On Saturday night, Aaron and I threw a party for our friend Walt's birthday. The theme was MEAT. That's right MEAT. We bbqed most of the day and fed people at around 6:30 -- we had brisket, pulled pork, pork country ribs, bbq chicken (which spend a little too much time on the grill and became blackened) and elk burgers. We had an awesome time prepping all the food and grilling.
The Brisket - it was good, but didn't get the smoke ring, we need to leave it on longer next time
The Pulled Pork - so good, and so cheap
The Country Ribs - okay these were the sleeper hit.. Aaron seared them in a dutch oven with a mess load of onions, then he added water and bbq sauce to cover for and let it come to a boil. It then simmered for an hour. We took it off the heat and threw them on the grill for awhile. Then we stuck them in the oven to keep warm once it had a nice bark on the outside. Oh. My. God. They were juicy and tender and made me never want to resounce eating pork.
The Chicken - it was a little heavy on the carbon -- we couldn't taste the spices I worked into the legs because they were so burned!
The Elk - yes Elk! I mixed ground elk with chopped roasted garlic (not the kind in a jar, the real stuff!), worchestire, salt and black/red pepper. These burgers grill up tender and juicy and have great non-gamey flavor -- plenty of meaty goodness and the garlic was fantastic
I also made some asparagus that the guys "accidentally" burned on the grill, whole sweet potatoes (one which I ate at 3AM before passing out) and some potato salad (with cumin, red onion, cilantro, sour cream, mayo and whole grain mustard).
What was also awesome was the bbq sauce I invented that evening. The not so awesome part is I have no idea how I made it. I started off making a vinegar sauce. I sauteed some grated onion and roasted garlic and then added 2 cups of vinegar. To that I added a few squirts of ketchup, brown sugar, worchestire, black pepper, salt, seasoned salt, indian ground red pepper, chipotle powder, and dry mustard. Well that ended up tasting pretty good and then I thought about the fact that most of the meat we were making would taste better with a tomato base. So added about a can of tomato sauce. That effed up my flavor, so I had to start over with the spicing. I'm pretty sure it was a combination of the spices and sugar above, but I didn't measure anything. After being satisfied with all the crap I added, I went and sat down and left the sauce on simmer. About an hour later I checked it and it turned into this amazingly delicious sauce. I then proceeded in trying to kick my own ass for not writing down what I put in it. I'm not sure I can replicate it ever again, but the attendees of the party will surely have tasted something special that night and it will live on in all our memories.
I also made my pay off pitch dessert, the chocolate almond souffle torte (if you're interested in the recipe, it's on epicurious). I made it the first time back in '97 out of a Bon Appetit magazine. Aaron requested I make a raspberry sauce to go with it along with the usual almond whipped cream. I must say it took the dessert from extraordinary to "holy crap! You're a god!"
We all enjoyed ourselves very much, including smoking some apple mint tobacco out of the hookah my parents bought us (yes, my parents). I also made some blood orange margaritas which are very pink and festive -- thanks to Max for the recipe. I have not gotten tipsy in awhile, so it was really nice to be able to drink too much, hang out and talk to friends and then go pass out in my bed. It was also very nice to know that I had no obligations on Sunday and could vegetate in my hungover state.
Cake con Pere e Cioccolato
8 years ago
