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.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Larry Gaian

If you take a corned beef and smoke it you end up with pastrami.  Now I’m a huge pastrami fan and have done a couple different pastrami posts on the blog before.  This time around I wanted to do something that was a little closer to traditional.  Not all the way, but closer…

One of the only rules with our “challenges” is the protein has to be cooked outdoors using some type of live fire.  Because I wanted to braise the corned beef I figured a dutch oven would be the best way to go.  However, due to it raining at what seemed like biblical proportions I needed to use the “Big Easy/Dutch Oven” combination again.  It worked like a charm.

My 14 inch dutch oven fits perfectly in the top of my Char Broil Big Easy Infrared Smoker, Roaster, and Grill. (Left)  The corned beef in the dutch oven, seasoned with Todd’s  Crabby Dirt, as the braising liquid was added.  I used beef stock, nothing special, just pre-packaged beef stock. (Right)

I braised the corned beef about three hours until it was fork tender.  Because of time constraints I needed to do this cook over two days, so I removed the brisket from the braising liquid, let it cool and then wrapped and put in the refrigerator.

Cooling the corned beef brisket turned out to be the way to go.  Because the beef was so tender it would have been difficult to cut and then grill had I tried to do it while it was fresh from the braising liquid.  Instead I was able to cut it and slice off the fat layer that was still on it.  Worked great…

I grilled up the thick slices of corned beef, both to reheat and to give it just a touch of smoke flavor.  The potatoes were quartered and seasoned and grilled right along with the corned beef.

I plated the corned beef and potatoes and topped it all with a nice cabbage and apple slaw.  The slaw was easy to do.  Just take a quarter head of green cabbage.  Cut it into large chunks and cook in boiling water for four minutes.  Remove the blanched cabbage from the boiling water and immediately shock with ice cold water, to stop the cooking.  Drain and dry the cabbage.  Add a half a julienned Granny Smith Apple, the juice from one lemon and some crushed red pepper.  SERVE IMMEDIATELY.  If you let this slaw sit for to long the red pepper will combine with the lemon juice and apple and give you a slightly bitter taste.  If you serve it immediately you won’t have this problem.

Additional participants in this month’s Ingredient Challenge include:

Paul Haight of No Excuses BBQ – ENTRY HERE

The No Excuses BBQ website was started in January of 2009 as a way to record the author’s goal of cooking outdoors at least once a week throughout the year and showing the results to the world. Somewhere along the way things got out of control…

Bob Fukushima of Bob’s Brew & Que - ENTRY HERE

Bob started Bob’s Brew and ‘Que in August of 2009 with the intent of sharing his views on food and drink. Originally focused on BBQ and Homebrew, it was inevitable that the influences of his upbringing in the San Francisco Bay Area and it’s wealth of ingredients as well as his heritage as an American of Japanese ancestry would help focus his blog, as it has his approach to food and drink.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

Here’s what we came up with for dinner tonight:

Celeste whipped up some amazing bread dough

Celeste put the dough in a bowl for the first rise before she left for church choir practice. I received the instructions to punch it down with it doubled in size.

I FORGOT!

While Celeste was making the bread dough I unwrapped the pork that was resting.

During the first rise of the bread I pulled the pork. I should have "reseasoned" with some additonal rub. I always do that but for some reason I forgot this time.

Celeste rolled the dough out nice and thin and cut it into different sized circles. We weren't sure how much the dough would rise again or how much pork to put in them, so we made different sizes and shaped.

Celeste starting forming the "pockets" while I took the pictures

Here they are in the oven.

After we took the rolls out of the oven we brushed them lightly with melted butter mixed with Big Z’s sauce. And last, here is the final product all plated up with some Bush’s bean and Celeste’s Chipotle Slaw!

And a fresh jalapeno right out of my garden

The food was fantastic. You could tell the owners actually had a smoker they used when you walked into the place. The J&R “Oyler” pit was right down front. The owner without hesitation let me take a walk around the pit.

I ordered the “Smoked Meat Plate” which came with tri-trip, brisket and pork collar and two sides. The meat was great. The brisket was tender and moist and done to perfection. It almost melted in your mouth. The pork collar (a different cut of meat I need to check out) was sliced and again was just amazing. The tri-tip was, well tri-tip. Nothing great compared to the other two meats.

For the sides I had beans and cole slaw. The beans had a unique flavor profile. They were good, but trying to guess the spices was challenging. The owner would only confirm that cinnamon was in them when I guessed right. The cole slaw again was unique and very tasty. The vinegar based sauce had a good heat kick at the end, but was not overpowering. My wife had the Memphis style pulled pork sandwich and again it was very good. We ended up sharing both plates.

The most amazing thing was that everything from the side salad to the cole slaw and beans were all from scratch. No bagged lettuce, cabbage or canned beans here, all scratch.

There are not many BBQ restaurants I will go back to more than once. But Yunece 61 will be a regular stop on our evenings out. Check out their website, lots of specials. Including “All You Can Eat” nights during the week.