Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: The Best Damn Smoked Baby Back Ribs

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Long time readers appreciate the fact that we’re big fans of grilled and carefully smoked proteins here; I suppose partly due to our Texas heritage and partly due to the unassailable fact that proteins fresh off the grill or from the smoker are almost always outrageously good.

My friends and I cooked our first pork ribs “on our own” in high school while on camping trips around Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, and had plenty of hometown, old-fashioned barbecue pit masters around to show us how the real deal que was done.

Over the years we’ve grilled ribs, smoked ribs over live fire, on pellet rigs, and even in jury rigged near-smokers on the beach, and even at times resorted to cooking ribs lows and slow in the oven when pressed by weather or time.

I’ve even dabbled with friends in the competition barbecue world off and on, and we began to notice 4 or 5 years ago, along with an army of others, that a trend was developing in the meat smoking world – the pursuit of “fall off the bone tender” ribs, despite the competition smoked rib standard being ribs with a bit more tooth (a key feature being ribs holding their perfect shape when cut into individual rib sections).

As with most things related to health, fitness, nutrition, and cooking, I firmly believe that we all need to experiment with different approaches (particularly with regard to nutrition, fitness, and cooking) to find our own “sweet spot” that works the best for our unique physiologies and taste buds.

Dialing back into the rib issue at hand today, my compadres and I began to see an explosion of recipes calling for a 3-2-1 rib cook – three hours low and slow in a smoker, 2 hours foiled wrap (still low and slow heat), followed by another hour unwrapped and sauced. To my/our way of thinking, that almost always resulted in ribs that were overcooked and mushy; sure, when you picked up a rib or part of a rack by the bone the meat would fall away, but the texture was frankly off-putting.

At the other end of the spectrum, having dried out dozens (if not hundreds) of racks over the years cooking too fast (too hot) or too long, we began, as many others have, to experiment with alternative cooks to perfect the baby back experience.

And while none of my crew of compadres would ever claim we “invented the idea”, we’ve now joined the ranks of those who find the perfect rib cook formula to be a 3-0.75-.5 hour cook as follows. By the way, this recipe is configured as written for a 2 full baby back rib cook; that’s what we usually do at home on rib day. Adjust amounts as needed for your cook.

The Essential Roadmap to the Perfect Baby Back Rib Cook

Clean and trim 2 full baby back rib sections; peel the back side membranes like your grandfather taught you to do. Just to make them easier to handle, I usually spit each individual full rack into 2 more or less equal pieces.

Coat your ribs with your rub of choice and throw in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, removing 30-45 minutes before starting your cook.

A quick thought on rubs – there are literally thousands available commercially, and if you do a bit of digging, they’re almost all built around a common formula – salt, sugar (or other sweeteners), and complementary spice arrays. By all means experiment, shop around, compare ingredients, and see what your family enjoys the most, though I’d encourage (if not demand) you to make up your own rubs to control the quality of ingredients and freshness of spices used. We have a go to rub recipe that we use on all sorts of meats, I need to share here on OBL one of these days…

Fire your smoker and heat to 225; being long time Texas folk, my lovely wife and I are partial to using pecan and/or oak for our rib cooks, though they’re great with cherry as well.

Place the racks in the smoker and cook for 3 hours at a steady 225; many aficionados insist that ribs should be spritzed very 30-45 minutes (liquid of choice, often apple juice, a secret mop recipe, or water and ACV mix). To be honest, most days we don’t do that around our camp as I’ve never really be able to see a meaningful difference with or without.

At three hours, pull the rib sections, place meat side up on a large piece of heavy duty foil, and brush with a braising liquid of choice – once again, there’s a huge amount of variation in what folks are using out there. When we’re really needing to make an impression, I’ll melt 4-5 tablespoons of grass fed butter and combine with an equal amount of organic honey, and brush that over the meat side and underside of each rack. Then wrap with the foil and seal snugly; by the way, I typically place the racks meat side down when in the foil to expose the meat to more of the braising liquids brushed on before wrapping.

Now the ribs go back on the smoker (or in the oven – they’re not absorbing smoke while wrapped of course) at 225 for 3/4 to a full hour; experiment a bit to see what produces the results you like the most.

When that cook has finished, carefully remove the ribs from the foil, sauce with the sauce of your choice (there are lots of nifty low carb and keto options out there, or better yet, make your own), and throw them back on the smoker for another 30-60 minutes, meat side up.

How Do I Know My Ribs are Done?

A quick confession is due here – I cook just about everything on the grill or in the smoker to internal temperature targets these days instead of using time; if you’re not you should be, and my food has never been better since doing so.

Ribs are probably the only protein we don’t cook to internal temp targets – it’s very difficult to get accurate internal meat temps given the thin bands of meat on pork ribs (baby backs more-so than spareribs) and the proximity of the rib bones.

That said, and pending a host of variables including the actual size/thickness of your rib sections, baby back ribs are typically done in 4-5 hours using this approach, and the thicker, fattier St. Louis Cut rubs or spare ribs will take 5-7 hours (consider using a 4-0.75-.5 hour run to start) to finish.

Finally, you’ll know your ribs are done to perfection when you perform a bounce test – pick up a rack with tongs and give it a gentle bounce – if the meat cracks along the edge of a bone – you’re in rib heaven and it’s time to eat.

Grab some ribs and git ‘er done this weekend.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Damned Authentic Jamaican Jerk Pork

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Longtime friends and readers know that we tend to favor spicy and robustly flavored foods around our camp; this week’s recipe – Damned Authentic Jamaican Jerk Pork – fits that bill perfectly.

I’ve always loved the floral heat that authentic jerk pork (and chicken) brings to the flavor table, though I have to admit, I’ve at times been a bit intimidated by what looks to be a somewhat daunting prep to prepare the spice paste essential to true jerk pork.

In all honesty, it’s simply not that big of a production, and can be done (with decent knife skills) in under 20 minutes (really more like 13-14 minutes) if you stay on task and work efficiently.

Jamaican Jerk features the floral heat of Scotch Bonnet peppers, which can be a bit of challenge to find in some parts of the States, but take note that habaneros are a kissin’ cousin to the Scotch Bonnet (though to our palates they not quite as floral).

The peppers are potent – try a recipe with the low end of the pepper range listed, and move up the pepper scale to suit your tastes – my wife loves the front-end, short burst of heat of the habanero and keeps telling me to up the pepper count in the next batch.

And while I typically handle all other peppers without gloves, I do wear a glove when seeding and cutting up habaneros or Scotch Bonnets – one eye rub after not doing so years ago taught me an indelible lesson.

Of note, you can cook this one entirely on the grill (indirect for most of it, finish direct heat) or do as we do and smoke the pork to an internal temp of 150ish, then finish on the grill (to 190-195) for a nice crispy and caramelized crust. That’s our latest cook in the smoker (left) and finishing on the grill (right).

Another point of Jamaican Jerk tradition has to do with the cooking wood involved – typically it’s pimento wood – which can be a bit tough to source in many locales. We’ve found that oak or pecan with a bit of apple works damned well with this prep, and while many recipes call for throwing bay leaves and or allspice berries on the fire, I typically don’t. (We’ll experiment more and report back in a few weeks…)

Hot damn, this one’s really good.

1/4 to 1/2 pound Scotch Bonnet peppers (see comment above about using Habaneros), stemmed and rough chopped
1/2 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, chopped medium
1 small white or yellow onion, chopped medium
1 medium shallot, chopped medium
1/2 bunch green onions, white and green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
2 medium garlic cloves, chopped
1.5-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, chopped medium
1 tsp dried thyme (a generous 2 tsp if using fresh)
3/4 tsp dried basil (3 large leaves chopped if using fresh)
2 and 1/2 tsp ground allspice, you’ll probably want more…
1 tsp good ground cinnamon
1 tsp good fresh ground pepper
1/4 cup coarse salt
2 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce (perhaps more)

4-5 pounds of pork shoulder, deboned, butterflied

Combine the hot peppers, green bell pepper, onion, shallot, green onions, garlic, ginger, thyme, basil, allspice, cinnamon, pepper, salt, and your oil of choice in your trusty food processor bowl and process to a smooth paste.

Pulse in the soy sauce, and taste the robustly spiced, pretty damn salty mixture, adding more seasoning (allspice and soy sauce usually for me) as needed, along with up to 1/4 cup water to loosen the paste up if needed.

Now take the deboned pork shoulder and pound to a uniform thickness (shoot for 1 and 1/2 inches) if needed, then make a series of 1/2-inch deep cuts, 2 inches apart, aligned with the short side of your flattened pork shoulder. Now flip the shoulder over and make a similar series of cuts on the other side parallel with those on the first side.

Slather half of the spice paste onto a nonreactive pan (or whatever you’re using to marinate the pork), lay the pork on, then coat with the rest of the spice paste. Marinate for a minimum of two hours and up to eight.

When ready to cook, you have a couple of options – complete the entire cook on the grill or smoke the pork shoulder first, then finish on the grill for a nifty crust.

We like to smoke this over low heat (225-250) until the interior temp is 145 to 150 ( that’s 90-120 minutes typically for us pending the size of the shoulder), then finish over hardwood charcoal on the grill to get a tasty and attractive char on the shoulder sections. For those cooking to internal temp (as I do), you’re looking for 190-195 typically.

If completing the entire cook on the grill, most recipes call for a 40-60 minute cook using indirect heat, with a finish using direct heat to lay in a nice caramelization and crust.

Rest for 10-15 minutes, then slice or do as the Jamaican’s do and whack it into bite size pieces with a cleaver.

Beware, this one’s really good and you’ll be coming back for more. The spice paste recipe easily doubles and will keep sealed in an airtight container in the fridge for several weeks.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: In Pursuit of the Perfect Home Baby Back Rib Cook

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Like many of you, we’ve enjoyed our share of baby back ribs over the years.

Growing up in Texas and living around the Southern Tier of the country for half (more or less) of our adult lives, we’ve sampled more ribs that I’d care to recount, including those prepared by an army of home grill and smoke masters as well as enjoying those offered up by some of the most hallowed barbecue joints in the nation (which probably actually means the world, dammit).

Some have been sublime, with taste and textures approaching perfection; some have been nigh on inedible, and like you, we’ve seen everything from ribs ruined by a par-boil, some undercooked and raw, or otherwise burned to a crisp, tough as a boot and so bad the dog wouldn’t touch ‘em.

Though we almost always think of a low and slow cook over live fire when conceptualizing the perfect back rib recipe, like many of you we’ve experimented with all sorts of approaches, including a faster grill over live real-wood fire (or damn nice hardwood charcoal), slow roasts in the oven, and even a braise now and again.

For a host of reasons that most of you really wouldn’t give a damn about, this year I pulled the plug on a pellet grill/smoker rig; it’s a nifty tool, damned efficient, insanely convenient, for the most part child’s play easy to use, and can often achieve results close to what I’d (and many others) would argue is the absolute gold standard for smoking proteins at home – an offset, wood-burning smoker.

Pellet grill / smokers versus off-set wood burners can still invoke colorful and contentious debate in some circles, most often for good reasons, though I’m choosing very intentionally to steer clear of such today; I use both, and dammit the pellet rig is far easier to use and doesn’t need the nursing and attention that the wood burner does.

When it comes to baby back ribs, many pellet rig acolytes insist that the only way to go is to use what’s become known as the 3-2-1 approach, which entails starting a prepped and rubbed rib for 3 hours at somewhere around 225 (classic low and slow), then wrapping in foil (the Texas Crutch) with various additional ingredients and cooking for another 2 hours at 225, then unwrapping and most often saucing with another hour at 225 required to finish the cook and set the sauce.

I first tasted baby back ribs cooked using this method at the table of a friend who’s actually quite handy in the kitchen, and at the grill/smoker. His sauce was delicious (a classic Dr. Pepper based, Texas-style sauce), his base rub perfection, but the ribs were of a decidedly off-putting texture – they were in reality too tender to the point of being mushy. My compadre was all about the ribs being “fall apart” tender, which they were to the point of not being able cut into single serving rib sections without crumbling, and being unable to lift meat using a single rib as a “handle” to one’s mouth.

This example is of course illustrative of a key concept in cooking for one’s family at home – you have the ability to cook your food exactly how you and yours enjoy it maximally. For most food there’s unquestionably a range of what perfection is to you and yours, and you get to make the call.

That said, we fall into the “mushy ribs suck” camp, and prefer our back backs to be as tender as can be without falling apart as you pull them off the smoker rack, with the perfect tooth remaining.

The Best Rib Cook in Our Book: The 3 – 3/4 – 3/4 Approach

Hey, let’s face it, this isn’t rocket science, and experimenting a bit to attain the best results is part of what makes cooking at home such a rewarding approach.

Getting great tasting, amaze your family and guests results with baby backs is really pretty damned easy, and starts of course with selecting the best baby backs you can find. If not prepped by the butcher, remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs before seasoning with your favorite rub.

A quick thought on rubs – there are literally thousands available commercially, and if you do a bit of digging, they’re almost all built around a common formula – salt, sugar (or other sweeteners), and complementary spice arrays. By all means experiment, shop around, compare ingredients, and see what your family enjoys the most, though I’d encourage you to make up your own rubs to control the quality of ingredients and freshness of spices used. We have a go to rub recipe for pork that I make up in bulk, after looking quickly today I see that I haven’t shared it and will do so here in the next few weeks…

Though there’s some debate among chefs and food scientists as to how much time is needed to allow rubs to maximally flavor meat before cooking, we lean to rubbing pork baby backs at least 6 hours (and up to 12 hours) before throwing in the smoker, resting uncovered in the fridge once rubbed.

Our son Jake is a fan of using standard American yellow mustard as a binder for rubs on pork; I tend to lean to apple cider vinegar (probably out of habit as much as anything).

Once ready to start a cook we’re now using a 3 – 3/4 – 3/4 approach to our baby back rib cooks, with the first three hours typically in the smoker at 225.

Another quick aside on temps – I cook just about everything on the grill or in the smoker to internal temperature targets these days instead of using time; if you’re not you should be, and my food has never been better since doing so. Ribs are probably the only protein we don’t cook to internal temp targets – it’s very difficult to get accurate internal meat temps given the thin bands of meat on pork ribs (baby backs more-so than spareribs) and the proximity of the rib bones.

Once that first three hour cook has been complete, we use the Texas Crutch approach, wrapping each rib section in heavy duty foil after brushing both sides liberally with a mixture of melted butter and honey as shown below. There are dozens and dozens of “magic mixtures” touted as being best add-ins or pour-ons for the wrapped portion of rib cooks, you’ll want to experiment a bit, though we keep coming back to the butter and honey mixture given its rich flavor contributions that don’t overwhelm the spices in our rub.

Once wrapped, the ribs go back in the smoker at 225 (or the oven, wrapped they don’t absorb any flavors from their environment) for 45-60 minutes.

Once that cooking window has been completed, unwrap the rib sections carefully (there will be liquid in the foil packages), sauce the ribs, and throw them back on the smoker for another 30-45 minutes, until the sauce has set and a bend test shows the ribs have reached perfection.

It’s time to round up your next batch of ribs, your favorite rub, and fire the smoker – git ‘er done.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Two Fire Pork Belly

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As many of you have, we’ve played around with pork belly over the years, most often doing a home cure in the fridge to make pancetta, which then hangs in a closet during cooler winter months to dry and tighten up, though the inclusion of a bit of pork belly in our Christmas Eve tamale filling has been nothing short of revolutionary in terms of taste and texture too.

That said, a buddy was recently in Kansas City on business, and dined at what appears to be a damned nifty restaurant called Q39. My friend gushed poetically (an unusual move for him) about their smoked and grilled pork belly, and has been pestering me almost daily for a recipe to try and replicate the dish at home.

After consulting our own files, and finally me pestering Chef Libby down in Austin as well, she steered me to a recipe that Raichlen published a few years back intended to mimic this very dish pioneered at Q39.

While I didn’t have a full or half belly on hand last week, I did have some pork belly strips (attaboy Costco) totaling about 4 pounds, so I gave them a spin using our go to rib rub developed by my son and I some years back.

In a nutshell, the pork belly is trimmed (you’re cooking skin-off pork belly here), seasoned well with a flavorful rub, slow smoked at 225 to golden perfection, then chilled before a quick flash-type grill over high heat.

The idea behind the rest overnight (or at least 4 to 6 hours) in the fridge is apparently to tighten up the smoked bellies so they’re a) easier to slice, and b) the fat holds up better during a quick grill over higher heat to caramelize and crisp up the slices.

This is one of those stupid simple recipes that literally takes a few minutes to get started, and offers a fairly blank canvas for you to paint upon in terms of different rub spices and flavorings to consider.

As Raichlen noted, bacon is about smoke and salt, and barbecue is about smoke and spice. The marriage of the two in this dish yields a damned tasty, and most unusual treat most of us haven’t enjoyed before.

The main caution with this recipe is to smoke this one low and slow so as not to melt the belly’s fat off during the initial cook, and to grill quickly over higher heat during the second cook to crisp and caramelize the pieces to perfection.

Hot damn, this one’s good.

3-4 pounds pork belly, skin off

Your favorite pork rub
Good salt
Fresh ground pepper

Remove the skin from the pork belly, and score on all sides using a sharp knife in a 1-inch crosshatch pattern (roughly 1/4-inch deep).

Sprinkle the rub over all sides of the belly (pieces), and massage in.

Fire your trusty smoker to 225, and smoke to an internal temp of 165 (for most will be in the 3-4 hour range); you’re looking for the belly to tighten, become a nifty bronze color, and hit the temp target noted.

Set on a wire rack at room temp to cool, then into the fridge overnight.

Cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (against the grain), season each slice generously with salt and pepper, then grill over medium high heat until sizzling and caramelized on both sides (2-3 minutes per side).

Serve immediately with your favorite sauce or aioli; Q39 serves this with a bacon onion marmalade (savory marmalades are a great concept – we’ll post our favorite soon).

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Chorizo Number 2 (or Tex Mex Chorizo)

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During these long, dark days of winter (some might argue that’s both a figurative as well as a literal descriptor) we’ve been experimenting a bit once again with making sausages of various types and flavors in the kitchen at home.

There are a host of reasons to do so, including absolute control of sausage ingredients (quality and flavors), economics, curiosity, it just being damned fun when you’re in the mood, among others.

In a quick aside, if you’re not grinding meat at home, consider picking up an inexpensive home grinder (the one imaged here ran us about $70 a couple of years ago); it won’t be powerful enough to process the three elk you and your buddies harvested this year, but for routine, lighter-end home use, these little guys are easy to store, set up, and clean.

To prove the point, when making this batch of chorizo, I ground a 12-lb boneless pork shoulder, including set up and cleaning, in less than 25 minutes (not counting about 75 minutes in the freezer to tighten up the meat before grinding).

We happen to like really well made and flavored chorizo now and again, and I’ve written about it before here on the blog (excerpt below) –

…Having spent many a year growing up (and schooling) here in the Lone Star state, we’ve been fans of good chorizo around our camp for some time, having fiddled with chorizo recipes off and on now for well over a decade.

Sourcing good chorizo can be a challenge in that many if not most of the commercially prepared and marketed versions (of bulk chorizo, not the cured Spanish version) are incredibly greasy and contain parts of critters that you’d never ponder eating if you really knew they had been tossed in the grinder…

…And like most comfort foods prepared with care and attention, using the freshest ingredients, this version of chorizo is very likely nothing like you’ve tasted before and much more akin to the artisanal sausages (think Bruce Adell’s) you’ve thrown on the grill.  Even better, this one is child’s play simple, and you can tinker with spices to make you and your clan happy…

Here’s another chorizo recipe that we’ve come to adopt as our main go to, given the depth of flavors that come from roasting actual dried chiles for the spice base; around our camp we call this one our Tex Mex Chorizo (or Chorizo Number 2). The chiles add an amazing depth of flavor, and we find the hints of cinnamon, allspice, and cloves add interest and bit of nuance that’s very, very tasty.

As with all sausages you craft at home, this one can be formed into patties, crumbled, or even stuff into casings; we usually freeze in smallish patties and crumble if needed (like for next weeks loaded huevos rancheros.

2 pounds ground pork
6-7 dried guajillo chiles, cleaned, seeded, and stemmed
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, diced small
1/3 cup apple cider or red wine vinegar (try it with both)
1 tbsp salt
1-2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
1/4 tsp allspice, optional
1/4 tsp ground cloves, optional

To get started, toast the chiles in a hot, dry skillet until puffed and fragrant (won’t take long); add enough water to cover chiles and set aside for 30-40 minutes.

When softened, place the chiles, onion, garlic and vinegar in your trusty blender or food processor and blend until smooth; you may need to add either additional vinegar or some of the chile soaking liquid if too thick (think tomato sauce).

Now let’s make some chorizo; place the ground pork in a mixing bowl, add the chile paste and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well, and this is probably best done with your hands. The first time you make this chorizo, fry up a tablespoon or two in a skillet to check the spices and adjust to suit you.

Cook this anyway you please – fry it up loose for breakfast tacos, add in some goodies (poblanos and mushrooms in the image below for a loaded huevos rancheros), shape into patties for the stovetop or grill or even stuff into casings. This recipe freezes like a charm, though we’ve found it’s best to shape in to patties before freezing.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Christmas Eve Tamales #2

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In a year marked by extraordinary disruptions of all sorts, we like many of our family, friends, and work acquaintances have found comfort and solace in what are often simple, but meaningful, family traditions.

I truly hope you and your family have had similar experiences as well, embracing or reviving family and/or communal traditions that have some genuine meaning to you and yours.

Personally I don’t think these traditions need be monumental, life-changing, events; many of life’s most encouraging and endearing customs and conventions are damned simple – and for many of us, involve food.

Here’s an example from our own family life; even from childhood days growing up in my modest household in the Texas Panhandle, we’ve enjoyed tamales as part of our holiday tradition over the past fifty plus years.

We didn’t host tamaladas (a tamale making party) in my household growing up, but several hispanic friends did, and even though anglo I was welcomed every year and given some (relatively simple) task to do as hundreds of tamales were crafted around a big table in the kitchen.

My wife and I didn’t craft our own holiday tamales for several years during my training in San Antonio (there were tamales everywhere during the holidays!) and later in SLC, though we started our own tradition making tamales for Christmas Eve, and later hosting tamaladas of our own, back in 1988, and have done so every year since.

And yes, while we pretty damned consistently adhere to a much-enjoyed and appreciated Primal / paleo food plan year round, we still bow to tradition and prepare a batch of tamales with family for Christmas Eve. IF you don’t have the least bit of interest in venturing far from the Primal/paleo path, by all means don’t, and stop reading here…

For those curious about the option, yes, we have tried a host of gluten free masa alternatives out there; if you’re genuinely interested you should experiment after some easy research online. After trying a host of alternatives, we still make a batch of traditional masa for holiday tamales – we find the other options just too far off the mark for our palates.

We used the same recipe for 29 years when preparing our filling from scratch, slow cooking pork shoulder with a bevy of spices and chiles, though changed to this recipe in 2017 after having a friend share it with us.

You’ll note that I’ve not included a masa recipe here; there are a host of great options available (like this one), and I’d recommend, if you’re truly serious about your tamales, picking up a copy of one of the many great tamale cookbooks out there (I still reach for Tamales by Miller, Pyles, and Sedlar most often when looking for creative masa’s).

And by the way, here’s the recipe we used for years, and it includes a fairly traditional, and very good, masa recipe.

1 and 1/2 lb boneless pork shoulder, trimmed, 1-inch pieces
1 and 1/2 lb pork belly, trimmed, 1-inch pieces

1 tbsp avocado or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
10-21 ancho chiles
8-9 guajillo chiles
4-5 morita chiles
4-5 pasilla chiles (chile negro)
3 cups chicken broth, perhaps more
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tbsp cumin seeds
8 garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp kosher salt
2 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
1 tbsp ACV

Prep the meat and chiles (stem, seed, and toast).

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and then sauté the onion until it begins to caramelize; now add the prepped chiles and broth and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover, let rest 30 minutes, stir and recover, and let rest another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile toast the coriander seeds in a hot dry skillet for 90 seconds, then add the cumin seeds for another 30 seconds. Remove from the hot pan, cool, then grind.

Now puree the chile mixture in your trusty blender, along with the toasted and ground spices, garlic, and the oregano.

Add the meat to your braising pot or Dutch oven and pour in the chile puree, stir to cover. Add the bay leaves and salt, stir again. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat on the stovetop, then cover, and throw in a 275 degree oven for three hours, stirring every hour.

The meat should be fall apart tender at this point; if so, let cool uncovered for 15 minutes, then skim the fat and pull the bay leaves. Shred the meat, stir in the vinegar, and cool enough to throw in the fridge for at least three hours (see note above).

Now your ambrosial tamale filling is ready to fill your tamales or use as otherwise suits you (see discussion above).

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Grilled Tacos al Pastor

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Working from the premise that my clan hasn’t really met a taco they didn’t like, over the past couple of months we’ve been on a(n) (intermittent) quest to perfect a recipe for Tacos al Pastor.

This culinary journey started after a trip to see family in San Antonio and a venture downtown to a friend’s favorite hole-in-the-wall eatery where we enjoyed an ambrosial taco feast lunch one still-too-damn-hot early October afternoon.

My lovely wife was particularly taken with the Tacos al Pastor, roughly translated “shepherd style”, which prompted a bevy of research including a couple of focused chats with friend Chef Libby in Austin, who like us resonates mightily with the chile-infused flavor palate of the American Southwest and Mexico.

She reminded me of the history involved here – what most of us refer to as tacos al pastor is loosely based on the lamb shawarma that Lebanese immigrants brought to Mexico during the 18th century. History authorities suggest these immigrants were mainly Christians (i.e. the Maronites) who had no religious dietary restrictions regarding pork consumption, and of course brought with them an affinity for shawarma from back home.

Food historians suggests that as they and their progeny began to adopt culinary influences from Mexico, and with the eventual advent of a more widespread Mexican restaurant industry in the 1960s, the taco al pastor we know today was born.

In it’s most classic form, tacos al pastor has traditionally featured pork marinated in a slather based on dried chiles, pineapple, onion, achiote paste, and a handful of different spices, then stacked and cooked on a rotating spit, eventually being sliced off in a fashion akin to gyros from Greek cuisine, providing a perfect crust and tender underlying meat in every morsel.

Of course there are regional variations today, and most of us – and many restaurants / street vendors – don’t have a rotating spit available to prepare our tacos al pastor.

This recipe is one that Libby has crafted to suit the palates of her staff and clients in Austin, a place with a fairly solid understanding of tacos (understatement of the year), certainly from a Tex Mex perspective. The beauty of recipes like this one is you can certainly vary the chile profile to suit your own tastes (for example, I think this is better with 2-3 dried chipotles thrown in, along with a bit of cumin), and this one finishes really well right on your trusty grill over a slow fire.

For those who indulge in the occasional classic corn-based taco, these are divine with the Quick Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa from last week, and they’re damned good on one of the gluten free tortillas available today (we still favor the Siete brand around our campfire).

Pro Tip: Trim most of but not all of the fat off the pork shoulder, you want some of that fat to render down as you cook these low and slow over your fire.

3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, sliced roughly 3/4-inch thick

10 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
2-3 chiles de arbol, stemmed and seeded
2-3 dried chipotle chiles, stemmed and seeded, optional

1/2 fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, roughly chopped
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
8 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup distilled white vinegar
3 tbsp achiote paste
3 ounces kosher salt
1 tbsp ground cumin
Optional: 2-4 tbsp sugar in marinade

Gluten free or corn tortillas if you’re going full out taco

Prep the pork and set aside.

Bring 2 cups of water to a gentle; pour over the prepped chiles in a bowl, cover, set aside to steam and soak for 30 minutes.

Now puree the chiles and soaking liquid, chopped pineapple, chopped onion, garlic cloves, vinegar, achiote paste, sugar if using, and the salt until smooth; pour over the pork, making sure each slice of pork is coated. Cover and chill overnight (at least 6 hours).

Fire the grill; build a two-zone fire if using live fire or set your trusty gas grill to low.

Remove the pork slices from the marinade, gently shake off excess marinade, and slowly grill until the marinade is caramelized and slightly charred on each side and the pork is just cooked through, 9-11 minutes per side (remember, this is over a slow/low fire).

Pull the pork, let it rest for 7 to 10 minutes, when slice against the grain into 1/4-inch strips; build your tacos and top with the Grilled Pineapple Habanero Salsa from last week.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Easy Mu Shu Pork Cheat

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This has become one of our favorite family quick stir fries, and it has a bit of history behind it as I shared several years on ChiWulff (a fly fishing blog) –

Our clan fell in love with the classic Chinese dish Mu Shu Pork believe it or not when camping at Gros Ventre campground out of Jackson a few decades back.

It became a must-do ritual to drive up from SLC, set up camp as quickly as possible, and then beat it back to town for dinner at the Lame Duck. The little hole in the wall place was down East Broadway, past the hospital almost to the end of the road where the branch to the Elk Refuge peels off. I don’t know how many times we ate there with the kids as they grew up; we even got to know one of the waitresses pretty well one summer.

The Duck’s long gone now, a victim of Jackson’s (unfortunate in many ways) transformation, though the memory of great dinners past lingers. They had the best sizzling rice soup any of us have ever tasted, and among many other delights – a great Mu Shu Pork.

We’ve tried over the years to recreate the dish; we’ve come close but never hit it on the money and haven’t tried for years now – until this quick (kinda’ve a cheater) version came across our radar a few weeks ago.

She Who Must Be Obeyed has been out of town all week on business and I can knock this entire prep out in under 20 minutes now (after a few practice rounds), given how it’s based off using an (at least partially) pre-seasoned commercial sausage you bring to life with some minced ginger and garlic…

With even the most basic of knife skills you can chop your way through this recipe in less than 10 minutes, and then you basically just sauté everything up in a large skillet, preferably a big-assed cast iron one.

As per the images attached, we most often enjoy this one hot right out of the pan, drizzled with sriracha or a paleo version of hoisin sauce. Classically the dish is served with small rice flour “pancakes”, which you can easily sub with any of the low-carb tortillas on the market today.

1 and 1/2 pounds commercial hot Italian sausage (casing removed)
2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, minced
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
Avocado oil or EVOO
7-8 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced thin
3-4 ounces wood ear mushrooms, sliced thin
8-9 cups Napa cabbage, thinly sliced, divided
1 large bunch green onions, trimmed and sliced into 1-in pieces, reserve 1/3 of total
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp good tamari or coconut aminos
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Butter or other lettuce leaves

Optional
1 can bamboo shoots, drained and cut into matchsticks
Sriracha, primal/paleo hoisin sauce, low-carb wraps

To get started, mince the fresh ginger and garlic and add to the sausage in a small bowl; work in evenly with your hands.

Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil in a large cast iron skillet over med-high heat and brown the sausage mixture well, breaking it up into a small-medium crumble as you go. When it’s done, remove to a clean plate, reserving the drippings in the skillet.

Without reducing the heat, sauté the trimmed mushrooms in the drippings, you want them to release a bit of liquid, then brown and crisp up a bit (4 to 5 minutes should do it).

Now add half the sliced cabbage, the bamboo shoots and 2/3’s of the green onions: keep things moving until the cabbage is wilted. Now add the rice vinegar and soy sauce and simmer quickly until the liquid is for the most part reduced (won’t take but 2 or 3 minutes).

Remove from the heat and add the remaining cabbage and green onions, sprinkle the sesame seeds and oil over and stir it all in.

Serve hot in your lettuce wraps (or the wrap of your choice) slathered with Sriracha or your favorite primal/paleo hoisin.

Enjoy.