BARBECUE

COFFEE-RUBBED PORK RIBS
with house-made barbecue jus

These ribs were rubbed with a coffee-spice rub consisting of ground coffee, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, salt, brown sugar, cayenne, smoked paprika. You wanna cake this stuff on. I baked them at 185 F overnight on a sheet pan with pot of water placed on the rack underneath to bring a touch of moisture to the cooking environment. It should take anywhere from 6 to 8 hours. It won’t appear tender because the meat doesn’t fall right off the bone like a lot of Food Network enthusiasts insist should happen, but it is tender. The spices caked on from earlier create a very dry crust, or bark, keeping the immediate meat inside super moist and tender.

When I make barbecue food, I always have a pot of ham hock stock working. It goes with everything from the ribs to the collard greens. I use it here in the barbecue sauce which is essentially a spiced and reduced ham hock stock. First I toast the spices (same as the rub) with butter, add ketchup, mustard, worcestershire, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and jalapenoes. I also add a bit of fish sauce like I do to everything. Then I cook that for about 10 minutes before adding the stock and reducing. The resulting sauce is pretty loose, but extremely porky.

COLLARD GREENS
braised ham-hocks - bacon

1. cut collard greens into strips the size of your thumb.
2. render diced bacon in dutch oven.
3. add chopped onions and garlic. sweat on low until translucent.
4. add touch of bbq spices. get em toasty.
5. add collard greens. season with ham hock stock, molasses, touch of apple cider vinegar. cover and simmer. stir occasionally until the greens are nice and tender.
6. drain the greens, keeping the liquid.
7. reduce liquid. finish with butter. fold greens back into the jus.
8. fold in chunks of braised ham hocks.
9. eat that shit.
10. die happy.

PORK & BEANS
navy beans - braised ham hocks - kelbasa sausages
If you made a ham-hock stock like I’d suggested, most of it will be going into this dish. Soak the beans overnight with water in a big pinch of salt. Strain the water and cook the beans with some aromatics (onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme) and add the ham hock stock. Add just enough liquid so that once it’s cooked, the liquid barely covers the beans (about 3 parts liquid to 1 part uncooked beans). In a separate pan, render some bacon and brown diced sausages. Once your beans are about 90% done, add the meat. Fold in barbecue into the whole mix and then simmer until the beans are completely tender, but not breaking. Lastly, fold in the chunks of braised ham hock meat leftover from the stock. Finish with some lemon zest, and it’s perfect.

 

BARBECUE PLATE
coffee-rubbed ribs - collard greens - pork & beans

Here it is all together. Only thing missing is a niblet of corn or slice of cornbread.