Recipe: Flo's Kickass Pulled Pork

Today's world food that you can prepare at home is a fusion of French, Portuguese and the American South. In the USA pulled pork comes in many different ways and with a wide assortment of condiments. None though, are quite so easy nor nearly as delicious as Flo's Kickass Pulled Pork!

This is a recipe from my friend Andy's parents (and my friends as well) Chuck and Flo. For some reason my British and Antipodean friends always chuckle when they first hear the names "Chuck and Flo" but that is their quirk not my own. I'm adding this recipe to Chop Onions, Boil Water for three reasons: For one, it's a really good, crowd pleasing and delicious dish. Secondly, it is a breeze to prepare and most importantly I wanted an opportunity to write about Chuck and Flo.

I usually call this recipe "Flo's Kickass Christmas Pulled Pork" not because they only serve it at Christmas, but rather because that is how I associate it. You see, Chuck and Flo, really like Christmas and by that, I mean to say that they really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really LOVE Christmas (that's 50 really's in case you didn't count). I remember the first time Andy mentioned (warned) me about how they decorated their home:

Andy: "I have to help my parents string Christmas lights on the house this weekend."

Henry: "Oh, they like to decorate the house?"

Andy: "Yeah, they go nuts."

Henry: "Yeah, I've seen houses like that."

Andy: "No, I don't think you have."

I shrugged his last comment off. Thinking he was just internalizing and dramatizing the weekend task at hand.

I couldn't have been more wrong, the first time I visited their home around Christmas it was apparent. I was at least a half mile away from the house when I saw it. A glowing aura in the shape of a half-dome in the distance. NO LIE! Before I ever saw a single light on the house I could see the atmosphere around the property all a glow! In fact, there is a famous image of the first millisecond of a thermonuclear explosion that shared shocking similarities to the gigawatt induced luminescence that lay before me in the clear frosty cold Rhode Island night. My heart began to race.

I turned the final corner before their house - and there it was. It was overwhelming. A holiday display of such excess and surplus that I heard myself gasp. Imagine 279.533 (repeating) normal festively lit homes all physically inhabiting the same space. That is how it all looks (ordered and well executed of course). Electric glowing, festive, sparkly, splendor! Unfortunately, space restraints forbid a full inventory here, but trust me, it is an awesome spectacle. Plus it gets grander every year. Because through their generosity and charisma Chuck and Flo manage to cajole, influence or woo willing accomplices to their Christmas madness. In fact in the year 2004 they got a group of these goons to build a special Christmas train so that Choo-Choo-Christmas-Chuck can pull guests around the the Christmas yard and past all the Christmas lighting exhibits set-up in the yard. Even strangers showed up for rides. Where do they get these willing accomplices and participants from?

They've said that 2008 was the last Christmas in which they would create their seasonal spectacle. Some folks believe them, I'm wondering...

Flo's Kickass Christmas Pulled Pork

Fresh (unsmoked) pork shoulder
1 TBS. Gravy Master
1 TBS. Kitchen Bouquet
1 TBS. Garlic powder
12 ozs. hot crushed pepper (this is the "wet" variety that comes in a jar)

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Coat the pork with the combination of Gravy Master and Kitchen Bouquet.

Sprinkle all over with garlic powder.

Cover the pork with hot crushed red pepper.

Cover the pan and place in the oven for about 6-8 hours. If it looks like it is cooking too fast turn the oven down a little.

During the last 1-2 hours of cooking, baste the pork frequently to mix the crushed red pepper with the rest of the juices.

Shred (at this point the pork will just freely fall off the bone) and serve with fresh rolls or roasted potatoes.

Accept oohs, aahs, mmmms, yums, and praise from your family and guests.

Recipe: Flo's Kickass Pulled Pork from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk http://www.choponionsboilwater.com

Recipe: Great Bake-At-Home Baguettes

Good bread defies description. There's also something about tearing bread that has always felt honest and base to me. I guess bread is a food that makes me wax romantic.

Today, the world gives us a bread recipe that found its origins in the kitchens of Polish bakers working in Vienna. Sure, it is most identified with France, but much of the great bread of France can be traced back to Vienna. So, from Vienna to your kitchen.

Though this isn't a "sourdough" bread, I do use a sourdough kicker in the beginning, but it's just to add some oomph and character and well, I kind of had to improvise because of an oversight. More of that in a bit. That's what sets this recipe apart from the original I used. The original required making a conventional starter using some regular bakers yeast, a little flour, some water and about 20 hours resting time.

Well, the night before I originally made this bread I kind of had a little too much red wine and forgot to do the conventional starter. As I needed some fresh bread for dinner and I always have a sourdough starter going in the fridge, I decided I'd try that instead of the conventional starter and see what happened. Well, it was really good. It was good for dinner, good for sandwiches, good for freezing, GOOD! So I guess that overindulgence was a divine intervention, or at least that's what I'll tell myself when I forget things because of too much red wine.

I also made a few adjustment to the "punch down" process during the dough rise that seemed to help me get the kind of stick bread I was looking for.

Also, baking really is a pretty simple and easy process. It's not hard and when you tally up the actual active time the bread making requires it comes out to about 25 minutes. This recipe and my other bread recipes may seem really long and involved. That is only because I am trying to be a descriptive as possible if the processes and tricks involved. Don't be intimidated. Read the directions through a few times. Do a little research online of the techniques and you'll see that baking bread, no, baking GREAT BREAD in your home is EASY!

Great Bake-At-Home Baguettes

1 cup sourdough starter
1 tsp instant yeast
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water
3 1/2 cups (14 3/4 ounces) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 cup of warm water

In a large bowl or your mixer bowl with the paddle attachment, add the sourdough starter, yeast, water, flour, and salt, and mix and knead them together until they become a solid cohesive mass. Then if you like you can use the bread hook on your mixer and knead it an additional 10-12 minutes. Or, you can do what I prefer to do and knead it by hand. Kneading bread by hand is more fun than it would seem and it really give you a great feeling for the dough. It'll teach you how to make better bread a lot faster than the machine. It's you choice.

How to knead by hand:

Turn the dough ball out onto a lightly floured surface and knead. (I've found the best way to knead dough is to push down and forward into the dough mass. Pick it up, return it to its original position and then repeat the entire action three times. Then turn the dough ball 1/4 of a turn and repeat the entire procedure. Continue doing this for 10 to 12 minutes. You're looking for a dough that is soft and pliable and tacky but NOT sticky. If you're not familiar with working with dough, be patient. Dough responds slowly to changes in moisture. Make small adjustments and give it time. If the dough seems a little dry, moisten your hand with a little water or milk and continue working it. If it seems wet and is sticking to the kneading surface, dust the surface and dough with a little flour and continue kneading. Again, the resulting dough after kneading should be smooth, pliable and tacky but not sticky. With this particular dough a little roughness on its surface is desirable.

After kneading, form the dough into a rough ball and cover with plastic wrap. Allow it to relax for 10 minutes.

While the dough relaxes find a suitable bowl or container that is large enough for the dough to easily double in size. Coat that container with a thin layer of oil. (I find a plastic food container of about 5 to 6 quart capacity with a cover is ideal).

Allow the dough to rise for one hour. Then take the dough out and GENTLY knead it down with your knuckles (don't push forward, just gently downward). Take one end of the dough and fold it midway over itself. Take the other end and fold it over that. Knead GENTLY down again. The dough should still be soft and spongey, it should form a rough rectangle. Repeat the folding and then knead gently one more time.

Place it back in the oiled container and allow it to rise again for one hour. Then again, take the dough out and repeat the gentle kneading process again.

Return the dough to the container and allow it to rise for one more hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Carefully divide the dough into three pieces. Shape each piece into a rough, slightly flattened oval, cover with greased plastic wrap, and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, fold the dough in half lengthwise, and seal the edges with the heel or edge of your hand. Don't flatten all the dough, just the outermost edge being sure to get a tight seal.

Then flatten it slightly again, and fold and seal again.

Then With the seam-side down, cup your fingers and GENTLY begin roll the dough out into a log shape. Remember when you were a kid and you would roll Play-Doh into a snake on the table. Well, just like that only VERY GENTLY and without flattening your log or making it dense. GENTLY!

You want them to get to about 15". I have found it is best to do this in 2 to 3 steps. Roll it out a little. Cover it and let it rest while you start another. Then come back and roll it some more.

When finished, place the logs onto a waiting baking tray that has been lined with parchment and then sprinkled with some cornmeal or semolina. Cover them again with some lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaves to rise until they have become quite puffy (about 60 to 90 minutes depending upon room temperature).

Preheat your oven to 475°F; if you're using a baking stone, place it on the second or third lowest shelf. On the lowest shelf, place an oven-proof NON-GLASS pan (A small cast iron fry pan is ideal,) on the bottom shelf.

When the baguettes have risen, brush them with an egg white mixture (1 egg white, one tablespoon of cool water).

Then using a very sharp knife held at about a 45° angle, make three 8” vertical slashes about 1/4" deep in each baguette.

Spritz them heavily with warm water, as this will help them develop a crackly-crisp crust.

Place the baguettes in the oven. Add the warm water to the heated pan on the bottom shelf. Spritz the sides of the oven with about 6-10 shots of water and close the oven door.

In two minutes, open the oven again and spritz the loaves and the sides of the oven again.

In two minutes repeat that same procedure. Then lower the oven to 450°F

Bake the baguettes for about 10 minutes, then take out them out and rotate them 180° and place them back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Bake them until they're a deep, golden brown.

Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack. Or, for the a very crispy crust, turn off the oven, crack it open about 2 inches, and allow the baguettes to cool in the oven.

Let them cool for about 30 minutes before eating.

Recipe: Great Bake-At-Home Baguettes from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk
http://www.choponionsboilwater.com

Recipe: Saffron Seafood Linguini

This recipe goes out to Karen and all the other folks from Newport Hospital, Newport, Rhode Island, who check out "Chop Onions, Boil Water." Hello everyone, thanks for reading my blog. Keep it up and you'll find yourself in the book coming out in 2010!

The lack of a proper name has kept me from adding this recipe, but tonight I've decided it's going on the blog and the name will come to me as I type. Of course I'm typing right now and nothing is happening. Nope, not yet.

You see, by all accounts, it would appear to be a seafood linguini, only it's really not. The basis of the recipe is a French bouillabaisse and then I commenced to twisting it to my desire and well when seafood is involved I just know I'm going to add something Portuguese in there. I just love chourico, but when that doesn't work its got to be linguica. Then of course there's saffron. I mean you cannot pull off this dish without the saffron. So many complications.

So, in the end, what seems Italian is really French and then it's got a South Coast New England and Portuguese twist that just complicates the whole thing! A name should reflect something important about the dish. As of this moment a name hasn't come to me yet.

It's not that my ego can't float calling it "Henry's Awesome Friggin' Saffron Seafood Bouillabaisse Linguini", my ego could certainly handle that. It's just not pretty or short enough. As Shakespeare said "Brevity is the essence of wit."

Well, it's crunch time and I'm just going to type out a name as the words pop into my head here goes: Saffron Seafood Linguini.

Okay, it's done. For the record, you need saffron for this. There's no substitute for it and you cannot omit it. It's not going to be the same dish without it. Also, mail order the saffron because the grocery stores sell horrible saffron for bewilderingly high prices.

Saffron Seafood Linguini

1 lb. linguica (cut in 1/4" slices and pan fried until cooked and firm)
1 lb. linguini
1/4 cup olive oil
2 leeks (white and pale green parts only, cleaned, split and thinly sliced)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1 cup of diced tomato (the redder, the riper, the better-ALWAYS)
3/4 tsp thyme
2 tsp fresh parsley (chopped fine)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 TBS tomato paste
32 ozs. chicken broth
2 lbs. littleneck clams (scrubbed and set aside)
2 lbs. mahi mahi filets (or similar fish)
1 lb. sea scallops
1 lb. medium shrimp (in the shell)
2 lbs. mussels (scrubbed, debearded and set aside)
1/2 cup of white wine (I use pinot grigio)
1 TBS sweet butter
Salt and pepper to taste.

For the pasta, place a large pot of water on high heat to boil.

Place a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil.

When the oil begins to shimmer, add the leeks and the garlic and sauté until the leeks become translucent.

Add the saffron threads, salt, pepper, tomatoes, thyme, parsley, orange zest and tomato paste and blend together well for about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Lower to a low simmer and continue cooking for about 30 minutes.

Bring to a higher simmer. Add all the seafood and cover and simmer until the littlenecks and mussels open wide (5 to 8 minutes usually). Discard any that do not open.

Remove all the seafood and place it in a large bowl to cool. Return broth to a low simmer.

As soon as it's cool enough to handle, remove all the seafood meat from its shells and place it in a bowl. Discard shrimp shells, but reserve littleneck and mussel shells. Cut mahi mahi into chunks and place in the bowl with the shrimp, littlenecks, scallops and mussels.

Place all littleneck and mussels shells back into the broth and cook until the white abductor muscles attached to the shells fall into the broth or are easily removed. Don't worry, these will not be tough and they add a creaminess to the final product.

The pasta water should be boiling by now, cook linguini in the normal way, drain and set aside. Try to time everything to end at the same time. Yes, it can be difficult, but you can do it.

Raise the heat on the broth until it comes to a high simmer. Add the white wine and the butter and reduce the broth until it begins to thicken. You're looking for the consistency of loose melted ice cream. I know that is a strange analogy, but it works.

When it reaches the desired thickness, add the fish, scallops, littlenecks, shrimp, mussels and linguica and toss to coat and warm. Immediately add the cooked and drained linguini and toss well to coat. Be sure the seafood and the linguica is evenly distributed in the linguini. Remove from heat and allow it to set and cool a little before serving.

Serve with a good white wine (Pinot Grigio) and crusty bread.
Recipe: Saffon Seafood Linguini from Chop Onions, Boil Water by Henry Krauzyk