Roasted Pork Loins Expanding my Horizons

Ok, now for something a little different. There are other ways to cook meat. Don't ever say that I did not try to expand our horizons.

I modified the "Fruit-Stuffed Loin of Pork" recipe from the Silver Palate Cook Book by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins.

I took a Pork Loin from Safeway, sliced in down the middle, and stuffed it with prunes and dried apricots. I used some twine to hold it together. I also mixed a bunch of crush garlic into the dried fruit and into stab incision I made in the meat.



Then I made the sauce. I used 1 cup of red wine (or port or nut wine or etc.. etc), 3 tablespoons of mustard, and 1 tablespoon of molasses. Mix these together well to mix the molasses into the solution.

Roast (gosh forbid) the meat in a deep pan for about 20 minutes per pound. Remove from the oven and cover with foil for 10-20 minutes. Serve by cutting it into 1/2 inch slices.





It was GOOD.

Maybe I'll experiment on my trusty Weber and try a similar recipe outside next time. Stay tuned....

Passionfruit Cocktail To Ring In The New Year!

Yeah, I know what your saying, "Isn't it a bit fruity for the BBQB to rustle up something like a passionfruit cocktail?" Well, if you too are surrounded by fine tail on New Year's Eve one day, you'll be happy you know this recipe. Actually, I ripped this recipe off of the web from the Food Network's website and then cleansed it up to fit my palate.

1) 3 parts rum

2) 2 parts passionfruit juice (tropical mixes work fine too)

3) Half of a fresh passionfruit

4) Juice from half a lime

5) Pinch of sugar

6) Ice

Combine all of the ingredients into a shaker and shake for a bit. Serve in martini glasses. This recipe is a bit strong. You'll thank me later.

Thanks to all of my readers for a great year. I've been having a lot of fun doing this blog and have been really happy with the responses I've been getting. There is much more to come.

Happy New Year!

Yuletide Medisterpølse - Done BBQB Style

Evidently, medisterpølse is always fried in a pan with butter. That tradition might change after last nights experiment. Medisterpølse is a Danish sausage made from pork and other secret ingredients. And as far as the BBQB is concerned on the top of the sausage food chain. The links you see above are all homemade. However, I tried again in vain to get the recipe but was shot down. Therefore we will just have to imagine how good it is.

These links were about an inch in diameter. Over direct heat the took about 7 minutes per side.

Another traditional side is red cabbage. However, here we again put a spin on things. This dish below consisted of half a head of red cabbage along with a half of a red onion minced and mixed in. For the dressing we made a nice vinagrette along with a cup of toasted crushed walnuts.

Flæskesteg on the grill

I'm not entirely sure what a flæskesteg is in english but I essentially think it is a boneless porkchop roast with a quarter inch layer of fat on the top. I'm sure the butcher on your local megamart will put it together if asked. My experience with the butchers in the large grocery stores is that they appreciate the challenge and love to deviate from the norm when asked. The key to doing this cut properly is to make sure you get the grill hot enough so that the layer of fat becomes crispy. Before putting the meat on the grill score the fat into about quarter inch strips. An hour in the grill at 400 degrees under indirect heat should make it nice a crisp.

To serve it, slice the meat along the same score marks that you made in the fat. Potatoes, red cabbage, and bottle of red'll round it out nicely.

Glædelig Jul!

Well, I'm back in Scandinavia this week celebrating Christmas. And what better way to celebrate than with a grilled duck. Though I can't take credit for the grilling I was on hand to supervise.

As you can see, my friends here in Denmark have a really nice high end Weber. Instead of putting all of the coals to one side like I typically do, they used the "double sided coals" technique, which I believe provided a more uniform temperature throughout the grill. I'm not sure if this would work for a turkey due to its size but it certainly was perfect for the duck.

The duck was seasoned with plenty of salt and then tossed straight on the grill for about 2 hours. If you've ever cooked a duck in your oven you will really appreciate grilling it. It'll save you an hour of scrubbing the fat out of your oven. Grilling is a much better way to go...but you already knew that.

Here is the bird straight off of the grill. My apologies for the crotch shot.

A bird this size (about 8 pounds) feeds about 4-5 people no problem. On the side we also had some caramelized potatoes.

Caramelized potatoes:
Start by boiling a couple pounds of peeled New potatoes. Next, in a frying pan, slowly melt sugar. Careful not to stir it as not stirring it will allow it to properly caramelize. Once it has turned dark brown, add a chunk of butter and work it into the caramel. When the butter has melted add the potatoes and fry them up a bit. Thats it.

Addiction

Yes, work has gotten the best of me in the past couple of weeks. However, the weather has not, so rest asured that I have been braving the elements and have continued to dominate my grill.

Those posts will come soon, however, I felt it was time again to salute the mecca of hot chicken...Prince's.

I am the BBQB and am addicted to hot chicken. In order to fully understand/comprehend this disease I give you the play by play of my last trip to Nashville. Visualize this. Last week, I was working at a client just outside of Columbus. That night I had a flight to Nashville through Chicago. The flight was to put me in around 10pm. I wanted to eat Hot Chicken. It was a Wednesday, plenty of time to snag a rental car and make it to Prince's Hot Chicken Shack. That was until I saw the weather report and noticed "weather" moving in. Immediately, sensing trouble, I started looking at other flight options as I knew if I was late I wouldn't make it Prince's. After all Prince's closes at 11pm on Wednesdays. Flight options were limited so I decided to duck out the office early and get to the airport to sort things out. I wanted to eat Hot Chicken.

When I got to the airport, the earlier flight was so delayed that I still stood a chance of making it. I got the ticket and did an OJ through the airport to catch the plane. I made the flight and after I did my calculations I knew that I still stood a chance. That was, of course, if Chicago was running smoothly. It wasn't. My flight out of Chicago was not due to leave at 9pm. That would put me into Nashville by 10 something. It was still possible...and I really wanted to eat Hot Chicken.

Fast forward a bit...I'm in my rental car and it is 10:50pm...I am finally losing hope. I refuse to give up though, hot chicken I must have. I sped past the Opry at break neck speeds and jumped on the backroads. At 10:58pm I came blazing into Prince's parking lot. The light was still on. As I began to congratulate myself the light turned off and my heart sunk into the ground. It is at this point where I did something that I will be ashamed of for the rest of my life. I went to Mrs. Winners Chicken and Biscuits and ordered some chicken followed by a stop as the gas station for a couple of tall boys. I then took this mess back the hotel and sat down. At this point my conscience was starting to get to me. I knew, that if I ate one bite of that awful chicken I would regret it for the rest of my life. In this world, there is Hot Chicken, and then there is Fried Chicken. I almost never waste food, but right there and then I decided to pack up that chicken and toss it out. I actually had to leave my room and throw it out in the trash bin outside just to wipe the filthy off of my soul.

In case you ar wondering, I drank the beer.

And don't worry, I had hot chicken the next day.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Early

Actually he always comes a little earlier to West Chester, PA. During the first week of December, West Chester holds their annual Christmas Parade. Like most of West Chester's parades and festivals its well run and a lot of fun for people of all ages. This year, my neighbors and I started the night out by having a couple of chili dogs and a few beers at the Knights of Columbus. We were even serenaded with Christmas carols during dinner. The food and atmosphere were fantastic.

After wolfing down the chili dogs, we headed outside and watched the parade. The highschools brought out their marching bands and Santa ended up finishing the parade by making an appearance in his sleigh.