sunday dinner: smokey spicy tangy sweet
My family loves to eat. And we love BBQ.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, “Of course you love BBQ! You live in Texas?!” True. And I’m a Southerner. So yeah, my family is predisposed to loving BBQ and eating. Which is why I love Sunday dinners when the whole family is together. I’m talking a big dinner. Cooking all day, talking, laughing, drinking. Lots of peeps around the table. That kind of Sunday dinner.
So I was really looking forward to some of my family coming down recently for a visit and knew just what we’d be eating – BBQ. Of course, any trip to Austin requires a trip to at least one of many different BBQ joints, but I’m not necessarily ONLY a TX ‘cue fan. I happen to love BBQ of all kinds and don’t think smoked meat done in Texas is the end-all-be-all of smoked meat. Being from Arkansas, there’s KC ‘cue to the North; Memphis ‘cue to the East; and Texas ‘cue to the South. Sharing borders with some many BBQ states creates a nice hybrid of styles that gets made there, and that’s what I grew up eating and cooking.
That’s another thing about BBQ that I love. You don’t have to go out to a BBQ joint to get it. I mean, yeah, I love the experience of a smokey dive joint with greasy wax paper, red/white checkered tables and ice cold longnecks (mmm, City Market, I’m looking at you!). I love the quick fix a BBQ joint affords me when I just gotta have it, but my favorite is making the stuff at home. I like the process of it – the ritual of the dry rub, the making of the sauce, the rubbing of the meat and then its long, slow rest over hickory to falling-off-the-bone perfection.
And BBQ to me is pork. Brisket is good. Really good. And I’ll eat the shit out of it. But my love is for the hog. Pork ribs? Mmm hmm. Pulled pork? Hell, yes. Not many joints in TX doing pulled pork though. I guess it’s a Southern thing.
When I smoke meat at home I use a Brinkmann Gourmet Electric Smoker. “AN ELECTRIC SMOKER??!!” Whoa. Settle down, Nancy. It all started when I lived in Chicago. Fresh from Arkansas, I was craving BBQ. Back then it was hard to find good ‘cue in the Windy City without heading to the South Side and we just never got around to getting to that part of town. We lived on the North Side and there wasn’t a dearth of even marginally good BBQ joints in our area (surprising, really, as I’ve always considered Chicago to be an Honorary Southern town in so many ways). We definitely didn’t have room for a big ol’ Oklahoma Joe smoker in our little courtyard so the compactness of the Brinkmann was perfect. And it holds alot. Hams, turkeys, loads of racks of ribs, 3-4 pork shoulders, sausages.
And it uses real wood not some weird sawdust pellet infused with smokey flavor. It’s real hardwood smoking but I get to cheat a little bit with an electric heating element. I’m cool with that. My stuff tastes damn good too. You wouldn’t even know that I smoked it with an electric smoker. And even being in Texas, I’ve just never stopped using one. Ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Smokey Spicy Tangy Sweet Sunday Dinner Menu
Hickory-smoked Pulled Pork, Baby Back and Spare Ribs
Marshall’s Secret Recipe Kicked-Up Cole Slaw
Homemade Mac-n-Cheese
BBQ Baked Beans
Chipotle Chile Cornbread
Marshall’s Memphis-Style Dry Rub:
2 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp lemon pepper
2 tsp chile powder (I toast several different kinds of chiles (guajillo, ancho, chipotle, among others) then grind them)
1 tsp colman’s dry mustard
1 tsp roasted garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg
Combine all ingredients in mortar or bowl and mix thoroughly. Store in glass jar or other airtight container.
Southern Pulled Pork
5-7 lb Richardson Farms Pork Shoulder (Boston Butt)
2-3 Tbsp Marshall’s Memphis-Style Dry Rub
Mustard (yellow, dijon, country-grain, whatever you like best) enough to coat
The night before lightly dust pork with dry rub, liberally coat with mustard, then liberally dust pork with dry rub again. Wrap with plastic and place in refrigerator overnight.
I like to soak the wood overnight in a mixture of beer, apple juice and whiskey (one shot for wood; one for me). I find that it helps the wood to smoke longer and not flame up so quickly, especially helpful when using an electric smoker.
The day of smoking, remove pork from fridge 30-45 minutes prior to putting on smoker and let come to room temp. Prepare your smoker, then place pork on racks, cover and let smoke for 4-6 hours (approx. 45 mins/lb) at a consistent 200-225 degrees (the electric smoker is perfect for this). With an hour left of smoking time, wrap pork in aluminum foil and place back on smoker until done. Remove pork and let rest on counter for 20-30 minutes or until cool.
Using two forks (or your hands), shred pork (I give it a rough chop with a cleaver too) then mix in your favorite BBQ sauce. I sometimes make a tangy mustard-based BBQ sauce, sometimes a traditional Carolina-style vinegar-based sauce and sometimes just a good smokey/sweet BBQ sauce. Getcha a big spoonful of the pork on a bun and top with a dollop of cole slaw. Garnish with a homemade dill pickle or okra and enjoy. For a Texas twist, sub tortilla for a bun! Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.
Leave a Reply
