Posted on

Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

My culinary journey has taken me down the pathway of barbecuing and grilling. My pellet smoker has become a critical part of my cooking equipment We’ve smoked our Thanksgiving turkey, ribs, pork shoulder, and more. And the brisket . . . mmmm, brisket . . . is out of this world.

But smoking meat is only part of the process. Great barbecue requires great sauce. So I’ve gathered recipes from the masters, made some adjustments of my own, and developed a repertoire of “go to” sauces that can put burgers, ribs, and brisket over the top with flavor.

Steven Raichlen is a master of barbecue. His book Barbecue Sauces, Rubs and Marinades outlines the critical components of a good barbecue sauce.

Base: While most barbecue sauces use some sort of a tomato base, you can make a great sauce with mustard, vinegar, beef or chicken stock, or even mayonnaise as the base.

Sweetener: Sugar, honey, molasses, jams, jellies, syrups, and soda provide a sweetness that helps counter the acidity of the vinegar or other souring agent.

Souring agent: Vinegar or sour juices give barbecue sauce its distinctive punch.

Seasonings: Every sauce needs a salty component to help meld the sweet and sour ingredients.  Soy sauce, Worchestershire, fish sauce, miso, olives, and others bring the needed saltiness.

Heat: Many sauces include a heat factor. Chile peppers, ginger, black and white pepper, cayenne, red pepper flakes, wasabi, mustard, horseradish, and more. Choose a heat index that resonates with your taste buds.

Aromatics: As Raichlen notes, “Aromatics give barbecue sauce its personality.” Onions, garlic, fresh peppers, herbs, spices, liquid smoke, and more. For my money, few things whet my palate as well as the smell of garlic and onion sauteeing in butter.

Enrichers: Butter, olive oil, lard, bacon, beef stock, and others help round out the flavor of your sauce.

I smoked some pork ribs this weekend and needed to make some sauce to go with the ribs.  This sauce is one of my favorites.

It uses ketchup as a base and Dr. Pepper as a wild card sweetener. I like to up the flavor a bit by using Cherry Dr. Pepper. It’s flavorful and surprisingly easy to make.

Sautee your aromatics in butter, then add the remaining ingredients and bring everything to a boil.  Stir the sauce occasionally to keep it from burning. But otherwise, it requires little attention. Once you try it, you’ll never buy your barbecue sauce again.

Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

From Soaked, Slathered, and Seasoned

  • 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
  • 12 oz. Cherry Dr. Pepper
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • ½ cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. Ancho chili powder
  • 1 tsp. fine ground white pepper
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Melt the butter in a heavy pan. Saute the onion and the garlic in the butter until translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the flavors are well blended, which will take about 15 minutes. Continue cooking until the sauce begins to thicken, about 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper if desired.

When it has cooled, blend the sauce in a blender until it is smooth. Store in the refrigerator.

Make about 5 cups.

Posted on

Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls with Pistachios

Two weekends each year (in April and in October), my family gathers with other members of our faith worldwide to participate in the general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Over two days, we listen to the general authorities and officers of the Church as they provide us with messages of hope and inspiration to guide our lives for the coming six months.

Modern communications allow us to participate in the conference from the comfort of our own home. And so we have turned the conference into a culinary experience as well as a spiritual one.

I like to make sweet rolls for our conference breakfast. In October, I made cinnamon rolls using challah dough as the foundation. But I’m always game for something new, so my eyes got big when I came across a recipe for Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls with Pistachios in the Breakfast 2020 issue of Fine Cooking magazine. Spoiler alert: it’s as good as it sounds.

Sweet raspberry preserves blend well with the tart lemon glaze. Toasted pistachios provide additional crunch and flavor. What a great way to start your day.

Lemon Raspberry Sweet Rolls with Pistachios

The Best of Fine Cooking: Breakfast 2020

Dough

  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon yeast
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Filling

  • 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter,  softened
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup raspberry preserves
  • flour as needed

Glaze

  • 1 egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • Heavy cream as needed
  • 1/4 cup toasted pistachios, chopped

Making the Dough

In a small pan, bring the milk to a boil over medium heat. Watch it closely so it doesn’t boil over. Remove the milk from the heat, and melt the butter in the milk. Let the milk cool to 110* to 115*.

In a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, lemon zest, and salt on medium speed. Add the milk mixture and eggs and mix just to combine.

Knead the dough on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes in the mixer. If mixing by hand, turn out the dough onto the countertop and knead for about 12 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a buttered bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set the dough aside to rise until doubled in size (about 1 to 2 hours).

Shaping the Rolls

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix the sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a 12×16 inch rectangle. Using a spatula or our hands, spread the softened butter evenly across the dough. Then spread the preserves across the entire surface of the dough. Coat the preserves evenly with the sugar and salt mixture.

Starting at the short end, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the long seam and the ends closed. Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 12 one-inch wide pieces. Place the rolls into the buttered dish. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature until the rolls are touching (about 1 to 2 hours). During this second rise, preheat your oven to 350*.

Baking and Glazing

Whisk the egg yolk and about 2 teaspoons of water to form an egg wash. Brush the wash across the top of the rolls. Bake about 20 to 25 minutes or until the rolls are golden brown.

While the rolls are cooling, mix the powdered sugar, butter, and lemon zest with an electric mixer until smooth. Add heavy cream to bring the glaze to your desired consistency. Spread the glaze on the warm rolls. Sprinkle the pistachios over the glaze.

Posted on

Are you an “Essential Worker”?

With the spread of the coronavirus, restrictions are being placed on all but the “essential workers” in the economy. Healthcare workers and first responders clearly are “essential workers.” But the definition doesn’t end there.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) is responsible for managing risk to critical national infrastructure. This new federal agency – an operational component under the Department of Homeland Security – sprang into existence in November 2018 with the passage of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018.

As noted on its webpage, the Agency has identified the sectors of the economy that are critical for “both public health and safety as well as community well-being.” Those sectors include a robust cross-section of American life:

      • Chemical Sector
      • Commercial Facilities Sector
      • Communications Sector
      • Critical Manufacturing Sector
      • Dams Sector
      • Defense Industrial Base Sector
      • Emergency Services Sector
      • Energy Sector
      • Financial Services Sector
      • Food and Agriculture Sector
      • Government Facilities Sector
      • Healthcare and Public Health Sector
      • Information Technology Sector
      • Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
      • Transportation Systems Sector
      • Water and Wastewater Systems Sector

In short, “essential workers” are those women and men who help keep us alive and safe, especially during times of crisis.

While CISA provides guidance on what constitutes a critical sector of the economy, specific response efforts are “locally executed, State managed, and federally supported,” according to a March 19, 2020 Memorandum. Thus, response efforts will vary from state to state (and possibly from region to region within a state).

It can be a bit humbling to realize that you’re not “essential.” As a lawyer friend of mine observed, “19 years of education, 30 plus years of experience, and I’m still not ‘essential.’” I can relate.

To all the essential workers, thank you for your service.

Posted on

The Recipe for Success

My father-in-law passed away a few days ago. He was a kind and hard-working man, a man who took great satisfaction in helping others. We love him and we miss him.

My brother-in-law asked me to share a few spiritual thoughts at the funeral. And so I have contemplated the truly important things in life these past days.

I have pondered specific doctrines of my faith that bring me peace and comfort. I have reflected on how to share those teachings with family and friends who will come seeking consolation and solace. And I have evaluated the humble yet successful life of my father-in-law and questioned whether I measure up to his standards.

Success can be an elusive thing. And it is especially elusive if you do not have a clear vision of what constitutes success.

Last year I celebrated a milestone birthday, the completion of another decade of life. As I evaluated my own journey, I reflected on the traits that make up a successful life.  Here are a few of my thoughts:

  1. Be kind. Be especially kind to those who cannot do anything for you. Love your neighbor. Lift the burdens of those around you.
  2. Express gratitude frequently. A thankful heart is a happy heart.
  3. Never compromise your integrity. A reputation that takes a lifetime to earn may be ruined by a single impulsive act. Your integrity cannot be taken from you, but you can destroy it through your own actions.
  4. Make time for the truly important things in life. Faith. Family. Friends. Schedule in the big things first, and you will have ample room for the details of life.
  5. Keep learning. Innovate. Try new things. We live in a world of endless possibilities. Experience life. Dream big.
  6. Disagree respectfully. Understand the difference between the person and the point of disagreement. Find common ground. Listen to understand.
  7. Be prepared. Show up on time. Do your homework. Plan ahead.
  8. Be a mentor. Pay it forward. Develop a genuine interest in young people. Serve others.
  9. Ask for forgiveness. Own up to your mistakes. Repair the damage you have caused. Then change and be better.
  10. Forgive readily and completely. Forgive yourself. Allow others to change. Forgive those who have offended you even if they do not seek forgiveness. Forgiveness does not make you beholden to bad behavior. Instead, it enables you to take control of your life and have peace in your heart.
  11. Eat good food with family and friends. Life is too short to eat alone. Live. Laugh. Love.

Even with a clear vision of what constitutes a successful life, we all stumble and fall from time to time. I am grateful for those who turn a blind eye to my failings and love me nonetheless.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill

What is your recipe for a successful life?