BBQ Baby Back Ribs

First, when I say baby back ribs I'm talking about pork.  Pretty much all my favorite BBQ items are all pork.  Pork ribs, pork butt, pork shoulder, pork, pork, pork, yum!  I wasn't sure if I wanted to do these ribs since we don't have our charcoal grill and smoker anymore but I decided to suck it up and give it a shot in the oven and see how they turned out.  To start with you need to remove the membrane off the back of your ribs.  Place them on a large piece of aluminum foil on a baking sheet.  Then generously sprinkle and rub the dry rub into your ribs.  There should be plenty left over for another use.  Allow the ribs to sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least a few hours.  Then you need a really good BBQ sauce.  You can make a homemade one or your favorite store bought.  I'm from a specific part of the South that uses a mustard and vinegar based BBQ sauce.  You can't really get it anywhere else in the entire country.  If you do go to a place that claims to have it, it is wrong, I promise you!  I've tried some of those "mustard vinegar sauces" from BBQ places in Connecticut and Washington state and they are nothing like what we have in South Carolina.  This BBQ sauce is so unbelievably tangy that it takes a very special kind of person to even be able to eat this type of sauce.  Melvin's BBQ in South Carolina has the most magnificent BBQ sauce I've ever tasted.  Not to mention the most amazing BBQ too.  So I did my best to recreate Melvin's Mustard BBQ sauce by memory and came up with such a winner!  I'm not even going to post the recipe for the sauce though because it is my super secret special recipe.  The only recipe I've never really given out and that I am more proud of than almost anything else.  Plus, most people really just cannot appreciate the potency of this sauce and I'd die if someone who wasn't really familiar with this Carolina Yellow tried it and hated it!  These ribs came out amazing and we will definitely be having them more often now that I have a successful baked rib recipe!

Removing the Membrane

Dry Rub:

1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tbsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Put ribs in aluminum foil and before sealing pour about a cup of BBQ on the ribs.  Bake on 300 degrees for 2 hours.  Then add another cup of BBQ sauce and leave the aluminum foil open and bake another 1 hour.  Allow to rest about 10 minutes before serving.   

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Sweet As Sugar Cookies

Chicken & Dumplin's

 One of my favorite southern dishes is definitely Chicken and Dumplings.  I grew up in South Carolina going to Cracker Barrell always, always, always getting Chicken and Dumplings with a double side of fried okra and biscuits.  When I moved away from the South I had to learn to make this dish myself so I didn't long for it for the rest of my life!  This recipe is incredible!  I absolutely love it.  It is really a super easy dish to make.  I always put the extra effort in to make the chicken stock from scratch but if you opt to use pre-made chicken stock instead you can whip up this dish in no time.  One of my little tricks to make my chicken stock extra rich and delicious is I throw in a chicken bullion cube in there with the water.  I love the results.  I actually add diced carrots to mine, though that isn't classically how it is made, I like the taste.  You can't see any carrots in the picture though as my entire family was begging to eat so I didn't have more than a minute or two to actually take a picture before everyone started eating all of the chicken and dumplings.  I tell you, this is one of those you gotta try it recipes!  You won't be disappointed.  I could eat this probably everyday for the rest of my life and die a happy happy woman.  

Note - This recipe does call for buttermilk in the dumplings, which as I've mentioned in my "Almost Buttermilk Biscuits" recipe, I don't have access to in Japan.  So, I've used 3/4 c. milk and 1/3 c. plain whole milk yogurt combined to substitute for buttermilk. 

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken Stock:
1 (3 to 31/2 pound) whole chicken
2 bay leaves
6 sprigs thyme
small handful of black peppercorns
1 head garlic, split through the equator
2 tablespoons salt
3 rough chopped whole carrots
2 rough chopped stalks celery

1 chicken bullion cube

8 c. Water  (roughly) 

Dumplings:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 to 1 cup buttermilk

Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons oil
2 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper, for garnish

For the stock:

Place the chicken and all stock ingredients in a large Dutch oven or large stock pot and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour until the chicken is tender. Skim the surface of fat and scum as it cooks. When done remove the chicken to a cutting board. Strain the stock and shred the meat into big pieces - the stock will be used for the sauce and the chicken will be folded into it.

To prepare sauce: In a Dutch oven, over medium heat, add the butter and oil. Add the carrot, celery, garlic, and bay leaves and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the chicken stock, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition to prevent lumps.  Let sauce simmer until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Stir in heavy cream.  (If your sauce isn't thick enough at this point you can always cheat a bit and add a bit of cream to some corn starch to thicken your sauce.)

For the dumplings:
Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat the eggs, and buttermilk together; pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently fold. Mix just until the dough comes together; the batter should be thick and cake-like.

Fold the reserved shredded chicken into the sauce and bring up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping teaspoons of the dumpling batter into the hot mixture. The dumplings should cover the top of the sauce, but try not to completely crowd them. Let the dumplings poach for about 6 minutes then gently flip em' until they are firm and puffy. Remove and discard the bay leaves. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.

Almost Buttermilk Biscuits

So I've come to realize and accept that I cannot get buttermilk here in Japan.  The commissary on base has it, but it is completely frozen and anyone that has ever taken a milk product and frozen, then defrosted it knows it is a weird consistency and just doesn't quite look right after that.  That fat separates.  So, it is with regret that I've decided to looking for buttermilk alternatives.  Oh, how I love buttermilk and need it so.   This is the first recipe I tried a yogurt replacement with.  It worked beautifully!  My husband couldn't tell a difference between these biscuits and the ones I use to make in the states for him.  So yeah for my new buttermilk replacement - milk and yogurt combined! That is why I called these "almost" buttermilk biscuits.  They lack that very key ingredient but certainly don't lack in flavor and you won't even realize it is missing. 

Almost Buttermilk Biscuits:

1 ½ tsp yeast

¼  c. warm water

2 ½  c. all-purpose flour

½  tsp baking soda

½  tbsp baking powder

½  teaspoon salt

1 tbsp. sugar

½ c. shortening

1/2 stick cubed butter, cold 

3/4 c. 2% or whole milk
1/3 c. whole milk plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add yeast and 1 tsp. of sugar to warm water and allow to sit.  Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Cut in shortening and butter with a fork until it looks like coarse sand.  I just use my hands though.  Combine the yogurt and milk and whisk to combine.  It should be slightly thick, like the consistency of buttermilk.  This should equal about 1 c. once the milk and yogurt are combined.  But depending on your milk and the yogurt you use you might need to slightly adjust it to add a bit more milk or yogurt to get your desired consistency.   Add the yeast, water and the yogurt-milk mixture and mix until combined.  Again, I just use my hands as I find it is easier to get the feel for the dough that way.  Add more milk if necessary.  Pour dough onto a floured surface and bring together. (Use plenty of flour under and on top of dough) This dough is really really sticky  when removing from the bowl so you can be generous with your flour on the board and on top of the dough while kneading it.  Gently press the dough into a rectangle until it is between 1/2 and 3/4-inch thick. Use a round cutter that has been floured to cut the biscuits. Place on a baking sheet (or in a cast iron pan) so they are touching each other. Brush the top with melted butter.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.  I start to check on them around 15 minutes and give them a few minutes more if needed until they are slightly golden on top. This makes about 8-10 biscuits depending on the size you make.  Brush tops with butter once they come out of the oven. 

Beer Braised Pot Roast

Tonight was pot roast night.  Gotta love pot roast.  It tastes like you spent all day slaving over the stove creating this amazing dish when you really just threw a bunch of things into a pot and let it cook a few hours with almost no effort.  That is why I love making it.  Seems that my dinner and dessert tonight were both out of a cookbook instead of my own tweaked recipes but again like the Molten Lava Cake, sometimes you find a recipe that is just so awesome there is no reason to change it.  I got this recipe out of The Neely's cookbook quite some time ago and just love it.  I do add a bit more broth (for extra gravy, of course) and carrots to mine though because I love carrots that have been slow roasted with meat.  If you want throw in some potatoes too!


Beer Braised Pot Roast

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 lb. chuck roast

12 oz. beer (I like usually use either Dos Equis or Rolling Rock)

1 ¼ c. beef broth

2 (.7oz) envelopes of Italian Dressing Mix

3 bay leaves

10-12 garlic cloves, smashed

1 bag peeled, roughly chopped carrots

Salt

Pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Heat oil in dutch oven. Generously salt and pepper the meat and sear in pan.  Turn off heat, whisk beer into dutch oven scraping brown bits off bottom and whisking until foam is almost gone.  Stir in broth, Italian seasoning, bay leaves, garlic and carrots.  Cover and bake 3 hours or until tender, turning over half way through.   

Mama's Meatloaf

Tonight was meatloaf night.  Most people think of meatloaf and cringe as everyone has had a bad meatloaf a few times in their life.  I made meatloaf a few years ago and thought that it was so boring.  I decided something that is such an American classic, like meatloaf, shouldn't be boring.  You should bite into it and your taste buds should soar, as you close your eyes and sigh.  I've tried so many different types of meatloaf and none of them were what I was looking for...until now.  I named this one "Mama's Meatloaf" because everyone always remembers their mom's meatloaf and I hope one day when my kids grow up they rave about how their Mama's Meatloaf was the best they ever had.  


*NOTE:  If you don't like the texture of onions and are thinking of leaving them out I have a solution for that.  My husband and daughter won't eat an onion if they see it, so I have to put forth a bit more effort when making this to keep them happy but still worth it.  Follow the recipe except after you saute the onion and garlic add it to a blender.  Add in the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce and puree until lump free.  Add in the tomato paste and eggs (and make sure it is cool enough to not scramble your eggs) and give it another whirl. To make up for pureeing the onions which adds a bit more moisture you will need to increase your bread crumbs to 1/2 c. instead of just 1/3 c. Then add this entire mixture into your ground beef.  


Mama's Meatloaf

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 whole small onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp. ground thyme

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 c. chicken stock

2 tbsp. tomato paste

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef 

1/3 c. plain panko bread crumbs

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 c. ketchup  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Add onions and olive oil to a saute pan and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes.  Add in garlic and cook another 2-3 minutes.  Add in tomato paste and cover the onions in it, thin out with the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce.  Place the ground beef in a large bowl.  Add in the beef, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, eggs, thyme and then the onion mixture and mix until just combined.  I find it best to use my hands so I don't overwork the meat.  Place in a loaf pan or free form the loaf on a baking sheet.  Pour the ketchup over the top of the meatloaf.  Bake 45-55 minutes or until internal temperature is at about 160.  Allow to rest about 10 minutes before slicing.  

Old Fashioned Lemonade

I love lemonade but anytime I buy lemonade in a bottle or as a fountain drink somewhere I am always extremely disappointed.  It just isn't the same as the good homemade lemonade I use to get in restaurants when I lived in South Carolina.  This is such a simple recipe but so good with lots of nice lemon tang.  If you have the time you can juice fresh lemons for this or just use the bottled lemon juice.  If using fresh lemons though you'll need a good bit of them to make an entire pitcher of lemonade, anywhere from 10-14 lemons depending on how much juice you get from each.  

Old Fashioned Lemonade


10-12 c. water
2 c. sugar
2 c. lemon juice


You start by making a lemon simple syrup.  This consists of just equal water, lemon juice and sugar.  So you add in the 2 c. water, 2 c. sugar and 2 c. of the lemon juice into a saucepan and bring to a simmer just until the sugar is completely dissolved then turn off.  Add into a 1 gallon pitcher and fill with remaining water (which usually is about 8-10 c. of cold water) and just put in the fridge for a few hours to cool off.  I always like to garnish mine with fresh lemon slices just for the extra lemonade feeling and because it looks pretty.  

Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Who doesn't love biscuits?  When my daughter was born I started reading labels and became much more conscious of the choices I made for our family.  I couldn't find biscuits that didn't contain trans fat so I started trying to find a biscuit recipe that I could easily make at home.  I played with different recipes and always felt something was missing.  I grew up where there was a Cracker Barrel restaurant and they always had such great biscuits.  I finally found that by adding a bit of yeast to the recipe but requiring no rise made the flavor fantastic.


After I took these pictures I sat the gravy boat and biscuits down in front of my husband.  By the time I had sat down he had upended the entire gravy boat onto his biscuit and removed the strawberries and replaced them with three extra sausage patties.  Once he was done I found him in the kitchen eating the rest of the gravy out of the pan with a spoon.  


Buttermilk Biscuits:


1 ½ tsp yeast

¼  c. warm water

2 ½  c. all-purpose flour

½  tsp baking soda

½  tbsp baking powder

½  teaspoon salt

1 tbsp sugar

½ c. shortening

1/2 stick cubed butter, cold 

1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add yeast and 1 tsp. of sugar to warm water and allow to sit.  Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl. Cut in shortening and butter with a fork until it looks like coarse sand.  I just use my hands though.  Add the yeast, water and the buttermilk and mix until combined.  Again, I just use my hands as I find it is easier to get the feel for the dough that way.  Add more milk if necessary.  Pour dough onto a floured surface and bring together. (Use plenty of flour under and on top of dough) Gently press the dough into a rectangle until it is between 1/2 and 3/4-inch thick. Use a round cutter that has been floured to cut the biscuits. Place on a baking sheet (or in a cast iron pan) so they are touching each other. Brush the top with melted butter.  Bake for 15-18 minutes.  I start to check on them around 15 minutes and give them a few minutes more if needed until they are slightly golden on top. This makes about 8-10 biscuits depending on the size you make.

Sausage Gravy:

2 c. of half and half

1/2 lb. ground sausage

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. salt 

2 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. flour

While the biscuits are baking start with adding 1/2 lb. of your favorite ground sausage to a pan and brown.  Add the butter into the sausage and melt.  Slowly whisk in the flour until sausage mixture turns a bit pasty.  You can add extra flour if you need to, some sausage releases more oil than others.  Add in the half and half slowly while whisking to prevent lumps.  Allow to come to a simmer and start to thicken.  Add in salt and pepper to taste.  I think adding a good bit of pepper to the gravy makes a big difference.  Serve over biscuits.     

Sweet Tea

I'm sure most people will see this and wonder why I posted a recipe on here for something so very simple.  I'll tell you why.  I've had some good sweet tea and some really bad sweet tea.  I'd like to give an honorable mention to my mother on her tea making abilities.  She made sweet tea so bad once it was agreed upon that it actually tasted like dirty socks.  Not to mention, in a place like Washington it is hard to get sweet tea.  If you find a place that actually has sweet tea, odds aren't it isn't very good.  I love tea.  I never even realized it was necessary to specify between sweet and unsweetened until I moved here.  In the South we just simply say we want tea and it comes sweetened.  Ahhh, the South.

Simply bring about 4 cups of water to a boil.  Add in 1 cup of sugar and stir until dissolved.  Simply turn off the heat completely and add 2 family size Lipton tea bags.  Steep for 12 minutes. Pour tea into a gallon pitcher and fill the rest of the way with cold water.  Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours before drinking to let the flavor meld a bit.  

Hearty Beef & Bean Chili

My husband and I are both from South Carolina.  We now live in Washington because he is in the military.  One of the things we miss the most about the South is the cooking.  So I decided since we clearly can't go "home" for our southern favorites I'd have to learn to cook them myself. One of my favorites is chili.  There is nothing like a big bowl of spicy chili that has you looking for your antacids before the bowl is even empty.  It may be wrong but I believe a truly good bowl of chili should have you beating back the heartburn.  I've tried so many different chili recipes and this one is by far the best I've tried.  I think just tomato based chili's are lacking.  The beer added to it really gets it awesome flavor.  

Beef & Bean Chili 

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onions, diced

1 large red bell pepper, diced

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

2 jalepenos, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 ½ lbs. ground beef

1/4 c. chili powder (or to taste)

1 tbsp. ground cumin

1 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1 (12 oz.) beer

1 (28oz.) can fire roasted tomatoes (with juice)

1 (15oz.) can kidney beans, drained & rinsed

1 (15 oz.) can pinto beans, drained & rinsed

1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste

Add olive oil to pan and heat to medium.  Toss in onions, bell pepper, jalapeños, and garlic and some salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 minutes until starting to soften a bit.  Add in ground beef and cook until brown.  Add in your chili powder, cayenne and cumin and coat your meat mixture and cook a few minutes.  Pour in your beer, tomatoes, and beans.  Let simmer for about 30 minute.  Make sure to taste and add salt if necessary.  Add in the sugar and tomato paste and let cook another 5 minutes.  Serve with your favorite chili toppings.  Make sure to taste your chili before adding in the cayenne, sometimes the jalapeños are spicy enough other times they are more mild and you need that extra kick.  I also like to go heavy on my chili powder too so sometimes I add more than the recipe says, just what I'm in the mood for really.