Arirang

I was doing a little blog housecleaning and discovered this
post that I forgot to publish.

Back in May, I went to the middle school band concert and
saw listed on the program "A traditional Korean folksong
called Arirang." 

I said to myself, "Could this be the same song I learned one
night long ago at the Black Forest Inn with Jim Leickly?

The Black Forest was a small tavern just north of the Ohio
State campus.  Once a week, a small, sweet ladynamed Esther
Craw held forth on stage with her accordion, leading buzzed
college kids in kitschy singalongs.

Jim, a friend from journalism school, and I were something
akin to Esther groupies.

One night, a couple of Korean guys were in the audience and
Esther asked them if they had any requests.  One of them asked
if she knew Arirang.  Esther didn't but said she could fake it if the
guy could sing a little.  He did, singing in Korean, and Esther
quickly picked up the tune.

She asked him what the song was about.  As I recall, his
interpretation of the story behind the song went something like: 
Boy meets girl.  Boy falls in love with girl.  Girl's family does not
like the boy and moves to the other side of the mountain.  Boy
goes to the other side of the mountain.  Boy finds girl and...
ARIRANG! (wink, wink)

I contacted Jim to tell him about this and he said Esther recently
passed away.  "Great lady," he said.  Yes, she was.  

Rendezvous

Last night we saw John Hiatt in concert at the Hot August Blues Festival in Cockeysville, Maryland. It was the fourth time we've seen Hiatt in concert. Great shows, every one.

The first time I heard of Hiatt was in the mid-1908s when we lived in Chicago and WXRT FM was playing Memphis in the Meantime. To this day it's still my favorite John Hiatt song.

There's a line in the song I didn't think about much until last night, and it jumped out at me - "At least we can get ourselves a decent meal down at the Rendezvous." Rendezvous? Why does that sound familiar?

Today I figured it out. I was just reading about the Rendezvous in Steven Raichlen's BBQ USA. It's the Vergos family's bbq restaurant in Memphis. The Rendezvous is famous for mouth-watering ribs, pork shoulder and leg of lamb. And you can order just about anything off their menu and they'll ship it to you.

Now I have a reason to like the song even more.

Peace, Love & BBQ

There are two things I miss most about Austin, Texas, where we lived during the late '90s and early '00s - the music and the food.

Marcia Ball calls to mind both. A bluesy, soulful mainstay of the Austin music scene, we saw her a couple of times in downtown restaurants, where she was eating, not performing.

The clip above preserves that duality and is a perfect fit for the theme of this blog.

Enjoy!

The BBQ Song

Calamity Jeff sent me the link to the above video, which is Rhett and Link's musical review of bbq across the southern states. Great stuff!

You can see more from them here.

Chinese Food on Christmas

Brandon Walker, a Baltimore songwriter, is getting some buzz for this soon-to-be holiday classic, "Chinese Food on Christmas."

Thanks to my buddy Sam Sessa for pointing out this nugget.



Enjoy!

Happy Chanukah

Sundown today signals the start of Chanukah, the festival of lights. We'll celebrate this tradition from the Remarkable Marcy's side of the family as we always do: the lighting of the menorah as prayers are said, the unintentional off-key singing of a couple of songs, a few spins of the dreidel and the opening of gifts.

While we've raised the kids in the Christian tradition, we've always felt it was important that they understand and respect the traditions of their Jewish heritage. Marcy has done a typically remarkable job explaining the stories behind the holy days and why we do what we do to observe them. The kids have embraced these lessons and traditions. Especially when it comes to Chanukah. That's because they get stuff.

We try to keep to an "enlightenment" theme with Chanukah gifts, usually going with books, games or music. Oh, yeah - and they get gelt, the chocolate money that has nothing to do with enlightenment. It's some of the worst-tasting chocolate ever made. Perhaps one of the Chanukah miracles is that people not only willingly, but joyously eat the gelt.

So, tonight we recognize the Jewish side of the family. And we remember those with whom we've celebrated past Chanukahs who will be with us in spirit when the candles are lit.

And if you want a real taste of Chanukah tradition, here's a link to a good potato latkes recipe, along with a story about that tradition.

Chanukah Song

This isn't one of the traditional tunes we sing around the menorah. But it does bring a smile to our faces every time we hear it.




Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Arthur Bryant's

Kansas City has a well-earned reputation for good music and great barbecue. Perhaps tops among the great restaurants in town is the renowned Arthur Bryant's Barbecue. Calvin Trillin, a KC native and writer for the New Yorker, called Bryant's, "The best restaurant in the world." The place has fed presidents and celebrities who have gone out of their way to stop by for a bite when visiting KC.

Bryant's can trace its roots back to Henry Perry, a Tennessean credited as being the father of Kansas City barbecue. Perry opened a restaurant in KC, then hired George Gates and brothers Arthur and Charlie Bryant to run it when business took off. Gates eventually moved on to open his own famous bbq joint, Charlie Bryant died and Arthur took over the place on his own. The restaurant thrived under his watch, and after developing his signature sauce, he was crowned with the title, "The King of Ribs." He ran the restaurant at 18th and Brooklyn until his death in 1982. That site, plus two others carry on the tradition of slow cooked meats smothered in that famous sauce.

The restaurant's rep has been built on pork slab ribs, but it also offers beef, ham, pork, turkey and chicken, along with bbq baked beans, slaw and fries on the side. You can order Arthur's rubs and sauces from the restaurant's Website.

What I know about Arthur Bryant's Barbecue comes from numerous favorable mentions in lists, spotlights on television shows and write-ups in books. I haven't had the pleasure of eating at Bryant's, but if you have, please leave a comment below and share your experience.

BBTour

No tune this week. Instead, I found this fascinating piece on the history of barbecue in KC.




Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Turkey

Gather around, children. It's time for your history lesson. Today Uncle Sullicom is going to tell you how the turkey was lucky enough to wind up as the symbol and main event for our Thanksgiving feast.

As I recall, it was around this time of year back in 1621, when we lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gov. William Bradford decided we should have a day of thanks, with a feast to go with it. However, it having been declared a holiday, all of the stores were closed. So, we sent several men into the woods, to "go fowling" as we called it. I wasn't much good at fowling, so I stayed home and watched football until the others returned.

The "fowlers" came back, loaded not just with turkeys, but with ducks and geese, too. We cooked them all up, along with loads of sweet potatoes, stuffing and that green bean casserole with the little crunchy onions on top. The next day, when it was time to dig into the leftovers, we discovered that of all the cooked birds, it was the turkey that tasted best when made into sandwiches, with a little mayo slathered on top.

Ever since then, the turkey has been inextricably linked to Thanksgiving. This year, Americans will eat 690 million pounds of the bird at this feast alone.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

For those of you adventurous enough to want to try to smoke your turkey this holiday, here's a link to Steven Raichlin's recipe for brined and smoked Thanksgiving turkey.

And if you want a seasonal sauce for your turkey, here's a recipe for a cranberry barbecue sauce from the Shoalwater Restaurant in Seaview, Washington.

BBTune

And now, a word from the bird.



Have a great Thanksgiving!

Friday Fun - Bunny Art

We have a house full of pets. There are two Labs (Daisy and Gypsy), Sharon the cat, Big Guy the gold fish, Buddy the hamster and Bunny the bunny. But only one has shown an aptitude for art.

It was Bunny who is responsible for the creation at the left. It started out as a cardboard box flap that I put in her cage for her to play with. A couple of days later when I went to feed her, I noticed that she had nibbled it into the shape of another rabbit. I guess I hadn't realized how much she wanted a playmate.

I've seen works from other animal artists. There are paintings by monkeys and recently on television I saw a story about a guy who dips worms in paint and lets them wiggle all over a canvas. But this is something quite different than random squirms or finger splats. Does Bunny have talent?

I sought out critical input from some artists whose work I admire and opinions I respect. Here's what they had to say:

From Alan, professional animator and published author: from the artist's POV - her eye for detail is matched by her desire to mix her creative juices with her digestive ones. Bravo bunny - you're on your way!

From Spleenal, talented cartoonist: i like it. the "cut out" shape elevates the bunny form to more of a symbol or icon. it also bridges the gap between "flat" art and sculpture and attains a cool 2.5D feel. but mainly i see a corruption of the playboy bunny symbol. in producing it out of cardboard is your rabbit trying to make a comment of how sex has been cheapened? and is the fact that it's not new card refering to the fact that much of what we see as new is nothing more that recycled ideas from the past? that's one smart bunny.

From Howie, accomplished artist and instructor at a prestigious art college: Well it's hard to get away from oneself. At Art School in Portraiture & Life Drawing Classes one often sees how one's own image keeps appearing. For example the live model gets up on the stand - The skinny guy ends up drawing a skinny model, the chubby student draws a chubby model, despite what the actual model really looks like. Also the reverse happens. The chubby student (wishful thinking) draws a skinny model, etc. ...........Since I don't know your rabbit personally, it's had to tell if your rabbit was re-creating his/her own image or a wishful representation of themselves........ You and your family and those close to the rabbit, (maybe only other rabbits) will have to be the judges of this. On another thought-----If one rotates the picture, then the boot of Italy appears, and artists often turn their artworks to get a fresh peek and new sense of their artworks. Did you actually see the rabbit working on it the way you present it?? Or perhaps the rabbit worked all around thus creating a different image from each side. And Matisse often looked at his paintings in the early morning dawning light claiming it allowed him to see them freshly, - so perhaps you should also examine your rabbit's artwork from all sides and at dawn.

Hard to argue with the those in the know. Have an opinion of your own? Share it with us in the comments. In the meantime, I wonder what she'd do if I put a block of granite in the cage?

Rabbit Opera

Moving from the visual to the performing arts, here's a golden oldie from another talented bunny, Bugs, from his operatic classic, "Rabbit of Seville."




Have a great weekend

Friday Fun - The Session

Beer & Music

This round's on me. Although I'm not a full-time beer blogger, I do write about it from time to time, and I do drink it more than occasionally. On the first Friday of each month, true beer bloggers engage in what is known as "The Session," in which the brethren all weigh in on a common topic. This month's theme - Beer & Music. Tomme Arthur of TheLost Abbey blog is the session host this month, so stop by and see what he's culled from all the blogs.

It isn't exactly like looking for a needle in a haystack to find references to beer and drinking in music. Country music is littered with drunken inspiration. Either a situation is driving someone to drink, or drink is setting up the situation. Kind of symbiotic.

Here are a few of my favorites, some of which I've served you before.

Porter Wagoner, who passed away earlier this week, put forth one of his best efforts in "Mysery Loves Company." It's an amusing clip in that it's a vintage video from Porter's old TV show, but you can see immediately that the video doesn't match the audio. What's funny, though, is that they sort of catch up to each other about 55 seconds in. Nevertheless, a classic country drinking song.




When we lived in Austin, one of the local bands I liked was the Asylum Street Spankers, a sort of jug band that sounded like they were time-transported from the 1930s. One of their best novelty songs is simply titled, "Beer." This link takes you to an audio clip of a live performance at The Cedar in Minneapolis.

Here are links to a couple of my earlier posts that included some of my favorite drinking songs. Todd Snider's "Beer Run" is an infectious tune that you'll curse me for introducing you to. And one of my all-time favorites is Webb Pierce's "There Stands the Glass." Brother Dave suggests The Wood Brothers' "Alcohol of Fame."

Now it's your turn to pick up the tab. Have a favorite drinking song? Share it with me and others in the comments field.

Enjoy (responsibly)!

BBTuesday - Chicago

I've spent nearly 20 years of my life living in Chicago. I first moved there in the 1970s when I was in high school and then spent several college summers living and working there. In the mid '80s, the Remarkable Marcy and I moved to Chicago from Ohio and lived there for more than a decade.

It's my kind of town. A toddlin' town, whatever that means. Poet Carl Sandburg called Chicago, "Hog butcher for the world." With a rep like that to uphold, it's no wonder that BBQ figures mightily into the Windy City's food spectrum.

When it comes to BBQ, Chicago is a ribs town. Chicago ribs are distinctive in that they don't feature much in the way of rubs, and in most cases, sauce goes on before they're smoked, rather than near the end of the process. That requires a very slow cooking process, sometimes at temperatures below 200 degrees.

The most notable rib joint in town is Carson's. The restaurant has only been around since the late '70s, but has established itself as rib central. The pre-sauced ribs are smoked, slowly, over a hickory fire. More of Carson's syrupy, tangy barbecue sauce goes on near the end of the cooking to give the meat a reddish glaze.

When Marcy and I moved to town in 1986, we settled in Oak Park, birthplace of Ernest Hemingway, home of Frank Lloyd Wright and where you'll find Robinson's #1 Ribs. Charlie Robinson grew up in Mississippi and started making a name for himself in the 1980s. In 1982 Robinson won the first annual Ribfest organized by the late, great columnist Mike Royko. Robinson won further acclaim on the competition circuit in the '80s. Robinson marinates his ribs in a blend of sauce and seasoning, then refrigerates them overnight before they're slowly hickory smoked. Make sure you finish them off with lots of the sweet and peppery sauce.

For pure BBQ kitsch, it's hard to beat Russell's Barbecue in west suburban Elmwood Park. Russell's opened in the 1930s and the building at the right, from a photo taken around 1950, still stands on Thatcher Avenue, a beautiful shady road that cuts up along the Des Plaines River, giving you a respite from the ugly urban sprawl that's grown up around it. Russell's ribs and sandwiches were okay, but it was the atmosphere of the place, more than the food, that drew me back for return visits. Dark, wood-paneled walls, picnic-style tables and benches - it's what a BBQ joint should look like.

There are many, many more great 'Q stops in Chicago, but these three are the ones I can personally recommend. And this time of year, when the first chilly breezes are starting to blow in off Lake Michigan, any place serving a hot slab of ribs is worth a stop.

BBTune

Buddy Guy may be the greatest blues guitarist of all time and an adopted son of Chicago. Here he is with the one of the many musical tributes to the city, "Sweet Home, Chicago." Not a bad cast of sidemen on this either. Keep and eye and ear out for Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and others.



Enjoy!

Martha White

Goodness gracious, good 'n light, Martha White.

Anyone who grew up within earshot of radio broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry knows well the Martha White song. The self-rising flour sponsored the Opry for years with the catchy bluegrass jingle sung by Flatt & Scruggs. "For the finest biscuits ever was..."

Brother Dave sent me a note yesterday saying he'd spent some time browsing the Martha White Website. Not only do they have downloadable versions of the song, there's also a page about the company's long association with the Opry, Tennessee Ernie Ford's role as company spokesman, and more.

And there are recipes. Cakes, pies, cookies, cobbler, and of course, biscuits. How does a batch of blood-sludging Cheesy Country Ham Biscuit Bites sound?

The site is a treasure trove of comfort foods for the body, mind and ears.

We'll take it out today with the aforementioned Flatt & Scruggs picking the "Randy Lynn Rag" from their classic TV show.



Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Sauce Off Results

The results are in and they were close. The winner of the first annual Sullicom Sauce Off is the mole barbecue sauce submitted by Chef JP, aka The Chef From Hell.

Jason of Jason's BBQ Adventures came in a very close second with his mustard entry for lemonade chicken.

But it was the blend of BBQ and Tex-Mex flavors in the mole sauce that had me slathering the stuff atop everything from chicken to ham to burritos, then making sure I licked every drop off spoons, bowls and plates.

Coming in third was my own entry, the Kentucky BBQ Dip. I still love the stuff, but the opportunity to enjoy the other new entries outweighed the familiarity of our family favorite.

The sauce off started out as an attempt to answer the question, "Which type of sauce is best - tomato, mustard or vinegar?" I learned that there is no answer to the question. All sauces are good. There are regional preferences and personal favorites. But if you limit yourself to just one kind of sauce, you're doing yourself a great disservice.

Congrats to Chef JP and to Jason. Both are genuine BBQ pros whose sites are loaded with tasty recipes, helpful instruction and other valuable and entertaining information.

BBTune

Keeping in the spirit of the competition, I give you "The Barbeque Sauce Song." I'm not sure who the artist is, but he's got an impressive grill.



Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Sauce Off, Week 5

It's judgement week here at the Sullicom world headquarters as the pig and I tally votes to see who comes out on top in the first annual sauce off.

To refresh your memory, the aim of this competition is to introduce you to the best there is in tomato, mustard and vinegar sauces. The three that your blogger personally tested did not disappoint.

In the tomato category, Chef JP, aka The Chef From Hell, submitted a mole barbecue sauce that featured a creative blend of smoky Tex-Mex flavors. It was a great topping for chicken breasts that were the highlights of our weekend fiesta.

That was followed by Jason of Jason's BBQ Adventures, whose lemonade chicken, an interesting twist on beer-can chicken, was our mustard entry and a favorite among the kids.

And we wrapped up last week with our vinegar-based sauce, my family's very own Kentucky BBQ Dip. I mopped the dip on a Boston Butt that ultimately became some of the best pulled pork I've ever smoked.

In this sort of competition, there are no losers, only winners. Especially the judges who get to sample each entry. We'll let you know next Tuesday which sauce takes the prestigious Sullicom Sauce Off title.

BBTune

Today's tune features scenes from the 2007 Founder's Day Barbecue Cookoff in Dripping Springs, Texas, set to Lone Star favorite son, Robert Earl Keen's "Barbecue."



Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Sauce Off, Week 4

It was time to give due diligence to vinegar sauces, so I pulled out old faithful, our family recipe for Kentucky BBQ Dip.

This is the moppin' sauce I was raised on, slathered over ribs, chicken, pulled pork and mutton. Every time I make this, it flashes me back to rich memories of Western Kentucky summers, with the backyard bbq pit smoking away, eating dinner on the screened-in porch and trying to fall asleep on hot, humid nights with a way-too-full belly.

For this sauce, I decided to do up some pulled pork and pulled chicken.

The sauce is very easy to pull together, with prep taking only about 10 minutes and then a slow simmer of about an hour.

I smoked a smallish (2 lbs) chunk of Boston Butt, mopping on the sauce about every 20 minutes during the roughly two hour grilling period. After removing the pork from the grill, I tossed on some chicken breasts for about 10 minutes, mopping when they first when on and when I flipped them halfway through.

When the meats were done, I went in and started pulling everything apart. I put each pulled meat in a separate bowl and poured some of the sauce on top. We served the bbq on a bun with and onion slice and pickles, and sides of homemade cole slaw and baked beans.

It's tough for me to be objective about this sauce. It's what defines bbq for me. The Remarkable Marcy opted for the pulled chicken, pouring additional sauce on the sandwich before eating it. Flannery, our Peach, came back for seconds on the chicken, a definite rave revue from a finicky eater. MoJo, who generally likes spicy foods, was oddly unenthusiastic, though. She tried the pulled chicken, but then opted for one of the plain chicken breasts we had left over, dipped in ketchup (whose kid is this!?).

BBTune

I've been on a Southern Culture on the Skids kick of late. The first song I ever heard from SCOTS was "Too Much Pork for Just One Fork," off their "Ditch Diggin'" CD. It's a fitting companion to this pulled-pork post.

Southern Culture on the Skids – Too Much Pork for Just One Fork

Enjoy!

Friday Fun, Oct. 5, 2007 - Banana Pudding

When Brother Dave sent me his BBQ and Soul Food Tour post, we spent some time reminiscing about our mother's banana pudding. It was pretty basic stuff - vanilla wafers, vanilla pudding, ripe bananas and meringue.

Dave made the observation that not only can't you find banana pudding in many restaurants these days, but when you do, they often top it with a glop of Cool Whip or some other sawdust and paste concoction instead of the meringue.

It's truly worth the effort to treat yourself to the real deal and I found this terrific recipe on the Texas Cooking Website. Not only does it use meringue, it also uses real pudding instead of the boxed stuff.

While you're throwing the recipe together, grab a copy of Southern Culture on the Skids' "Double Wide and Live" CD and play their song "Banana Pudding" over and over and over.

And now, it's the weekend and all this talk about bananas has me feeling like Carmen Miranda! Bailemos!



Have a great weekend of your own!

BBTuesday - Sauce Off, Week 3

Before I went on the DL this past weekend, we threw together the Lemonade Mustard Sauce and accompanying Lemonade Chicken that I found on the Jason's BBQ Adventures blog. Jason attributes the recipe to Steven Raichlen.

The recipe offered an interesting twist on most mustard sauces I've run across in that it used lemonade. And not only in the sauce. There was lemonade powder in the rub, and lemonade instead of beer as the liquid in the upright cooker.

It was very easy to pull together, with prep time being under 30 minutes. The only hitch in the cooking came as a result of the brown sugar and lemonade mix in the rub. The chicken skin started to burn a little, but we wrapped it in foil for the last hour and that solved the problem.

I threw some onions and potatoes on the grill with the chicken and we served the bird with the onions and taters, a simple tossed salad and some peas.

The flavors lined up as chicken hit tongue. I first noticed the sweetness and zest of the lemonade, followed by the bite of the mustard, then the savory blend of the other spices. I'm not a great fan of overly sweet sauces, but I was definitely in the minority here. The kids loved it and the Remarkable Marcy surprised me with her enthusiasm.

This would be an ideal summertime concoction, especially if you wanted to impress guests - particularly those with kids - with something very different.

Next Up: Kentucky BBQ Dip

This is my own family recipe, a vinegar based sauce that's great as a marinade or mopped on throughout the grilling process.

BBTune

Here's New Orleans' Marsalis Family with "Struttin' with Some Barbecue." That's father Ellis on piano, Branford on sax, Wynton on trumpet, Delfeayo on trombone and Jason on drums.



Enjoy!

BBTuesday - Sauce Off, Week 2

Holy Mole!

Oh, he's a happy pig.

This past weekend the Remarkable Marcy and I kitchen tested the first entry in the Sullicom Sauce Off - Chef JP's Mole BBQ Sauce.

It was a tasty hybrid of barbecue and Mexican flavors and was spicy as hell, which should have come as no surprise considering JP's also known as The Chef From Hell.

The preparation time was about an hour, most of that given to cooking time. Start with sauteing chopped onions, garlic, fresh cilantro and dry spices (see photo at right), mix in the wet ingredients, then add the mole paste, which gives the sauce its thickness and dark brown color.

We decided to go with chicken breasts on the grill, adding the sauce during the last couple of minutes to keep from burning. We turned the dinner into a Tex-Mex feast, serving the chicken with some homemade refried beans, long grain rice and avocado slices. There was plenty of extra sauce that we put on the table and poured over the chicken, rice, beans, fingers, etc.

Marcy, who likes mole more than bbq sauce, was impressed by the combination of flavors. I loved the kick that the bbq sauce and Mexican spices added to the nutty smokiness and hint of chocolate brought by the mole.

My only issue with the recipe is based on a personal prejudice against sauces that use ketchup. But I'm willing to overlook my own sauce-snootery here because the outcome was so tasty.

Next Up: Jason's Lemonade Mustard Sauce

My search for a mustard sauce took me to a new blog, Jason's BBQ Adventures. The site just launched this month, but it looks very promising. Jason offers up an intriguing Lemonade Mustard Sauce, that rides atop a lemonade rub on a beer can chicken. We'll road test it next weekend and share the results.

BBTune

Here's a little Tex-Mex music for you to listen to while you enjoy your mole bbq sauce. The clip is an Austin City Limits performance of "Hey, Baby, Que Paso?" by the Texas Tornados. The Tornados, who were based in Austin, were Doug Sahm (remember the Sir Douglas Quintet?), Augie Myers (an SDQ alum who gave that band and this one the distinctive Vox organ sound), Freddy Fender (yes, that Freddy Fender) and Conjunto legend Flaco Jimenez.




Grab another cerveza and enjoy!

There Stands Webb Pierce

Grab a glass of your favorite brew. Today I'll introduce you to, or reacquaint you with, one of the all-time great drinking songs.

BBTuesday - Sauce Off, Week 1

The pig is smiling. That's because the Sullicom Sauce Off is on and today you'll get the first recipe submission. Before we get going, I want to offer a tip of the hat to the Barbecue Bachelor, that runnin' machine who prepped for the recent Philly Half-Marathon by whipping up a batch of my very own family brew, the Kentucky BBQ Dip. The boy finished the race in the top 16%, an outcome aided, no doubt, by the kick in the sauce. Congrats, Bachelor!

And now, the main event...

Our first sauce comes from Chef JP, proprietor of The Chef From Hell blog, my favorite food site on cyber-earth. The Chef has dug into his ample recipe vault and produced a sauce with a Mexican spin. The Remarkable Marcy (a great fan of mole sauces) and I will give this a try this week and report back to you next Tuesday.

Chef JP's Mole BBQ Sauce

This is one of many barbecue sauces I make from time to time. This particular one is perfect for chicken breasts on the grill or to use as a condiment on some fajita steak burritos.

Ingredients:

3 TBS Olive Oil

1 Spanish Onion, chopped small

4 cloves Garlic, diced

2 TBS fresh Cilantro, diced

1 1/4 cup Ketchup

1 1/4 cup Beef Stock or Broth

1 TBS Honey

2 TBS dark brown Mustard

1/2 cup dark Molasses

1/4 cup Cider Vinegar

1/2 cup Mole sauce

Note: You can find Mole sauce at most Spanish markets or on the Internet through some sort of specialty food site. The brand I like the best is Doria Maria.

Dry Spice Mix:

1/2 tsp Kosher Salt

1 TBS dark Chili Powder

1 tsp Thyme

1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper

1 tsp Ground Cumin

Cooking Procedure:

In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the dry spice mix

Set this aside

In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat

Add the onions, garlic, fresh cilantro & the dry spice mix

Stir well & cook for 5 to 8 minutes; until the onions begin to turn clear

Add the ketchup, beef stock, diced cilantro, honey, mustard, molasses & vinegar

Bring this to a high simmer

Stir well

Cook this down for 20 minutes; stir from time to time

Stir in the Mole Poblano paste & reduce heat to low

Let the sauce simmer for another 30 minutes

Hoo Hah!


And "Hoo Hah!" back at ya, Chef. Thanks for a great recipe.

In addition to reporting back on the mole sauce, we'll also bring you recipe #2 next Tuesday.

Musical Interlude

Here's a little background music for you while you're making the Chef's sauce. You might not know that JP is a musician, a professional at that, who has a taste for the blues. Check out his band, the Freelance Vandals on their MySpace page. No surprise here that my particular favorite is their song, "Hot BBQ." So this clip's for him.

There's not much to the video, considering that the song was recorded in 1927 by Robert Hicks, aka Barbecue Bob. But it sounds good, and the number, appropriately, is titled, "Barbecue Blues."



Enjoy!