Ketchup-vinegar Barbecue Sauce

Ketchup-vinegar Barbecue Sauce

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This recipe appeared in the article “Mike’s Carolina-style Pulled Pork in Mustard” on the Burn! Blog. Read the entire story here.

Use this sauce with the Caroline-esque Pulled Pork recipe here.

Ingredients

2 cups good-quality ketchup
2 cups apple cider vinegar
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons ballpark (yellow) mustard
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

Combine the ingredients in small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring often.

green chile stew with pork

Green Chile Stew with Smoked Pork

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This recipe is courtesy of Harald Zoschke, who was trying to recreate a version of green chile stew he enjoyed at De La Vega’s Pecan Grill Restaurant in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Note that due to the use of smoked pork, this recipe does not require searing the meat first, and it doesn’t use additional salt.

The article containing this recipe appeared on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

One boneless smoked ham hock (about 1 to 1.5 pound), cut into 1-inch cubes
Vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 quart chicken broth or instant vegetable broth
6 to 8 green New Mexican chiles (about 8 oz.), roasted, peeled and cut into thin strips
1 large potato or a couple of smaller ones, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano, Mexican preferred
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
One cup grated white cheddar or mozzarella (about 2.5 oz.)

Instructions

1. In a medium stockpot, heat the oil, add the onions, and sauté until the onions turn a golden brown, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.

2. Add the chiles, potatoes and pork cubes to the stockpot.

3. Add the broth, season with oregano and cumin. Stir and bring mixture to a slow boil, reduce the heat, and simmer with lid closed for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

4. Serve hot and add 1/4 of the grated cheese to each bowl before serving.

bell pepper jack-o-lantern

Bell Pepper Jack-O-Lanterns

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Here’s a fun thing to grill this holiday: orange bell pepper Jack-O-Lanterns. You can fill ’em with all kinds of stuff but I use spiced up cream cheese (a) because it looks good in the pepper’s face and (b) practically melts into a hot dip you can use for chips and the sliced pepper after its grilled. It’s a very simple appetizer. Read the entire article on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

4 large orange bell peppers
3 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
3 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons black pepper
3 teaspoons granulated onion
3 teaspoons minced garlic

Instructions

Start heating your grill or oven to 300 degrees F. Meanwhile, set the cream cheese out and let it warm up to room temperature. Gut the peppers while you wait, making sure to retain the tops. You not only want them as lids, they also hold the goo in place while the peppers cook. Cut whatever design you want into the peppers but don’t make the holes too big or the stuffing will leak out. That is, unless you want it to look like your project is crying cream cheese. Totally your call.

When the cheese is close to room temperature, mix in the spices with either an egg beater or a fork. Distribute the finished cheese evenly into each pepper and use a spoon or fork to press some of the cheese into Jack’s face.

Once the peppers are ready to go, gently press the lids into the cheese and grill them indirectly. I place them all right next to each other to keep them from falling over. Check them every ten minutes, turning them sideways so that all sides get even cooking. It should take about twenty minutes total to cook them.

asian style cayenne hot sauce

Asian-Style Cayenne Hot Sauce

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This year we used about a pound of LC Cayenne pods to cook up a sweet and spicy Thai sauce. Unlike “Louisiana Style” hot sauce, this one is thick, almost like ketchup, and is a lot less vinegary. It is great with grilled shrimp, over rice, for Asian cooking, and even as a dip.

Read Harald Zoschke’s entire article on the Burn! Blog here.

Ingredients

1 pound red, ripe NuMex Las Cruces Cayenne chiles (or similar meaty cayenne peppers)
1/2 sweet red pepper (e.g. Gypsy or a small ripe bell pepper)
1 medium-sized onion, minced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound sugar
4 ounces rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil

2 ounces rice vinegar **
1 ounce maple syrup **
water (if necessary)  **

4-5 empty hot sauce bottles

** These ingredients are to be added after cooking and blending.

Instructions

Rinse the cayenne peppers, cut off the tops with the stems, and slit pods open lengthwise, discarding most but not all seeds. Cut pods into chunks. Also remove the stem and “innards” of the sweet pepper and cut the pod into chunks as well.

In a sauce pan sauté the onion in the oil until soft (2-3 minutes).

Add the garlic and simmer for an additional 2 minutes.

Add sugar and the 4 ounces of vinegar, stir well and bring to a boil.

Add chopped cayenne and sweet peppers, stir well and simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes, until the peppers are soft.

Meanwhile, sterilize your hot sauce bottles in boiling water and let them drain upside down on a towel.

Blend the sauce in a blender, or in the sauce pan using a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. Using a whisk, blend in the maple syrup and the 2 ounces of vinegar. ***

The sauce should be smooth and thick now, with a consistency almost like ketchup. If the sauce appears to be too thick, carefully add a little water and whisk again. Bring sauce briefly to a boil again.

Using a funnel, fill the bottles with sauce and put on lids immediately.

Design a label and put it on your bottles. Enjoy! Store opened bottles in the refrigerator. Yield: about 20 oz. (i.e. four “Woozy” type 5oz./148 ml bottles). I bet now you’re glad you kept those emptied hot sauce bottles!

*** Since vinegar tends to lose acidity during cooking, we add some of it at the end. That way we’re getting a lower pH (= higher acidity), which is necessary for preservation. If you would produce such a sauce commercially, you would check the pH with a meter and keep it well below pH 4.2).

chicken-satay-with-spicy-wild-blueberry-peanut-butter-sauce

Chicken Satay with Spicy Wild Blueberry Peanut Butter Sauce

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Thanks to the North America Blueberry Association for this recipe. From the article Blazing Blueberries.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons finely chopped or grated fresh ginger
1 shallot or 1/4 cup onion
1 serrano chile, stem and seeds removed, finely minced
1 teaspoon oil
6 ounces water
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups frozen Wild Blueberries
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 single chicken breasts or 1 pound thinly sliced chicken breast
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of olive oil
skewers

Instructions

Peel the ginger and shallot, finely dice. Heat oil and briefly sauté with the serrano chile. Add the water and peanut butter over medium heat and whisk together. Add frozen Blueberries. Mix a small amount of water into the cornstarch and add to the berry/nut sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut the chicken breast filets lengthwise into thin strips or use prepared sliced breasts. Flavor with salt and pepper. Put the strips in an accordion manner onto a lightly oiled skewer. Heat oil in a coated pan and cook the skewers from both sides for 2-3 minutes each. Serve together with the blueberry sauce.