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First Times: Center Point Pit Barbecue

March 28th, 2010

After wrapping up an afternoon of disc golf at Sanders Ferry Park in Hendersonville, TN (during which, we lost a few discs to water hazards: boo!) we started back to Nashville and decided to stop at Center Point Pit Barbecue on the way home for dinner.

As I’ve told you before, I revere the pig in just about all of its iterations and after 19 holes of disc golf and working up quite an appetite, we really thought that some pork would hit the spot.

Center Point Pit Barbecue has been around for quite a while (founded in the 1960’s) and the walls of the restaurant are lined with autographs from Nashville celebrities.  The dining room is about what you would expect from a pit barbecue place (four-top tables, chairs, paper towel rolls in lieu of napkins, the obligatory special sauces) and it’s clean and the servers are friendly and the smell from the roast pork in the kitchen is just awesome.

We ordered a bloomin’ onion, breaded with cornmeal instead of beer batter, accompanied by “Yum Yum” sauce (a cajun ranch dressing of some variety) and our pulled pork plates with sides.  The sauces were good, though in spite of the earnest assertions printed on the labels for the sauces (“We Honestly Believe We Have The Best Barbecue Sauce In The World!”) I would give the edge to a few other places I’ve been. The pulled pork had great texture, but the flavor was a little more subtle than other places we’ve tried, perhaps owing to a lighter tasting wood used for the smoking.

Center Point is definitely worth a detour, but perhaps not worth a trip…unless you’re checking off every Barbecue place in the South or something, in which case, why haven’t you been there yet?

Find Center Point Pit Barbecue on Google Maps

Don’t You Eat No Wimpy Sub

November 20th, 2009

I am a sub snob. I hate a wimpy sandwich: fresh bread, meats sliced while I watch, and don’t try to skimp on the veggies. So I think sure, if I had to eat a Subway sandwich everyday for like, two years, I would lose weight just like Jared: I would dread mealtimes and therefore eat less.

So no, you can’t eat an Italian sub on wheat with all the trimmings every day of the week, but if I had to pick a sub to eat (and could deal with the 200+ pounds I would gain from this practice), it would be a Lenny’s sub. They make their Italian subs with provolone cheese, ham, prosciutto, capicola, and Genoa salami. And oh man: there may not be bacon on this thing but there’s plenty of pork.

The toppings are tasty and fresh and the crew at the Lenny’s near me knows that it’s either an Italian day or a Turkey Club day for me.  Lettuce, tomatoes, sometimes onions (depends on my mood), then oil and vinegar, salt and pepper, oregano and mayo.

Sorry, I just started drooling a little bit.

Find a Lenny’s Subs near you: www.lennys.com

Recipe: Three-Day, Apple Cider Brined Porkchops with Walnut & Garlic Brussels Sprouts and Dirty Mashed Potatoes

November 11th, 2009

Sometimes comfort food takes planning. I can’t say that you can pre-plan when you might need some comfort, but these particular recipes are a good bet if you can feel a stressful week coming on and want to have something in the fridge just in case things get hairy.

I typically measure out my recipes for two people, so you can always double things for more people…or if you just love leftovers.

Apple-Cider Brined Pork Chops

Brining is a technique that works well for pork and I will usually get chops started on a Sunday night and hold ‘em into the week, sometimes as long as Friday.  These recipes are my own, though probably influenced by my experience cooking over the years. These chops are fantastic: juicy with a slightly sweet flavor from the apple cider that perfectly compliments the saltiness from the brine and the pork.

Ingredients

• 2-3 thick cut pork chops (bone-in, boneless, whatever you like)
• 1 1/2 c. apple cider (go for the thick stuff you can’t see through if you can find it)
• 1 tbsp. apple butter
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tsp. Herbes de Provence

Brining Directions

1. Place pork chops in a heavy duty Ziploc bag and start adding the ingredients.  The chops shouldn’t be completely submerged in the liquid, but you can add a little more cider if it looks dry: really depends on how much meat you’re using.
2. Press out as much air as you can and zip everything closed. Massage the contents of the bag and throw it in the fridge.  I suggest towards the bottom just in case your Ziploc is ever compromised.
3. Massage the bag everyday for as long as it’s in the fridge.  This will make sure the chops get even contact with the brine.

So on the day you come home stressed (or you just need a fantastic dinner or you want to impress someone) you’re ready to crack open your chops.  Don’t worry if you can’t wait three days or even two: 24 hours will still do the chops some good.

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. In an oven safe frying pan (I prefer one with high-sides because of the side dish we’re making to go with these in a sec) heat up 2 tbsp. of olive oil over medium high heat.
3. Sear your chops on both sides, about 30 seconds per side.
4. If you’re ARE NOT making the Brussels sprouts below, put the whole pan in the oven.
5. If you ARE making the Brussels sprouts, remove the chops from the pan and place in an oven-safe baking dish (you might also need to do this if you have a pan that simply can’t go in the oven).  Remove your pan from the heat and set aside.
6. Bake the porkchops until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of one reads 160°F or until the juices run clear.  And yes, you food health people, optimal temp for a chop is 165°F for “fully cooked,” but if you don’t take the chops out at 160°F, they’ll overcook.  After all, temp continues to rise even after something is removed from an oven.

Walnut and Garlic Brussels Sprouts

Now…are you making the Brussels sprouts?  I know what you’re thinking: Ugh, I hate those things! Your mom made you eat them and they were terrible.  Tasteless!  Soggy!  Disgusting!  Am I right?  Not these, I promise.  Really.  They’re amazing.  They’re like Gateway Brussels Sprouts.  You can make ‘em even without the pan from the pork chops; that part just stands to elevate them a little bit further.

These ain’t your mama’s Brussels sprouts.  She didn’t know what she was doing.  Brussels sprouts are not soloists: they need a band.  These Brussels go great with the pork chops, but are also wonderful by themselves or served over rice.  You’ll just have to see how addicted you get to ‘em.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 1/2 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut lengthwise in halves or thirds
• 2 tbsp. chopped walnuts
• 1/2 c. apple cider (or reserved brine from the previous recipe)
• salt and pepper

Directions

1. Peel and mince your garlic cloves.  Rinse, trim and slice your Brussels sprouts.
2. If you made the pork chops, heat up the pan with all those yummy drippings from the pork chops over medium heat, add the garlic to the pan and stir.
3. If you DID NOT make the pork chops and do not have the pan drippings, simple heat up a tablespoon of oil over medium heat and add the garlic into that.
4. Once the garlic is fragrant, add the wine and stir, scraping up the fond in the bottom of the pan.
5. When some of the wine has cooked away, add your sprouts and stir, coating them in the mixture, about 2 minutes.
6. Now add in the apple cider (you can also use reserved brine, which I like, but you might not still have it) and stir.  Cover the pan with a lid and let simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
7. Add the walnuts and stir again.  Cook until the brussels are bright green and only slightly soft: they should have a bit of a crunch to them when bitten.  Salt and pepper to your liking.
8. Uncover and remove from heat, let stand for a few minutes and the sauce should thicken a bit.

Oh, man, they are so delicious.  The green cabbagey flavor of the sprouts with the richness of the cider and walnuts.  Awesome.

Amanda’s Dirty Mashed Potatoes

As a final accompaniment, I like to do a quick dirty mash of potatoes.  Dirty meaning I don’t waste time peeling them.  Didn’t your mother ever tell you that the skins of things are good for you?  I mean, between the times she was ruining perfectly good Brussels sprouts, that is?

Ingredients

• 2-3 medium sized potatoes
• 2-3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/4 c. half-n-half
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Rinse your potatoes (scrub ‘em if they’re really grody) and cut into 1″ cubes.
2. Place them in a pot and cover with cold water, bringing the water level up about a half inch above the potatoes.
3. Add about 1/2 tbsp. to the water and bring to a rapid boil.
4. Stir the potatoes and keep at a rolling boil for about 15 minutes.  Test the potatoes’ doneness by pressing a piece or two against the side of the pot and seeing if it smooshes easily.  When potatoes are ready, remove the pot from the heat and drain the potatoes in a colander.
5. Toss quickly in the colander to remove excess water and move the potatoes right back into the pot immediately (gotta keep ‘em hot!). Add the butter and use your potato masher to combine.
6. Once butter and potatoes are mixed, start adding the half-n-half in small increments, continuing to stir until they potatoes are your desired consistency (some people like runny, some like firm, I’m somewhere in the middle).

Now if that dinner isn’t a little piece of Wonderful, I don’t know what is.  Plate everything together, serve with your favorite dry white wine (or a Pinot Noir if you like) and enjoy with someone you love.

Or at least with someone who doesn’t stress you out.