Roughly ten days after offering up this post about apple brandy, the Sir Isaac Newton and attractive Southern redheads, this email popped up from RA…
I’m a professor (civil eng.) in Oxford at Ole Miss and long time fly fisher; I get out to Montana or Wyoming twice a year, end up fishing a fair amount in Arkansas and chasing reds on the Gulf coast too.
We happened to be in Craig, Montana the first week of August this summer (not a great window up there, I know) when we overhead a couple of shop guys and a guide talking about “where in the hell can we get mangos around here”.
Turns out they were reading your Friday Feast post about Mango Salsa early that morning in the shop; my wife and I have been Chi Wulff fans ever since. (She’s a sous chef and wants that cornbread muffin recipe you keep mentioning by the way.)
We’ve had the pleasure of living in Mississippi for over a decade now and have found much to love and embrace, not the least of which is the food culture here. After reading about your recent encounter with apple brandy I thought we should share Sue’s (my wife) very tasty apple bourbon marinade for pork. It makes a divine smoked pork shoulder or butt, though baby back ribs soaked overnight in this may be the most outrageously tasty food I’ve ever savored.
We’re headed to chase redfish in Louisiana in late November and….
‘Nuff said. We have 3 racks of baby backs marinating this morning. Report to follow. And I very much appreciate the invite to chase redfish in Louisiana; we’re in.
2 cups apple juice
1 cup fresh apple cider
1 cup Bulleit Bourbon
2 medium Virginia Beauty apples, cored and minced (skin on)
1 small sweet onion, minced
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. Worcestershire
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground pepper2 fingers of Bulleit Bourbon in a sipping glass
Pork shoulder or three-four lb. of ribs
Simmer it down. Combine the first 10 ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar; heat to a simmer, then cook until reduced by 1/3.
Remove from heat to cool and then split into two parts with roughly 2/3 in one bowl and 1/3 in another. Cover the 1/3 and place in the fridge for table sauce.
Reward yourself. Sit back and sip that Bulleit while the marinade / sauce is cooling.
Soak that pig. Place your pork shoulder or ribs in a large resealable plastic bag with 2/3 of the cooled marinade. Throw in the fridge overnight.
Smoke ‘em. Smoke your pork shoulder or ribs as per your usual routine; RA says he mops with a mixture of hard cider with a splash of bourbon.
Enjoy.
