The first recipe is a fantastic german potato salad. For those who haven't tried this dish, it is a potato salad that utilizes salt and vinegar flavors as opposed to mayonnaise and mustard. I really don't like mayonnaise at all but I love potatoes so it's just perfect for me.
German Potato Salad:
Ingredients:
6 lbs. red potatoes
7-9 strips bacon
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
4 TBL flour
1.5 TBL sugar
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 TBL celery seeds
1/4 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley
Salt and pepper
The above quantities made a ton of potato salad, so it's probably a good idea to cut this recipe in half if you aren't cooking for a crowd.
First step is to cut the bacon into 1/2" pieces and saute in a dutch oven over medium heat until crispy and all the fat has rendered out. Remove bacon and reserve on paper towel.
Saute they onions with some salt in the bacon fat over medium heat. After 7-8 minutes the onions should smell sweet and delicious. This means they're ready.
In a separate bowl combine the mustard and celery seeds, sugar, and flour. This dry mixture will actually become a roux with the onions and bacon fat. Just keep the heat at medium and be sure to continuously stir when you add the dry to the fat and the onions. The mixture should turn into a paste.
Combine the vinegars (1 cup total) with 1 cup of water. Add this mixture to the roux a few tablespoons at a time until you've added all 2 cups of liquid. After each time you add liquid, stir the dressing until it's thickened and smooth.
Fold in potatoes that have been cut into cubes and boiled. If you stir in too violently, the potatoes will fall apart and you'll have salt and vinegar mashed potatoes instead of potato salad. Add the parsley and the reserved bacon pieces just before serving.
This recipe is really great. Try adjusting the amount of sugar and vinegar to get the balance that you like the most. Even though I had a bunch of leftovers, the potato salad was all gone after 24 hours!
Homemade Pickles
Ingredients:
5-6 Pickling Cucumbers (if you're in Dallas, you can find these at the Central Market on Lovers)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
2 TBL salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 TBL Pickling Spice
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
1 TBL black whole peppercorns
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic
This recipe is extremely easy. I recommend preparing at least 24 hrs ahead of time.
Take all ingredients except the cucumbers and put in a sauce pan and bring to a boil then simmer for about 5 minutes.
Pour liquid over sliced cucumbers in a mason jar. Put in the fridge for 24 hrs.
That's it. No, seriously, that's it. The fun part of making pickles is that you can change the recipe however you want. The general flavor has to do with the proportions of vinegar to water to salt to sugar. So adjust these amounts according the kind of pickles you want (i.e. more sugar for sweet, more vinegar for sour, etc.). I think next time I'll be adding onion slices and serranos or jalapenos so I'll have spicy pickles. Try different things until you find your very own ultimate pickle!
I made a pulled pork recipe using the rub and basting sauce from this Emeril Lagasse recipe (I made my own BBQ sauce, but I don't want to post it until I make it a few more times). I had a 9 lb pork shoulder that I roasted in the oven at 225 degrees for about 10 hours. I put the basting sauce in a spray bottle and I sprayed the shoulder about once an hour for the duration of the cooking.
The pork was tasty, but I think it's juicier when you cook it in a slow cooker as opposed to the oven. In a slow cooker, you can't really have a rub and a basting sauce so you want to put a bunch of aromatics (onions, garlic, celery, carrots, ginger, etc.) in the pot with the shoulder.
To be honest, I have a long way to go to start blogging about BBQ. It's serious business here in the south. I plan to get a smoker this summer. Once I start getting serious about BBQ, I'll blog more.
The party was a great success and everyone's bellies were full of some tasty food. More importantly, I got to spend quality time with some of my best friends! I love you guys and we'll do it again soon.
xo,
Levi
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