Shannon twisted my arm and, like always, I broke under the pressure. I had avoided making jambalaya ever since our cooking class in New Orleans for reasons that were a mystery, even to me. Maybe it had been built up too much. Maybe the loosey-goosey directions from our cooking class were a bit intimidating. Maybe it was just sheer laziness. Whatever the reason, the clock was ticking. Read More…
Living in an RV creates special obstacles for someone who likes to cook eat as much, and as well, as I do. “Boondocking” adds a whole other layer of challenges, mostly relating to concerns about limiting water used for prep and clean-up. It is for that reason that hamburgers, hotdogs, deli salads and meats are so often associated with camping. But that isn’t the kind of diet I’m going to adopt willingly. Fortunately, there are tasty alternatives to the standard campground grub. One of which is Chicken Sates with Spicy Thai Noodles.
What makes this dish campground friendly is that the Thai noodles can be prepared a couple days ahead of time and served at room temperature, or even cold. Take that potato salad! The Sates marinate in a freezer bag before getting thrown on the grill. Add steamed vegetables and some House of Tsang Peanut Sauce (which is surprisingly good right off the grocery store shelf) and you have high-quality Thai take-out served up in the heart of the wilderness. How’s that for “roughing it?”
The following recipes are approximations of what I do. Read More…
As far as road-food goes, nothing can touch a tasty pulled pork sandwich. And in a delicious twist of fate, nothing is simpler to make on the road, or easier to clean up afterward.
I use a generous amount of the same barbeque rub we made earlier (recipe, here) on a four pound pork shoulder and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for several hours. Throw a sliced onion, a couple of garlic cloves and a cup of ginger ale in the bottom of a crock-pot. Place the meat in the pot, turn it on low, and let it cook for twelve hours. Remove the pork from the crock-pot and shred it with your fingers, which is easy because after twelve hours it basically falls apart into a meaty pile of deliciousness. Mix the shredded meat with an entire bottle of Stubb’s Spicy barbeque sauce and you’re done.
The two of us will get four meals out of this and only have to clean one pot. That’s pretty freaking perfect in my book.
I don’t usually post pictures of my meat on the internet, but sometimes it looks so mouthwateringly tasty that I just have to share. I’m also celebrating something of an epiphany. And I have a confession to make. I don’t know how to barbeque. It is somewhat emasculating to admit, but I only cook a couple of things on the grill, and none of them qualify as traditional American barbeque (chicken tikka, fajitas, etc). Up until now, barbequed chicken was a matter of throwing some breasts on the grill and slathering them with store bought sauce. Shannon liked it well enough, but for me the results didn’t warrant even the minimal effort it required. Part of the problem is that we’ve spent our entire adult life living in a city. No backyard, no barbeque. But now, man-style cooking over open flame is de rigueur. So if I’m going to do it, I want to do it right. And I want it to be awesome.
What I’ve learned is that great barbeque isn’t about the sauce. It is about layering flavors. Store bought sauce can actually be very good, but if what is underneath is a piece of dry, tasteless carcass, then the whole thing ends up being a waste of time. But there isn’t just one secret to making great barbequed chicken, there are two . . . rub and mop. The rub (a blend of dry spices) forms the first layer of flavor. Brown sugar and paprika in equal parts (together with salt, garlic, onion powder and pepper for some kick) creates a sweet and smoky base that screams traditional barbeque. Rub the spices on to the chicken and let them soak in for several hours before grilling.
The “mop” sauce, however, is a revelation. Basting grilled meat with sugary barbeque sauce causes the outside to burn before the inside is done. But a vinegar-based, sugarless mixture of spices can be applied throughout the cooking process, keeping the meat juicy and adding another layer of flavor. Only in the last couple of minutes does the barbeque sauce come into play, getting seared into the meat right before it comes off the grill. The final product . . . mmmmmmmm, beautiful barbeque.
Barbeque Rub (makes enough for several meals)
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs salt
2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp cayenne
Mop Sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp thyme
Barbeque Sauce – Stubb’s Spicy (or brand of your choice)
Everywhere Once 