butter… Spread 1000 Island on top & bottom. Keep warm on the side.

7) Now depending on your equipment, once the beef if cooked… melting the cheese will be different.

7a) If you have a skillet, turn the heat down to medium; take ¾ of the beef out of the skillet and set to the side.  Add some onions and peppers to the beef in the skillet, then either place 2 slices of provolone cheese on top or ladle on some Whiz. Pour a couple tablespoons of water in the skillet and cover with a lid for about 10 seconds 
until cheese is nicely melted over the beef. Carefully scoop the Philly mix out and place into one of the hoagie buns. Repeat for the other 3 servings. Enjoy

7b) If you are using a Griddle, turn the heat down to medium. Take ¾ of the beef off the griddle and set to side. Add some onions and peppers to the beef on the griddle, then either place 2 slices of provolone or ladle on some Whiz. Pour a couple tablespoons of water onto the griddle to the side of the beef and quickly cover with a metal bowl or bread pan. Steam for about 10 seconds, carefully remove the lid. Scoop the Philly mix off the griddle and place into one of the

 hoagie buns. Repeat and Enjoy.