Barron BBQ Sauce

December 6th, 2010
by: Sue

This sauce is really good with country pork ribs. It is thicker than my Dad’s Mitchell BBQ Sauce, and should be painted on the seasoned ribs with a brush after they have already slow cooked for a couple of hours. Cook at a low temperature for another 30 – 45 minutes, turning them and brushing more sauce on every 10 minutes.The sauce will bake on without burning. It is also very good as a side to your favorite rib, steak or chop.

Pour into a stainless steel saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes, or until onions become transluscent:

3/4 cup whiskey
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced

Into a 2 cup glass measuring cup, add:

1/3 cup Bragg’s apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1/2 Tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons smoke sauce
2 Tablespoons lemon juice concentrate
1 teaspoon or more Sriracha hot sauce (to taste) I like it spicy!

When onions are done, add the contents of your glass measuring cup to the skillet, then pour into the same cup:

2 cups ketchup

Pour the ketchup into the pan, stir to blend the ingredients, and simmer the mixture for at least 20 minutes. The slower the simmer and the longer the time, the better it will be. When through simmering, put an immersion blender into the mixture and further break down the chunky pieces of onion and garlic. This makes the sauce taste better, but I kind of like some bits of onion to be visible. Place sauce in jars and store in the refrigerator overnight for the flavors to develop. It is better the next day and keeps on getting better! Yield: 3- 4 pints

This sauce should be used as a glaze, or a side. It gives a very pretty glossy redness to the meat when used as a glaze.

Sue’s Spectacular Spaghetti Sauce

August 14th, 2010
by: Dude

When Dude and Dude’s sister visited Sue during summer 2010, they thought it would be a wonderful experience to make some incredible spaghetti sauce. Thanks to Sue for leading the way for a new generation of cooks!

Ingredients:
1 medium/large onion (diced)
2 carrots (peeled and grated)
2 stalks of celery (diced)
4 cloves of minced garlic
2  cans of crushed tomatoes (26 oz/can)
1 can of tomato puree (6 oz)
1 lb Italian link sausage
4 slices bacon (diced and browned)
3 stems rosemary (diced)
1/2 box chicken broth (around 16 oz)
salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning to taste
wine to taste

Directions:
Brown the bacon and the sausage in a skillet. Sauté vegetables in the big stock pot, using olive oil. Salt and pepper the vegetables as you sauté them. Once they are wilted and translucent, add the tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, and cooked meat. Simmer on medium low for 2-3 hours. Add wine to taste midway through simmer. Make sure to check the pot and stir it occasionally. Serve over al dente spaghetti. On top of that spaghetti, you can put grated cheese of choice to taste.

(Note: you can substitue browned hamburger for the Italian sausage, but if you do, make sure to add red pepper flakes to the hamburger)

Perfect Gravy

October 12th, 2009
by: Blue

One of the ways I rate restaurants is by the quality of the gravy.  It doesn’t matter what kind of gravy it is – brown, white, chicken, sausage – if it’s not made from scratch, I can tell INSTANTLY.  Pun intended.  Instant gravy has a very distinguishable taste, and it’s not all that great.  Alot of people don’t seem to have an issue with instant gravy, but apparantly I am a spoiled rotten gravy snob.  That’s right – a gravy snob.  I know what homemade gravy is and I know how easy it is to make, so my tolerence for any other kind is low.

Gravy is easy!  All you have to do is start with a roux.  Again, it doesn’t matter what kind of gravy you are making; a roux is always the perfect beginning to a perfect gravy.  And puh-lease! I don’t belong to the cornstarch-in-gravy fan club!  Cornstarch is flavorless, and I don’t like the gelatinous texture.  I’d much rather have a flour-based roux that allows me to layer flavors in the gravy. 

To make a roux you need a 1 to 1 ratio of oil/fat to flour.  For a medium size batch of gravy I usually use 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 flour.  I don’t think you can really have a better flavor combination for roux than butter and flour, there’s nothing bad about that, but feel free to substitute oil or crisco for the butter if you must.  Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan.  Once it’s melted whisk the flour in, and continue to whisk constantly until the flour is light-to-medium brown and smells nutty.  Don’t walk away from roux; it burns easily.

Add your liquid according to what kind of gravy you are making (see  Gravy Variations below).  Your gravy will be lumpfree if you add a cold liquid to a hot roux, but don’t sweat the small stuff if you have hot liquid and hot roux and no time to wait.  Just whisk and whisk and whisk, until the gravy is smooth.  Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the gravy is as thick as you like it.  Season to taste with salt, black, and white pepper.  I always season with white AND black pepper because I like the bite of white pepper, and again, it’s all about the layering of flavors.

Gravy Variations:

Poultry gravy – add 1-2 quarts of chicken or turkey stock to the roux.  Add poultry seasoning if desired.
Brown gravy – Add 1-2 quarts of beef stock to the roux
Cream gravy – Add 1-2 quarts of milk to the roux
Lighter cream gravy – Add 1/2 – 1 quart of chicken stock and 1/2 – 1 quart of milk to the roux
Sausage gravy – Add 1-2 quarts of milk to the roux and 1 lb of browned, crumbled breakfast sausage (or vegetarian sausage)

Who doesn’t love sausage gravy?  It is a favorite in my house, even when I make it with vegetarian sausage.  Please pass the biscuits!

Mitchell Barbeque Sauce

September 27th, 2009
by: Sue

My Dad loved to barbeque, and one of my favorite childhood meals happened when he barbequed pork chops over charcoal with this sauce sopped on when the chops were nearly done. Since it has a lot of sugar, if you put it on too quickly, the meat will blacken too much and you’ll have blackened pork chops. This recipe came from his family, I understand that Granddad Mitchell brought it from Louisiana. Our family fled Louisiana after the Civil War and came to Texas. Good move!! This sauce because of the high vinegar content will tenderize your meat if you also use it as a marinade before cooking. Forget about bottled sauce, this is the best!!

1 large can tomato juice
1 quart vinegar (preferably apple cider)
2 lb. bag brown sugar
3 -4 onions, peeled and sliced
3-4 lemons, sliced
8-10 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 bottle worcestershire sauce
1 bottle Tabasco hot sauce
salt
pepper
Optional: 1 can tomato puree to thicken

Combine ingredients in large pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes, or you can reduce this by cooking longer. When the smell of sauce wafts through the air, remember all the joys of barbecues in the past.

Pour into quart canning jars. This does not require refrigeration. Use as a marinade or brush over barbeque in the last few minutes of grilling.

This recipe was from my Dad who got it from his Dad.