What are you cooking with right now?

[Ale's What Cures Ya]

Yeah, I've made a bunch of BBQ sauce batches with whiskey and with bourbon, respectively, and the bourbon batches always come out better. Which reminds me, I'm out of bourbon.

So what kind do you usually get for your stuff? Just looking at the LCBO site it doesn't look like bourbon is a well developed category (shocking!).

[Iceman]

Thanks! I will definitely try this out. I usually put bourbon in my BBQ sauce when I make it, but never thought of putting coffee in before.

I love what bourbon does to BBQ sauce. I don't know too much about the drink itself (other than enjoying a good mint julep) but since it looks like I'll be buying a 750mL bottle I'll have to do a little exploring.

There are a few different BBQ sauces that I make, but the one with bourbon in it is hands down the best. I had a friend take the extra sauce home once because he liked it so much.

[andrewrg]

I just bought the cheap Jim Beam black label, I believe.

[cannondale]

Thanks! I will definitely try this out. I usually put bourbon in my BBQ sauce when I make it, but never thought of putting coffee in before.

I love what bourbon does to BBQ sauce. I don't know too much about the drink itself (other than enjoying a good mint julep) but since it looks like I'll be buying a 750mL bottle I'll have to do a little exploring.

There are a few different BBQ sauces that I make, but the one with bourbon in it is hands down the best. I had a friend take the extra sauce home once because he liked it so much.

Like pork ribs and bourbon? Try this..

-Trim some back ribs.
-Rub/cover liberally with your favourite cajun/tex mex or other rib rub.
-Slow cook in the oven (or slow cook on grill if you are so inclined) @ appropriate temperature/time.
-Blend together one small can of peaches, ~1 cup of BBQ sauce & ~1/2 cup of bourbon. Sauce the hell out of the ribs with this concoction while you are finishing them on your grill.

[cannondale]

Belgian and cannondale, you've given me some inspiration in selecting the correct beer for a carbonnade flamade.

I've never used the 'traditional' Flemish Sour Brown Ales (eg. the 'Flamande' beer) but it's supposed to be ideal with its combo of sweet / acid flavors. They do call it the Burgundy of Beers.

For a Flemish Ale, maybe Baccus Flemish Old Brown, or Petrus Oud Bruin if you squirred those away. Duchesse de Bourgogne as well as Goudenband.

But it's hard to sacrifice tasty Belgian sour ales in a stew! It's just as traditional to use what's cheap & locally available.

I was back at it with the carbonnade flamande yesterday. I found a recipe on a French site for carbonnade flamande traditionelle, and it turned out very similar (with some slight modifications) to the carbonnade flamande that I have had in Belgian restaurants. Here it is:

1 kg Beef (I used a top sirloin roast)
1 large Onion (I used a vidalia, because I love em)
Butter
Salt & Pepper
1 clove Garlic crushed
500 mL Beef Stock
500 mL Belgian Blonde Ale (I used La Chouffe)
10-12 white Mushrooms sliced thick
2-3 fresh Thyme sprigs
1-2 Bay leaves
2 tbsp. A/P Flour
3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. brown sugar
Several slices of (stale) French Bread
Dijon Mustard

Cut the beef into large pieces, say 2"x2"x2" (this is important IMO).
Saute the beef in butter until browned on all sides, then set aside.
Slice the onion very thin (I used a mandolin for this). Add a little more butter to the pan and then drop that pile of onions in. Saute them very well, perhaps 15 minutes.
On the side, prepare a brown roux using the flour and butter.
When the onions are ~5 min. from completion of saute, add the garlic and mushrooms to the pan.
With ~2 min. left in saute, add the wine vinegar and sugar to the pan.
Once saute is complete, add the beef back to the pan, then add all of the beer and stock and the bouquet garni (thyme and bay), and bring to a boil. Now stir in the roux.
Reduce heat, spread dijon mustard on both sides of enough slices of the french bread to cover the top of the stew. Allow the stew to simmer at low heat for ~3 hours.
When complete, remove and discard the bread slices and bouquet garni. (If it hasn't thickened enough, you may need to increase the heat for a while until you have a gravy thickened to your liking).

Serve with starch and veg of your liking. I ate it with Spaetzle tossed in butter, fleur de sel, fresh cracked tellicherry pepper and parsley, along with steamed veg (romanesco, carrots, peppers, cauliflower, etc.).

Oh yeah, enjoy it with Belgian ale.

[Iceman]

Here is the recipe for the bourbon BBQ sauce for anyone interested. It goes great with pork ribs.

Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup bourbon
3 tablespoons molasses
3 tablespoons clover honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon chili seasoning

In a large skillet melt some butter and saute the onions until they are translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add the ketchup, water, apple sauce, vinegar, Worcestershire, brown sugar, molasses, honey, mustard powder, chili powder, garlic powder, cayenne, lemon juice, and bourbon.

Stir to blend ingredients well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid scorching the sauce at the bottom of the pan

[andrewrg]

Interesting, you just leave little onion chunks in, rather than putting it through a food processor/using an immersion blender?

I also don't like ketchup, so somewhat out of principle I use tomato paste and water and sugar instead.

[iguenard]

Pork shoulder in a Crock Pot with a Brasseurs du Temps double-pumpkin ale.

Dats it.

After 4 hours in the pot, just add BBQ sauce, and enjoy. If you can find it (unlikely but hey), Maker's Mark bourbon BBQ sauce (comes in a tiny maker's bottle with wax) is killer with this.

[markaberrant]

For christmas eve, I smoked a couple pork butts. Made a quick and easy BBQ sauce:

1 bottle Sweet Baby Rays (decent commercial sauce, love the molasses, but a little to thick and sweet for pulled pork)
500ml Imperial Stout
spoonful off minced smoked jalepenos in vingar that I keep in my fridge
enough apple cider vinegar to get the sharpness I want for pulled pork

Cooked this down to a consistency I like (not thin like water, but it would still run off if you tried to coat ribs with it). Mixed some of it into the pulled pork, left the rest for people to add to taste.

It got rave reviews! Even I thought it was pretty damn tasty for something I just sorta made up off the top of my head.

[bartle]

Moose carbonnade with Storm Coffee Porter.

[Belgian]

Organic Veal Scallops pan seared & deglazed with shallots, chicken stock, lemon and parlsey + dash of solera sherry. My God that was tasty.

[sprague11]

Since the Super Bowl is around the corner I figure I'll do a brisket with some Lava Stout. Wife is thinking about tossing A bit of Brooklyn Lager in while she slowcooks some meatballs in hot sauce.

Now to grab a couple six packs of Liberty Ale and it's looking to be a good afternoon.

[Belgian]

Since the Super Bowl is around the corner I figure I'll do a brisket with some Lava Stout. Wife is thinking about tossing A bit of Brooklyn Lager in while she slowcooks some meatballs in hot sauce.

I've been obsessing over cooking me some brisket! Since you're braising in beer/stock (hard to dry the meat out) do you just buy the flat brisket cut (pretty lean) or the whole thing with the 'point' on (fatty?)

There's some mighty cool spice combos you can read on ChowHound, etc. People get creative with cloves and coriander, different mustard seed and fresh thyme etc.

Last night made seared calfs liver with lots of fried red onions (+ stock + Cremant de Limoux + solera sherry... great sauce and onions, still don't love liver so much...)

[sprague11]

Point on usually. the weather should be nice enough tomorrow for me to sear it on the grill a bit before it spend the better part of daylight hours in the slow cooker

[icemachine]

I find liver is best when it has been soaked in milk for at least an hour before cooking