Fruit

Mojo is a name that originally branded several varieties of hot sauce from the Canary Islands. Now recipes and uses of mojo are spread throughout the tropical regions of northern South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The place of origin of a particular mojo recipe defines both its ingredients and its uses. Ingredients in mojo sauce can include olive oil, garlic, citrus juice (sour orange, lemon, lime), paprika, chili powder, oregano, and cumin. This flavorful sauce can be used on breads, potatoes, salads, and as a seasoning for meats and vegetables. This recipe was made as a condiment for whole roasted pig. The flavors are a complement to the sour-orange marinade used in Cuban Pig (page 163). The flavor emphasis in this recipe is placed on the acidity of the lime juice, the garlic, and oregano. Mixed with butter, this sauce can be turned into a great topper for sweet potatoes and bread.

The passion fruit is native to Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. It is grown throughout the tropic and near-tropic regions around the world and the pulp, juice, and seeds are used in a variety of ways. The juice is highly concentrated and is used as an additive to other fruit juices. The juice and pulp are used to make pie filling and jellies. The seeds are often used as a topping for salads and other dishes that benefit from an acidic punch. Passion Fruit Butter Sauce was an inspiration I had when barbecuing in Jamaica. I enjoyed the way the passion fruit was used with seafood there, and I thought it would also complement the flavors of grilled chicken and pork. Use this as a dipping sauce, or better yet as a baste or as a finishing glaze.

This recipe was developed specifically for this book, as a match for the Country-Style Ribs on page 198. Because country-style ribs are bulky and not uniform in appearance, a chunky sauce draws attention to the elements of the sauce and away from the clunky appearance of the ribs themselves. If impressing your guest with fancy plating is not your bag, this sauce is “good eatin’” on just about anything. Besides adding distinct flavor, the bits of apple and sweet onion will add a complementary texture to your barbecue.

Big Mama always had a large supply of dried apples on hand for recipes like this one. It was a family favorite because these simple flavors could be served with almost anything. When researching this particular dish with the family, very different memories surfaced regarding the crust. Some remembered the apple rolls having a very puffy dough crust, while some remembered it being thin and flaky. After pondering this conundrum, I concluded that Big Mama made this recipe to use up leftover dough; the crust would vary depending on whether she had been making biscuits, pie shells, or rolls. This is only a hypothesis, but I encourage you to try all three types of dough for these delicious apple rolls!

In the Depression years, it was not uncommon to see little Sara Ruth Gibson haul a pillowcase loaded with fresh sliced apples onto the barn roof. Sara Ruth was the smallest and most agile of the Gibson children, so the job of drying apples was assigned to her. She would spread the pillowcase flat on the tin roof and spread the apples in a single layer inside her makeshift white tote bag. For five days she would put the apples out in the morning and fetch them at sundown, a ritual that could only mean one thing: Big Mama would be baking Apple Rolls with Vanilla Sauce that week. Dried apples make a great snack by themselves, or they can be stored and refreshed for use in cakes, pies, cobblers, and applesauce. Any type of apple can be dried as long as it is firm and not overripe. If a tin-roofed barn is not available at your home for drying, the oven can be used successfully.

One of the highlights in my culinary career was cooking for a Caribbean and Low-Country Food Festival I catered for Johnson & Wales University at the Middleton Place plantation outside of Charleston, South Carolina. We had just won the International Jamaican Jerk Style/Southern Barbecue Cook-Off, and we were invited to cook the Caribbean portion of the menu. Two 120-pound whole pigs were prepared for the event; one was cooked in the Jamaican jerk style, and the other was prepared Cuban-style with a sour-orange marinade. Once the guests were seated, the pigs were carried from the cooker like ancient royalty in a sedan-chair procession and presented at the head of the buffet. This was the only dinner I have ever attended where the main course, not the chef, got the standing ovation. I love the intensity and acidity of a sour-orange marinade, and over the years I have tried many ways to get these wonderful flavors dispersed throughout very thick cuts of meat. After much experimentation I’ve found that two solutions work best: a generous soaking with sour-orange flavors throughout the cooking process or a simple sour-orange injection. With apologies to traditionalists, I chose the latter.

Lemons have a broad appeal for those who barbecue because of the variety of ways in which they can be used. Lemon slices heighten both the color and flavor of sop mops or bastes and sauces, and a sprinkling of lemon on fresh-cut fruits will prevent oxidation, which causes fruits to turn brown before they can hit the grill. A twist of lemon will neutralize the odor of fish, a must for cedar plank–smoked salmon. Perhaps most important, in a marinade the acid in lemon juice will help break down the meat’s collagen fibers, thus helping to tenderize tougher cuts. This recipe, cooked using the indirect heat method at high temperature, is easily one of the quickest and most flavorful recipes I know. Cooking with indirect heat at a high temperature on a closed grill will simulate an indoor oven without sacrificing smoke flavor and will prevent premature caramelization of the soy sauce.

Nine times out of ten when chicken is ordered in a restaurant, a breast will arrive at the table. Where is the love for dark meat? To my mind there is no comparison between the depth of flavors of dark meat versus white meat. On top of that, chicken legs and thighs stay moister and more tender and have a greater margin of error when cooking. For those reasons most competitive barbecuers prefer to submit dark meat rather than chicken breast to trained judges. For marinating chicken it is hard to beat a traditional Italian dressing. The marinade in this recipe stays close to this philosophy while adding a fresh punch with mixed herbs. Its earthy acidic profile complements the subtle smoke flavor of the chicken; there is nothing out-of-the-bottle about it.

Like barbecue, bread pudding is a dessert with humble beginnings. The dish began as a way to recycle stale leftover bread into a simple filling and dessert through the addition of water and sugar. Today, bread pudding is served at the finest white-tablecloth restaurants, and it is often made with specialty breads and fresh fruit. Instead of water, chefs substitute milk, cream, eggs, vanilla, and spices to create a creamy custard. To make this dessert more decadent, a ladle of rich and creamy sauce flavored with whiskey, rum, or vanilla is poured over the bread pudding.

Pork is a natural pairing for anything apple. More like a slightly sweet bread than a dessert, Big Mama’s Apple Nut Cake is perfect with any pork main course, although it can also be served to end the meal. It can be made either in a loaf pan or in a traditional tube pan, depending on how you plan to serve it. The spiced fruit aroma this cake emits made it one of Big Mama’s favorites. With six kids and Big Bob to look after, she was entitled to a little aromatherapy. Because it was not overly sweet, the kids were allowed to snack on it during the day. After viewing this recipe I asked Ruth, the youngest daughter of the Gibson clan, what kind of nuts should be used. She said the nut of choice was either hicka nuts or scaly barks, two varieties you are unlikely to find at your local grocer. “Hicka nuts” is turn-of-the-century Southern country slang for hickory nuts, and “scaly barks” are the nut from the shagbark hickory tree. Hickory nuts are tough to crack, and getting the meat out is very difficult, but they must be superior in flavor because Big Mama would walk past three pecan trees to get to the scaly barks. You can substitute whatever nut you prefer.

Through changes in breeding and feed, today’s commodity pork cuts are 16 percent leaner and have 27 percent less saturated fat than those of just fifteen years ago. In my humble opinion, this might be a little too lean. Lower fat means less flavor and moisture within the meat. Regardless, one of my favorite cuts of meat for the charcoal grill is still the pork tenderloin. This lean cut has fewer than three grams of fat for a three-ounce serving; that’s as lean as a skinless chicken breast. Sometimes the pig doesn’t get the love it deserves, you know? To highlight the versatility of pork tenderloin, I served this recipe, inspired by my extensive travels in the Caribbean, the first time I cooked for the James Beard Foundation in New York City. Although I served it as an appetizer right off the grill, it also makes a wonderful main course. It combines some of my favorite Southern barbecue flavors with the traditional acidic punch of the food of the islands.

If a whole pork loin or pork loin roast is too large for your needs or will take too long to cook, loin chops are a great alternative. The following recipe qualifies as a “must cook” pork chop. I first made these chops while tailgating in Jupiter, Florida, at the St. Louis Cardinals’ spring training facility. March is not too early to start grilling, especially when you are sharing the grill with Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith! This recipe can be made with either bone-in chops or boneless pork loin cut in one-inch medallions. These pork chops feature apple cider brine and a fruity sweet glaze made from applesauce, cranberry sauce, and maple syrup.

When you have a craving for pulled pork but a whole shoulder is more meat than you need, the pork butt is your best option. The butt is not the rear end of a pig but the upper portion of the shoulder. This six- to eight-pound cut is usually well marbled and holds up well during long cooks. Most competition barbecue teams select the pork butt when going for the blue ribbon in the pork category because it has more marbling than the picnic portion of the shoulder and is more easily manageable on the grill than the entire shoulder. I created this recipe for a huge neighborhood block party in Birmingham, Alabama. There are only two things that go together better than a barbecue block party and Birmingham, and that is peaches and pork. If you are ever invited to a barbecue in Alabama, pack your overnight bag.

These two sauces are useful whenever you need to make a dessert in a hurry. Made in minutes, they can turn plain ice cream or store-bought poundcake into something special.

Sautéed on the stovetop or baked in the oven, these cinnamony apples add a sweet note to any meal. If you’re already baking something for dinner, pop some apples into the oven too, and if the oven temperature is hotter or cooler, don’t worry —just adjust the baking time.

An Italian classic, fragrant with lemon.