...pork is the new white meat, and coffee is the new rub. I smoked the most awesome pork butt ever yesterday, had friends over, chatted and had fun. We had the water fountain going, but I wished it was near a swimming pool. We listened to all kinds of music, chatted, laughed and caught up with the four of us. For the pork, I brined it overnight, soaked applewood chips in wine one hour, rubbed the meat with a java rub -- not my own, it's got ground cumin, fennel, ground coffee and cocoa, from Mollie Stone's - really piqued my interest. I was reading of a licorice glaze you make from melting black jelly beans. Anyway, we smoked it for eight hours first with wine, then beer, in the pan, and it was a home run.
When I opened the Post this morning, there it was: a recipe for smoked pork butt. Ha! The Post tries hard to be cool, but as always, I am one step ahead. My recipe was better -- they didn't brine theirs and rubbed it with salt and brown sugar only, which might not bode well in a long smoke. I am a bit wary of that. Plus, we try to avoid straight sugar around our house anyway.
The meat was delicious, the company generous and the grilled portabellos, pasilla pepper, eggplant and zucchini weren't bad either. Dessert was this tangy watermelon-basil salad marinated in a citrus vinaigrette. Ask me for the recipe.
Tonight I make a cherry reduction (crushed bings reduced in butter and cabernet) for the sauce for the pulled pork. This morning's brunch was a spicy vegetarian goulash with nopales, tofu, onion, chickpeas, tomatoes and a dash of sriacha served in a scooped-out tomato half. I can't help myself! With all these fresh ingredients, what I have I learned from the web and watching cooking shows, coming up with my own ideas, it's hard not to go overboard. I ordered the pork from Dittmer's, best damn butcher in the valley. Too bad their home page looks weird.
We found a few bottles of this stuff at the Twice As Nice in Groveland. It's a strong, bittersweet red kind of cranberry-grapefruit flavor soda reminiscent of Campari liqueur, without the alcohol. I found an hilarious commercial for Sanbitter on YouTube:
