Pulled-Pork Barbecue Sandwich

Throughout the southeastern states up to the Washington D.C area the air is filled with barbecue smoke and aroma. It is Memorial Day weekend and it seems everybody is firing up the grills, which is a good thing because I love the smell of charring meat and fat. Although Virginia has its own barbecue recipe which I favor because it resembles the Filipino barbecue in preparation and taste, I made North Carolina style pulled-pork barbecue just to compare and I can say I also like it. The basting sauce is very simple, does not have garlic, onions, and ketchup and is not very sweet, a little bit vinegary but still okay. I served the pulled-pork barbecue with a layer of creamy coleslaw and had the sandwich with a large glass of minty melonade, yumm, yumm.

North Carolina Pulled-Pork Barbecue
(recipe adapted from Gourmet magazine, June 2008 issue)
3½ cups cider vinegar
1½ tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons hot red pepper flakes
salt and black pepper
8 - 10 pounds bone-in pork shoulder roast with skin
10 pound hardwood coal for grilling
hamburger buns
coleslaw

• Bring vinegar to a boil with pepper flakes, sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 tablespoon ground black pepper in a stainless steel pan until sugar has dissolved, cool. Set aside 2 C to serve with sandwiches.
• While sauce cools, score pork skin in a crosshatch pattern, cutting through skin and fat but not into meat. Pat meat dry and rub all over with 1 tablespoon each salt and ground black pepper. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before grilling.
• Prepare grill for indirect heat cooking over low heat, leaving space in middle for disposable roasting pan.
• When coal has cooled to 300°F, put disposable roasting pan on bottom between the mounds of coal, then fill pan halfway with water. Add a couple of handfuls of unlit coal to each mound of coal. Put grill rack on.
• Oil grill rack, then put pork, skin side up, on rack above roasting pan. Grill pork, with lid ajar, basting meat with sauce and turning every 30 minutes. To maintain a temperature of 275 degrees, add a couple of handfuls of unlit coal to each side every 30 minutes until meat is fork-tender, about 7 - 8 hours, and internal temperature is 190 degrees.
• Cut large pieces of meat into bite-size pieces. When meat is cool enough to handle, shred using 2 forks. Transfer into a bowl.
• Layer shredded meat on toasted bun, add a layer of coleslaw. Serve with reserved vinegar sauce on the side.

Gourmet's note: Pork can be roasted in a large roasting pan, covered with parchment then foil, in middle of a 350 degree oven. Roast 1 hour, then pour 1 cup vinegar sauce over meat. Roast 1 hour more, then baste with 1 cup more sauce. Continue to roast, covered, adding water (½ cup at a time) to the pan if needed, until fork-tender, about 2 hours more. Remove parchment and foil and roast another 45 minutes to 1 hour until skin is crisp.

The Ambassador of Cute

Tadaa! Meet the new Japan tourism ambassador to Hong Kong and China, the kitten with a ginormous head, Hello Kitty herself, hahaha.

The amusing news made me unearth from the basement my daughter's Hello Kitty stuffed toy but couldn't find the really cute frog kerokerokeroppi.

She also had the weirdest Japanese stuffed toy monchhichi (baby and monkey) which I gave to my sister's daughter when we left Manila in 1988. The toy is a thumb-sucking doll in a monkey suit that when removed becomes a baby, it also came with a feeding bottle and then it wets itself.

I don't know what I was thinking when I bought and gave that to my then 1 year old daughter. I thought it was cute. In Hong Kong my daughter bought pencils and pencil cases, book bags, and all sorts of Sanrio items which she stuffed in a box and stored in the basement when she turned 13 or maybe 14.

say hi to Gitta's 20 year-old Hello Kitty

Lechon Kawali Caesar Salad

a match made in heaven: lechon kawali and Caesar salad

After reading about the much maligned Chicken Caesar Salad in Michael Ruhlman's blog and his improved version with pork belly confit in place of chicken, I was convinced and made Caesar salad topped with Filipino lechon kawali or bagnet which is the same thing as the pork confit, btw, only crispier and yummier, IMHO. The salad dressing I have been using is the recipe I learned from the sous chef of all places, the Asian Development Bank executive dining room. The sous chef, I can't recall her name, gave a half-day lesson to bank employees who were interested on how to prepare a few popular dishes the dining room had in their menu at the time. One of my favorites is Caesar salad and the other that I never wrote down but still remember from memory is Quiche Lorraine. I don't have precise measurements for the salad's dressing and the following is just a guide which can be adjusted to suit your taste. Or you can prepare your own recipe and top the salad with lechon kawali. I never knew this combination is really delicious, unhealthy but indescribably delicious.

Lechon Kawali Caesar Salad
chopped lechon kawali, homemade or store bought
hearts of romaine, torn into largish pieces
garlic flavored croutons, homemade or store bought
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons lemon or calamansi juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 anchovy fillets in olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
shaved Parmesan for topping, optional

• In a large bowl, whisk egg yolk, lemon juice, mustard, anchovies, and wooster sauce until well combined and thickened a bit. Slowly pour olive oil while constantly whisking. Stir in grated Parmesan cheese.
• In another bowl, toss some lettuce and dressing. Transfer into a salad plate and top with croutons and chopped lechon kawali.

Marvin of Burnt Lumpia made a yummy, delightful, and very creative version of Caesar salad using some of our beloved Filipino ingredients such as pandesal, bagoong alamang, and chicken adobo. His wonderful recipe is here. Enjoy!

A Beery Peanut Brittle

slightly spicy and beery peanut brittle

Gizelle at Was zum kochen und essen invited me to join the Food For Which My City is Known For. Her city of Vienna is the home of one of my favorite cakes, the world famous Sacher Torte. When I was working at the Asian Development Bank in their old building at Roxas Blvd, my co-workers and I went to The Holiday Inn Hotel regularly to have their Sacher Torte. I believe the hotel's pastry chef at the time was a native of Austria and Sacher Torte was his specialty.

I knew it would be tough to find any food that is associated with my city of Ashburn, Virginia located 30 miles west of Washington D.C. It headquarters some well-known big technology companies such as AOL, Verizon, and MCI and the home base of the Washington Redskins is located here but food or some delicacy, there's nothing. Unless you consider beer a food, then we have the microbrewery Old Dominion Brewing Company which is semi-famous here in the Northeast. Yes, what we have here in Ashburn is the perfect pair of football and beer. Because I don't care much for both football and beer I thought of making something with beer that I will definitely love and maybe will make me start watching the Redskins' games this coming season. My daughter suggested beer peanut brittle, Virginia is a peanut producing state after all. I made beer peanut brittle once and loved it. This time I added chipotle powder for a little bit of spice. The brittle is very very good, slightly spicy and has the subtle taste of the beer. Sooo good for munching while watching football. I chose Dominion's Spring brew, a Belgian-style blonde ale that has honey, orange peels, and chamomile, very unmacho which is just right for a girl like me who does not drink beer. As expected I liked it, it is the very first beer I tasted that did not repulse me, ever. I don't think Ashburn's food renown can compare with Vienna's Sacher Torte but at least I tried to put it on the map and I hope y'all could come down to Ashburn and drink a bottle of Old Dominion beer or snack on beery peanut brittle with me.

Beery Peanut Brittle
1 cup toasted peanuts
½ teaspoon flaked sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cold butter, diced
1 cup sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
1 cup Old Dominion Spring Brew beer
1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder

• Butter a large baking pan or line with silpat, set aside. Mix first 4 ingredients, set aside.
• In a large saucepan, mix the beer, sugar, corn syrup, and chipotle powder. Boil over moderate heat for 12 minutes until golden in color. Stir in the peanut mixture and quickly spread on the prepared pan.
• Let cool and break into small pieces. Store in an airtight jar.

Old Dominion Brewing Company And Pub Photos

pub and brewery looks like a warehouse, an old brewing thingie the pub/restaurant, a small part of brewing machine


the old brewing machine