What’s Stu Cooking

This recipe was inspired by a favorite dish of mine - grillades and grits - along with a recipe from a muched loved cookbook - Sausage and Mash. Make sure you use a sausage with a high meat content. I like the chipolatas because they are generally meatier than most of the sausages I can find here in England, plus they fry up to leave a brown sticky goo in the pan that really flavors the sauce nicely.

• 1 lb chipolata sausages or other meaty sausage
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1-2 green peppers, 1 inch dice
• 1 large, mild red chili pepper
• 2 shallots minced (garlic or onion could substitute)
• 1 teaspoon fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon four mashed up with 1 tablespoon softened butter
• 200 ml red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 125 ml chicken stock
• 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
• chopped basil or parsley for garnish

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan. When hot melt in the butter, add the sausages and cook over moderate heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until the sausages have browned and left a nice sticky residue in the pan. Remove the sausages, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat and reduce the heat on the pan.

Briefly cook the peppers and shallots in the oil for just a few minutes and then add the thyme followed shortly by the red wine. Simmer the wine until the smell of the alcohol has diminished - about 5 minutes - then add the sugar and salt. Pour in the chicken stock and return to a simmer. Using a fork, stir in the butter and flour mixture in small bits until it is well combined and the sauce is slightly thickened. Bring the sauce back to a simmer.

Add the sausages to the pan, turning to coat with the sauce. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is nice and thick. The cooking time is important to blend the flavors of the sausages and peppers and to mellow the sharpness of the wine and taste of the flower. If the sauce starts to get too thick before this time is up then just stir in hot water a splash or two at a time. If you didn’t add a red chili with the green pepper then you might want to add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce just a minute or two before it’s done cooking to give the sauce a peppery feistyness (don’t make it hot though, you’re going for mild here).

Serve garnished with the chopped fresh herbs. This dish is fantastic when spooned over grits (for my Southern readers) or polenta (for my European readers). Sauteed rocket and baby greens or a fresh salad make a great accompaniment.

Choucroute is a big time winter favourite in my house. This may not be the most appetising photo, but believe me, it looks and smells just fantastic when you bring it to the table.

Choucroute, a dish from the Alsace, is French for dressed sauerkraut and is simply sauerkraut cooked with pork, usually sausages and cheap salted cuts like ham hock and back bacon. My recipe changes slightly each time I make it depending on what I have on hand, this year it was a joint of belly pork and some bratwurst from the freezer. I have adapted this from one of my favourite books, The Taste of France.

• 2 pounds (1 kg) sauerkraut
• 1-2 pound thick cut streaky or back bacon and/or assorted salted cuts of pork
• 4 or 5 bratwurst (cervelas, Frankfurt, Strasbourg, or Montbéliard sausages could also be used but may be harder to find)
• 3-4 medium sized potatoes peeled and quartered
• 1 onion sliced
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 3/4 cup white wine (200 ml), preferably Riesling
• 3/4 cup chicken stock (200 ml)
• small handful of fresh thyme tips or 1 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
• 3 small bay leaves
• 1 or 2 cloves and 8 juniper berries (optional, I’ve never tried it)
• pepper to taste

If the sauerkraut is preserved in brine then you’ll need to wash and press it in a colander to strain off the liquid. However, I found some sauerkraut in white wine that only needed to be drained slightly.

Generously grease a casserole dish with lard, goose fat, or plain old vegetable oil and lay half of the sauerkraut in the bottom. In the next layer add the onion, potatoes and the pork (do not add the sausages yet). Season with black pepper and herbs, add cloves and juniper berries if liked. Be careful, little or no additional salt should be required when you take into account the salted pork, chicken stock and the sometimes salty sauerkraut. Place the remaining sauerkraut on top and moisten with the wine and stock. Cover and cook in a low oven (325 F) for 3 hours.

Place the sausages on top and continue to cook uncovered for another 45-60 minutes or until the sausages have browned and are cooked through. Make sure that the liquid in the dish does not cook off. You want about an inch of liquid left at the end so add a splash of wine if it starts to dry out.

Enjoy with a dry Riesling wine.

Being a half Southern, the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions BBQ is the slow smoked, pulled pork shoulder that is the only BBQ in the Southern USA. Down there a BBQ sauce isn’t thick, sweet and sticky catchup based goo, but a runny, sharp and peppery sauce based on vinegar.

I don’t own a smoker and my visits to the South are limited to once every year or two, so I make due with an oven based BBQ technique that is almost as good as the real thing. You cook it for almost as long as smoked pork so it really breaks down and gets nice and tender.

For cooking the BBQ:

• 3-5 lb pork shoulder roast (bone in is best)
• two shallots minced
• one clove of garlic minced
• 1 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay*
• a dash or two Tabasco or pepper sauce
• a dash or two Worcestershire sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoon tomato purée
• 1/4 cup corn or vegetable oil

BBQ sauce:

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Old Bay*
• a dash or two Tabasco or pepper sauce
• a dash or two Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon catchup

Place the pork in a dutch oven or a heavy roasting pan. Mix the remaining cooking ingredients, whisking in the oil last to combine and pour over the pork. Cover with a tight fitting lid or foil and place in a 300F oven.

Cook for about 6 hours basting the pork with the liquid in the pan every half hour or so. You will want the liquid to cook down and caramelise to get that dark, smokey look and flavour, but make sure that the pan does not dry out. I find that the liquid cooks down to a dark, sticky mess after about three hours so I just add a cup or two of water and scrape the bottom clean. The liquid should be all cooked off when it’s time to take it out of the oven.

Make the BBQ sauce while the pork is cooking. Simply whisk together all the ingredients.

Take the pork out of the oven and leave to rest and cool for about 20-30 minutes then slice it thickly and roughly shred with your fingers or two forks (fingers are best really). Re-heat if necessary and serve either on its own or in buns as BBQ sandwiches. Drizzle with the BBQ sauce at the table, a little bit of this sauce goes a long way.

* I found some chicken seasonings that are about the same thing as Old Bay or you could try some Cajun seasoning mix.