Ever since I went to Graceland last month I have had the urge to come up with a BBQ dish inspired by the famous Elvis Presley Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon sandwich. Known as “The Elvis” this sandwich is known worldwide and my goal has been to come up with a main course that used the elements of the sandwich but could be cooked outside and was suitable for an entree.
What I came up with was Pork Belly with Peanut Butter & Banana BBQ Sauce.
There are plenty of ways to incorporate peanut butter into a BBQ sauce but coming up with a way to get bananas into the sauce was more of a challenge. The banana challenge lead to some very interesting exchanges with owners of the Asian markets in the Sacramento area.
Vinegar is often times a key ingredient in BBQ sauces. A quick googling of “banana” and “vinegar” let me to the discovery of a product found in Japan and the Phillippines–Banana Vinegar. Banana Vinegar was just the ticket I needed. Since the product was all over the internet I figured I would have little trouble locating it. However, after getting laughed at in several of the largest Asian markets in the Sacramento area I asked my BBQ buddy “Landarc” to find me some Banana Vinegar.
Since Landarc is Japanese and knows every Asian market in the San Francisco Bay Area he’d have no trouble finding it. Well, after also getting him laughed at in several markets I gave up the search and decided to make my own banana infused vinegar.
Banana Infused Rice Vinegar
- 1 12 oz bottle Rice Vinegar
- Peels from 2 bananas
Slice the banana peels into thin slices that will fit through the neck of the rice vinegar bottle. Grill the banana peels on a medium hot grill until the peels start to turn brown and the oils from the peels start to come out.
Empty the rice vinegar into a small sauce pan and warm the vinegar slightly. Fill the empty bottle with the grilled peel slices.
When all the peels are in the bottle fill the bottle with the warmed vinegar. The grilled peels along with the warmed vinegar should allow the banana flavors to infuse into the vinegar.
Put the lid back on the bottle. When the bottle has cooled to room temperature store in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Does it really need a couple of weeks? Who knows, I’m winging it all at this point.
I used rice vinegar because I figured it would allow the banana flavors to stand out a little more than if I used the stronger apple cider vinegar or white vinegar. I’m not sure if it worked because the flavor of the vinegar did change but it didn’t taste like banana. But the thought was there.
But wait! There’s more!
After going through the whole banana vinegar process it dawned on me that there was a much easier way to get the banana into the meal. Banana Sauce! What a simple solution that is. And to make matters even worse I had a bottle of banana sauce in my pantry the whole time.
Banana ketchup or banana sauce is a popular Filipino condiment made from mashed banana, sugar, vinegar, and spices. Its natural color is brownish, so it is often dyed red to resemble tomato ketchup. Banana ketchup was made when there was a shortage of tomato ketchup during World War II, due to lack of tomatoes and a comparatively high production of bananas. –Courtesy of Wikipedia
And since the Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce contains ketchup I knew this would be a great way to get more banana into the meal.
Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce
- 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1/4 cup Banana Sauce
- 1 tablespoon of your favorite BBQ rub (I used Plowboy’s Yardbird Rub)
- 2 tablespoons Banana Infused Rice Vinegar
In a medium bowl stir all the ingredients together and set aside until ready to use.
Now that I’ve got the banana and peanut butter covered I decided that instead of bacon I would use pork belly. Since pork belly is what bacon is made from I figured it was the perfect meat to use.
After removing the skin from the belly I lightly seasoned the belly with Yardbird Rub. I put the pork belly into my Traeger with cherry pellets for 2 hours at 190 degrees. I wanted the pork belly to take on some smoke but didn’t want it to cook much.
After taking on some smoke I put half the BBQ sauce on the pork belly and put it in a covered foil pan with some apple juice and braised it on my Char-Broil infrared grill for another two hours. After two hours I turned the grill up to high and seared the belly to crisp it up and caramelize the sugars in the bbq sauce. I brushed on the rest of the sauce and got a nice sear on it.
I served the Elvis Belly with grilled sweet potatoes and Cilantro Sauce.
Get yourself some sweet potatoes and wedge them into nice big hunks. Brush the potato wedges with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill them on all sides until they are done. Sounds pretty easy…because it is.
Cilantro Sauce
- 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons raw onion, grated
- 3 tablespoons salsa
Stir all the ingredients together until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
Serve over the grilled sweet potatoes or as a dipping sauce.
