Triple Treat

Behold the incredible, the amazing, the delicious Triple Treat.

It's pulled pork, Black Forest smoked ham, and peppered bacon with Mad Dog Chipotle BBQ Sauce on a toasted onion roll. With dill pickles on the side.

A word about the bacon. I oven baked the bacon (baked bacon!) after covering it with fresh cracked pepper. I use a cookie pan with a non stick drying rack.

Put the bacon slices on the rack and coat with fresh cracked pepper. The more pepper the better. Bake on the center rack in a 400 degree preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Watch closely because the bacon can over cook and burn. Put aluminum foil in the pan for easier cleanup (although you should be able to rinse out the bacon grease with hot water).

A big shout out to Bobby K's Roadside Cafe for inspiring this creation.

And a big thanks to BBQ Sauce Reviews for introducing me to Mad Dog BBQ sauces!

How to butcher a pig

This is good to know.

Via BBQ Junkie.

Pork Chops on the Grill

Today was a good day to grill bone-in pork chops.

I used my standard pork rub and brushed the chops with a melted butter and lemon juice and garlic sauce. And smoke: hickory, mesquite, and apple wood smoke.

The pic is a little out of focus but the chops were right on.

Restaurant Review: Cotten's Bar-B-Que

Ask ten people at random what their favorite BBQ joint is and you'll get ten different answers. Ask ten people in Jacksonville, Florida, the same question and nine of them will tell you Cotten's Bar-B-Que on the corner of East 16th and North Main. The tenth person won't be from Jax.

Fred Cotten's Bar-B-Que has been a Jacksonville fixture for decades (founded in 1944). Growing up, my family ate there all the time. They still do. And I make a point of going there for lunch at least once every time I visit. In it's heyday, you could find city officials, including the mayor, and police eating lunch just about any day of the week. You can't get much better recommendations than having the police as frequent diners.

Cotten's features pork ribs and pulled pork sandwiches, smothered in their secret recipe mustard and vinegar sauce. Our favorite is the rib sandwich plate. It includes about a third of a rack of ribs between white bread slices, with straight cut french fries and a small salad. The salad features Cotten's unique dressing, similar to thousand island. Somehow those ribs on the right were cleaned off before I had a chance to take a picture. Oops.

Cotten's is small and serves up everything on Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils, but that just adds to the experience.

As I understand it, after Fred Cotten passed on the restaurant was run by his long time employee, Ms. Lucille (it was still owned by members of the Cotten family). She always had a smile and good conversation. I remember one time in the 90s I went to the counter to order some sauce to take back with me. "You know, I came all the way from Atlanta for this BBQ sauce," I told her. Ms. Lucille laughed and said, "If you came all that way then I'll give you a bottle free!" She also warned me to keep it refrigerated "because Mr. Cotten, he gave me the recipe before he died but he didn't say how long it'd keep!"

Since then I've always had the image of Fred Cotten on his deathbed, giving out the ingredients between gasps until finally, "...and it will keep for... arrgh!" RIP, Mr. Cotten.

Unfortunately, all has not gone well for Cotten's in this century. A new owner, Billy C (pictured on the left with long time cook Johnny),  bought it in 2000. He has renamed it Billy C's Fred Cotten Bar-B-Q and added more items to the menu. Since then business seems to have been on the decline. The politicians and police have moved on to an even smaller BBQ joint opened by Ms. Lucille and her sister Ernestine in 2002 called TC's. I'll review that when I get a chance.

In spite of the recent changes, Cotten's is still the best BBQ place I've ever eaten at. If you get a chance try their rib sandwich plate with sweet tea. You won't regret it.

Recipe Review: Susur Lee's Chinese Barbecued Pork

I reviewed Steven Raichlen's The Barbecue! Bible last week. This week I'll talk about a couple of his recipes. The first one is Susur Lee's Chinese Barbecued Pork. According to Raichlen, Susur Lee was born in Hong Kong and owns a restaurant in Toronto called Lotus. Well, he used to own a restaurant in called Lotus. As I said in my review of the book, I have an old edition. Since then Lee has moved on to other culinary pursuits.

Susur Lee's current whereabouts and activities aren't really relevant to how good his Chinese barbecued pork recipe is. And it is good. One of my favorite Chinese dishes is barbecued spare ribs. The sweet glaze they use gives the ribs an exotic flavor and unique red tint. I've tried many times to duplicate this, to no avail. Until I tried this barbecued pork recipe. It uses pork tenderloins instead of ribs but possesses the same taste. The only thing missing is the red tint. I can live with that.


The ingredients are shown on the right:

• Pork tenderloin
• Celery, chopped
• Carrot, chopped
• Onion, chopped
• Ginger, minced
• Tangerine or orange zest (I used both)
• Rice wine or dry sherry (I had sherry handy)
• Soy sauce
• Maple syrup
• Asian dark sesame oil

Preparation is easy. Combine the vegetables and liquids to make a marinade. Marinate the tenderloins at least a day (two days is better). On cooking day remove the tenderloins from the marinade then strain the marinade and reduce it in a sauce pan on the stove.

Grill the tenderloins until done, brushing frequently with the marinade. Let them rest, slice, eat. The remaining marinade makes a great sauce. Steamed cauliflower goes well with this entree.

What makes this recipe so great while all my previous attempts failed? It was the sesame oil. I think that added the piece I've been missing to solve the Chinese barbecue puzzle. Now I can't wait to try it on ribs.

Obligatory quibble: Like the other recipes in The Barbecue! Bible, this isn't truly barbecue since it's prepared over a direct grill. Who cares? It's the taste that counts.