Dude, get a Crock Pot

We eat a lot of bbq in the South and it's mostly pork here in Virginia with its proximity to North Carolina. I've found the easiest way to make pulled pork is with a Crock Pot. I highly recommend you get one.

Since it cooks for twelve hours, you can use pork butt, shoulder or roast...as long as it fits in the pot. I give mine a quick spice rub in olive oil, chopped garlic and a healthy dose of Garam Masala.

Take about a cup of bbq sauce, whatever you have around the house...KC Masterpiece works fine, miz it with about 2 cups of water. Mix it up and pour about a third into the pot then lay the pork in filling the pot with the rest of sauce until the meat is 2/3 covered. Set the temp to low and it it go for half a day. Once it's done, break apart with a fork and drain the sauce.

About a half an hour before you serve, make some cole slaw. I use green cabbage, purple cabbage and carrots in mine. Mix together a cup of mayo, 1/2 cup of sour cream, a dash of mustard, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp of cider vinegar. Chop up a whole head of green cabbage, 1/4 head of purple and 3 carrots and add them to the mix. Let set for about a half hour.

Last thing to get is the buns. I go for potato rolls but regular hamburger buns work too.

Heat up a little extra bbq sauce from the bottle on the side and assemble the pulled pork sandwich by laying down a layer of meat, add a little sauce, top with the slaw and eat.

Stock

Pretty much the foundation to a lot of the cooking I do is good, quality stock. I've made veggie and beef in the past, but mostly I make chicken stock. It's also a very therapeutic endeavor. Great for Saturdays or Sundays during football season. I tend to only roast chickens during the winter months. Besides, you don't want something giving off six hours of steam in your house in the middle of summer.

First thing's first. You need to get a chicken carcass and some veg together. Here's my basic roasted chicken recipe.

1 good chicken. I rarely side with the foodies, but I cave on birds. Get an organic without any antibiotics. Free range is less of a concern to me because, after all, it's a chicken. The crap they put into the chicken is another matter and from my experience, the taste is effected by said crap.

1 head of garlic, 1 onion, 2 cups chicken stock - store bought is fine, 1 lemon, rosemary (I use fresh but dried works), butter, salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Remove giblets if any. Rinse the chicken. I know, seems daft but do it. Pat it dry with paper towels and pitch them when done. Wash your hands after touching the chicken at any point throughout the process.

Coat the cavity with salt and pepper, quarter the lemon and cram it in the cavity along with the rosemary. Close the legs with kitchen twine or those kick-ass silicone rubber bands. Rub the chicken with about 2 Tbsp of butter.

Stick the chicken in the hot oven for 30 minutes.

Peel and chop up your onion and break apart your garlic head keeping the skins intact.

Once the first 30 minutes has gone by, pull the chicken out of the oven and remove it from the baking dish. Drop the oven to 350 F. Add the stock, chopped onion and separated garlic. Stick the chicken back on top of that stuff and put it back in the oven basting every 20 - 30 minutes until it hits 165 F. Remove and let sit for 15 - 20 minutes before carving.

After you've picked the carcass clean, you can toss it in the freezer in a ziploc until you are ready to make the stock.

Put the carcass in a big pot...5 quarts or so...and cover with water. Add whatever veg is almost rotting in your fridge. Carrots, celery, parsnips, onion, peppers, broccoli, whatever you got. Add a pinch of salt, a handful of peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer uncovered for about six hours. Run to the hardware store and pick up a case of Bell's mason jars. I get the pint sized because that's usually how much I need down the road. Once it's done, strain it from the solid bits, skim any fat off the top and pour it into the jars. Don't fill it all the way to the top...leave about an inch...let cool to room temp and then stick them in that spare Sub Zero you got out in the garage.

Simple egg sandwich

One of the standbys I use at least twice a week is making egg sandwiches for the wife and kids. Lately I've been going to Trader Joe's and getting their tubed refrigerated buttermilk biscuits and making two batches over the weekend so I've got them at the ready. A good egg sandwich is ridiculously easy to make...you don't need to douche it up like Bobby Flay probably wood with chipotle infused carne asada that's been marinating for three days in your spare Sub Zero in the garage.

One egg. Fry, scramble, poach, hardboil or however you like it. Remember it's got to fit snugly on the round biscuit bottom. Folding in half is OK but I wouldn't recommend that if it's got a runny yolk.

Meat. I usually use sliced sandwich ham. After the egg is almost done cooking, I add a slice to the frying pan.

Cheese. I usually go swiss or cheddar. Sliced or grated both work.

Biscuit. Sliced in half, I turn my broiler on, lay the cheese on the top and bottom slices of the biscuit and put them on the oven rack until the cheese melts.

Stack the ingredients between the biscuit halves and chow down. I usually need two. On the weekends, I pair it with a Bloody Mary.

Athletes

Baseball food

It's time to take the kids to the park for a healthy dose of unhealthy-ness. Here in DC we have the greatest hot dog on earth, the half-smoke. For those uninformed, the City Paper did a great story on half-smokes a couple of years ago.

I went to opening day in DC today and Dippin' Dots, my girls' reason for going to games were nowhere to be found. But they did have 20 different gelatos. Go figure. That and Peroni on tap. Maybe the Nats could at least beat the Italian national soccer team...in baseball.

Latest Food TV obsession is Chopped. My 10 year old daughter turned me onto it. Which is odd. I'm sure a band is next.

Have some Easter leftovers to deal with so there should be some soups coming soon,

Remnants

Leftovers. Great if you can get another dinner out of them, but if you can't - do lunch. I had some roasted chicken that needed consumption and was out of bread except hot dog buns.

I'm not a big fan of lobster rolls because I don't like lobster. I prefer my crustaceans to be of the Maryland Blue variety. But my wife likes them so I know what they are. Since I only had a hot dog bun, I decided on a quick, poor man's version with chicken. For flavor I looked around the fridge and found a half stick of pepperoni from the last time we made pizza and made a couple of thin vertical slices; some cheddar, cornichons, mayo and yellow mustard. Usually I use dijon, but I reckoned the pepperoni would be enough of a kick. For the younger set, try a milder salami.

Lay the chicken, salami and grated cheese on a hot dog bun and put it in the oven onder the broiler for a couple of minutes. When cheese is melted, remove, slap on the condiments and enjoy.

Inspiration and influences

I've had a few people ask me what my influences are beyond the few cookbooks I've mentioned. I guess if I had to choose a singular influencing factor, it would be this.