BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Posted by: Maggie

As promised yesterday, I'm not leaving you with a BBQ sauce recipe and no meat to slather it on! 

My birthday was last week, and my mom got me a beautiful, green, 8-quart, Le Creuset pot. I knew I needed to make something extra delicious to christen it, and after much internal debate between short ribs and pulled pork, I settled on the pulled pork.

Don't be intimidated by the fact that this recipe takes 6 hours - most of that is inactive time, and this recipe is actually extremely simple. Just pop this in the oven early on a Saturday afternoon, and it will be ready in time for dinner; plus you'll have lots of delicious leftovers!

Here's what you'll need:

For the dry rub:

2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
1/2 tablespoon cayenne

For the pork:

4 pound shoulder pork roast
2 cups apple juice
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

For serving:

Hamburger buns
Homemade Kansas City-Style BBQ Sauce

Rinse the pork under cool running water, and pat dry. Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a medium bowl. Sprinkle the dry rub all over the roast, pressing into the pork to throughly coat. Place pork on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Combine liquid ingredients and garlic powder in a large bowl, and pour into a large dutch oven. Place pork in the dutch oven, cover tightly with foil, and place lid on top. Roast for 4 hours in preheated oven, or until the pork is fork tender and shreds easily. Every hour, brush the roast with cooking liquid.

Remove from oven and shred with two forks when the roast is cool enough to handle. Serve on hamburger buns with BBQ sauce.

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Source: Adapted from Paula Deen

Homemade Kansas City-Style BBQ Sauce

Posted by: Maggie

Who here loves BBQ? I do, I do!

Actually, I was kind of indifferent towards it until Jeff and I got together 3 years ago. It's one of his favorite foods, and I learned to love it too.

I didn't realize for a long time how many different variations of barbeque sauce existed, and that if you go to a BBQ joint in South Carolina, Texas, or Missouri you're going to be getting drastically different versions of what they all claim as barbeque sauce. In South Carolina, they have a vinegar and mustard-based sauce, while the Texas kind is thin, slightly spicy, and not sweet (at least based on my delicious experience at Hill Country in DC!)

I've tried quite a few varieties, but my favorite by a landslide is the thick and sweet Kansas City-style sauce. I was on a Sweet Baby Ray's kick for awhile, and then I started making the Neely's recipe. It's super delicious, but I wanted something darker with more depth of flavor. I discovered this recipe last week, and with a couple very minor tweaks I knew I had perfection on my hands.

If you're wondering what I put this sauce on, you'll have to come back tomorrow! I decided to break up the sauce and meat portions of the recipe so that it wouldn't be too long.

Here's what you'll need:

2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup steak sauce
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons tamarind paste*
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely minced

In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, pepper, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, lemon juice, steak sauce, molasses, honey, hot sauce, brown sugar, and tamarind paste.

In a large saucepan, heat canola oil over medium heat. Add onion, and saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic, and saute for 30 seconds. Add the chili powder mixture, and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. This helps to release their oil-soluble flavors and gives the sauce more depth. Add the wet ingredients, and simmer for 15 minutes with the lid off. The sauce will thicken during this time. Taste the sauce, and adjust seasonings. I ended up adding an extra squirt of both honey and molasses since I like my BBQ sauce sweet.

If you don't want chunks of onion and garlic in your sauce, pass the sauce through a mesh strainer. I just left them in since I liked the texture it added.

*This is optional, since it may be difficult for you to find. I located it either in the Thai or Indian section at Whole Foods (I forget which since I spent about 20 minutes in the aisle trying to find it!), and the jar looks like this.

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Source: Adapted from AmazingRibs.com (a fantastic resource for all things BBQ - I spent a long time reading his site!)

Baked Lemon Donuts

Posted by: Annie

This is a first for A Bitchin' Kitchen - Donuts!!!

I have always been a huge donut fan - munchkins, creme-filled, frosted - if it's a donut I'm there.

Recently, I purchased a Donut Pan and have been excited ever since to bake one of my favorite breakfast treats. These donuts are light and fluffy and "dressed" with a lemon glaze. Also, because these donuts are baked, and are also packed with lemon zest and Greek yogurt, they are a nice alternative to the dense, chocolate-focused, store-bought donuts I am accustomed to!

What you will need:

For the donuts:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 6-oz container Lemon Greek Yogurt (I used Chobani brand)

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup milk

Zest of one lemon

For the glaze:

Juice of one lemon

1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Prepare Donut Panby spraying with non-stick baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together egg, yogurt, oil, milk and lemon zest. Gradually add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, while mixing, until just combined. Using a pastry bag, pipe batter into prepared donut pan. Bake 10-15 minutes until a tester inserted into the center of the donut comes out clean. Cool donuts on wire baking rack. 

While donuts are cooling, prepare glaze. Combine lemon juice and powdered sugar, and whisk together. Drizzle glaze over cooled donuts, or dip each donut into the glaze for complete coverage. 

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Source: Barbara Bakes

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