Apple Butter Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
12 ounces apple butter
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup rye
1/3 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon hot mustard (I used L�wensenf extra)
1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon mesquite liquid smoke
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt

Directions:
Pulse all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan and simmer on the lowest setting until heated through and it reduces slightly, about 15 minutes or so. Allow to cool. Keeps in the fridge about a week.

Yield: about 2 cups

My thoughts:

Recently I came across a article that poked fun at people who make their own barbecue sauces when there were so many available at the supermarket. Of course, I found this sort of silly. Barbecue sauce couldn't be easier to make at home and you can customize it to your taste. I think most store bought bottles are way too sweet and one note. This sauce uses apple butter instead of the more traditional tomato based. Apple butter has a similar consistency to tomato paste so it is an easy substitution. The resulting sauce has the same thick, rich quality that a tomato based sauce would.

I also like using apple butter in BBQ sauces because it adds a natural, fruity sweetness without having to use a lot of sugar or honey. Now, I did add a tiny bit of sugar to the sauce because my homemade apple butter isn't terribly sweet so you might want to eliminate the the sugar if your apple butter is more on the sweet side. The spices and other flavorings making this sauce simultaneously sweet, tart and savory. I thought this sauce was perfect on pork but I think it would work in pretty much any recipe or occasion that called for barbecue sauce.

Shu Mei Sliders with Hoisin Mayo

Ingredients:
for the burgers:
5 oz water chestnuts, drained
.5 oz dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1 lb peeled shrimp
1 lb ground pork
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons shaoxing
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper



for the hoisin mayo:
2 1/2 tablespoons hoisin
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
1/4 teaspoon sesame seeds


slider rolls
1 cucumber, thinly sliced


Directions:
Place all of the mayo ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk together. Refrigerate until ready to use. Place all of the burger ingredients in a food processor, pulse until well combined. Prep grill. Lightly oil your hands, a platter and the grill rack. Form into small burgers. Grill until cooked through, about 2 minutes on each side. Place on buns, top with cucumber and mayo.

Yield: about 18 sliders

My thoughts:

This going to be a quick post because I am in Seattle at the International Food Bloggers Conference! These sliders are awesome, they are my favorite kind of dumpling in burger form. They stay amazingly juicy and really do taste like dumplings, except smokier and crisper. I think they would be perfect for a party, they are small so you can cook a ton at once and serve them quickly.

Mango Ketchup

Ingredients:
3 cloves garlic
1 shallot, chopped
1 inch knob ginger, chopped
1 scotch bonnet pepper, chopped
2 cups cubed mango (I used Alfonso mango)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 tablespoon pepper sherry
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves


Directions:
Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend until really, really smooth. Pour into a small sauce pan and cook over very low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 15 minutes.

My thoughts:

As anyone who knows me (or is a long time reader) knows ketchup, traditional, tomato ketchup is one of three foods (along with pumpkin pie and cantaloupe) I absolutely will not eat. It is so cloying and sweet it hides that flavor of whatever you put it on. Not my style. I prefer sauces that accent flavor, not obscure it.

I dip my fries in frites sauce (homemade or the ones I brought back from Belgium) or spread my burgers with blue cheese dressing, a variety of mustard or mashed up avocados and my seafood with r�moulade, cocktail or tarter sauce. But no ketchup. Although ketchup is most commonly tomato, it doesn't have to be. When I was in Miami for the mango festival a few years ago I tried mango ketchup for the first time. Not too sweet and no tomatoes. This isn't an exact replica, I can't quite remember what was in it but I've had the kept the idea of making a mango ketchup of my own in the back of my mind every since. I finally had the opprotunity to do it and I am glad I did! My mango ketchup is spicy, gingery and full of bright mango flavor. Perfect for your tropical influenced sandwiches.

Rachel's R�moulade

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup diced green onion (green parts only)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons capers
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt
pepper

Directions:
Place all ingredients in a small bowl, mix together with a fork.

My thoughts:

R�moulade is basically fancy pants tartar sauce. It is either aioli or mayonnaise based and often flavored with herbs and almost always with pickle-y ingredients like capers, pickles or cornichons. I like it with salmon cakes, on fish sandwiches and since I am no fan of ketchup, as a dip for french fries.

Pommes Frites with Two Dipping Sauces

Ingredients:
2-3 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch wide, 3 inch long pieces
canola oil

frites sauce #1
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons capers
2 tablespoons parsley
2 anchovies

frites sauce #2
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper


Directions:
frites sauce #1: pulse all ingredients in a blender until fairly smooth.
frites sauce #2: whisk all ingredients together.

For the frites:
Soak the cut up potato in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Meanwhile, bring a heavy, tall sided pan of oil up to 300. Add the fries in a fry basket if possible) and cook for about 6 minutes. They should look pale but when broken in half, they should look nearly cooked inside.



Drain and allow to cool completely. Heat the oil again, this time to 350. Cook fries about 3 minutes or until golden and crisp. Drain and serve immediately.

My thoughts:

Making your own fries at home can seem daunting but if you are willing to sacrifice some cooking oil and time, it is really quite easy. As you all know, I loathe ketchup so I normally eat my fries plain or dipped in some other sort of sauce-cocktail or tartar if eating some kind of seafood etc. So I've always been intrigued by the variety of sauces (normally mayo-based) that Belgian frites shops offer. I came up with two simple sauces that not only are extremely tasty but are made of ingredients I always have on hand. And they keep just fine in the refrigerator for a few days, so you can make them ahead of time if the thought of frying and making sauce simultaneously is too daunting.

Rachel's New Classic Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:
1 large shallot
12 ounces tomato paste
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Coca-Cola
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons mustard powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground chipotle
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon mesquite liquid smoke
salt

Directions:
Pulse all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into a small saucepan and simmer on the lowest setting for 15 minutes or until heated through and slightly thickened. Allow to cool completely. Pour into an airtight container and refrigerate.

My thoughts:

This year I have found a new interest in making homemade barbecue sauces. It wasn't that I had been using bottled sauces until now, I hadn't been using any barbecue sauce at all until this summer. The few times I encountered a bottled sauce they were always too sweet or weak tasting.

So I decided to start making my own. It seemed like most of the tomato-based recipes I came across called for my old nemesis, ketchup. Since I detest ketchup and its cloying sweetness, I knew that was not for me. So I decided to use intensely flavored tomato paste as a base and add some of my favorite ingredients to create my own ultimate sauce. The balsamic adds a fruity roundness, the coke adds a light sweetness (and no one would guess that it was an ingredient at all!) and the savory Worcestershire sauce adds an extra depth of flavor. I wanted a spicy-smoky note in the sauce so in went a dash of my favorite mesquite liquid smoke and ground chipotle pepper. The result? A tangy, spicy, smoky, not-too-sweet sauce that is perfect for any meat.

This sauce is also fantastic drizzled over pork or beef sandwiches, meatballs or in pulled pork.

Grainy Deli-Style Mustard

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup brown mustard seeds
1/3 cup yellow mustard seeds
1/2 cup dry mustard
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1/2 tablespoon malt syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
2 cloves garlic, chopped



Directions:
Pour the dry mustard, mustard seeds and 1 cup of water into a nonreactive bowl. Refrigerate overnight.


The next day, pour the remaining water, garlic, vinegar, sugar and spices in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Continue to boil until the mixture has reduced by about a quarter. Strain into a food processor or blender (I used my Vita-Mix)add the mustard seed mixture and malt syrup. Blend until fairly smooth. Decant into jars. Refrigerate at least overnight before using.

Keep refrigerated.

Yield: about 1 1/2 cups prepared mustard

My thoughts:

After my earlier success with a spicy & sweet mustard I knew I would want to make mustard again. After I decided to corn my own beef, it only seemed logical to make my own grainy mustard. Well, logical to me anyway. I am sure not everyone makes their own condiments and deli meats on a regular basis but I figured if I was going to cure my own meat (no matter how easy it was) I might as well make something special to go with it. I love a good corned beef on rye and one of the essential ingredients of this sandwich is a good quality deli mustard.

Like the first mustard I made, this one was extremely easy to make and will keep for a long time in the fridge* insuring that I will have tasty sandwiches for weeks to come. The flavor is a bit sharper and brighter than commercially produced deli mustard and is perfect on a corned beef sandwich or coddie. Or a hot dog. Or really anything you'd want deli mustard on, this is really, really good mustard!


*I still have a bit of the mondo batch of the sweet & spicy mustard I made in December and it tastes exactly the same as it did the day I made it.

Homemade Cocktail Sauce

Ingredient:
3/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup prepared horseradish
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/4 small onion
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Directions:
Place the tomato paste, vinegar, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, onion, salt, pepper and lemon juice into a food processor, blender or Vitamix. Pulse until mostly smooth. Add the horseradish and pulse until evenly distributed. Refrigerate leftovers.

My thoughts:

I admit that I love cocktail sauce. Since I loathe ketchup, it is what I go to when I need to dip a fry (especially when I am eating crabcakes which I don't think need condiments) or a clam strip and of course it is a necessary component of a shrimp cocktail. However a lot of commercially prepared cocktail sauces are on the sweet side. I don't really care for anything sweet outside of desserts so I was inspired to make homemade sauce. When I went to look for existing recipes I was confronted with my nemesis, ketchup. Lots and lots of ketchup. That was totally unacceptable and I quickly realized I just need to do some kitchen experimentation. Tomato paste was the logical first ingredient and it added a pure, naturally sweet, concentrated tomato flavor that paired wonderfully with the other robustly flavored ingredients. The horseradish, Worcestershire, garlic and lemon make for a winning cocktail sauce without a hint of unnatural sweetness. Try it, but I warn you-there is no going back to bottled after one bite.

Pear Butter

Ingredients:
9 red or green Bartlett pears, sliced
1 cup pear cider
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon mace


Directions:
Place all ingredients in a slow cooker.



Cook on low for 10-12 hours. Uncover and cook on low for an additional 10-12 hours or until is roughly your desired thickness and most of the liquid has evaporated. Allow to cool completely then pour into the food processor and puree. Pour into clean glass jars. Refrigerate.





Yield: approximately 4 cups pear butter

My thoughts:

Apple butter might be more common but I think this perfectly spiced pear butter is even tastier. It is rich and creamy but dairy free and a great alternative to jam or jelly. I like it on toast, yogurt, English muffins, biscuits, pancakes, oatmeal, rolls, waffles, muffins and I hear it is tasty swirled into cottage cheese. I have some other ideas on how to use it so I should have a new recipe or two that uses pear butter coming soon.


While you can make this on the stove top using using these instructions, the slow cooker is the way to go. No splatter, no stirring, no monitoring, no having to leave the stove on all night. Once made, the pear butter should keep about 2 months in the refrigerator.

Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
4 tablespoons capers, with juice

3 tablespoons fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped dill pickle
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 shallot, minced
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate 1/2 hour before serving. Excellent with fried fish.

My thoughts:

If you have only had tartar sauce out of a jar, this is a revelation. I am not a big mayonnaise fan but I love a good, savory tartar sauce. This was amazing with some fried fish. And I know that the picture makes it look like I ate a cereal bowlful, but it's really only about a tablespoon's worth in a tiny soy sauce bowl.