Bad State Of Gruntledness

OH. MY. GOD. I think I’m having a tastegasm.

I had this idea a while ago for carnitas-style baby-back ribs.

This didn’t really turn out much like carnitas, and I didn’t use baby-backs, but GODDAMN! did it turn out awesome.

This isn’t really a recipie as much as it is an “I kinda did this, and it came out OK”, anyway, here we go:

Buy pork. I used spareribs, because they were on sale, but a shoulder roast should work too.
Get some limes, around 10 or so.
Orange Juice, maybe two cups or so, or a few actual oranges.
Salt
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Rum.

Mix the salt, garlic powder and pepper in roughly equal amounts and rub it generously onto the pork. let the pork sit in the fridge for a couple hours so the salt has time to soak in.
Juice a few limes and combine with an equal amount of orange juice, pour it over the pork and let it marinate. Hack up the fruit rinds and throw them in with the pork, too.

After a few hours, pour off most of the fruit juice, toss the rinds and inject the meat with a mixture of equal parts lime juice, orange juice and rum. Put the whole sheebang in the oven, covered, on 225F for about four hours. If you’ve got as fatty cut of pork you’ll want to pour off the drippings about halfway through.

Once it’s done shred it with a pair of forks and eat.

I’m not sure I could serve this to other people, just because I couldn’t stop eating it. I nearly snarled at The Wife when she tried to taste it.
This made about 2.5 pounds of meat, YMMV offer void where prohibited.

I made some changes to my chili recipe this weekend. I may have outdome myself.

Combine in large pot:

2 large (15 oz.) cans Red Beans or Pinto Beans (I prefer Red beans, just for color)
1 24 oz. Bottle Young’s Oatmeal Stout
2 cups beef broth
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 Tbsp. Seasoned salt
2 bay leaves
5 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 Tbsp. Cayenne powder*

Cook the above over low heat while you prepare:

1 lb. Beef chorizo.
Just go ahead and dump it all in, grease and everything.

2 lbs. ground sirloin or ground chuck
(Course ground works better)
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
1 head garlic, minced

combine beef and onion in a skilett and cook untill beef is just cooked through and onion is limp. Add the garlic in the last two minutes of cooking.

Combine meat with beans and cook over low heat until thick (about 2- 2 1/2 hours)

I took this batch to a party on Sunday and people were raving about it. I may have achieved perfection.

I love chili, so much so that I spent about two years of my life as a pre-teen eating nothing but canned chili and Kraft Macaroni and Cheeze (Accept no substitiues!). I’ve been looking for a Dennison’s-style recipe for a while, just a basic chili that amenable to being spiced to tounge-swelling levels and isn’t based on yukky tomatoes.

so here’s the chili recipie I’ve been playing with lately.

Combine in large pot:

2 large (15 oz.) cans Red Beans or Pinto Beans (I prefer Red beans, just for color)
2 strongly flavored beers (24 oz.)
(I’ve used Negro Modelo and Sam Adams, both of which work well. I’m curious how a really hoppy beer like an IPA would work. Also a strong stout like an Imperial Stout or Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout could be really good also)
1 cup beef broth
1/2 tsp. thyme
2 bay leaves
6 Tbsp. Chili powder
1 Tbsp. Cayenne powder*
3 jalapeno peppers stemmed, seeded and pureed*

Cook the above over low heat while you prepare:

2 lbs. ground sirloin or ground chuck
(Course ground works better)
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
5(or so) cloves garlic, minced

combine beef and onion in a skilett and cook untill beef is just cooked through and onion is limp. Add the garlic in the last two minutes of cooking.

Combine meat with beans and cook over low heat until thick (about 1 1/2 – 2 hours)

Alternative for the meat.

2 lbs. lean stew meat cut into 1/2″ chunks
4 slices bacon (the thicker and fattier the better)
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
5 (or so) cloves garlic, minced

Cook the bacon untill all fat renders (very crisp) and set aside. brown meat and onion in the bacon fat until meat is just cooked through and onion starts to carmelize. add garlic in last 2 mins. of cooking. Combine with beans and cook as above.

Serve over rice, or with cheese, crackers and sour cream. Or on hot dogs**. Or combine with mac and cheese.

*Alternatively leave out the cayenne powder and jalapenos and replace with fresh cayenne, habenero or scotch bonnetts. Or leave out entirely, if you’re a spicy food whimp)

**Note on dot dogs. There are only four commercially available brands of hot dogs that are fit for human consumption: Hebrew National, Vienna Beef, Nathan’s and Sabrett. Use other types at your own risk.