Bachelor's Fridge: Bastardized Southern Style BBQ Ribs

Wow, it's been a long time.

I have probably 15 dishes I have wanted to post since last year that I haven't been able to because of the adjustments I've made to my move here to Dubai last December.

But man, this barbecue just deserved posting. Why? Because it's perfect for Bachelor's Fridge and Bastardo, two ideas I've wanted to expound on here.

First, I've been a true independent guy since I moved here, doing everything on my own around the house, so I have less time than I had back home, so I've really had to adjust my cooking, and this barbecue recipe, although far from the classic slow-cook, smoked original, is perfect people who have a lot of time over the weekend to prep stuff for quick cooking on weekdays.

Secondly, I have craved for and loved, true Southern-style barbecue since the first time I saw them in US food shows. So much so that I have watched all of the barbecue specials of my favorite food shows. But alas, in this crowded metropolis, there is no space to erect a smoker, and to have the smell of barbecuing pork waft around the neighborhood can spell serious trouble. The time factor also played in, as true southern barbecue is all about slow cooking. So again, I had to adjust.

But let me shut up and go to the meat of the matter:

Bastardized Southern Style BBQ Ribs

 

What you'll need:

Pork ribs, cut to desired length

Ginger

Fish sauce

Whole peppercorns

Water

For the sauce:

1 part vinegar

1/4 part chilli sauce (I used regular Tabasco)
1/2 part ketchup (I used Heinz)

1/4 part brown sugar

1/2 part ketsap manis (or regular soy sauce, just adjust the brown sugar)

1/4 part steak sauce (I used A1)

Paprika to taste

dash of cracked pepper, garlic powder and cumin

dash of liquid smoke (optional)

Sage, thyme, oregano

How to do it:

Boil (yes, I know, the blasphemy) the pork ribs with ginger, peppercorns and fish sauce 'til tender. 

Set aside and freeze ribs and use the boiling liquid for Sinigang (I used it for Molo soup).

Or... if you have time and confident in your measuring skills, add all ingredients together and boil til the sauce is thick and clings to the pork. That's much better, but as I said, I prepped the meat in the weekend froze and cooked it on after work two days after.

If you froze it, you really don't need to thaw it before prepping the sauce.

Put vinegar, tabasco, brown sugar and steak sauce into a pan, let simmer.

Add in frozen pork and when properly thawed, add all the remaining ingredients. 

Add water if needed.

Make sure to cook down the sauce 'til it clings to the meat and acts like a barbecue sauce and not like a thick soup.

Done. Or as is said here, khalas. Have it for dinner and pack some for tomorrow's lunch.

Six Dishes and a Musing: Cooking for a crowd + Heartbreaker Porkchops + Pinoy Pesto + Tomato Cream Pasta + Mike's Pinaputok na Tilapia + Bulalo Steak au Poivre

I could never cook for myself or for two. There's just something about me that makes me cook a lot more than I intend to. This means I'm always more comfortable cooking for a crowd. 10 people? Easy. 20? Sure. But when you get to 30 people or more, that is when it becomes challenging. I've never had a great experience with catering, I have yet to remember one dish I've had in a wedding or a birthday party or any other catered event. Aren't you tired of the same roast beef in mushroom gravy? Of mixed buttered veg that are just "meh"? Of dry fish fillets with an overpowering and overcompensating sauce?

But man, is it easy to understand why caterers fall back on these dishes when you try to cater to more than 30 people.

I am always in awe of Bravo's Top Chef episodes where the contestants have to cater to hundreds of people, with exacting judges expecting excellent quality while putting contestants in the most challenging circumstances. The flops and miscues in these episodes are often memorable and enlightening (remember this Betty Crocker faux pas in season 1?). The moments of triumph, often glorious and magnanimous (see the season 6 tearjerker Thunderbirds episode, where Michael Voltaggio touched on his difficulty in cooking for a buffet line). But if there's one thing I've noticed in the ten plus years I've been watching the show, it's that the one difference between the caterers whose food I've had the dismay of eating and the top ranked chefs in the show is the way they attack the service.

When serving a considerable number of people, there are so many things you have to consider that one mistake can ruin the entire service. The most important part, I think, is timing. You can have the best dishes planned out, the freshest ingredients and the skills to tie them all together, but botch the timing and everything would be wasted. Let's look at catering an event from the vantage point of a town fiesta: when you cater, the goal is to cook everything in advance and be able to keep it warm enough so that your guests can enjoy it without having to wait for it. That, cabron, limits your options so much that you think up your menu considering the pre-cooking as the most important part.

Pulutan Tayo Diyan: Vinaigrette marinated chicken liver wrapped in bacon

Pulutan: a Filipino term often misunderstood by foreign food show hosts (Bizarre Food's Andrew Zimmern erroneously understood it as a generic term for finger food/snacks in his 2008 visit). Here's the thing, man, pulutan, a word that, which like most Filipino words, is directly descriptive of the object or action being stated, literally means "stuff you can pick up with your hands", and this direct translation is what I presume to be the source of the misunderstanding. The closest Western word to it is Bar Chow, because pulutan is basically food consumed while drinking. A soup becomes a pulutan when served in an inuman. A bowl of friggin' spaghetti becomes pulutan when consumed with alcohol.

Which brings us to another Pinoy quirk that will clarify the term further: We. Don't. Do. Social. Drinking. When most parts of the world get together and use alcohol as a social lubricant, a tool to wash away inhibitions and not the end goal, the Pinoy inuman (inom = to drink, suffix -an = added to words to connote an action or event to complete the act it is attached to, see upuan [chair], where upo means to sit and suntukan [fight], where suntok means punch) or drinking session, is an event on its own. Drinking here, as many foreigners I've shared a table with have noticed, is not a tool, it's an end on its own. Most Filipinos drink to celebrate, wash away sorrows or discuss important stuff, like most people do, but one thing you can expect is that 80% of the people around a table in an inuman will drink until they are drunk, because not doing so would be an utter waste of a perfectly good chance to get hammered. Is this healthy? Who the heck can judge that? It's a culture thing, much like how we like to put ice in beer.

Much can be said about pulutan, and much will be said about it in this blog, but for now, here's my take on a classic hors d' oeuvres which makes for a great pulutan you can surprise your friends with. I have two takes on this, more a variation in cooking methods, because many Pinoy households do not have ovens.

Vinaigrette marinated Chicken Liver wrapped in Bacon

Cooking method number one: Baked and topped with vinaigrette and drippings

Shifting gears + Gracie Diet + Local Flair: Pork and Corn soup

This blog was a personal blog. Written as a public (the irony is not lost to me, trust me) diary of random thoughts, it contained nothing but personal musings. Sometimes, the posts I put up were read, recently, I've had an upsurge in hits with a reactionary post and a travel-related posts.

But then, I thought: I write, I cook, I'm learning photography, I am passionate about food, so why the heck am I not writing a food blog?

Well, there are many reasons. Firstly, I just don't think I could hack the Huessaff, Marketman or Our Awesome Planet take on food blogs. I don't have that much money to spend and I don't like paying homage to new trendy restos. Secondly, I hate trendy stuff, with a gusto. Thirdly, I was refining my craft in different ways. I never went to culinary school so I lack many of the basics.The list goes on and on, really. Time, effort, blah blah blah.

But now, I want to write more about food and give a focus to this blog. But let me first explain why and how aPISOforyourthoughts is going to go about this whole food blog thing.

A friend and fellow chaser of the Muse asked me to write recipes for the website he's curating. He has a very specific list of ingredients and what can go with what. He says he's tried the diet he wants me to write for, the Gracie Diet and that it worked wonders for him. But that's also because he's resumed his MMA training. I got into a discussion with him as to how what I have in my pantry and what is available to me in the supermarkets and wet markets that I frequent will limit the appeal of the recipes I create, especially for his North American-dominated audience. Which got me thinking. Really, why over extend myself or even be intimidated by the limiting access I have to Western ingredients? Why not do what I always do and adapt recipes to the average Pinoy? Further, why even think about that when I rarely attempt classic Italian or French-inspired dishes?

So here's how I'm going to go about this. This blog will not be your usual Foodie Blog about new restaurants or about new food finds. Though I will write about restos when I feel like it, I'll be focusing more on food I make and food that I grew up with. I plan to do a "Juandering" series, featuring eateries and hole in the wall places that minimum wage earners can enjoy. I will be writing the Grace Diet pieces for my friend, but with a very local flair. But mostly, I'll be sharing recipes and thoughts about the Filipino food and dining culture.

Let's get a few things straight. I have a very healthy amount of knowledge on food and think about it a lot, some even say I obsess about it, over analyzing it, thinking about the science behind it (damn you House M.D and your the sulfur compounds in star anise will enhance the meat flavor shenanigans)... But I am no expert. I did not study it, but I am very much into food history, science and experimentation. I will also try, as much as possible, to only pictures that I take or make myself. But I realize that that is really an impossibility, so I will give due credit when I do cop a picture or get inspiration from a recipe/commercially available dish.

Lastly, let's talk about ingredients. We all know that sourcing Parmigiano Reggiano or good lamb in this country requires money. But if you're anything like me, finding relatively cheap, essential ingredients, or really, even buying a few premium ones, for special dishes, is always something you should consider. One of my first posts will be about basics. Pantry essentials like herbs and spices and my take on them. Basics like how to make a good bagoong alamang or pureeing squash without a ricer or a blender. Skills that one needs to learn, things like that. Also, I don't measure, so parts per and approximations will be the norm here.

So I'll stop rambling now and share my first dish inspired by the Gracie Diet, and one that holds a special place in my heart. I seriously do not know from whom I learned this, but I could never forget the calming and filling feeling this soup gives me.

Ground Pork and Corn soup