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This week for Chef’s Night I hosted one of our recurring themes we call “Pantry Raid” – an excuse to use up various odds and ends that may be kicking around in dark corners, rediscover items of interest from previous recipes and of course meet the challenge of pairing a few good bottles of beer and wine to fit the flavors on the plate.

We also had an added bonus of welcoming some new members this month as we expand the estate – the Tag Team of Megan and Jason joined Jack, Ian and myself in the kitchen and Frank did a Drive-by during the evening.

Our menu was decidedly pork-centric, with a side of lake fish and a few vegetarian adaptations to meet Jason’s obnoxious dietary needs. We started the evening snacking on water crackers and Slow Jams jam, along with a treat of Iberico Ham provided by Megan.

Jack’s App was up first – a Japanese rice & green tea dish with lots of condiments called Ochazuke, in which one of the condiments was a heavily camouflaged sinus clearing, eye searing blob of wasabi. Jack is a bastard. Thankfully, the dish was paired with Sake and beer, so we all managed to pull through OK.

Next up – Ian presented a German inspired soup of pork, white beans, sauerkraut and carrots which was immediately dubbed “Fart Soup”. He also came up with a veggie version for Jason which substituted additional fart in place of the pork. Despite the gravity of the ingredients, the broth remained light and clear and the dish didn’t weigh too heavily on our bellies.

My turn for the main:  a modified Filipino Pork Adobo starting with the basic preparation and adding some flavor punches and green veg at the end to mouthwatering results. And yes, I even came up with a veggie version for Jason involving carrots, jicima and beets. The beets turned it all red, but the textures and flavor were worth the christmas theme. Recipe for the Pork Adobo at the end of this article.

Dessert – a rare treat at the estate since Rok went full time with her Cake and Rock Star business – Megan and Jason produced a pair of chocolate souffle cakes from scratch over the course of our dinner preparations – one topped with strawberry jam and whipped cream, the other with espresso whipped cream. I added my two cents to the sweets with an impromptu congee made from the first batch of rice that was way over cooked mixed to a pudding with a can of coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk and a handful of dried berries.

As usual, nobody left even slightly hungry.

Rogue Estate Pantry Raid Pork Adobo

• 2 tblsp oil or lard
• 2 lbs Pork loin, chops or shoulder, roughly chopped
• 1 cup diced onion
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup Soy sauce
• 2 tblsp fish sauce
• 6 bay leaves
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp tumeric powder
• 1/2 lb frozen peas
• 1 cup zucchini, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup flat parsley, finely minced
• 2 cups of cooked rice for serving
• option: 1 tsp cornstarch + 1/2 c water

Rice cook time will vary, so use the instructions on the package to determine when to start cooking your rice so that it’s ready to serve when the adobo is done after a 90 minute cook time.

Season chopped pork with salt. In a 6 qt sauce pot, heat oil or lard on medium-high heat, add pork in batches until browned. push off to the sides and add the onion in to saute until just taking on color. Turn the heat back up to add vinegar, water, soy, fish sauce, bay leaves, black pepper and turmeric. stir to combine and un-stick anything from the bottom of the pot since this is essentially a de-glaze. As the liquid comes to just a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a good tremor without a full on boil. Cover and let it cook for an hour. Check occasionally to give everything a stir and adjust the heat as needed to keep everything below boil.

After an hour, remove the lid and add the zucchini, stir and adjust the heat as needed to keep a merry tremor in the pot. After 15 minutes the liquids should be reduced and beginning to thicken. If you’d like a thicker gravy, whisk 1 tsp of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of warm water together, then stir that slurry into the adobo. continue stirring, add the frozen peas and remove from heat.

Portion rice into bowls, spoon the pork, zucchini and peas over it and the gravy over that, then garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

Hop on over and LIKE The Rogue Estate on Facebook to check out the full food porn gallery for this week’s Chef’s Night, as well as previous Chef’s Night galleries.

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I shared with friends Sam, a fellow foodie and exceptionally skilled chef and Tommy, who is just plain picky and hard to feed. Both gentlemen plowed through, declaring much finger-licking goodness. A meal well done.

This was a two day process and well worth the advanced prep. The dry rub can of course be made any time and stored in an airtight bowl.

THE GOODS:

• 2 racks of Pork Ribs
• The Rogue Estate dry rub #2
• Apple wood chips for smoking
• Jack Daniels wood chips for smoking
  
• 2 hours of time on prep day
• 5 hours of time on cook day

The Rogue Estate Dry Rub #2 contains the following dry ingredients, which may be adjusted to suit your own tastes. note – all of the spices I use are sourced from Penzeys for the absolute best power and flavor of any dry spice:

• 8oz dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp salt (kosher, iodized, sea, whatever. it’s all the same rock, people.)
• 3 tbsp Aleppo pepper
• 1 tbsp oriental mustard
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp white pepper
• 3 tbsp paprika
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp allspice
• 1 tsp lemon peel
• 2 tsp ginger
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder

combine the dry ingrediants in a sealable bowl and set aside. Good for 3 to 4 racks of ribs, depending on how heavy you prefer to coat. I personally am not shy with the rub, so I get 3 racks from a single batch.

Dressing the Ribs:

first – wash them thangs. Cold water, scrub with your hands and rinse em good. lay the racks out to dry on paper towel and pat the meat dry until it’s just tacky. dispose of the paper towel. A dry workspace is a good thing so wipe up any spills.

Use a sharp knife to help you remove any obnoxiously large hunks of fat and other connective tissue that isn’t very tasty. Flip the Rack over so it’s face down and peel away as much of the membrane as you can and dispose of that as well. Leaving the rack face down, place 1 sheet of your cling wrap a few inches larger than the rack flat on the workspace behind said rack.

Apply the rub to the meaty parts on the exposed underside of the rack. It won’t take much. When those few spots are coated, flip the rack over onto the cling wrap. With the Rack now face up, apply the rub liberally to every bit of exposed meat, get it into every noook and cranny, on the ends and all around.

Grab a second sheet of cling wrap and lay it over the now thoroughly seasoned rack and do whatever folding is needed to seal the two sheets together on al four sides to give you a nice neat package. move it to a shallow pan or tray to catch any leaks and put it in the fridge over night.

Cooking day:

I use a hardwood charcoal fire in a horizontal 35 gallon drum-type smoker with an offset fire box. Being that fuels and builds are debated with the ferocity greater than most religions, the aforementioned configuration is my personal preference and whatever you use will do just fine as long as you keep the fire separate from the meat and you keep it cooking slow and low.

Plan ahead! The number one ingredient in any BBQ recipe is TIME and lots of it. We’re doing these slow and low, so give yourself at least 5 hours before you plan to serve. Pull the ribs from the fridge and let them warm up to room temperature while you’re out setting up your smoker and your fire.

Set up your fuel so you have an area of indirect heat large enough to accommodate your racks of ribs. I like to keep my smoke space in the 185-200F degree range for most of the process and finish up just a little hotter at the end.

With everything hot, place the ribs in the smoker, small end farthest from the heat source and add the first installment of applewood, close the lid and walk away. Have a beer. Come check the thermometers in 10 minutes to make sure your internal temps are holding between 185-200F degrees and that there is smoke happening. If all is well, walk away.

Mow the lawn. Call your mom. Wash dishes. Whatever you do, don’t keep popping the lid open every 5 minutes. The heat and smoke do their best work if kept inside the smoker where the ribs are. Add fuel and fresh wood chips as needed to maintain consistent heat and favor in your smoker.

At the end of hour 3, switch from Apple wood to the Jack Daniels wood. Also if you’re so inclined, pull out the leftover dry rub and give everything a light sprinkle.

At the end of hour 4, do some spot checks with your meat thermometer. Your ribs should be right up there with the air temp in the smoker with the lid closed, 185-200F degrees. give a little pull with your fingers or a fork on one end – meat should come off easily.

Using your tongs, move the ribs from the smoker to a cookie sheet or other service tray that can hold the racks and catch the drips. The meat is still cooking, so it’s time to cover it with some foil and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Once rested, you can grab the big knife and split the ribs up however you prefer, stack them in your serving vessel and enjoy.

I’m thrilled with this recipe. That said, I’m always eager to learn new things and improve my techniques, so if you have any suggestions or if you follow my recipe yourself, leave me comments below!

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