Its coming up on a year of trying to make numerous variations of the fabeled Jim Lahey "no-knead" bread, and I finally nailed it. Granted, I've never actually followed Jim Lahey's recipe, only other cook's versions of it. But this year I was treated to his book, My Bread, under the Christmas tree and I set to making a basic loaf immediately. I now recognize the one simple step I was never able to pull off was just waiting for the dough to rise. I let this dough rise for a full 24 hrs, and it was phenomenal. So here's what I did: 

I simply mixed together 3 cups bread flour, 1/4 teaspoon yeast (active, not rapid rise), 1 & 1/4 teaspoons table salt, and 1 & 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon water, covered with plastic wrap and let rise for 24 hours. Here's a shot after that rise:

I then plopped it on a floured surface to shape it into a round: Flipped it "seam-side" down onto a corn meal dusted towel: 
And wrapped it loosely to rise for 2 more hours:  After which time i had this risen mound:  I plopped that, seam-side up, in a 475 degree preheated cast-iron pot, and cooked, covered, in a preheated 475 degree oven for 30 minutes:  After 30 minutes I had this:  I then cooked for 15 more minutes, uncovered, and had this:  And after 15 more minutes, uncovered, I had this:  I let it cool on a warming rack for about an hour:  The bread was "singing" like a crackling fire. Totally crazy... take a listen: 

And I was finally left with these great slices of homemade bread: 

My wife thought the crust was a bit hard which is probably true and presumably remedied by cutting the uncovered cooking by 10 minutes or so. But we both agreed it made one hell of a tuna melt sandwich for lunch: 

I'm not entirely sure where the inspiration came from, but I was struck with the thought of a BBQ Dinner for Christmas Eve this year. Growing up, Christmas Eve's dinner was a bigger (eating) event to me than anything on Christmas day, mostly because it was usually our immediate family only, and we sat in the dining room for just the 2nd time that year. Plus my mother almost always made this incredibly rich (and beefy!) beef stroganoff that I absolutely loved. So perhaps in an effort to carry on that tradition, I decided to pick up a brisket flat and fire up the smoker on the 24th, in about 6 inches of snow on a steady 20 degree afternoon: 

I used briquets for the first time in the smoker, and they held a constant temperature waaaaay better than my normal hardwood charcoal. BBQ people always say this, but I never tried because the concept of a briquette seems too industrial to me. I also couldn't find hickory chunks in December (come on people, we bbq all year long!), so i had just a few leftover chucks, and then opted for the mesquite infused briquette in combination with kingsford's "competition" briquettes. Ultimately the smoke flavor was good, but more subtle than i would have pulled from a full smoke of hickory. 

I contemplated making a bbq sauce for this, but then remembered our friends Jamie and Amanda gave us some Iron Works sauce as a gift this past fall, and I figured why make a sauce when an authentic bbq joint in texas already has... and that sauce is sitting in my cupboard? It did not disappoint. That's a solid sauce! Rich, sweet, savory, a nice bite, a little heat... it married perfectly with the smoked brisket. 

So here's what I did this time around:

I started with a 5 lb brisket flat and had the butcher trim all but a 1/4 inch of fat from the top. He was a little overzealous on that trimming, but everything turned out fine. I then read a great tip on the virtual weber bullet site about cutting a small corner off the raw brisket to show which way the grain runs in the beef. Once the beef comes off the smoker its tough to tell how to cut against the grain, so this little tip makes it super easy to start cutting. Thanks guys! I then marinated this in a beer/vinegar/rub concoction overnight. And the next morning rubbed it with my new favorite beef rub I created for this fall's chili competitions. I'm keeping that one a secret, 'cause I kind of think i need to sell the damn thing its that good! Anyway, here are a few shots of this process:

I then smoked it at 220-20 for 4.5 hrs, wrapped it in foil and continued smoking for another 2.5 hrs. It came off smelling amazing, and after letting it rest for about 45 minutes I sliced it up:

We served it with classic collards and some orange/maple roasted sweet potato spears: 

The final verdict? Overall flavor was really, really (really!) great. The sauce and rub combination was killer. The crust was a little soft which i attribute to no sugar in the rub, a heavy hand when applying it that morning,  and maybe wrapping in foil a touch early. The flavor was totally there, I just missed the crust texture. It also could have been a bit smokier, but when I make this baby again it'll kill! Great winter meal, and makes me realize winter really is the time to serve up some bbq. 

I've been smoking pork shoulder for about six years now, and have fallen in love with an applewood smoke-infused pulled pork doused in a carolina vinegar style sauce. But in recent cold months I've found it difficult to get the smoker up and running at a consistant temperature, so I thought I'd enter the realm of preparing pulled pork indoors. Armed with my wife's slow cooker (and hundreds of online recipes), I was determined to keep it simple but offer a relatively good winter substitute for the real deal. While the net result lacks the smoke flavor I love, in total its still a pretty killer pulled sandwich. Here's what i did:

Most recipe's called for a 3-4 lb boneless pork shoulder. Now I've always smoked bone-in shoulders, subscribing to the camp that meat cooked on a bone has more flavor than meat cooked off the bone... but considering this needs to fit in a smaller space, I figure I'll give boneless a shot. Turns out, every spot near me in Brooklyn only sells bone-in. My local butcher could get me a 3 lb boneless shoulder next week, but he had three pieces totaling 3.5 pounds on hand. I figure I'm going to pull the whole thing anyway and snatch them up.I decided the first step should be the same as usual, and prepared a brine of brown sugar + salt, and let it sit overnight:

The next morning I drained the meat on a cooling rack (first time i've done that, but its going to be a new part of my regular process. It works beautifully!):

I then coated all pieces liberally with my standard pork bbq rub:

Now came the time to make a decision. Many slow cooker recipe's call for searing a cut of meat first, and then dropping it in the cooker. While I'm worried about searing a rubbed meat with sugar, I figure I'll give it a shot because my favorite bites of smoked pork are the crust where the rub has caramelized to black packing an insanely powerful spice and smoke explosion. So I set to searing:

...but within a few minutes have a smoke filled house causing uncontrollable coughing to anyone entering it's confines. Crap. The rub is burning:

Figuring there's no turning back at this point, I continue with the process and set the partially burnt pork slabs into the cooker: 

Into the skillet I then toss a little apple cider and cider vinegar, thinking I'll scrape up some good pan drippings in the process. Then it hits me that those pan drippings are burnt. Crap 2. So I strain the liquid over a measuring cup, and end up with a 2/3rds of a cup of liquid (sans burnt chips) and toss it in the slow cooker with the pork, cover, and set it on low for 10 hrs. 

As the day progresses, the house begins to loose its cough-inducing quality, and is instead filled with an increasingly warming smell of pork and spice. After 10 hours, I find three pieces of pork which are incredibly moist, practically shredding themselves:

So i set to pulling: At this point I skimmed as much fat as possible from the juices left in the cooker, and mixed the remaining liquid in with the pulled pork. The pork alone has a very subtle flavor, but when mixed with the cooking liquid the flavor really starts to pop. Then its just a simple assembly line of cole slaw, pulled pork, and my carolina red sauce all piled into my favorite pulled meat vehicle, the hot dog bun: 
Here are a few shots of the final plates: I was really surprised by how much i liked this pulled pork. The missing smoke was, well, MISSED, but in the end the flavors of the rub and cider, combined with the slaw and carolina sauce really created a close second to my regular version. This was definitely better than most generic pulled pork sandwiches you get at any bar/pub, and got me kind of excited to try it again. The only thing I'll do differently is skip the searing process altogether. Since i never moved the meat while it cooked, it formed a bit of a crust anyway... and i might try to amplify it a bit next time by roasting it for 15 minutes after i remove it from the slow cooker. I'm not ready to share a recipe for this sucker yet as it needs a little perfecting, but I'm confident I've got a close runner up to a smoked pulled pork, and it'll be mad easy to make. 

 

 

So two days later, I've aced the food protection course. 15 for 15! By far that was the easiest test I've ever taken but regardless the class was a total trip (and almost worth it just for the experience)... up at 137th street in nyc, with about 40 students ranging from maybe 20 to 65 years old, speaking at least 10 different languages, with every shade of skin imaginable, all hoping to sell food on the streets. Students accusing the instructor of not telling the truth about permits, scheming to dodge the system, bargaining on renting a truck from another student's mother, cheating on the test (cheating!)... really kinda entertaining. Though i must say the instructor was pretty great... he kept us relatively engaged through some dreadfully boring information. So, what did i learn?

• I can wash my hands really well
• I know i should bathe every day
• I know that a commissary should be free of rats and insects
• And i know that germs make people sick

Though the entrance to the classroom can also make people sick:

A few shots of the classroom:

So in a couple of weeks I can get a vendor's license which means I can sell on anyone else's permitted cart or truck. To get my own permit is what will take a very long time to sort out. Lottery, limited permits, etc, etc. Though there are a few ways to get moving more quickly if i set up in a commercial lot or park. Winter is settling in now, so I'm sure I'll take a few months to scope everything out and see if I'll make this thing happen. But for now I'm excited I'm on my way... even got my business a federal tax number. Now that's starting to sound official, eh?