A BBQ Theme

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I like to have a theme for my meal.  The theme today was BBQ sauce.  I still have some left over from my spring pre-golf BBQ, and needed to use it up before it went bad.  I am also on a bit of a limited budget this week, and needed to do things on the cheap.  Before I get to the main dish, however, I actually needed to start the side, as it has a heretofore unprecedented grilling time of over two hours!  My first BBQ dish was the Barbecued Cabbage on page 347.

The process is simple.  As per usual, begin by making your spice rub.

You are instructed to remove the core and leave about a three-inch cavity.  I used my paring knife and began cutting into the head of cabbage like a jack-o-lantern.

Here's my cavity.  The next instruction is to use your fingers to gently start separating the leaves.

You are then supposed to rub the butter into the cavity, trying to get as much in between the leaves as possible.  This is easier said than done.  I finally gave up all pretenses and just used my fingers to smash the butter in, sprinkled in the spice rub, and then used my fingers again to spread everything as evenly as possible.

Wrap it up in foil, leaving the cavity exposed.

Low and slow is the way to go!  Use indirect low heat for two to two-and-a-half hours, and I brushed in the BBQ sauce every half hour.  The leaves started to separate a little more as time went on, so I used my basting brush to further push in the butter, spices, and BBQ sauce between the leaves.

When the last half hour approached, I started making the main dish this afternoon, the Carolina Wahoo With Black-Eyed Pea Salad on page 286.  After talking to a couple of fishmongers recently it was agreed upon that I wasn't about to come across a wahoo without paying handsomely for it.  Weber suggests using either tuna or swordfish as a substitute, and I opted for swordfish.

Begin the salad by sauteing the ham.

After a few minutes add the onion.

Following that is the celery and red bell pepper.

Finally, add the black-eyed peas, sugar, and cider vinegar.

Season and brush the fish with BBQ sauce (my theme today).

While I waited for the coals to heat up from low to medium heat for the fish, I removed the cabbage and inspected the final result.

I cut myself a wedge for my meal, so here you can see the cross-section.

I plated and sat down with a nice grape Kool-Aid!

The cabbage was rather impressive.  The butter sank down to all levels, and the spice mix was carried along with it.  The BBQ sauce only made it halfway down, but that was okay as it allowed some contrasting flavors and variety.  I'm highly interested in using this recipe in my smoker this summer.  I might even cut up the cabbage into ribbons and make a cole-slaw out of it.  The fish was okay...I've had better recipes from Weber using swordfish, but I would still like to try it with wahoo as the recipe intends.  Finally, regarding the black-eyed pea salad: WOW!  I like this a lot!  Super cheap, lots of flavor, and the only change I will be making is to use bacon instead of ham.  This will be seen again in the Bogdan household!