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Hot Sauce and BBQ Sauce

hot_sauce

Vinegar Based Carolina BBQ Sauce

vinegar bbq sauce NC

Derived from:

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Dissolve vinegar, brown sugar and salt in a sauce pan and bring to boil.
  2. Add other ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. Adjust salt and sugar to taste.

Bakade Ägg (Baked Eggs)

eggs breakfast

Adapted from Broder Nord and Baked It with Love, Baked Eggs.

Uunipuuro (Finnish Oven Porridge)

oats breakfast

Adapted from

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cocoa Gravy

cocoa gravy sauce

Derived from Sweet & Spicy Chocolate Gravy for 4½ dozen pieces of french toast.

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Heat skillet or sauce pan over medium-low heat, add butter or bacon fat until melted.
  2. Sprinkle in flour slowly and whisk until smooth.
  3. Add chocolate and sugar, whisk until fully blended; cook 1-2 minutes, careful to not burn.
  4. Slowly add milk, whisk continuously to prevent lumps.
  5. Add vanilla, salt, and cayenne.
  6. Cook a few minutes until gravy thickens. Whisk in more milk for a thinner gravy.

Mignonette Pepper

pepper seasoning

Most mignonette pepper recipes include all spice berries and only include white and black peppercorns. This is based on the ground pepper available as Pensey's Mignonette Pepper.

Pepper g/Tb g/Jar
Coriander 5 20
Black 11 44
White 13 52
Szechuan 4 16
Green 7 28

Santa Maria Rub

tritip rub beef seasoning

Worked well on Tri Tip of beef. Derived from Cookshack topic low sodium steak seasonings or marinades.

Smoked Pork Top Loin

toploin rub pork seasoning

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Score the fat cap.
  2. Added salt directly to top loin to reduce sodium. Thin uniform sprinkle on all sides before apply rub.
  3. Apply rub on all sides and allow time to adhere before rotating to another side.
  4. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate over night on a rack to allow air circulation on all sides.

Thermoworks Pork Smoked Pork Loin recommends smoking at 250 °F until internal temperature reaches 140 °F.

Traeger Smoked Pork Loin comments recommend ignoring time, cooking at low temperature, until stalling at 125 °F, and then increasing to 350 °F to finish. Apply prepared mustard prior to applying rub. Smoke at 180 °F, spritz with cider vinegar and beer every 30 minutes until 135 °F. Finish at 350 °F until 150 °F. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar 30 minutes before cooking and spritz with pineapple juice to retain moisture.

Olive Tapanade

tapanade olives condiment

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Depending on preservation method, anchovies, capers and olives may need rinsing and patting dry to manage salt.
  2. Puree olive oil, capers, anchovies, garlic and herbs in food processor.
  3. Process olives through a meat grinder (or food processor) to desired texture.
  4. Combine olives with puree.
  5. Some olives are stored in vinegar, so taste and adjust acidity with lemon juice or brandy.
  6. Add ground pepper to taste.

Dutch Baby

breakfast

Adapted from Dutch baby — sweet and savory popover pancakes by Adam Ragusea

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Warm the eggs and the milk before mixing to room temperature.
  2. Combine the eggs, salt, sugar, garlic (optional), soft cheese (optional) and vanilla (optional) in a mixing bowl and whisk until frothy.
  3. Whisk in the flour until smooth, then whisk in the milk. Or blender all at once.
  4. Rest at least 20 minutes before baking.
  5. Put your pan cast iron skillet in the oven and preheat to 425ºF/220ºC.
  6. Melt in a thick film of butter.
  7. Pour in the batter and return the pan to the oven.
  8. Bake until puffy and golden (~20 minutes).
  9. Add eggs and savory toppings at ~15 minutes, after maximum rise.
  10. Return to the pan to the oven until the eggs finish cooking.
  11. Transfer to a cooling rack, until steam collapses.

Tortillas de Harina

tortillas

Paper Thin Soft Chewy, Sonoran-Style Flour Tortilla

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. In microwave or on stove, heat water to 140 - 15°F/60 - 65°C. In a stand-mixer with dough-hook, mix bread flour, sugar, sea salt and hot water on low speed until it comes into a cohesive dough. Increase the speed to medium-high and knead for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth. It should pull away cleanly from the sides and bottom of the bowl, but sticks right back when the machine stops. If it's too dry, add a teaspoon more water, and if too wet, add a teaspoon more flour. Knead for an extra 5 minutes for each addition. Add 2 tbsp of lard (or other types of fat you're using) into the bowl, and knead on medium-high speed for another 10 minutes, until the dough again pulls away cleanly from the side and bottom of the bowl, but sticks back when the machine stops. Adding the fat later instead of in the beginning, gives the dough more chance to develop more gluten formation. Cover the bowl and let rest for at least one hour. You can also keep it in the fridge overnight.
  2. Meanwhile, melt the remaining 2 tbsp of fat in a small pot and whisk in 2 tsp of flour. Continue to cook on low heat until the flour is light brown in color, about 5 minutes. Let cool completely.
  3. (The following instruction is tailored to making 13-inches/33 cm tortillas. If you don't have a griddle or skillet that big, you'll need to adjust the numbers accordingly). Once the dough is rested, transfer it onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal portions (if you're making smaller tortillas, you'll need to divide into higher even numbers, like 10 portions for 12 inches skillet, or 12 portions for 10 inches skillet, so on so forth). Shape each portions into smooth balls and arrange them in the chronological orders they are handled (this allows each dough to have equal resting time between handling).
  4. Now go back to the first two balls, dusting with flour as needed, and roll each one out into 6 inches/15 cm wide disks. Generously brush the fat-flour mixture on one of the disk all the way to the edges, leaving zero margin, and place the other one on top. Set the stack on the side, and repeat with the rest of the dough balls, again arranging them in the chronological order they are handled. You'll have 4 stacks in total.
  5. Now go back to the first stack you made, dusting with flour as needed, and roll it out as thinly as you can, so thin that you can almost see a little of your counter top through it, which will be about 13 inches/33 cm (smaller if you're using smaller skillet and smaller portions of dough). It's very important that you keep flipping it back and forth so the two stacked tortillas are rolled out evenly in thinness. As explained in the video, this technique allows you to create super thin tortillas without any special skills. Because you're rolling out two stacked tortillas together as thinly as possible, and when they cook and separate, you get two tortillas that are only 1/2 the thickness of what you can typically get.
  6. Brush the fat-flour mixture lightly on the surface of the griddle or skillet, which should be hot enough that it starts to smoke when the fat hits (if you're using cast-iron, it'll need to be preheated on medium-high heat for about 5 - 10 minutes). Gently place the tortilla on top. The griddle or skillet should be hot enough that it only takes about 10 seconds for the first side to take on tiny brown spots but not burning it. Flip it back and forth while pressing on it with a spatula, until the tortillas starts to puff up all around and have little blistered brown spots on both sides. Transfer onto a plate or basket and cover with a damp towel. Repeat with the rest.
  7. Once cool enough to handle, simply separate the two tortillas from each other, which should be very easy. This technique will leave one side of the tortilla un-blistered, which I think is fine because they are soft, chewy and flavorful as is. If you want char on the other side, too, I would strongly advice NOT to toast the other side on the griddle as this will dry it out. Instead, torch only the back side lightly with a blow-torch until there are tiny black dots here and there, which adds good charcoal flavor to it, too. This is a great way to re-heat the tortilla as well if you are making them a couple hours ahead of time. But I would not recommend making then longer than couple hours ahead. Fresh tortillas are still the best.

Tacos al Pastor

taco

Ingredients:

Directions

  1. Place chiles in a large saucepan over medium high heat and cook, turning chiles occasionally, until puffed, pliable, lightly browned in spots, and very aromatic, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock (it should boil immediately), then pour contents of pan into a small bowl. Cover loosely and set aside.
  2. Wipe out saucepan, add oil, and return to medium-high heat until oil is shimmering. Add cumin, oregano, and achiote and cook, stirring frequently, until aromatic but not browned, about 30 seconds. Add chipotle chiles and sauce and cook until aromatic, about 30 seconds longer. Add vinegar, salt, and sugar and remove from heat.
  3. Scrape contents of saucepan into a blender along with garlic and chiles with their soaking liquid. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Set sauce aside to cool slightly.
  4. Have butcher thin slice pork butt. Pound slices into thin sheets.Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat with remaining meat.
  5. Add marinade to bowl and toss with hands until every piece of meat is evenly coated in marinade.
  6. Line the bottom of a disposable aluminum loaf pan with bacon. Add a layer of thin-sliced marinated meat. Continue layering in bacon and meat until all the meat is used up. (It may pile above the pan a little bit. This is ok.) Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 36.
  7. To cook indoors: Preheat the oven to 275°F. Uncover aluminum loaf pan and place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Transfer to oven and cook until meat is completely tender (It will drip lots of fat), about 4 hours. Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
  8. To cook outdoors: Light half a chimney of charcoal and allow to preheat until coals are mostly covered in gray ash. Spread out under one half of coal grate, and place cooking grate on top. Alternatively, set one set of burners on a gas grill to low and leave the remaining burners off. Unwrap aluminum loaf pan and place directly over cooler side of grill, placing a drip pan underneath if desired. Cover grill and cook until loaf registers 180 to 190°F in the center, about 4 hours, adding more coals to grill or adjusting burners as necessary to maintain an air temperature of around 275°F for the duration of cooking. Remove from grill, allow to cool slightly, cover with aluminum foil, and refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
  9. To cook in smoker:
    1. Preheat your smoker. Preheat your smoker to 275 degrees F using your favorite hardwood.
    2. Assemble the meat on the spit. Using a vertical skewer or rotisserie attachment, slide the meat onto the skewer one piece at a time, keeping the meat even around the edges and sides so there aren't any large pieces of meat overhanging any other.
    3. Smoke the al pastor. Place the assembled al pastor meat on the grill grates and close the lid. Smoke for about 4 hours, or until the internal temperature of the pork in the thickest portion reads 145 degrees F. If using a vertical skewer, baste the outside of the meat with the drippings from the pan every 30 minutes during the cooking process (skip this step if cooking on a rotisserie, it will self-baste)
    4. Grill the pineapple. During the last 30 minutes of smoking, place the pineapple wedges on the grill next to the al pastor. Close the lid and cook, flipping once after 15 minutes.
  10. To Serve: Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove cooked meat from aluminum tray, scraping off any fat or jellied juices from its sides. Use a spoon to collect fat and juices from tray, reserving each separately. Using a sharp chef's knife or slicing knife, slice meat as thinly as possible to create fine shavings of meat and fat. Transfer to a bowl.
  11. If fat from meat is solid, heat gently in the microwave or in the oven until melted. Transfer pineapple pieces to a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Brush with fat. Transfer to oven and roast until completely tender, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly.
  12. About 10 minutes before pineapple is done roasting, transfer meat and 1 Tb of fat to a large cast iron or non-stick skillet. Heat over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until meat crisps and deeply browns in spots. Add any reserved juices and toss to combine, allowing it to cook until reduced to a moist glaze. Transfer meat to a warmed serving bowl.
  13. Chop roasted pineapple into large chunks. Serve meat and pineapple immediately with warmed tortillas, onions, cilantro, salsa, and lime wedges. Meat will be very moist and should be packed into double-stacked tortillas for serving.

Page created on 2025-08-06