Carnival of the Recipes: Default BBQ Edition

I was racking my brain trying to think of a theme for today's carnival, but you folks did it for me, with multiple barbecue (or barbeque if you prefer) dishes and side dishes.  I guess you are eyeing the fast approach of Labor Day and are spending as much time at the beach and on the patio as possible.  Even the non-BBQ dishes leaned heavily toward pork.

And so it begins:  rack/wrack.  I wrote "wrack", but thought to check.  Words at Random says "rack", though etymologically only by a whisker and that is controvertial. It seems that the origins of both "rack" and "wrack" could fit the meaning we intend, when we say "racking one's brain" and "nerve-racking". They weigh in on the side of "rack". (Uhoh, the dreaded "period outside the quotation marks" tort.  I am such a rebel.)

My next conundrum was to sort the recipes into some kind of categories.  They defy categorization.  Thus a dish the blogger may have intended as a dessert becomes breakfast, a main course becomes a side dish, shapeshifting before your eyes.  Which reminds me,  I have some chocolate cake in the fridge that would taste so good with my morning coffee.  So if you don't like the way I sorted the recipes, you'll just have to host the Carnival.  You should, anyway.

Enough of that.  On to the important stuff.

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Breakfast:

Dee at Chocobay teaches us to make our own Sunday breakfast with Churros 101.  These delicate fried dough pastries originated in Spain, and are traditionally sprinkled with sugar, but variants include cinnamon, or dipping in hot chocolate.  They remind me enough of beignets that I thought I'd put them in as breakfast.  I had a little trouble linking to the recipe itself, so here it is below.  The hot chocolater is thick, suitable for dipping:

Fritters:
250 ml water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sifted flour, plus additional for dusting
1 cup oil

Hot chocolate:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups fresh milk

1.  To make fritters, combine water and salt in a saucepan and bring to a brisk boil.  Put the flour in a large heatproof bowl.  As soon as the water boils, pour it over the flour. Stir until a smooth dough is formed and the flour separates from the sides of the bowl.

2.  Spoon the dough into a pastry bag with a large tip.  Pipe into 15-cm (6-inch) strips on a greased and floured baking tray, or pipe into U-shaped strips.

3.  Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the dough strips until golden yellow.  Drain on paper towels and set aside.

4.  To make hot chocolate, combine sugar and cocoa in a saucepan.  Pour in the milk.  Stir well to partly dissolve the cocoa and sugar.  Bring to the boil then reduce heat to simmer.  Continue simmering, stirring constantly until liquid becomes very thick, 5-10 minutes.  Pour into a cup and serve with the fritters.

Serves 6 (in what universe?)

Kevin at Technogypsy sends us a recipe for some yummy Salmon Spread, with lemon juice, fresh dill and horseradish.  It could be an appetizer, but since he puts it on freshly toasted bagels, it sounds like Sunday brunch to me. 

Kevin outdid himself this week.  He has a couple of entrees coming up later.

Because we had such a nice breakfast, and because we are going to make such pigs of ourselves at dinner, we will skip lunch, and segue right into appetizers:

Our first appetizer is Baked Stuffed Quahogs from Tim at Walking the Berkshires.  Much more than a recipe, this is a treatise on the Quahog (pronounced KO-hog) clam and the joys of walking the beach and collecting them.

Among the gems gleaned from this post:

The word quahog is Algonquin, derived from the Narragansett "poquauhock", and Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island is in the heart of quahog country.

The purple tinged shell was the only source of the precious "black wampum" prized by the native peoples of the Northeast.

Quahogs can live over 40 years; they have growth rings, and those with fewer than four are considered too small to keep.  Check out the post, and meanwhile, here's the recipe for Baked Stuffed Quahogs.

Kevin's back.  This recipe from Technogypsy could be dinner.  Then again, it could be lunch, hard to say, served with tortillas and sour cream.  Finally, there is  a variation that starts with a roux and is served as a gravy, served over breakfast potatoes or meat.  It is Green Chile Stew in the Slow Cooker.  It is a fragrant melange of venison stewed with green chiles, onions, garlic, cumin and chipotle powder.

Let's move on to some pork dinner recipes.  Bigmista at The Survival Gourmet gave us this recipe for Smothered Pork Chops.  Seasoned and dredged in flour, these chops are browned then cooked in a Dutch oven until they are coated in a brown, oniony gravy.  The photos show the steam coming off the dish, so you can almost smell and taste it.

Technogypsy's third submission is Roast Wild Pig in the Caja China, that starts with a 50-pound carcass that gets brined in a concoction of water and orange juice, then studded with garlic and rubbed with a paste.  The pig is baked under coals.  Kevin says it is probably the best pork he's ever tasted.  I had to look up "Caja China" grills and "piri-piri sauce".

The Hermit from The Ziggurat of Doom fixed his wife this Honey Mustard Pork.  These medallions are browned, then deglazed and baked with honey, mustard (hence the name), rosemary and garlic.  He commented that he was surprised that the rosemary and garlic make so much difference to the taste.  I love that combination, and rarely cook pork without rosemary.

Okay, I've had enough pork.  Let's move on to something else.  Bernadette at Booklore (A Little Bit of Literary Erudition) submitted a long post on Campfire Cooking, starting with building your fire and getting a good Dutch oven.  Then she gets serious and tells us what to cook.  If you're going camping, just print out her post and you'll be set.

She starts us out with some Corned Beef Hash, then moves on to Pineapple Upside-Down Cake made in a Dutch oven.  Next comes a Hobo Pack which is meat and vegetables sealed in foil and cooked on the coals.  She uses ground beef, which cooks quickly.  My friend Susan used to do this with a chuck or 7-bone roast and cooked until tender.  The blending of the flavors was divine.

On the side, she makes us baked potatoes, and then, after you eat all your dinner, you get dessert:  Ice-Creamless Banana Split.

Because it is all one post, there is just one link for all these goodies.

If you like the idea of barbecue, but don't like the heat and mosquitoes, Shawn Lea of Everything and Nothing treats us to Barbecued Shrimp.  I've had a variation of this recipe before.  It is to die for.  Literally, because it has 1 1/2 sticks of butter and 8 oz. of Italian dressing in it.  And it feeds only 4 people who sop up the sauce with French bread.  Oh well.  You have to die of something.

Let's move on to some sides and salads.

This Heirloom Tomato Caprese from Marsha at A Weight Lifted is just the thing to help you recover from all that butter.  Mmmmmm, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, beautifully dressed.  Looks lovely and sounds delicious.

Further cleansing our bloodstreams of cholesterol, Dr. Joel Fuhrman submitted a couple of unusual salads in the aptly named "Not Your Usual Salads." from his blog Disease Proof. The first, Green Banana Power Blended Salad involves blending all the ingredients, the spinach and lettuce, banana and avocado, dates and vinegar.  The perfect salad to make in case you misplaced your teeth. 

His second submission, Pecan Maple Salad blends pecans, soy milk, cinnamon, dates and maple syrup and vinegar for a dressing served over baby romaine or spinach.  Sounds delicious.

Another salad, Swiss Cashew Salad comes to us from Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse.  I love Swiss cheese.  I love cashews.  I love poppy seed Dressing.  All featured together in this wonderful salad.  What's not to like.  Okay, she says if you don't like poppy seed dressing, you can try it with Casesar dressing with bacon.  Me, I'll stick to the poppy seed version.

Now for some side dishes (Ooooh, I'm getting stuffed!):

To eat along side your barbecue, The General's Missus was allowed to post her 1st Place Grits, since she cooked them.  Normally, The BBQ General is the sanctum sanctorum of The General, so this is special indeed.  These grits won the $200 first prize.

Rising from the challenge, Curt from Bucky's Barbecue Blog submits *tada* The Best BBQ Sidedish Ever!!!  This dish, Tomato Pie comes either with a prebaked bottom crust, or without the crust.  The peeled, sliced and drained tomatoes are put in a pie plate and topped with herbs, then a mixture of cheddar cheese and mayonnaise, and finally, crushed crackers.  The dish is baked so the tomatoes are cooked, the cheese is melted and the crumbs are crunchy.  I don't need this as a side dish.  I'll just sit down and eat it by itself, thank you.

And now dessert.  You did keep room for dessert, didn't you?

Triticale- The Wheat/Rye Guy brought us The Prunana:  They Call it Mellow Purple.  My first thought was that he'd been smoking too many green bananas.  But he produced a fine refrigerator pie with a baked crust lined with bananas and topped with a prune and honey filling.  The whole thing is topped with whipped cream and served. 

There are two types of people in this world.  Those who eat prunes and those who don't.  The former should love the prunana.

From Kicking Over My Traces, Cehwiedel tweaked a recipe of a favorite sweet snack to avoid wheat, and came up with Wheatless Gingersnap Cookies.  Flavored with ginger, cinnamon, cloves and molasses, these cookies have oat flour and rice flour instead of the more traditional wheat flour.  Perfect for those who are sensitive to wheat but still need a treat.

And now, make room for Keewee's Fresh Blackberry Pie.  As posted in Keewee's Corner, she started with a graham cracker crust and added cream cheese and cool whip filling, then topped it all with berries and a berry sauce.  This recipe uses 8 cups of berries!  Just think of the vitamins!  I'd bet big money it tastes as delicious as it looks.  Making me feel even more inadequate, I believe she picked her own blackberries! (And comments on her post notwithstanding, I'd rather have this pie than blackberry wine.)

My submission is in the dessert category as well.  I did a post on my Mom's Buttercream Frosting, and included a recipe for an eggless verision from Williams Sonoma.  My Mom's is my all-time favorite frosting, but the eggless one allows you to avoid the whole salmonella issue.

Finally, taking the honors in the non-food food blog category, we have Bothenook in A Geezer's Corner, with his post: A Foodless Food Blog.  He writes aobut his favorite knives, and what he uses them for.  He has a half-dozen indispensables (his favorite:  the Santoku).  He also has a beautiful butcherblook cutting board maed by his grandfather 30 years ago.  Nice, that.

Thanks for all these beautiful articles and recipes.  To join next week's Carnival of the Recipes, be sure to submit your link to [email protected] by noon CST next Saturday.

That's about it for me.  I've typed my fingers to little nubbins.

Comments

[Mama Squirrel]

Our Treehouse is a place of frequent barbecues, so we like your topic very much. Great carnival!

[keewee]

A job well done, thank you Riannan.
The blackberries are wonderful this year. I am on the lookout for new recipes using blackberries. I have another BB recipe for the carnival coming up in a couple of weeks.

[B. Durbin]

I have GOT to stop reading these when I'm hungry. Mmmm.

[Kevin]

Very nicely done. Thanks for all your hard work and your patience with me.

I'm sorry about the strange words. I posted a recipe for piri-piri sauce to make up for it. It's a sauce made with African Birds Eye peppers and a better link than the one you used.

I got a picture of the piggie up too. Sorry to be so disorganized this time...