A little piece of home in Denver

Eric and I went to the First Annual BBQ Festival in Denver this past weekend.  There were pitcrews with award winning BBQ ribs, brisket, and pulled pork.  One place claimed to make "West TN BBQ" while another claimed to make "Memphis Style Ribs."  I probably shouldn't have gotten excited but after searching for years for good BBQ, I couldn't help but get a little excited.  On Sunday, we went downtown and Eric tried a pulled pork sandwich...where the pitmaster wouldn't allow you to get it without coleslaw >=/ I HATE coleslaw...except for German obviously b/c it's vinegar based and not creamy at all.  So, needless to say, I didn't try it.  He said it wasn't bad though.  I went with the Memphis style ribs....O the disappointment.  They were dry, not well seasoned, and the sauce was not good at all.  I really should have known better than to get excited about this one.  On top of it all, they were cold.  They came with a side of baked beans that tasted like pure sugar.  The sad thing about this experience is that people in Denver think this is good BBQ.  It's like the BBQ crews didn't feel the need to actually make good BBQ b/c no one would know the difference anyway! So now that I'm done with my brief rant, I will get on to last night's dinner.

Because of my terrible experience, I decided it was time to make some good BBQ and that's what I did.  Last night, I made a whole Memphis BBQ meal of pulled pork, homemade BBQ sauce, mac and cheese, braised cabbage, and cornbread.  I wasn't able to take as many pictures of this process b/c I was too busy cooking but I still managed to get some in.

To start, I rubbed the pork shoulder with mustard and covered it with my dry rub.  It's pretty standard and consists of all the basic things that go into a dry rub.  I will leave it to you to figure out your own mixture.  I then let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, I think it was about 4.

I didn't add any additional liquids b/c I knew the pork would create it's own from the fat.  I then put it on low and let it cook for about 9-10 hours.

The second thing I started working on was the BBQ sauce.  The ingredients I used for the sauce were as follows:

ketchup

worcestershire

apple cider vinegar

jalapeño

onion

butter

chili powder

brown sugar

onion

coffee

garlic

I started by melting the butter and cooking the onion until tender.  

Then, I added the garlic and jalapeño and cooked for a bit.  

At this point, I added the chili powder and allowed the flavor to develop before adding the remaining ingredients, which was mostly the liquid.  I allowed it to simmer for a little over an hour.  

While the sauce was simmering, I began working on the braised cabbage.  This is probably one of the easiest things to make and it always comes out delicious.  The ingredients for it were

cabbage

bacon

olive oil

bay leaves

onion

salt

pepper

beer

To begin, I cooked the bacon until crispy.  These are cut into about 1 inch slices and then separated once I put them into a pot.  Once the bacon was cooked, I added the onion and bay leaf and cooked for a couple of minutes.  The cabbage, which I cut into shreds, was then added in sections.  I wanted some to wilt and shrink b/c otherwise, it wouldn't all fit in my pot.  Lastly, I added the beer, put a lid on it and let it cook for about 45 min.  Every now and then, I would give it a quick toss. 

Next, came the mac and cheese.  I decided to make baked mac and cheese.  To start, you just boil some elbow noodles.  While this is cooking you work on the cheese sauce.  This consisted of:

flour

butter

bay leaf

paprika

nutmeg

egg

cheese

milk

salt

pepper

mustard powder

To start, the butter, mustard powder, chili powder, nutmeg, and flour go into a pot and you stir for a few minutes, basically making a roux.  Once that's done, you add the bay leaf, milk, paprika, salt, and pepper, and you let that simmer for a bit, about 10 minutes or so.  Then the bayleaf is removed and the liquid is added slowly, while stirring, to the egg.  At this point, cheese is also added to the mixture.  I added about 1 cup but you can choose how much you want.  

This is then poured on top of the noodles in a casserole dish and mixed evenly.  Then top the whole dish with noodles, cover with foil and throw it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes or so.  During the last 10 minutes, I removed the foil.  

Once the mac was in the oven, I made the cornbread.  This process takes all of 3 minutes so you can do it and pop it in the oven with the mac and cheese.  The ingredients were as follows:

sugar

flour

cornmeal

eggs

butter

honey

I started by mixing the sugar, flour, and cornmeal in a bowl.  In another bowl, I put the eggs, butter, and honey.  Then, I mixed the wet into the dry and mixed with my hand.  Once it was all incorporated, I put the mixture into the muffin tins.  Make sure not to overmix.  All you need is for the wet to be incorporated into the dry. 

I then threw this in the oven with the mac and let it bake about 25 min. 

Final products of everything looked like this

Sorry the pork picture isn't better, I had already dug into it before i remembered to take a pic and that's how it came out =/  

The meal was wonderful!  The cornbread came out very soft, with a good sweetness to it.  The cabbage had a great bacon flavor and was nicely braised.  The pork came out great.  It had great flavor, even without the sauce.  There was a good spice to both that I think complimented each other well.  Also, the sauce was rich and sweet, while the pork was more smoky and salty.  The mac and cheese was rich and super cheesy.  The best part about this meal is that you can mix everything together and it all tastes good mashed up!  

This was so much better than "award winning" BBQ that we paid $8 a plate for downtown.  I don't think I will ever go in search of BBQ in Denver again b/c I know I will be able to make it better and cheaper.  We have tons of leftovers too which is the best part! 

It's things like BBQ that make me miss Memphis, but it's good to know that I can at least attempt to recreate it and it'll hold me over until I visit again.