What's For Dinner Wednesday

In the quest for NFNS, I wanted to conquer the staple of Southern Menus, Barbeque. I love getting the good stuff when we're out-it was high time I attempted a recipe on my own.

A coworker pointed me in the right direction. Guy is a whiz in the kitchen himself, and his specialty is Carolina 'Que. He was kind enough to hand me his recipe last week after I'd mentioned getting a Pork Picnic on sale. Too bad I left the recipe at work.

I remembered what the key spices were and Guy's instructions. A quick trip over to the Food Network site found me something close. Their Carolina BBQ had Celery Salt, and Guy's had mustard powder.

This is where I diverged, in the interests of ease. I put the Picnic in the crockpot, slathered those spices in, added a cup of cider vinegar and realized I didn't have enough moisture. I remembered Alton's Dr. Pepper Country Ham glaze, and another recipe for Root Beer Pulled Pork, but I went for Atlanta's finest soft drink to increase moisture. A can of Coke later, and I felt that I had the right mixture.

Twelve hours of slow cooking netted meat that was really easy for Ed to pull apart and a quart of liquid and pork fat. What to do, what to do? Make some homemade sauce, of course.

The liquid was left in the fridge for a day to solidify the pork fat to more easily remove it. Then, it was added to a saucepan with tomato paste, brown sugar and more vinegar. On its own, it seems one dimensional, but with the Que, it's pretty tasty. However, I'm stirring some mustard into the remaining sauce to give it the punch it needs.

No, I won't be a contender for Memphis in May, but for a first time effort, it turned out pretty tasty. More practice is needed. Any takers?