Barbecued Beef

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Last weekend the kids and I went out to eat.  We ordered an appetizer of pulled pork potato skins and it was so unbelievably delicious that I had to recreate it.  I didn’t exactly recreate it and I didn’t have pork, but I did have a beef roast so I decided to play a little.  On Tuesday I made Carolina Style BBQ Sauce to cook the meat in.

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon Tabasco Sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients, put in an airtight container and refrigerate.

I let that steep in the fridge for two days and then on Thursday I decided to make the dish.

Thursday morning I got up and braised the beef, making sure to brown all sides.  If there’s a layer of fat one one side, you can leave it – just make sure you braise that side really well. Most of it will melt away and flavor the liquid that you cook the meat in.

When you’ve braised all sides, transfer to the crockpot, pour the liquid that you’ve had steeping in the fridge into the crock and set on low for 8 hours.  About halfway through, open the crockpot and turn the meat over – be careful because when you open the lid, if you take a deep breath, the evaporating vinegar will make you very uncomfortable.

About two hours before you want to eat, make the tomato based sauce.  You could make this ahead of time too – and just store in the fridge.  I decided to make it fresh. I used this recipe from About.com – altered slightly (you knew I had to)

1 tablespoon butter
1 large chopped onion
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup chili sauce
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon liquid hickory smoke flavoring
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
dash cayenne pepper, or to taste

Heat a heavy bottomed pan with a lid on medium.  Melt the butter.  Add the onion and saute until soft.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook on med. for 15 minutes.  Cover, remove from heat and let sit until you’re ready to use it.

When the eight hours are up for the meat in the crockpot, remove the meat to a bowl.  If the layer of fat bothers you, you can scrape it off – I do, it comes off very easily, just scrape the fork along the fat and it separates from the meat.  Allow to slightly cool and then using two forks, shred the meat.

Add the sauce and toss to thoroughly combine.  Serve.

I served this with the Kohlrabi Apple Slaw and a simple salad.

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