Open Face American Bison Steak Sandwich with Portobello Gravy, Mashed Chive Potatoes and Beer Batter Vidalia Onion Rings

Classic American diner cuisine gone gourmet!
  
     American bison is better known as buffalo.  Buffalo is still considered to be wild game meat.  Buffalo are not hunted anymore, but they are raised as free range herd animals.  The flavor of buffalo is stronger than beef, milder than deer and very clean tasting.  Buffalo are not raised on special feed or given any livestock drugs.  The meat is very lean and a buffalo steak must be cooked rare to medium rare or the meat will become very tough.
     I have not seen open face steak sandwiches on any American diner menus lately.  An open face steak sandwich was once the grandest entree on a diner lunch menu for a long time!  Open face sandwich means that the bread is under the meat and there is no top slice of bread on the sandwich.  The last two places that I saw an open face steak sandwich on a menu was in Baltimore and Las Vegas.
     I have never seen a restaurant offer an open face buffalo steak sandwich.  An open face buffalo steak sandwich might possibly be found on a restaurant menu in a small town out west, but who knows.
     Open face steak sandwiches were always served with a stack of onion rings on top of the steak.  Gravy was optional, unless you ordered the steak sandwich with mashed potatoes.  When a steak sandwich was ordered with mashed potatoes in a diner, for some odd reason the diner cook would pour gravy over the mashed potatoes and everything else on the plate.  Diner food is not exactly 3 Star Michelin French cuisine!
     Diner cooks are also known as "spoons."  Years ago, the word "spoon" was slang for military cooks.  When I first started cooking, I was trained by a navy "spoon" who used to cook for 15,000 people every meal at a naval base in San Diego.  That is a lot of people to serve during one meal!  That old navy cook showed me how to work quickly and efficiently.
     Shortcuts, being organized and having everything ready to land on a plate before the first customer walked through the door is exactly how to do high volume cooking.  American diners are high volume restaurants.  When I was younger, diner managers always preferred to give the chief cook job to an ex military cook and preferably to a cook who served in the navy.  Diner managers knew that ex military cooks could handle the high volume of customers, so they were preferred for the top cook job.
     At a diner, simple open face steak sandwich entrees were usually ordered by small town "big wigs" or local VIP's.  When cooks saw an order for an open face steak sandwich, they made sure that the sandwich was made perfectly!
     Later in my career, I was cooking in a fine French cafe.  The French chef liked old fashioned American diner food.  I was the sous chef at the cafe and the French chef gave me the "green light" to serve a few American diner entrees as lunch specials.  I ran an open face steak sandwich garnished with a stack of onion rings one day.  I broke all the cafe's single day sales records by serving that open face steak sandwich special du jour!  I went through 5 whole strip sirloin sections of beef that day.  The sandwich steak was cut to 8 ounces.  That is a huge amount of steaks for one lunch!
     I never put the open face steak sandwich on the special board again after that day.  There was no need to.  Customers ordered that steak sandwich verbally "off of the menu," after that one very busy day!  What a customer wants, is what a customer gets!  As a cook, an open face steak sandwich is one of the easiest and quickest items to cook on a lunch menu.
     Today's American bison steak version of an open face steak sandwich is an instant classic!  This sandwich appeals to those who like wild game and those who prefer simple grand old fashioned presentations.  If I am working as a diner cook in Las Vegas, while I am going to school, you can be sure that I will run this bison steak sandwich as a special du jour!
  
     Portabella Gravy:
     Heat a small sauce pot over medium heat.

     Add 3 pats of unsalted butter.

     Add an equal amount of flour, while constantly stirring.

     Constantly stir, till the roux becomes a dark brown color.  

     Add 2 cups of beef broth.

     Whisk the gravy to combine the roux.

     Whisk occasionally, till the gravy comes to a gentle boil and it thickens to a very thin sauce consistency.  

     Add 1/3 cup of sliced portobello mushrooms.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Add 1 pinch of thyme.

     Reduce the temperature to medium low heat.

     Simmer and reduce the gravy, till it becomes a rich thin gravy consistency and till the mushrooms become tender.

     Keep the portobello gravy warm over low heat.
  
     Mashed Chive Potatoes:  
     Boil 1 peeled russet potato in salted water, till the potato becomes soft and tender.
     Drain the water off of the potato.
     Keep the pot off of the heat.
     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.
     Add 1 tablespoon of cream.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Add 1 tablespoon of thin sliced fresh chives or dried chives.
     Whisk the potato mixture, till the potatoes become smooth and creamy.
     Place the mashed chive potatoes into a star tipped pastry bag.
     Keep the pastry bag of mashed chive potatoes warm on a stove top.
  
     Beer Batter Vidalia Onion Rings Recipe:
     Onion rings are the traditional marquis signature garnish on an open face steak sandwich at diner restaurants.  Make enough onion rings to create a tall stack of onion rings on the steak.  The onion rings are what gives an open face steak sandwich such great eye appeal!
     Vidalia onions are sweet onions.  The nice flavor of vidalia onions will be noticed in the beer battered onion rings.
     Pour a 12 ounce can of lager beer into a mixing bowl.
     Add 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste.
     Add 2 pinches of turmeric.
     Add sea salt and white pepper.
     Add a little bit of flour at a time, while whisking, till it becomes a medium batter consistency.  The beer batter should be as thick as old fashioned buttermilk pancake batter.
     Cut 1/2" to 3/4" thick slices of vidalia onion.
     Separate the onion rings.
     Note:  Save the onion center and smaller rings for another recipe.  The larger onion rings are what is preferred for making fried onion rings.  About 6 to 10 onion rings are enough for a garnish.
     Heat 6" of vegetable frying oil in a high sided pot to 360º.
     Note:  Why 360º instead of 350º?  The extra 10º helps the oil temperature recovery time, when cold food is added to the hot oil.  That is one thing that I learned from that old experienced navy cook early in my career.  Heating the oil higher than 360º will scorch and burn the oil faster!
     Dredge the large vidalia onion slices in flour.
     Place 2 to 3 onion rings at a time into the beer batter.
     Coat the onion rings evenly with the beer batter.
     Only fry 2 to 3 onion rings at a time.
     Drop one beer battered onion ring in the hot fryer oil at a time, so the onion rings do not stick together.
     Fry the onions rings, till they become a light golden brown color and till the coating becomes crisp.
     Place the fried onion rings on wire screen roasting rack to drain off any excess oil.
     Fry a total of about 6 to 10 beer battered onion rings.
     After the grease is drained off of the onion rings, place the onion rings on a baking pan that is lined with parchment paper.
     Keep the beer batter onion rings warm on a stove top.
  
     Open Face American Bison Steak Sandwich:
     Brush a half of a baguette or sub sandwich roll with melted unsalted butter.  (A piece of bread that is the same shape and size as the steak is best.  I used a half of a whole wheat sub roll for the steak in the pictures.  Trim the crust, so the bread sits flat on a plate.)
     Grill the bread on a griddle or large saute pan over medium/medium low heat, till it becomes toasted golden brown.
     Keep it warm on a stove top.
     Heat a cast iron ribbed grill or a char grill to a medium/medium high temperature.
     Brush an 8 ounce bison sirloin strip steak with a little bit of melted butter.
     Season the bison steak with sea salt and black pepper.
     Grill the bison steak on both sides, till it is cooked rare to medium rare.  (Be sure to make cross-check grill marks on the bison steak!)
     Place the bison steak on a wire screen roasting rack and let it rest for 1 minute.
  
     Open Face American Bison Steak Sandwich with Portobello Gravy, Mashed Chive Potatoes and Beer Batter Vidalia Onion Rings:
     Set the grilled bison steak on top of the grilled bread on a plate.
     Pipe the mashed chive potatoes on the plate with the pastry bag next to the bison steak.
     Generously spoon the portabella gravy over the middle of the bison steak and over the mashed chive potatoes.
     Pierce a trimmed whole green onion lengthwise with a long bamboo skewer.
     Poke the skewered green onion into the steak and bread vertically.
     Place the beer batter onion rings over the green onion skewer, so that they are loosely stacked high on top of each other.  (The green onion skewer garnish will hold the onion rings in place.)
     Serve with buttered corn on the cob or a vegetable of your choice.
     Garnish the plate with an Italian parsley sprig.
  
     Viola!  A yummy simple American bison steak diner style open face sandwich!  This is a classic simple way to serve a bison steak!  Bison meat is not cheap to purchase, so be sure not to overcook the bison steak!  Buttered corn on the cob is the perfect accompanying vegetable for this entree.  This is a nice gourmet diner style entree!  Delicious!  ...  Shawna                                      

Smoked Bacon and Baby Corn Ear Salad with White Truffle Oil Vinaegrette

     Smoked bacon adds a nice flavor to a salad.  That is, if it is real smoked bacon and not liquid smoke flavored bacon.  Chicago does have a huge meat processing and smokehouse district and nice quality smoked meats are easy to get.
     Baby ears of corn are always better fresh, but quality canned baby corn is good to use for this salad too.  Baby corn in a small glass jar seems to be the better choice of canned products.  For fresh baby corn ears, simply blanch them in salted water, till they become cooked al dente.  They can be served as is or marinated.
     Truffle oil is usually a light olive oil that is infused with white truffles.  The flavor of white truffle is not quite as rich as black truffle oil.  The white truffle oil vinaegrette in this recipe is not overpowering and the flavor is nice for this salad.
     Any salad that is arrange with a sense of design is a composed salad.  I tend to go with symmetric designs, because the look good from all viewing angles at a table.  One sided presentations can look ugly when viewed from the other side of the table.
  
     Hard Boiled Egg:  
     Every so often, I do write how to boil an egg.  Many who read this blog are learning how to cook.
     Cook 1 hard boiled egg ahead of time.
     Start by placing the egg in a sauce pot full of cold salted water.
     Place the pot over high heat and 12 minutes after the water starts boiling, the egg will be hard boiled.
     Cool and peel the egg under cold running water.
     Cut the egg in half.
     Set one half of a boiled egg aside for later in the recipe.
    
     Smoked Bacon Pieces:
     Heat a griddle or saute pan over medium/medium low heat.
     Cut 1 slice of smoked bacon into small lardon shape pieces.
     Saute the smoked bacon, till it becomes crispy.
     Place the bacon pieces in a strainer to drain off any excess grease.
     Keep the smoked bacon pieces warm on a stove top.
  
     White Truffle Oil Vinaegrette:
     This is a simple stirred loose vinaegrette.  Many times a loose vinaegrette that is not emulsified is a good choice.  
     Place 2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar into a small bowl.
     Add 1/2 clove of minced garlic.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Add 1 small pinch of oregano.
     Add 1 small pinch of finely chopped Italian parsley.
     Add 1/2 tablespoon of white truffle oil.  (Add 2 tablespoons if the truffle oil is a weak blend and skip adding the olive oil.)
     Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of mild tasting olive oil.
     Stir the ingredients together.
     Allow the vinaegrette to stand for 10 minutes, so the flavors meld.
     Stir the vinaegrette before adding it to the salad.
  
     Smoked Bacon and Baby Corn Ear Salad with White Truffle Oil Vinaegrette:
     Mound 2 cups of mixed baby lettuce on the center of a plate.
     Alternate cucumber slices and tomato half slices on the plate around the mound of lettuce.
     Place a few small thin strips of green bell pepper on the lettuce.
     Place a few very thin strips of carrot on the lettuce.
     Place some baby ears of corn, that are cut in half lengthwise, on top of the cucumbers and tomatoes around the lettuce.
     Sprinkle the pieces of smoked bacon on the lettuce.
     Spoon some of the white truffle oil vinaegrette over the salad ingredients.  (Try not to use too much salad dressing!  The salad ingredients should just be coated with flavor and not swimming in the salad dressing!)
     Place the hard boiled egg half on top of the salad.
     Garnish the egg with a few thin green onion slices.
  
     This simple vinaegrette salad is as good tasting as it looks!  Unless I am making a tossed salad, I always try to make a salad so it has a nice looking design.  A sloppy looking salad does get sloppy comments!  That is called a composed salad.  Tasteful minimalistic presentations are much more appreciated in a fine dining atmosphere, than a salad with an excess of unnecessary ingredients that have nothing to do with the theme of the salad.
     The ingredients of this salad go nice with the flavor of the white truffle oil vinaegrette.  Lightly pickled baby corn and crispy smoked bacon are a nice flavor combination  It is not necessary to use a handful of bacon for a salad like this.  One slice of smoked bacon was plenty of flavor for this salad.  Yum!  ...  Shawna

Jin Mee Korean Chinese Restaurant at Commercial Center, Las Vegas!

I like good Korean food! 

   
     Las Vegas has a large Korean population.  Authentic Korean food is served all over the Las Vegas valley.  
     I tried the Jin Mee Korean Chinese Restaurant at Commercial Center, Las Vegas last week.  A bartender friend recommended Jin Mee when I said that I wanted to eat some Korean food before going to the airport.  The plan that day was to have a couple cocktails at a local bar and say my goodbyes to my friends, dine on Korean food and then grab a few desserts at Jean Philippe Patisserie at Aria before jumping on a plane.
     Las Vegas Korean food is authentic and it is cooked the same way that Koreans like it!  There is no such thing as watered down food or Americanized food in Las Vegas, unless you dine at a tourist style restaurant on the outskirts of town or a boring chain restaurant. 
     Korea has regional variations of recipes, just like any other country.  Towards the Chinese border you will find more pork parts in recipes.  Jin Mee serves some authenic Korean food that is a little bit richer than standard Korean recipes.  Jin Mee has a few popular Chinese entrees on the menu too.
     The Jin Mee menu is written in Korean language, with English sub-titles.  The pictures of Korean entrees are decorative on the menu, but they do not match up to the written menu items that they are place nearby.  Like I said, the pictures are decorations.  It took a while to read the interesting Jin Mee menu.  Many of Jin Mee's menu items are not referred to by the ordinary Korean entree names.  This was authentic regional specialty Korean food!
     Jjigae is my favorite Korean entree.  Jjigae at Jin Mee had a simple Korean word for stew on the menu.  Korean stews are what I like best!
     I ordered a soft tofu and seafood stew.  This is one of my favorite jjigae style stews.  I was very hungry when I placed the order.  A friend stopped by the restaurant to say goodbye, while I was waiting on my food.  I was a little bit distracted by hunger and my friend when the waitress brough my food to the table.  I started eating my meal and I completely forgot to take pictures when the food was set on my table.  So, the pictures really don't represent how great the food looked when it was freshly placed at my table! 
     I literally could not stop eating once the food arrived!  I really missed good Korean food in Las Vegas.  Chicago has a few Korean restaurants, but I gave up on dining out in Chicago, because I had one bad restaurant experience after another.
    The flavor of the Jin Mee jjigae stlye stew was much richer than any jjigae that I have had before!  There was a reason why.  This regional Korean jjigae recipe had a few "extra" ingredients that are not in other standard recipes for this stew.  A few pig stomach slices in the stew added a very comfortable rich flavor.  There were a few slices of tripe in the stew too. 
     The seafood ingredients were oysters, mussels and dried cod.  That is not your usual jjigae seafood combination.  A small amount of blood sausage flavor or pig's blood was present too.  An egg was poached on top of the stew.  This was an inland Korean version of soft tofu and seafood jjigae.
     Jjigae is served in a red hot earthenware pot.  The ingredients are added to the hot clay pot and the stew boils rapidly as it is carried to the table.  The jjigae takes a few minutes to cool down enough to be eaten.  The aroma is captivating! 
     My English girl friend really did not care for the aroma of the Korean stew!  She had never experienced Korean food before.  I had to laugh when she said her goodbyes and made an excuse to be somewhere else!  I was then left alone to enjoy my fine Korean meal!
     The main reason she didn't like the aroma was because of the red pepper beef broth vapors!  The red color of a jjigae stew comes from Korean red chili paste and Korean ground red chili powder!  Believe me, a jjigae can pack a healthy punch of spicy flavor!
    The small amount of vegetables in the stew were daikon radish, onion, green onion and a small amount of cabbage kimchee.
     Overall, this Jin Mee Korean stew was one of the greatest tasting jjigae style stews that I have ever had!  The stew was served with several plates of appetizers and fresh steamed rice.  Plates of cucumber, radish and cabbage kimchee were among the side dishes.  Flavored bean sprouts, glazed potato, marinated fried tofu and cole slaw were among the rest of the appetizer plates.  Korean sweet iced tea was part of the meal too. 
     You get all this for less than $10 for lunch at Jin Mee!  Las Vegas prices for food are very reasonable.  You could not cook this meal at home for a price like that!
     The Jin Mee restaurant had a table of a couple of local Koreans that sat near me.  The Korean girls checked me out a few times.  They had a look of disbelief that a non Korean liked their authentic Korean food as much as I did!  The stew was served with a spoon and chop sticks are used to eat everything else.
     The Jin Mee restaurant is clean and the atmosphere was comfortable.  The service is very friendly and patient for those who do not read Korean language. 
     I had a nice experience at the Jin Mee Korean Chinese Restaurant and I highly recommended this place for locals and visitors of Las Vegas.
     Yummy authentic regional Korean food!  Yum!  ...  Shawna   

Jean Philippe Patisserie at the Aria Casino Resort, Las Vegas!

Jean Philippe Patisserie!

    
     The fine pastries of Jean Philippe Maury are a natural fit at the Aria Casino Resort.  Jean Philippe Maury is the current world champion pastry chef!
     There are a few restaurants in Aria where you can enjoys some of the finest pastries, gelato and desserts in Las Vegas and the world.  First is Sweet Chill.  Sweet Chill is such a hip modern retro ice cream shop.  The decor is like a modern pop style ice cream parlor.  The colors of the decor in Sweet Chill are bubble gum candy neon pastel colors.  Stepping into Sweet Chill at Aria is like being a kid in a candy shop!
     The ice creams, sherbets, sorbets and gelato  high quality at Sweet Chill.  The flavor selections of the gelato are very extensive.  After trying one gelato flavor, an obsession to try the flavor that you almost bought can become overwhelming while staying at Aria!
     The Aria management team was very keen on making fine food part of the Aria resort experience.  Aria boasts some of the finest food and restaurants not only in Las Vegas, but the world.
     Another place that you can sample Jean Philippe's desserts is at the Aria Buffet.  I posted a restaurant review of the Aria lunch buffet a couple months ago in March.  I posted pictures of a few of Jean Philippe's desserts and strawberry gelato that were offered at the Aria Buffet.  At the Aria buffet, you can eat as many desserts as you wish to!  Las Vegas buffets are a flat rate price.  Two to three of Jean Philippe's desserts at the Aria Buffet can easily equal the price of entry.  Fine buffets in Las Vegas are gourmet heaven!
     The Roasted Bean is a small coffee shop in Aria.  The coffee quality of the The Roasted Bean coffee shop is much better than the major coffee franchise businesses that you see in nearly every town.  Jean Philippe's pastries, breads and danishes can be purchased at The Roasted Bean.
     A girlfriend and I had bought desserts and gourmet cappuccino at The Roasted Bean the first time that I stayed at Aria.  My friend Daisy was an English Playboy Bunny when she was younger.  This girl wears a size one and she loves to eat fine desserts!  She never gains weight from eating desserts at all.  That makes me jealous, because if I even look at a dessert, I feel ten pounds heavier!
     Last weekend in Las Vegas, I made a point of trying a few desserts and pastries at Jean Philippe Patisserie at Aria.  Jean Philippe Patisserie is located next to the guest elevators!  The location is just too convenient!  People going up to their rooms buy pastries.  People coming down from their rooms buy coffee and pastries.  A guest that stays at Aria for a month, may end up gaining so much weight, that they may not be able to fit through the elevator doors after eating pastries at Jean Philippe every time they pass by!  I am serious!
     That little Aria Jean Philippe pastry shop is the very best!  The architecture and decor of Jean Philippe Patisserie is modern and very interesting!  Chrome and glass is the theme.
     Before going to the Cordon Bleu Chef School for my orientation last Monday morning, I wanted to get a quick bite to eat.  I was famished from walking miles at the Las Vegas BBQ Championship and from partying at the Kylie Minogue concert the night before.
     Standing in the pastry shop line, I saw some fantastic looking sandwiches!  The pastry shop also offered French croque monsieur sandwiches.  The bread that was made for the sandwiches was the most well crafted bread that I have seen in years!  So I ordered a roast beef sandwich.
     I always liked carrot cake for breakfast!  I ordered a carrot cake and coffee, so now I was in the brunch zone.  I wanted a bloody mary that morning with everything else that I ordered.  Beside the pastry shop is one of my favorite lounges at Aria.  I carried my food and coffee on a tray to the open air cocktail lounge.  I was greeted by a very nice cocktail waitress.  She was very interesting and we had a conversation that lasted forty five minutes!  I love talking with girls from northern California.  We talked about food, Aria, California and Las Vegas.  This girl was beyond beautiful and fun!  She was a perfect example of how great the Aria staff is at making guests feel welcome.
     The spicy bloody mary that the cocktail waitress brought to me was perfect!  I dined, drank and chatted till it was time to go to the school.  Go to school?  That does sound funny at my age!
     The roast beef sandwich was superb!  The modern presentation of the carrot cake was beyond belief!  The flavor of the carrot cake was out of this world!  The coffee was the best that I have had in a long time.  This was a great start to my busy day in Las Vegas!
     Before going to the airport to fly out of Las Vegas, I bought desserts and chocolates at Jean Philippe Patisserie again.  Jean Philippe creates some very fine signature chocolates!  Signature hard candies and snacks are also sold at Jean Philippe.
     I took a pass on the gelato, because I wanted something sinfully decadent, before leaving my home Las Vegas.  I ordered a raspberry pastry and the most popular chocolate dessert at Jean Philippe!  The raspberry pastry was indescribably delicious!  Simple, rich and very refreshing!  The raspberry pastry was very well crafted.
     The chocolate dessert was like a mini French Bomb.  This popular dessert exploded with very rich deep chocolate flavors!  Many of the desserts at Aria are garnished with edible pure silver and pure gold foil.  That adds a nice appeal.
     I bought the chocolate dessert in a to-go box with the intention of bringing it on the plane.  While sipping on coffee and eating the raspberry pastry, I figured that the chocolate dessert would probably be damaged on the flight.  Using that excuse, I opened the box like a gift and enjoyed the dessert.  An excuse was all I needed to go completely decadent!  
    The fine desserts and pastries at Aria make the stay at the resort all that much sweeter!  Jean Philippe is my favorite pastry chef in Las Vegas.  When in Aria, be sure to indulge in the fine pastries and desserts of Jean Philippe Maury!  So very yummy!  ...  Shawna            

North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ, Grits and Egg Breakfast

North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ for breakfast?  Why not!
    
     Pulled pork has become very popular in the last ten years.  I do have to laugh at all the late comers!  I have been eating pulled pork BBQ since I was a kid.  On three day weekends, we sometimes took a drive to North Carolina to pay a visit to relatives there.  Big southern country style meals at a relative's home were great.  Hopin' in the car and going to a local BBQ stand was also something we looked forward to.
     In North Carolina, a pulled pork BBQ sandwich is more popular than BBQ ribs or chicken!  Years ago, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches were usually small in size and sold on a small hamburger bun.  We ordered dozen of small pulled pork sandwiches to eat!  Everybody would hop in the car with bags of pulled pork BBQ sandwiches and we would just take a drive in the scenic countryside while chowing down.  Pulled pork BBQ usually ended up getting smeared and spilled all over the interior of the car.  Thats what we used to call North Carolina car air freshener!
     I have seen plenty of different interpretations of pulled pork BBQ in recent years.  Much of what is sold as pulled pork BBQ is totally incorrectly made.  At the Las Vegas BBQ Championship, I noticed that some of what the losing contestants called pulled pork BBQ was simply big tough chunks of coarsely chopped roasted pork with some kind of a sweet BBQ sauce dumped all over it.  That is not pulled pork BBQ!
     Pork shoulder is the best choice for pulled pulled pork BBQ.  Good pulled pork BBQ is roasted and basted constantly over a low temperature for several hours.  The pork should be slow roasted over an open pit BBQ.  Some folks use a smoker.  Baking the pork in an oven is okay, if you are in an area that allows no smoke.
     After roasting, the pork should barely be caramelized and the meat should have a golden color with a few brown highlights.  The basted roasted pork should be very tender.  A fork stuck in the meat and then twisted, should be able to tear a off a shredded piece of tender moist pork.  The pork meat should easily pull from the bones and fat.  The meat should easily shred with a fork or fingers.  If the meat has to be chopped, because it won't shred, then the meat was not cooked correctly.
     The only way to accomplish cooking a pork shoulder that is perfect for pulled pork is to slowly roast the pork at a maximum temperature of 275 degrees and to bast the pork once every 10 minutes or so with a North Carolina style thin vinegar BBQ basting sauce.
     Before I make some of my southern BBQ readers angry, North Carolina is the easiest reference for pulled BBQ cooking.  Slow roasted and basted pulled BBQ is popular in nearly every state in the south, especially in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.
     Last night I posted an Alabama style thin vinegar BBQ sauce basted spare rib recipe that turned out perfect!  I did state that this same style of BBQ has its roots in the Carolinas.  The end result of pulled meat BBQ style or thin vinegar basting BBQ is a nice clean mildly spicy flavor and the great flavor of the meat is not covered up by a thick sweet sauce!
     It took about 3 1/2 hours to slowly roast and baste that Alabama style rack of ribs.  A pork shoulder may take much more time to cook, so making extra basting sauce is necessary.  The same sauce that was used to baste the Alabama style ribs is also used to baste a pork shoulder for pulled pork.  At least double or triple the thin vinegar BBQ sauce recipe if you are roasting a large pork shoulder.  You will need the extra basting sauce!
              
     North Carolina Thin Vinegar Basting BBQ Sauce:

     This is almost the same as the Alabama BBQ baste, but more mustard is added.  This sauce is very thin and it is diluted with water, as it should be, because this sauce is meant to be mopped on the meat as often as possible.  This is a thin sauce that is perfect for a BBQ basting mop.  The sauce does not look like much and the sauce does not taste great if you taste it with a spoon.  This sauce is designed to baste spare ribs quite often as they slowly roast.  The final end result is a rack of ribs, that are saturated with a great thin vinegar, mustard and hot pepper flavor.  The butter in the BBQ basting sauce will keep the meat very moist and tender after hours of slow roasting.

     Place 3 cups of water in large sauce pot.

     Add 4 ounces of unsalted sweet old fashioned butter.  (Hand churned or plugra butter is best.)

     Add 3/4 cup of cider vinegar.

     Add 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.

     Add 3 tablespoons of dijon mustard or 2 tablespoons of dried mustard.

     Add 5 to 6 tablespoons of North Carolina style crushed red tabasco peppers in vinegar.

     Note:  This is a North Carolina standard table pepper sauce condiment.  The hot pepper infused vinegar is sprinkled on food and the peppers remain in the bottle.  The crushed hot peppers in the bottle are often used in recipes.  If you cannot find this kind of pepper sauce, then a good substitute is coarse Korean red serrano chili pepper sauce or paste.

     Add sea salt and black pepper.

     Add 4 tablespoons of Louisiana style mild cayenne pepper sauce.

     Add 1/4 cup of sugar.

     Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.

     Add 1 teaspoon of onion powder.

     Place the pot over low heat.

     Stir the ingredients together, till the butter melts and partially emulsifies into the vinegar basting sauce.

  

     North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ:  

     The pork shoulder can be started in a 275º oven if you need to cook indoors.  It can be cooked in a 250º smoker that is set to a trickle flow of smoke.  A mix of 1 part hickory and 3 parts white oak is the best light smoke for this old fashioned BBQ!  

     If you run low on basting sauce, make more!

     Place a whole pork shoulder or a 12 to 16 ounce piece (2 to 3 portions) of pork shoulder in a roasting pan. 

     Baste the pork shoulder.

     Slow burn a fire of 3 parts split white oak and 1 part split hickory logs an open pit barbecue or deep char grill.

     Wait till the fire starts to turn to embers.

     Only occasionally add a fresh piece of fire wood off to the side, so the flames do not touch the pork.  Adding wood will be necessary as the pork cooks.

     Take the pork shoulder out of the pan and place it on a low temperature spot on the open pit grill.

     Slow roast the pork shoulder over the low heat embers.

     Lightly baste the pork shoulder often with the thin BBQ basting sauce.  About once every 5 to 10 minutes the pork should be thinly basted.

     By the time a few hours go by, there should only be a little bit of basting sauce left in the mixing bowl.  The pork should have a light orange color with flecks of hot red pepper.  The pork should be minimally caramelized from the low heat slow roasting and because of the constant basting.

     The basted roasted pork should be very tender.  A fork stuck in the meat and then twisted, should be able to tear a off a shredded piece of tender moist pork.  The pork meat should easily pull from the bone and fat.  The meat should easily shred with a fork or fingers.  

     Pull the meat so it naturally shreds into small pieces.  Big pieces can be coarsely chopped, instead of shredded like rope.
     Serve the pulled pork BBQ with your favorite picnic style fixin's!
     Save a portion of pulled pork BBQ for this breakfast recipe!
    
     Hominy Grits:
     Boil 2 cups of water in a small sauce pot.
     Add 1/2 cup of old fashioned stone ground hominy grits.
     Stir with a whisk.
     When the grits just start to thicken the liquid, reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Simmer the grits till the become tender, and whisk the grits often.
     Simmer till the grits become thick, but not stiff.  Add water if the grits become too thick.
     Reduce the temperature to very low heat.
     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Keep the grits warm.

     Grilled Tomato:
     Heat a saute pan over mediu/medium low heat.
     Add 2 pats of unsalted butter.
     Cut the top and bottom off of a small tomato.
     Season with sea salt and black pepper.
     Grill the tomato till it starts to become tender.
     Keep the grilled tomato warm on a stove top.

     North Carolina Pulled Pork BBQ, Grits and Eggs Breakfast:
     Heat a small saute pan over medium low heat.
     Add 5 to 6 ounces of pulled pork BBQ.
     Add 1/3 cup of water.
     Slowly warm the pulled pork BBQ till it becomes a hot serving temperature (165º).
     Simmer till the water evaporates.
     Keep the pulled pork BBQ warm on a stove top.
     Cook 1 or 2 eggs any style that you may prefer!
     Use a ring mold to place the warm pulled pork BBQ on a plate.
     Spoon a generous serving of grits on the plate.
     Place the eggs on the plate.
     Garnish the plate with the grilled tomato and an Italian parsley sprig.
     Serve with toast, cornbread or biscuits on the side.
    
     Pulled pork BBQ is nice for breakfast!  Yum!  ...  Shawna        

Alabama Style BBQ Spare Ribs

Slow cooked, open pit, thin vinegar pepper sauce mop basted barbecue!
  
     This style of BBQ cooking is closely related to the method used to cook North Carolina style pulled pork BBQ.  The basting sauce is basically the same.  A vinegar, buttter, mustard and red pepper basting sauce is favored in the southeast.  Vinegar basting is of the oldest traditional American barbecue methods!  The old saying "the simpler, the better" applies to this style of BBQ.  I decided to use the Alabama name for this BBQ, because this is an old southern style recipe that is popular in that neck of the woods.
     Not everybody that cooks BBQ professionally uses a sauce that is pre-made and bottled.  The best BBQ stands do make their own sauces.  This thin vinegar butter BBQ sauce can never be bottled!  Besides, it is very easy to make!  Just like the North Carolina pulled meat style BBQ, the cooking method is just as important as the basting sauce.
     I worked in the former best BBQ restaurant in America for one year.  The restaurant won the best BBQ in America title and the World BBQ Champions several times.  We did the eastern BBQ event tour and also the BBQ tour through the rural midwest.  We sold Chicago style smoked meat and sweet sauce BBQ.  Chicago style BBQ lost its popularity and it took a back seat to North Carolina style BBQ trend.
     North Carolina pulled pork BBQ has been popular for the last ten years.  North Carolina BBQ is made with thin vinegar basting sauces.  People saw the North Carolina style BBQ as a healthier style of BBQ.  Given a choice of heavy sweet glaze BBQ sauce or a thin vinegar slow basting sauce, I will choose the slow basting vinegar sauce every time!  You can taste the great flavors of open pit slow smoked roasted meat with a thin vinegar sauce!
     My family in North Carolina has been cooking BBQ with a thin vinegar, mustard, hot pepper butter sauce for a few hundred years!  The North Carolina side of my family has been in America since the late 1500's.  We never developed a taste for sweet BBQ!
    Throwing a BBQ cookout is a nice way to celebrate Memorial day.  This Alabama style thin vinegar BBQ basting sauce is really something special!
  
     Alabama Thin Vinegar Basting BBQ Sauce:
     This sauce is very thin and it is diluted with water, as it should be, because this sauce is meant to be mopped on the meat as often as possible.  This is a thin sauce that is perfect for a BBQ basting mop.  The sauce does not look like much and the sauce does not taste great if you taste it with a spoon.  This sauce is designed to baste spare ribs quite often as they slowly roast.  The final end result is a rack of ribs, that are saturated with a great thin vinegar, mustard and hot pepper flavor.  The butter in the BBQ basting sauce will keep the meat very moist and tender after hours of slow roasting.
     Place 3 cups of water in large sauce pot.
     Add 4 ounces of unsalted sweet old fashioned butter.  (Hand churned or plugra butter is best.)
     Add 3/4 cup of cider vinegar.
     Add 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce.
     Add 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard or 1 1/2 tablespoons of dried mustard.
     Add 5 to 6 tablespoons of North Carolina style crushed red tabasco peppers in vinegar.
     Note:  This is a North Carolina standard table pepper sauce condiment.  The hot pepper infused vinegar is sprinkled on food and the peppers remain in the bottle.  The crushed hot peppers in the bottle are often used in recipes.  If you cannot find this kind of pepper sauce, then a good substitute is coarse Korean red serrano chili pepper sauce or paste.
     Add sea salt and black pepper.
     Add 4 tablespoons of Louisiana style mild cayenne pepper sauce.
     Add 1/4 cup of sugar.
     Add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
     Add 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
     Place the pot over low heat.
     Stir the ingredients together, till the butter melts and partially emulsifies into the vinegar basting sauce.
  
     Alabama Style BBQ Ribs:  
     The ribs can be started in a 275º oven if you need to cook indoors.  They can be cooked in a 250º smoker that is set to a trickle flow of smoke.  A mix of 1 part hickory and 3 parts white oak is the best light smoke for this old fashioned BBQ!  
     If you run low on basting sauce, make more!
     Place a rack of spare ribs or a partial single portion rack in a roasting pan.  (About an 8 to 10 bone rack of ribs is a good size single portion.)
     Baste the raw ribs.
     Slow burn a fire of 3 parts split white oak and 1 part split hickory logs an open pit barbecue or deep char grill.
     Wait till the fire starts to turn to embers.
     Only occasionally add a fresh piece of fire wood off to the side, so the flames do not touch the ribs.  Adding wood will be necessary as the ribs cook
     Take the rib section out of the pan and place it on a low temperature spot on the grill.
     Slow roast the ribs over the low heat embers.
     Flip the ribs once in a while.
     Lightly baste the ribs often with the thin BBQ sauce.  About once every 5 to 10 minutes the ribs should be thinly basted.
     By the time a couple hours go by, there should only be a little bit of basting sauce left in the mixing bowl.  The ribs should have a light orange color with flecks of hot red pepper.  The ribs should be minimally caramelized from the low heat slow roasting and because of the constant basting.
     Grab the end of 1 rib on the rib rack and twist it, the meat should pull away from the bone and the meat should easily tear and shred.  The meat should not be falling off of the bones on its own, like most amateur BBQ cooks suggest!
  
     Finishing the Alabama BBQ Spare Ribs:
     Heat a cast iron grill, a char grill or an open pit grill to an even medium/medium high temperature.
     Place the slow roasted rack of ribs on a cutting board.
     Carefully and gently slice the meat between the bones with a very sharp knife to separate each rib.
     Place the ribs on the grill.
     Mark the ribs lightly with grill marks and baste the ribs with the last bit of the thin BBQ basting sauce.
     Allow the ribs to caramelize lightly on the edges as they grill.
     Baste the ribs one last time.
     Place the Alabama BBQ Spare Ribs on a plate.
     Serve with your favorite barbecue sides, like corn on the cob, baked beans, potato salad, onion rings or cole slaw.
     I served the Alabama style ribs in the pictures with Neon Potato Salad and White Truffle Oil Chive Cucumber Salad.  Those two recipes were posted in the Jujube Chile BBQ Spare Ribs recipe.  
  
     The Alabama style ribs look like they have been basted often!  One look and you may think that these ribs were not sauced.  These ribs do not look like tomato sugar glaze coated ribs.
     The most important thing, is that the flavor is there!  The flavor is saturated trough the meat because of the constant basting.
     If you like North Carolina style hand pulled pork BBQ, then you will like this Alabama style BBQ recipe!  The Alabama style BBQ basted spare rib meat is so tender, that it literally shreds in your mouth and it will remind you of North Carolina pulled pork BBQ.  Yum!  ...  Shawna