Cocktail Confessions

Before you feel the need to send me an email to remind me that my last two entries were about me making a concerted effort in dropping my cholesterol, weight, and putting off a few cocktails for a couple of weeks, this is in fact a blog that I like to share recipes with you.

And what two better ingredients to talk about than bacon and bourbon?  They say everything is better with bacon and who am I to disagree?  I will prove to you here today that in fact alcohol is indeed better with bacon.  Bourbon pairs very well with cured pork.  Haven’t you ever heard of the Jack Daniels brand of BBQ sauces? 

Whisky goes hand in hand with grilling, so it only makes sense that a relationship between bacon and whisky should be as natural as peanut butter and chocolate.  The lingering caramel hints match keenly with the richness and smoke of bacon while the whisky’s spice brings it all together like a warm hug from Olivia Wilde.

So let’s get to it.

You’ll need the following:

• A Lindsey Lohan starter kit of good bourbon, say 750ml of the decent stuff….don’t go generic or cheap on me here.  The impurities and bite of low grade whisky can make this slightly bitter and won’t help the headache front at all.  Go just about middle of the road, so as you aren’t spoiling the real good stuff either.
• 1lb bacon.  Also, look for as slab that may not be too high in salt or preservatives.  You’ll disappoint me if you buy the cheap bacon as well.  As a matter of fact, if that’s what you’re determined to do, then stop reading this now and move along….I don’t want to talk you.  No, seriously, move along and leave this to the proper gentlemen.
• A pitcher with a wide mouth. (Insert your own Kardashian joke here).
• A fine mesh strainer.
• Unbleached coffee filters or like filtering material.

Directions:

Start be frying the bacon up and reserving all of the grease.  Be careful of not burning your bacon….the burnt taste will infuse the grease which is something we want to avoid, that is unless you like the taste of charcoal briquettes.  Strain the grease and allow it to cool (be very careful, grease burns and accidents are painful).  Once cool, pour into pitcher along with your whisky, give a good stir, and place in freezer for a few hours (preferably overnight).  BTW: You have a pound of bacon to contend with now, so make yourself a salad or omelet or something.  When cold, the bacon grease will float to the top and form a solid fat cap.  Remove this solid cap as best as possible and strain the rest to remove any lingering fat chunks.  Your newly minted bacon infused bourbon will keep in the fridge for about 2-3 weeks.  Now try a pinch in a cup of hot chocolate, or other favorite whisky drink.  *You can use the same process on either vodka or tequila and wow your friends with a very unique Bloody Mary.

This past weekend we celebrated my wife’s 40th birthday with a BBQ at our house. Not only was it a celebration of her birthday, but also a few of our neighbors birthday’s as well that all fell around the same time frame these past two weeks.

I’m not exactly sure how and when it happened, but it seems that our house is the goto house for parties as of late, since our other neighbor picked up his family and moved out to Texas last year.  See, we used to have block parties that spanned the end of our culdesac street that primarily centered out of his driveway and that of his neighbor. But now that they are gone, the street scene now tends to migrate down to our house. Not that I’m complaining. We enjoy entertaining and hosting cookouts. We have a corner house with nobody behind us, and a nice sized backyard. The only issue for me is I kinda do get tired of cleaning it up the next day. In that respect, I wish my neighbors volunteered their homes a bit more often.

So the main theme was somewhat latin in flavor. We decorated the house and backyard with Mexican themed streamers, banners, and cutouts.  Tacos, Spanish rice, ranch style beans, and margaritas were on tap, but these weren’t your typical tacos. I ended up making two different gourmet style types. The first were three large top sirloin steaks in a citrus-chipotle marinade that were cooked out on the grill and then cut up for easy service.

The second was a slow cooked pulled-pork shoulder that I had marinated in an achiote paste recipe served with roasted peppers and grilled pineapple. All the usual condiments were present: sour cream, shredded cheese, red onions, cilantro, various salsas and hot sauces. Monica happened to make a salad as well, and we had plenty of margarita’s, Jack Daniels, wine, and beer on hand.

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Listen to the podcast on how I prepared the pulled pork, and check out my earlier post on achiote paste and powder to know what it is and how to make. I can tell you it was delicious and I got some solid thumbs up from our guests.  I also discuss the preparation of roasted pasilla/pablano and Anaheim chili peppers (on the grill or in the oven), along with grilled pineapple.  I guarantee the added color and texture of fresh roasted peppers along with the sweet caramelized taste of fresh grilled pineapple bring these pork tacos full circle as a treat to the taste buds.

Monica did very well in the gift department as you can tell by the pictures, that is if you like alcohol as a gift. The more I think about it though, it may appear that by the amount of Crown Royal she received, one would think she has a problem. But I’m sure that Crown will be used up by everyone in future parties and I’m sure I’ll have a slug here and there.

As the night marched on, one of our friends Anthony found himself taking a liking to the Jack Daniels…perhaps a bit too much…and we had an entertaining ‘exit’ show as his wife (who drove) was rounding him up to leave.  There were plenty of hugs to go around initiated by Anthony, as well as multiple ‘good-byes’ and the almost wipe-out of our entertainment center which includes a 42″ plasma television, blu-ray player, stereo system, XBox and Wii gaming systems.

Even later when the natives got restless an impromptu session of Rock Band 2 broke out, with yours truly attempting to sing, and sing badly I did.  Girls took turns playing the drums and guitar and even singing.  Needless to say, there were plenty of pictures taken and all had a good time. 

The part at its peak was about 30 people strong, enjoying each other’s company, the outdoor fireplaces, drinks, jokes, games,and of course, food.  It wrapped up by 1:15am, and I did some preliminary cleaning until I finally crashed at 1:45.  The next day consisted of cleaning the house and resting.

Show Notes:

• Intro Song: Cumbia De Los Muertos (track 3) of the self-titled debut album, Ozomatli.
  

  Ozomatli

• Pulled Achiote Pork preparation along with roasted peppers and grilled pineapple.
• The Crown Royal Easter bunny.
• Anthony almost takes out the entertainment center.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (37.3MB)

Found to season and color an increasing number of dishes in Latin American, Jamaican, and Filipino cuisines, recado rojo, aka ‘achiote paste’, is becoming quite popular.  While it has it’s own distinct and unique flavor, it was primarily used to color foods as a substitute to the more expensive saffron.

Achiote paste or powder is a derivative of ground annatto seeds (aka bixin) that come from the fruit of the Bixa Orellana tree that is found in southeast asia and was brought to the America’s by the Spanish in the 17th century.  The spiny red fruit contains a capsule fulls of seeds, which when dried is a brown and hard.  When combined with other spices, this paste became very popular as an additive in numerous Latin American dishes.

In the states, you may recognize this ingredient in slow cooked pork dishes in Latin and Mexican dishes, often known as ‘al pastor’.  It has a rich, deep red color and often smoky and earthy taste.  It can also be found in the drink, tascalate, (Chiapas, Mex.) and conchinita pibil (spicy pork dish).

Okay, enough of the history lesson and National Geographic discussion.  Why do you care about any of this?  Well, chances are you won’t unless you find yourself playing drunk Jeopardy at a backyard BBQ and want to impress your guests with useless Cliff Clavin trivia.  People always like to know what they are eating, and I always find people think dishes taste better if they come to believe the background on the ingredients is a bit exotic and there is some additional preparation behind your work.

The recipe below is pretty easy to make once you have everything, and I think it is pretty versitile.  You can use it a wet rub when marinating pork, and even with some south of the border fishes (brush it on while grilling).  It can be used in slow cookers as a base broth, or added as a sauce topper to enchiladas, tacos, and what ever else you want.  It accompanies great with grilled pineapple.

There are a few various brands of achiote on the market in both paste and powder forms and can usually be found in Mexican specialty markets or neighborhood grocery stores.  You can also find it online.  However, if you want a fresh and powerful homemade taste, the I offer up the following easy recipe. (Please send me your own recipes and dishes and let me know how it turns out):

Ingredients:

• 5 TBS achiote (annatto) seeds
• 2 Tsp cumin seeds
• 1 TBS black peppercorns
• 8 whole allspice berries
• 1/2 Tsp whole cloves
• 3 habanero peppers, seeded (wear gloves and avoid eye contact)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 TBS coarse salt, (or sea salt, or kosher salt)
• 5 lemons, juiced
• 1 Tsp premium tequila

1. With a clean spice grinder, grind annatto seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, allspice berries, and cloves to a fine powder.
2. In a blender or food processor, mix the ground spices, habaneros, orange juice, vinegar, garlic, and salt.  Blend until smooth.  Mix in lemon juice and tequila.