I like tacos because each guest can pretty much decide how much meat or veggies they want wrapped in their tortilla. A tortilla with just the pork would be great, better with a little slaw, but still good. For the non-meat eater the black beans and slaw will make a tasty and hearty meal.

Normally, I will cook beans with ham or salt pork to kick up the flavor but this time around I decided to just try seasonings and stock. In this particular case I used chicken stock but substituting vegetable stock would work also if you’ve got vegetarians at the table. Depending on the black beans you’re using you may have to pump up the spices. If you can find and afford heirloom black beans get those, they are much more flavorful and require less seasoning to make the taste pop.

The Avocado Slaw was, simply, one of the best things I’ve come up with. This slaw uses green and red cabbage, red onion, avocado, red bell pepper, radishes, carrots, jalapeno and cilantro. I really enjoy this combination of tastes and color. The red bell pepper adds a nice sweetness that works well with the acid in the slaw vinaigrette.

Don’t be afraid to adjust the veggies in the slaw to suit your needs or produce availability. You can easily use green bell pepper, green onions. Drop the radishes if you want. Maybe use a Serrano chili instead of a jalapeno for more heat. Toss in some Jicama for extra crunch. It’s really up to you. Recipes should only be a guide, take them a make them your own.

We ate the slaw wrapped up inside the tortillas but it’s good enough to stand up as a side dish. One of the keys to keeping this on the healthier side is to keep the dressing to minimum. The vinaigrette is packed with flavor so you don’t need much. If you want more flavor just add more seasonings to the vinaigrette, don’t add more vinaigrette to the slaw. You just want to wet the vegetables not drown them. This will also help to keep you tortilla from getting soggy.

What made this slaw especially tasty was the vinegar I used.  A couple of weeks ago I made a trip to Napa to have lunch with some friends.  When I’m in Napa I always stop at Rancho Gordo for some heirloom beans.  This time I left with my favorite Yellow Eye beans and some banana vinegar.  I was thrilled to find, real banana vinegar.  A couple of years ago I went searching for banana vinegar because I wanted to cook an Elvis Presley inspire pork belly.  So, it was pretty much a given that I would be leaving the store with this stuff.  The flavor is sweet and with a very mild vinegar tang. It’s perfect for a vinaigrette and was perfect for this dish.  And since it’s made in Mexico it was an ideal addition to this Mexican inspired dish.  This vinegar isn’t cheap, actually it’s expensive in my book, but it’s good and if used for special dishes will last a long time.

The beans from Rancho Gordo are so good and thanks to the employees the store is fun to visit.  For that reasons I don’t mind giving them a little plug for the banana vinegar.  Here’s the description from their website:

You don’t come across something as wonderful as this everyday. Our mild, fruity vinegar comes from the Casa Stivalet plantation in the beautiful state of Verazcruz. Unlike some flavored vinegars, this isn’t plain vinegar with banana flavor added; it’s made from fermented plantano machos, a breed of bananas somewhere between a regular banana and a plantain.

Most people flip when they taste the vinegar. Of course it works as a key player in a salad dressing but I’ve been having fun with ceviches, in particular. A local Napa pastry chef mixed two parts banana vinegar with one part piloncillo (kind of like brown sugar) and drizzled it over vanilla ice cream. it may sound odd but if you’re like me, you’ll hit High C.

The flavor is fruity, and while it’s clearly banana, it’s not too sweet or cloying. The acidity is 6%. Mixed in salads, there’s a vague but wonderful tropical quality that trancends cuisines.

This vinegar isn’t cheap, actually it’s expensive in my book, but it’s good and if used for special dishes will last a long time. (And just for the record, I bought this bottle myself)

As wonderful as the banana vinegar is it’s not going to be available for everyone.  In the recipe below feel free to substitute apple cider vinegar, rice vinegar or any other vinegar you might normally have around the house.  Or for that matter just use all lime juice.  I really like the combination of vinegar and lime juice so I’d recommend staying with that, but if all you got is limes then just use those.

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*If you visit in any of these great blogs would you leave a comment you read about them on The BBQ Grail?

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

I stopped at The Fatted Calf yesterday on my way through Napa to pick up a little bacon.  The Fatted Calf produces some of the most amazing cured meat products in Northern California.  Their slab bacon is simply…amazing.

I sliced off a little bacon to just cover the bread.

I used the Char-Broil RED to cook the bacon.

When it was all done I added some mashed up avocado, some heirloom tomatoes and lettuce.  A little slather of mayo made this a nice little sandwich for my entry in the Bacon Throwdown.  I’m not sure if my sensible little B.A.L.T. will be good enough to win, but it sure did taste good.  (No I didn’t eat the whole thing…in one sitting.)

St. Louis style ribs are prepared by removing the cartilage from the “top” of each rib rack.  If you go to a BBQ restaurant and order “rib tips” this is where they’ve come from.  Some meat processors sell these “rib tips” by the case.  It can be an economical way to serve ribs to large groups.

When you trim lots of racks of ribs you end up with quite a few freezer bags full of trimmings.  One of the most common questions asked on BBQ forums is “what do you do with your rib trimmings?  There’s a lot of different techniques/recipes for rib trimmings.  Here’s one of the ways we utilize rib trimmings at are house. (Click each picture to enlarge.)

Place all your rib trimmings in the crockpot.

Add a can of green enchilada sauce and cook until tender

Shred the pork. Make sure you discard all fat and cartilage

After straining the liquid and removing the fat reduce on the stove.

Reduce the liquid from the crockpot down to a thick "syrup" consistency.

Add the reduced liquid back to the shredded pork and mix well.

Take your uncooked tortillas and poke holes all over them.

Place your tortilla over a small bowl and bake at 400 degrees until brown

Now you've got a bowl. Fill it with the pork and all the fixings.

**I use Tortilla Land uncooked tortillas.  These tortillas can be purchased at Costco and provide a great fresh tortilla that compliments your food.

***The rib tips were in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours.  Make sure you get all the fat drained out of the meat.  One great way of removing the fat is to cook the meat the day before and put the liquid in the refrigerator, after it cools.  The fat will congeal on top and you can easily remove it.

]]> http://thebbqgrail.com/2010/rib-trimmings-awesome-taco-salads/feed/ 4 http://thebbqgrail.com/2010/smoked-and-fried-chicken-wings/ http://thebbqgrail.com/2010/smoked-and-fried-chicken-wings/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:35:27 +0000 Larry http://thebbqgrail.com/?p=2307 I love chicken wings.  They are small bite sized morsels of poultry goodness.  I’ve smoked wings lots of time and wanted to give something a little different.

I cranked up one of the Weber Smokey Mountain smokers with some avocado wood.  Avocado wood is a somewhat hard wood that goes great with chicken and pork. 

Continue reading ... Smoked and Fried Chicken Wings

I love chicken wings.  They are small bite sized morsels of poultry goodness.  I’ve smoked wings lots of time and wanted to give something a little different.

I cranked up one of the Weber Smokey Mountain smokers with some avocado wood.  Avocado wood is a somewhat hard wood that goes great with chicken and pork.  It’s a mild wood that should be treated like you would a fruit wood.

The wings were seasoned with Simply Marvelous Season All and smoked at 225 degrees for about 2 hours.  Because it was a busy day I let the wings cool and put them into the refrigerator for eating at a later date.

After sitting in the refrigerator for a couple of days I took the wings out of the refrigerator and let them come up to room temperature.

After the wings warmed up a little I gave them a little milk dunk and a dust of flour.

After letting the flour set into the Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor Turkey Fryer they went for about 10 minutes.  They came out nice and crisp.

The wings got a coating of Sweet Baby Ray’s new “Original Dipping Sauce”  The sauce has a mild horseradish flavor and complimented the season all and avocado wood.

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