Bar B Que

The subject of this post is way southern Bar B Que - all the way south to Guanajuato, our beautiful colonial city high up in central Mexico.

The guy with the twinkling eye below is our friend, Conrad. He grew up in Alabama and has lived, worked and cooked in Atlanta, Barcelona, San Francisco and New York. And Conrad knows more than just a thing or two about cooking.

Conrad knows that real Bar B Que is about slow cooked pig and smoke, - and not beef with a sauce that masks the flavor of the meat. Real Bar B Que is a subtle thing, - sweet smokey pork cooked long and low with a light vinegar sauce. And boy does Conrad know how to do it right!

Last week Conrad and I went together to a favorite butcher shop in the nearby city of Silao where we buy wonderful Chorizos de Almendrada, a special chorizo made with dried fruits and almonds in addition to chirozo's normal meat and spice sausage stuffing. While we were there we asked them if they could get 'hombro de cerdo completo'. We had been heretofore unable to find a pork shoulder that still had sufficient fat on it for self basting long cooking. The fat on pork in Mexico is usually removed as lard and cracklins (chicharones), are highly desired. To our surprise our little carniceros friends carted out and flopped on the counter a whole pig not yet butchered and asked us just how we would like it cut. Conrad directed them and we got a beautiful pork shoulder still covered with a thick layer of fat.

Conrad cooked the shoulder overnight very slowly with a gentle smoke and the ensuing party was not unlike any 'pig pickin' you may have attended in North Carolina, Georgia or Alabama. - except it was better. After chopping the pork just the correct amount, Conrad served sandwiches with the pork and a perfectly complimentary cole slaw that he had prepared. Our friends, Southerners, Yankees and Mexican alike were all awed. 

!5 Hours of slow cook and smoke

Just Right!

The Chop Kibitz

- Asombroso Conrad! Hog heaven!

Sour Orange Pork

Last summer when we were in the Merida we once again had occasion to sample the Mayan dish, cochinita pibil (baby pig buried). One of the keys in preparation of this dish is to marinate the pork in bitter or sour orange juice. This high acid content juice helps tenderize the pork and gives it a tangy flavor that we really like.

Last week we bought a pork loin (lomo de cerdo). There are a number of sour orange trees around our house and no one seems to use the fruit. They just fall off the trees. So I gathered four of them and juiced them for a pork marinade. 

Here's how it was prepared:

First, open up the loin with a filleting knife (butterfly) so it is long and much thinner.

 

Then put the 'fillet" in the sour orange juice in the fridge to marinate for most of the day. In the marinade was the juice, a couple of chopped up garlic cloves, about a teaspoon ground cumin (comino molinio) and a teaspoon of Salsa Inglesa or Worcestershire (these are a bit different and I didn't properly note which was used, but I think either would do). Also, put in a big squirt of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce.

When you take the pork out of the marinade, put the 'fillet' out full length on a cutting board and spread a mixture of chopped dried prunes, sun dried tomatoes and raisins across it. Then roll up the pork and tie it with cotton string to hold it all together. Put salt and pepper and a little more ground cumin on the outside of the 'roll' and brown it in olive oil in a good sized frying pan.

Put the marinade in the pan and covered it to cook. After 15 minutes the marinade will be near cooked down, so add a bottle light beer (I used a Corona) and cook it another 30 minutes.  Then take the pork out of the pan and put it on a platter to cool down. Make a sauce with the pan drippings and pour it over the pork and serve.

I thought this dish tasted very good, but it was a little dry. This cut of pork has no fat - especially here in Mexico. I froze half of the pork and when we ate the second half I made a sauce of chopped prunes and raisins, a little balsamic vinegar and some honey. I cooked it down and thickened it with a little flour. This was a good addition to help with the dryness and added a little more of the sweet and sour flavor.