Older Bolder Life

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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: Grilled Tiger Salsa (Sauce)

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Alongside last week’s Spicy Cumin Coriander Tri-Tip Steak recipe we served up this nifty Grilled Tiger Salsa (some might argue it’s a sauce as well).

As with almost any dish you might search to find a recipe for, there are a number of versions of this salsa; most are damned tasty and a few are great.

And as I often do, I reached out to our compadre Chef Libby in Austin to see what her spin on the recipe was (is?); and as is most often the case, she had some definite opinions and had tweaked some of the best recipes to make her’s suit the Tex-ified palates she serves catering in Austin.

Like a lot of great grilled salsas, this one is built around grilled tomatoes, rubbed with olive oil and good salt and roasted over high heat until there’s a bit of char present and some of the tomatoes are just beginning to burst.

Many Tiger Salsa recipes you’ll see call for cherry tomatoes; I agree with Chef Libby that Campari tomatoes have a deeper, richer flavor grilled, and are a tad bit easier to handle on grill grates given their larger size.

Given that we can find uber-fresh serranos all around the neighborhood here in North Texas, we lean to using serranos (as does Libby) instead of Thai chiles, but feel free to use whatever peppers are handy and whose flavors you most appreciate.

The salsa prep is rounded out using a chopped shallot (a very nice touch) and a bit of cilantro, with the acid component being freshly squeezed lime juice (I usually add a bit of lime zest out of habit), and a strong umami boost comes from fish (use the good stuff) and oyster sauces.

We think this one is best freshly made with the tomatoes still warm, but it does hold pretty well for a day or two – ours never really lasts beyond the first day…

1 and 1/2 cups Campari or cherry tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
4-6 Thai or 2-3 serrano chiles, stemmed, finely chopped
3-4 green onions, trimmed, grilled, chopped
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup (or more) cilantro leaves + small stems, chopped
Juice of two limes (more if need to thin)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce

To start the sauce, lightly oil and salt the tomatoes and green onions in a medium bowl, then grill until lightly charred and the tomatoes are beginning to burst. Remove from the grill and cool the tomatoes in the original bowl, chop the green onions and set aside.

Into the food processor go the chopped green onions, garlic, Thai or serrano chiles, shallot, and 1/4 tsp salt; process to a paste consistency. Now quickly pulse in the cilantro.

Crush the cooled, grilled tomatoes by hand, then add the shallot-chile mixture, lime juice, fish and oyster sauces. Adjust for salt and lime juice (acid), serve immediately or hold in the fridge for a short time.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Cumin Coriander Tri-Tip Steak

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Several weeks ago I posted a nifty recipe for our spin on a Santa Maria Tri-Tip, and wrote a bit about what makes the tri-tip cut so interesting…

Recently we’ve been playing around with tri-tip, a somewhat unique cut of meat that is kinda’ve of a cross between a largish steak and a smallish roast; my butcher buddies argue that it’s really a roast cut from the lower part of the sirloin, so it shares some of the (lesser marbled and chewier) characteristics of sirloin steaks.

Most tri-tips you’ll run across today have their generous fat caps and silver skin already trimmed for you, weighing in somewhere in the 2-3 pound range most often; untrimmed they can run close to 5 pounds.

Steve Raichlen in his ginormous book BBQ USA has a nifty, and fairly detailed explanation of the tri-tip’s apparently indisputable ties to Santa Maria, California; if you’re into food history it’s a great read with Raichlen’s typical dry humor woven in nicely.

Raichlen’s story telling can be compelling reading, and the piece referenced above from his tome BBQ USA covering the regional history of the Santa Maria tri-tip is very good, and offers some great tips on cooking this somewhat unconventional cut of meat.

We’re all in for spicy marinades and slathers around our camp, and have been tweaking this one around the edges for a while now since coming across its predecessor in Bon Appetit some time back.

The peppercorns play very well with the cumin and coriander seed, and the oyster and fish sauces serve as a flavorful binder for the spices without overwhelming the core flavors at all. Note that this one needs time in the fridge once rubbed/slathered, at least 4 hours and overnight is better.

Tri-tip is a damned easy cook once you’re ready to roll, and I must say we’ve really been enjoying tri-tip of late smoke/grilled on a pellet rig at 250 to target temps and rested for 15 minutes before slicing…

2 tbsp sichuan peppercorns
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/4 cup avocado or olive oil
3 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce

2-3 pound tri-tip

Toast the peppercorns and seeds until fragrant and slightly darkened, cool and grind. Combine spices with the oil, oyster sauce, and fish sauce, pour into a large resealable bag, add the meat, turning to coat, and throw in the fridge overnight (at least 4 hours).

When ready to cook, let tri-tip rest at room temp for an hour.

Grill over medium-high (indirect) heat to an internal temp of 128 to 132 for medium rare; rest for 15 minutes before cutting. Alternatively smoke-grill on pellet grill at 250 to internal temps above (about 75 minutes typically for us).

Slice across the grain (don’t forget the grain runs on different angles in each “wing” of the tri-tip) and serve with your favorite sauce. I’ll post our version of the tiger bite sauce mentioned above (and seen in several images) next week.

Hot damn, this one’s really good.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Buffalo Sauce Number One

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Betraying my Texas Panhandle, more-or-less authentic redneck roots, I have to admit that now and again the folks eating around our campfire absolutely clamor for and eventually devour piles and piles of buffalo chicken off the grill.

Though we don’t tend to hang around with ‘em, I’m told there are lots of foodies out there that turn their collective noses up at such pedestrian food as buffalo chicken, perhaps in some way related to the sauce’s origins (read up on the history if you’re into that sort of thing – I am personally, but didn’t have the time this week to rehash the story in sufficient detail) in a humble northeastern bar.

And I will grant buffalo sauce critics one unfortunate reality – that fact being that many of the commercially prepared, pre-mixed buffalo sauces are filled with absolute crap ingredients (soybean or canola oils being probably the worst of the lot), many of which are added in to attempt to recreate the particular flavor of the original despite using an array of ingredients not even close to the original recipe.

Please note that the recipe following is one that we’ve using around our camp for years; it’s very close to the “original”, though I always reach for a good Louisiana-style hot sauce – we just like the flavor profile better, and a hint of Worcestershire and garlic powder to round out the flavors a bit.

And yea, it uses butter, real, glorious butter, and there’s nothing in the commercially prepared buffalo sauce game that tastes anywhere close to this good.

Chef Libby in Austin convinced us to add a bit of vinegar back in, as most Louisiana-styled hot sauces aren’t quite as vinegary as Frank’s (the sauce ostensibly used in the original), and she most often sweetens hers when cooking commercially in her catering business down in Austin.

Of course the classic use of a great buffalo sauce is basting chicken on the grill, though I’ve brushed this one everything from redfish to pork chops to shrimp to skirt steak with great results.

This is one of those recipes that makes you look like a genius with roughly 5 minutes of effort; you’ll never buy another bottle of commercial sauce again.

1/2 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 to 1.5 tbsp vinegar, optional(1)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Good salt to taste

Optional additions:
Up to a tsp of good paprika
Sweetener of choice (brown sugar or honey)(2)

Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the butter has melted and you’re able to easily whisk until smooth and well combined.

Heat to a gentle simmer (do NOT bring to full boil or the sauce will separate), remove from heat, and let cool.

I personally think it’s best the day it’s made, though this one will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks (it’ll never last that long).

Notes:
1 Your call on the vinegar, try white, ACV, or even Chinese vinegars
2 We’ll sometimes add up to a tbsp of brown sugar or honey to sweeten things up a bit, but it’s not in the classic recipe.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Peppercorn Cumin Chicken Wings

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At the risk of repeating myself, I have to admit once again that I’ve probably never eaten a chicken wing that I didn’t find something about to savor and enjoy, even back in my pre-Primal / pre-healthy eating days when a wing or two might have been procured from a dubious source or two.

Ever since we stumbled across these TAGG wings (Turmeric Ancho Ginger Garlic) wings a few years back they’ve been the most requested wing around our camp, and they’re some of the most tasty wings you’ll find anywhere, anytime.

That said, a few weeks back I was chatting up friend and Chef-mentor Libby in Austin about wings and things, and she mentioned they’d just done 100 pounds (damn!) of these Peppercorn Cumin Chicken Wings for an event she covered at a lake outside of Austin a month or so ago.

Libby is one of the most level-headed, even-keeled, not prone to exaggeration or hyperbole folks that I know, so when she called these the best damn wings her catering company has ever done, I (metaphorically) sat up and started paying rapt attention.

Being a professional chef attuned to little details that make big differences, she insisted that the peppercorns be freshly crushed or cracked (she uses a coffee grinder on a coarse setting), and that spices be measured liberally – she and we like spicy food.

(One cautionary note, the recipe calls for coarse Kosher salt – you should have this in the pantry, if not, just get some. The proportions do NOT work for regular table salt…)

Interestingly she said another key to success for this recipe was to let the wings rest, uncovered, after applying the spices for up to 24 hours in the fridge, noting that they needed at least 2 hours to give the spices time to penetrate the skin for deeper flavors.

Wanting to follow her recipe to the T the first few times we cooked it here, I baked these in the oven until crispy and golden brown all over; they’d be killer on a pellet grill or over open flame, with care taken not to burn the spice coating.

I can almost guarantee you’ll put these on the menu again within days of your first batch.

4 pounds chicken wings, tips removed, flats and drums separated

2 heaping tbsp peppercorns, crushed/cracked
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground coriander
1 scant tbsp garam masala (a good curry powder works too)
1 tbsp Morton kosher salt
1-2 tsp ancho chile powder (optional)
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp avocado or olive oil

3-4 green onions, thinly sliced on a steep diagonal
1 lime, cut into wedges

Prep the wings and crush the peppercorns; double foil line a baking sheet.

Combine the peppercorns, cumin, coriander, garam masala, salt, ancho powder, baking soda, and sugar, stirring to thoroughly mix.

Place the wings in a large bowl, drizzle with your oil of choice, and sprinkle the spice mixture over the wings, tossing with your hands until they’re evenly coated with the spice mix.

Spread the wings on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer, then slide into the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours.

Remove the wings from the fridge 23-30 minutes before starting your cook.

When ready to cook, place the wings in a cold oven and set the temperature at 425; cooking for 30-35 minutes (the wings should be beginning to brown). Turn the wings, then cook another 25-35 minutes until the wings are crispy and brown.

Pull the wings, plate artfully, sprinkle with the sliced green onions and lime wedges.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Mango Salsa Number 1

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I’ve shared in a number of posts over the past couple of years that we’re big fans of salsas of all sorts around our camp.

Salsas (for the most part) are quick and easy additions to any meal, most often combining likely (and perhaps a few unlikely) ingredients to create unique explosions of flavor to spice what might otherwise be tame proteins or vegetables.

Here’s a great example – a few weeks back at my lovely wife’s urging I drug a recipe out of mothballs that we’d not enjoyed in a while – a sesame seed and parmesan crusted tuna steak. We used to serve this delight with a sauce based on chipotle chiles in adobo and apricot jam, and it was stunningly good.

For better or for worse that sauce has fallen from our lexicon since going Primal, and I was digging around for a great fruit-based salsa to serve with the tuna.

There are hundreds (perhaps even millions) of nifty fruit salsa recipes floating around out there in the ether, and as there happened to be some nice-looking mangos at the grocery that day, I reached for this salsa recipe shared by Chef Libby in Austin a few years back.

Around our table we whole-heartedly agree that a dusting of ancho chile powder (the floral notes really fit well) and even a whisper of cumin really play well with mango salsa, though Libby’s perhaps not so secret weapon is the additional of a teaspoon or two of a good habanero-based hot sauce, preferably one of the Central American brands. The hot sauce adds just a touch of genuine heat to the game without overwhelming the fruit and other vegetal flavors.

This one is best eaten the day it’s made, but if we ever have any left over my lovely wife argues it’s better the second or third day.

2 ripe mangos, diced
1/2-1 medium red or orange bell pepper, chopped
½ cup chopped red onion
2-4 tbsp chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1 large lime, juiced
1/2 tsp good salt (to taste)
1-2 tsp of a good tropical habanero based hot sauce
1/2 tsp ancho chili powder (optional)
1/4 tsp ground cumin (optional)

Combine the diced/chopped mangos, red bell pepper, onion, cilantro, and jalapeño in a medium bowl.

Sprinkle on the salt, chile powder, and cumin if using, then squeeze the lime juice over as well as the habanero sauce if using.

Stir gentle, taste, and adjust the seasoning to suit.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Quick Kung Pao Shrimp

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For the past several weeks we’ve been on somewhat of a stir fry kick; like many of you now and again we get stuck on a particular cuisine or preparation method and ride that horse for a few weeks just to change up the routine and menu.

My wife in particular has been craving some of the traditional Americanized Chinese food that we’ve eaten over the years; recently she’s been pestering me to craft a dish akin to a wonderful Kung Pao Shrimp we used to eat at a now defunct eatery in Salt Lake City back in the day.

It was spicy but not too hot, incredibly well balanced with the classic Chinkiang vinegar flavor followed by a just a hint of sweetness, and packed with tasty cashews and tender shrimp.

After a bit of trial and error, and digging around a bit, we’ve settled on this recipe using an incredibly easy homemade Kung Pao sauce (you can as always control the quality of your ingredients and cut back on the typical sugar/sweetener load), though a commercially prepared sauce could work in a pinch (read those ingredients!). By the way, I’ll post the recipe for the Kung Pao sauce down the road a few weeks from now…

With a minimum of prep, you can have this dish ready for the table in about twenty minutes, along with a big pile of steamed broccoli florets just like you’d receive in a classic restaurant setting.

As tempting as it is to throw in several handfuls of other vegetables, every time I’ve done that we (my wife especially) feel that the overall flavor impact of the dish is diminished by too many competing flavors. And it’s great over a spoonful of garlic cauliflower rice….

1 pound shrimp, prepped (peeled and deveined)
1 T Shaoxing wine
1 T cornstarch
1 tsp avocado oil
¼ t good salt

1 T avocado oil
6 green onions, white and green parts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 bell pepper, ¾-inch dice
1/3 cup (perhaps a T or two more) homemade Kung Pao sauce
1/3 cup roasted cashews or peanuts

Combine the prepped shrimp, Shaoxing wine, cornstarch, and the salt; set aside for 10 minutes. Prep the vegetables and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large flat skillet until just smoking; add the shrimp in a single layer and cook for thirty seconds undisturbed, then stir occasionally for the next three minutes or so until the shrimp are just opaque.

Add the green onions and bell pepper, stirring to combine and heat the vegetables thoroughly. Now add the Kung Pao sauce, stirring to coat everything in the pan evenly.

Add the cashews (or peanuts), stir to distribute evenly, the remove from the heat and serve immediately.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Loaded Huevos Rancheros

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Over the past couple of weeks we’ve posted a couple of great standalone recipes: this Tex Mex Chorizo (or our Chorizo No. 2) and this Ranchero Tomato Salsa (or sauce, pending what your intentions are).

Both recipes are packed from top to bottom with plenty of spice and deep flavor, are accessible to we mere mortals cooking at home from the standpoint of both ingredient list and skills required, and just taste damned good.

Several weeks ago I’d have been lying big time if I denied intending to at some point in the near future post a Friday Feast featuring what we’ve come to call Loaded Huevos Rancheros.

Both my lovely wife and grew up under the bright skies of the Lone Star state, and spent a fair amount of our youth and young adulthood wandering around other parts of the Southwest, mostly New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado, with a bit of Arizona thrown in for good measure.

While there are profound differences among these regions in terms of food culture (and lots of other things), one commonality you’d find almost everywhere was some form of huevos rancheros on the breakfast menu, if not available all day in the “better” eateries.

Nodding to more recent history, in the Ranchero Tomato Sauce/Salsa post last week I shared a bit about events that prompted the ultimate version of the recipe I shared –

… Two summers ago a friend came to me and asked me to help with menu planning an event he was hosting for his extended family around Father’s Day; as is typical for our North Texas neighborhood he was planning a big brisket and fixin’s barbecue one evening, but he also wanted to serve a brunch built around some of his Tex Mex favorites, including huevos rancheros.

My buddy was not only hell bent on serving a classic huevos rancheros, but he wanted it to match a particular dish he’d enjoyed on a hunting trip down in the Texas Rio Grande Valley in the months prior. He waxed poetically about a thick, tomatoey ranchero sauce, deeply flavored with dried peppers, and punctuated with a smokey, lingering heat that just had to be from chipotles.

My best advice was to call the little eatery he’d placed on this culinary pedestal to see if they’d share a recipe; he did, and lo and behold he reported the grandmother running the kitchen ran off a list from memory, though without the specific amounts of each ingredient, and she apparently said to use “some good spices” as well…

The “loaded” huevos concept isn’t mine; I think we first saw it on a menu in a little Tex Mex eatery outside of Port Isabel (on the way to South Padre from Harlingen), though you can find similar offerings just about anywhere these days.

The principle is simple: load your basic huevos rancheros recipe up with some tasty protein like chorizo (though well-spiced ground beef works here as well), mushrooms, peppers you have on hand (we prefer diced poblanos), a bit of diced onion, and whatever else floats your boat that day, and layer it atop your tortillas (gluten free if you prefer, we still reach for Siete’s products first), a bed of lettuce, or even a pile of sautéed, crispy sweet potatoes.

If I remember right, the version we had down in far South Texas featured crispy potatoes pieces as well, with eggs cooked enough to almost set the yolk so it runs down and bathes everything nearby when you take that first bite.

My wife typically won’t eat these unless there’s a pile of freshly sliced avocado or a big scoop of guacamole on the plate, along with some grated or crumbed cheese, and a dusting of finely chopped cilantro.

It’s time to get creative and crank these out for breakfast, brunch, or dinner this weekend…