Smoked Pork with Mustard Sauce

My husband can smoke some pork. My favorite is his smoked pork tenderloin with mustard sauce. It's tangy, a little sweet, but not too much, and it's got some zing. He's like a jazz musician. He's got a direction he's headed in, but he doesn't like to be boxed in with a recipe. He improvises. And it's always amazing. But I wanted to be able to share the recipe with you so I asked him to nail it down. After some experimentation, this is the one. It's hard to stop eating this stuff. Make some cornbread and get down to business. (This sauce would rock on smoked chicken or turkey as well.)



He likes pork tenderloin because it's faster to smoke than a larger cut, and because of the shorter time, it stays very moist. It's easy to process, you don't have to debone it and mess around with a lot of prep. It doesn't shred the same way you usually see shredded pork, but it does make beautiful slices that show off your smoke ring — the clear pink line that marks the penetration of smoke into the meat.



This recipe is for four tenderloins and enough sauce and marinade for all of them. You could cut it down, but if you're going to go to all the trouble of firing up the smoker, you might as well have a party or put some away in the freezer for later happiness.

Gluten-free note: Lea & Perrins Worchestershire sauce is gluten-free.

Mustard Sauce/Marinade:
24 ounces Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup honey
4 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce

Pork:
Four 1 lb. pork tenderloins

Combine sauce/marinade ingredients and cook in a saucepan over low heat for about 30 minutes. Taste it and see where it is. You can add more mustard, if you like. Keep in mind that it will continue to mellow out over time. The bite of the vinegar will soften and the sweetness will come up as the flavors marry together.

In a gallon-size zipper plastic bag, put all four tenderloins and 1/2 cup marinade. Zip it up and massage the sauce into the meat to coat it all evenly. Refrigerate overnight.

The smoking:
Soak about six 8-10 inch long and about 1-inch to 1 1/2-inch diameter pieces of pecan in a bucket of water for 30 minutes.

Fill a chimney charcoal starter with hardwood charcoal and light it to use as the base of your fire. When it's going, put it in the firebox. Add half of the wet pecan to the charcoal. Get the temperature in the smoker up to about 225 degrees. Add your pork and smoke for about an hour and 20 minutes. Add more wet pecan as needed to maintain smoke and even temp of 225 degrees.

Remove the meat from the smoker and let rest on a platter, covered, for about 20 minutes. While the meat is resting, warm up the remaining sauce to a low simmer. Slice the meat into 1/4-inch slices on a bias and drizzle with sauce to serve.

For the leftovers, if there are any... Slice the meat, then brush it with a little sauce. Heat it under a broiler briefly just to warm it through and, if you like, crisp up the edges just a bit, like barbacoa. You can also freeze leftovers. Take the unsliced piece of tenderloin, place it in a zipper bag, add the sauce, remove as much air as possible before zipping it shut and freeze.

Serves 8-10.

Al Pastor Tacos for Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo (the 5th of May) is coming up and in Austin, that's a good excuse for a Mexican feast. The holiday celebrates the Mexican army's win over the French in a battle in 1862. In the U.S., especially Texas, it's a celebration of Mexican heritage.

Pork al pastor is traditionally cooked on a rotisserie like a Middle Eastern shawarma. It's roasted with a piece of pineapple on top to baste it as it cooks. The best al pastor has tender, juicy meat with crispy, lacquered outside bits. My favorite part of al pastor is that texture paired with the distinct flavor of pineapple.

We've been working our way around town, whenever we hear a tip or recommendation of a good al pastor taco somewhere in Austin, whether it's from a restaurant or a little taco trailer. So far, the best we've tasted have come from Al Pastor on Riverside or Piedras Negras on Cesar Chavez at Pleasant Valley. If you've got a favorite in Austin, leave a comment, we'd love to try it.

But we've also been experimenting at home. I clipped a pork kebab al pastor recipe from the sorely missed Gourmet magazine and we've been tinkering with it as our base. They take boneless pork shoulder, cut it into cubes, skewer it with pineapple and onions, and then grill it with a pineapple basting sauce. It's served with a tangy salsa of roasted tomatoes and onions combined with more of the pineapple basting sauce to form an incredible pineapple salsa.

We've experimented with this recipe quite a bit. We ended up wanting a lot more of the basting sauce and salsa so we've increased those quantities. I like having leftovers of the salsa. It has a bit of vinegar in it which means it keeps well and it's great on grilled fish or even corn tortilla chips. It's incredibly refreshing. As it heats up outside, I start to crave a tangy, zippy, fresh salsa. That's the taste of summer in Austin. And this one has become my favorite.

We've tried making this with different kinds of meat — pork shoulder, which requires a fair amount of prep to cut down into bite-sized cubes and as a shortcut, with big, fat boneless pork chops, which were faster to trim. The pork chops turned out to be too lean though. You need some fat to keep the meat moist so you can blast it a bit at the end to get that crispy texture you want on the outside.

This is a damn fine al pastor. But in the pursuit of perfection, we're going to keep experimenting to fine tune the texture to achieve the crispy edges we're looking for. Next time, we're thinking of trying pork butt instead. We'll debone the roast, slice it open lengthwise to get more surface area and then grill it in a large piece instead of cutting it into chunks. After it's seared on one side, flip it, brush with the basting sauce, then later, flip it again, and baste the other side. When it's cooked through, shred it, then if you like it really crispy, reheat and sear the shredded meat again before serving. A lot of prep, I know. But this is all in the service of a masterpiece. Tonight, we were trying the pork chops, so the meat was cut into small cubes so that it would cook quickly and not dry out. The meat was tender but we think it needs more fat to hold up to the blast of heat it needs to get some good crispy edges.

We also added a bit more chile. We like the smokiness of chipotle, so we used that. Chipotle powder is easy. But if you like some other dried chile, use that. The original recipe called for three dried chiles de arbol. If you use dried whole chiles, you'll want to heat them over medium heat in a dry skillet to toast them about 30 seconds on each side. Also, we have Mexican oregano growing in our garden. It's great for seasoning taco fillings, beans, you name it. You can substitute dried.

Note: Early on, we also tried marinating the meat in the pineapple basting sauce and while it imparts great flavor, the citrus essentially cooks the meat while it's marinating and destroys the texture. It just turns to paste. So don't do that!

Whether you cook it as kebabs, in a big piece and shred it or on a rotisserie, this is some good eating. Serve it on fresh corn tortillas with the pineapple salsa, some cilantro, roasted onions and pineapple and you'll be feasting.



Al Pastor Kebabs

Pineapple Basting Sauce and Salsa
1/2 white onion, peeled and sliced in half
1 + 1 teaspoon chipotle powder, separate
1 whole pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into cubes
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of fresh Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
32 ounces canned fire-roasted tomatoes
6 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Broil your onion half on your grill or under the broiler for about five minutes on each side, until it's softened and charred.

While that's cooking, make your pineapple basting sauce. In a blender, combine one teaspoon chipotle powder, pineapple, vinegar, oil, garlic, oregano and cumin. Pour into a bowl and set aside. Hang on to the blender, you're about to use it again. You don't even have to clean it out though.

When the onion has finished roasting, put it in the blender. Add the tomatoes, one teaspoon chipotle powder and water. Blend until smooth. Add cilantro and 3/4 cup of the pineapple basting sauce. Blend again to combine.

For the meat
2 pounds pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes
1 large white onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch chunks

To serve
chopped fresh cilantro
lime wedges
fresh corn tortillas (approximately 16-20)

Prep your grill (medium-high heat). If you're doing kebabs, toss the pork in the remaining pineapple basting sauce. (Don't do this ahead or it'll ruin the texture of the meat.) Then immediately thread the pork, pineapple chunks and onions alternately on to skewers.

Grill until cooked through about 15 minutes, flipping them over about halfway through.

To serve, steam the tortillas in a damp kitchen towel in a microwave for about 1-2 minutes until steaming. Serve kebabs on the warm tortillas with pineapple salsa, cilantro and lime wedges.

Adapted from Gourmet.

Brent's BBQ Sauce

One year at Christmas, our friend, Brent, sent us some of the finest dang barbecue sauce I've ever had. Now, I grew up in the South, so barbecue for me means pork. I know, I live in Texas, and here, it's all about the beef. But as my husband says, pork is still the king of meats. I'm usually partial to a Carolina mustard-based sauce on pulled pork. But Brent's red sauce has convinced me that red can be as good as yellow.

This sauce is a little smokey with a nice balance of sweet (from brown sugar) and tangy (from cider vinegar and mustard) with a slow heat at the end (from cayenne and chipotle) that's really nice. Garlic, onion and molasses give it backbone.

There's a pot of it simmering on the stove right now — the perfect smell to go with a windy day and football playoffs in the background. I made a double batch so we'll have plenty. Brent's original quantities are listed below, but it's easy to double if you're feeling generous enough to share it with friends.



Tonight, we put this on chicken on the grill. (Note the dog's undivided attention on the chicken.) Tips from my husband, the grillmaster: don't put the sauce on the chicken until the last five minutes of cooking or the sugars will burn. He brushed it on and then turned it twice, so one side got a little more carmelized. Just keep a close eye on it.

For a quick meal, we also threw some zucchini and pineapple on the fire too. Next, I want to try it on pork and put it in a steamed Asian bun, dim sum-style.

A note on the ingredients: I used canned chipotles in adobo sauce. I picked out the biggest ones and chopped them up, seeds and all. If you want the flavor of the chipotles, but with less heat, you could leave out the seeds. Also, I made sure to use a natural liquid smoke with no MSG and no preservatives.

Muchas gracias, Brent!

Brent's BBQ Sauce

In a heavy-duty saucepot, sauté until onions are translucent:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely diced
4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Add:
1/2 cup Jack Daniels

Brent flames it here, but I was a bit sleep-deprived when I made this and felt a little paranoid about lighting the kitchen on fire, so I brought it up to a boil and let it bubble for a few minutes instead. Such a girl move, I know.


Add and stir together:
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup tomato paste
4 teaspoons liquid smoke
1 tablespoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 chipotle peppers

Let simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Yield: approximately 6 cups.

Adapted from Brent Warner.

Field Trip: Snow's BBQ -- the best in Texas?

Last summer, Texas Monthly did a round-up of the 50 best barbecue joints in Texas. Now in Texas, "barbecue" usually means beef, or more precisely, brisket. I grew up in the South. (Folks in other parts sometimes get confused and include Texas in "The South." But Texas is a whole other thing.) Where I grew up, bbq meant pork. And that, in my opinion, is as it should be. My first true barbecue love will always be pulled pork, preferably with some mustard sauce. But that's just me. Around Austin and Central Texas, we are in the center of Texas bbq territory.

Many of the spots mentioned in the Texas Monthly list were familiar names. But one, only an hour east of Austin, and garnering the top spot, was completely unfamiliar. It is Snow's in Lexington.



This should explain why we got up before 7am on a Saturday morning to meet up with a friend and make the trek to Lexington in search of... THE. BEST. BBQ. IN. TEXAS.

Snow's is only open on Saturdays. One of the guys manning the pit told us he'd put the brisket on around midnight the night before. It smokes all night and is ready when they open at 8am. They sell beef brisket, pork, sausage, ribs, and chicken until they sell out. Sometimes that's at 10am, sometimes closer to noon.

If you're going to drive an hour for barbecue — before you've even had breakfast — you want to make dang sure that there's going to be some meat left when you get there. So we hit the road a little before 8am and started making our way out there. We dawdled around, making a pit stop for the dog, getting a little lost in Lexington, and then like the gawking tourists that we were, taking some photos. By the time we got in there, it was probably around 9:30ish. Lucky for us, it was a slow day and there were only a few cars in the lot and one or two tables with folks tucking into some big ole plates of meat next to the smokers. We went in and ordered one of (almost) everything. You can get combo plates with two meats, cole slaw, potato salad, onions, pickles, white bread and beans for $10.95. You'll be given a squeeze bottle of sauce in an old Ozarka water bottle to take out to the picnic tables with you.



We tried the brisket, ribs, pork and sausage. I had to fend off greedy fingers to get any photos before it was demolished. You have to be mentally ready to eat four kinds of smoked meat before 10am, but we were up for it.

As I mentioned, bbq for me, is really about pork. Lucky for me, since I don't live so close to the epicenter of Carolina-style bbq, my husband makes what I've always thought is the best smoked pork with mustard sauce I've ever had. (And that wasn't even one of the top 10 reasons why I married him.) So I'm an admittedly hard sell when it comes to Texas brisket. But now I get it.




Snow's brisket is by far the best brisket we've ever tasted. Hands down. Their pork was very tasty, although a little fattier than I'd like. The ribs were good and the sausage just OK, a little dry. We ran out of steam before trying the chicken. Of the sides, even though I'm not a big mayo-style potato salad lover, theirs was very good. It went perfectly with the smoked brisket. The beans and cole slaw were good, but you're not there for that. You're there for the brisket.

The brisket was luscious. It had the perfect lacquered crust on the outside, moist, very tender meat with just the right amount of smoke. Their sauce is a light, vinegary red sauce, thin and tangy. It adds just a shot of tangy sweetness to the meat without in any way competing with it. I'm also not an eater of white bread, but there's no other way to go here. A piece of brisket on white bread, with or without pickles and onions – your choice, with a splash of vinegary sweetness.

It was damn good. Fall apart tender, with those smoky, crusty, crunchy bits wrapped in a soft, squishy piece of white bread to soak up all the juices. Oh yeah.



The story behind Snow's is almost as good as the brisket. The pitmaster is a 70+ little lady named Tootsie, who moonlights behind the smoker. During the week, she's a custodian for the local school district. She and her husband owned a meat market/butcher shop/bbq joint in Lexington for 20 years. She helped Snow's owner, Kerry Bexley, design the pits and still works them today. That's her in the photo.



Are you hungry yet? Snow's is in Lexington, Texas, about 50 miles east of Austin. Take 290 east to just past Elgin, then make a left towards Butler and Lexington.

And, oh yeah, take a cooler. You're gonna want to take some more home with you.

Snow's BBQ
open Saturdays only
8am until sold out
516 Main Street
Lexington, TX
979.773.4640