Jeanette’s Famous Pulled Pork

This is a great party treat … serves at least ten hungry folks.

For the meat: Get one 5-7 pound pork shoulder (with the bone in). Put it in an oven bag along with 1½ teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 2 tablespoons flour. Shake it to cover and add a good splash of water. Bake in a slow oven (250-300 degrees) for about 4 hours. When fully cooked, remove and let it cool. Then pull all the meat off the bone into shreds, discarding bone and any gristle only … not the fat.

For the BBQ sauce: sauté in a large stainless steel or enameled pot (important, do not use aluminum!), in one cup of canola oil, one chopped large onion and two minced garlic cloves until wilted. Add one cup ketchup, one cup water, one cup good cider vinegar, one cup of white wine, one cup dark brown sugar, 1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce, one cup good prepared brown mustard, one tablespoon thyme, one teaspoon liquid smoke (optional, depending on where you are from), 3 tablespoons of salt, 8 grinds of black pepper, and the juice of one lemon. Bring BBQ sauce to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

Add the pulled pork to the sauce and simmer, partially covered for about one hour.

Serve with lots of big hard rolls (Northerners) or big soft rolls (Southerners,) a large bowl of coleslaw (in my mind, a must, to be put on the pulled pork) and the hot sauce of your choice (Tabasco or Frank’s) … and, of course, all the other party goodies like potato salad, french fries, and/or baked beans (including mucho ice-cold beer ... try "Presidente" from Puerto Rico). Enjoy ya’ll!

Cyetta’s Superb Spinach Salad

Anytime we have a gathering of friends and Cyetta asks what she can bring, I always request this superb salad:

First the most delicious salad dressing (Makes about one quart of dressing. Can be cut by ½ or 2/3rds. Remainder can be stored for months in the refrigerator.)

Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1 cup salad oil (canola oil is good)
2/3 cup good sharp cider vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1 small onion or shallot, grated (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seeds (Cyetta's choice, but I substitute poppy seeds)
½ tsp paprika
Juice of 1 lemon
1 minced garlic clove (or equivalent in garlic powder)
A pinch of dry mustard
½ tsp Worcester sauce

Shake all these ingredients together in jar of sufficient size.

Use this dressing on a salad made from a package of baby spinach, a good amount of crumbled fried or broiled bacon (at least 1/2 a pound), a small cold can of Mandarin orange sections (or cold navel orange sections), and toasted slivered almonds. (The almonds can be toasted in the bacon grease … but are optional.)

Gazpacho

When the farm stands are full of large ripe tomatoes (and their price is beginning to come back down to earth), this is the time for gazpacho soup. I can make a few quarts of it and, as my wife will surely testify, eat the entire batch myself. In fact, I will sometimes sneak out of bed late at night to raid the refrigerator’s last few bowls of it … climbing back under the sheets reeking of garlic.

Gazpacho is a fairly simple and flexible recipe. Start by peeling, coring, and chopping about five large, dead-ripe tomatoes. Put them in a large stainless steel bowl. You may de-seed them or not depending on your taste. (I don’t.) Next peel, de-seed (I do), and chop two large cucumbers. Add them to the bowl. Then de-seed and chop two large Italian peppers … add them. If you can’t find Italian peppers, use Bell peppers, but be sure to peel them first. Clean and chop a large Bermuda (preferred), Vidalia, or red onion. Add it. Then mince at least five large garlic cloves and add them. Finally, include a handful of fresh chopped Italian parsley. (At this point you might save a good cupful of these chopped vegetables to add as a garnish to the top of the served soup.  I usually don't however.) 

Then, process all these vegetables in a blender until just a little chunky, adding some V8 juice, if necessary, to get the blending going … placing the results in a large, pretty serving bowl. You’re almost done but for a few more steps: Add a large handful of fresh Italian bread crumbs, the juice of one large lemon, a tablespoon of good wine (or Balsamic) vinegar, about a quarter cup of extra-virgin olive oil, a palm-full of kosher salt, five turns of a pepper mill, and about ten good squirts of Tabasco sauce. If the result is too thick, add some more V8 juice until it is the consistence you desire. Mix thoroughly and refrigerate, covered, overnight. If you don’t cover this, everything else in there will pick up a garlic flavor.

Serve well chilled (with garnishes, if desired) as a first course for about six people (or just one, me.)