PULLED BBQ BEEF SAMMICHES

I wanted to do something different for dinner the other night and decided to go with Pulled Barbecued Beef Sammiches, with a side of baked beans and cole slaw.

This isn't exactly a recipe that was labor intensive, and certainly won't win me any culinary awards. For the most part it's a "Set It and Forget It" crockpot recipe. I severely cheated by purchasing canned baked beans and store-made cole slaw. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, FYI! For whatever reason I wasn't in the mood to do a full on meal. It turns into a simple, yet tasty dish. The only drawback was that there's only two of us, so there was A LOT of meat left over the next couple of days.

THE GUESTS INVITED TO THE PARTY:

INGREDIENTS:
One 3-1/2 to 4 lb beef roast.
2 - Medium sized onions. (Of which I actually only needed one.)
1 - Container of Swanson's beef broth.
1- 19oz. Bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce. (I used Charlie Robinson's Award Winning Original Barbecue Sauce. If it was good enough for the late Mike Royko, it's good enough for me.)
Salt
Pepper (I ran quite a lot of whole peppercorns through a coffee grinder I use specifically for spices.)

SIDES: (Store bought. I was lazy.)
1 - Large can of Bush's Baked Beans w/onions.
1 lb of fresh cole slaw

DIRECTIONS:
1. Slice onion thinly and place 1/2 at bottom of a crock pot.
2. Season all sides of beef with salt and pepper.
3. Place seasoned roast on top of onion bed.
4. Top with remaining onions.
5. Add entire container of beef broth to crock pot.

If you have the time, turn crock pot to LOW and simmer for at least 10 hours. HOWEVER, we don't like to eat at 11PM, so I did it on HIGH FOR 6 OR SO HOURS. It turned out great.

After 6 hours on high, carefully remove the beef to a platter and allow to cool. Shred the beef with two forks. It should fall apart easily.

Pour the liquid through a colander, keeping the softened onions. (Here you can either keep the softend onions, or add fresh. Either or. Your choice.) Return shredded beef to the pot and add your favorite BBQ sauce. Cook for an additional 30 minutes or so till hot again.

Put as much of the BBQ Pulled Beef onto your favorite roll. (I used onion rolls to tie in all the flavors.) Ladel some bbq beans onto the plate and add a serving of cole slaw.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

ADDITIONAL:
I added a second 19oz bottle of BBQ sauce after the first dinner and allowed that to set with the meat in the crock overnight. It tasted great the next day for lunch.

Welcome to The Futile Gourmet

Welcome to The Futile Gourmet!


Granted, the name of the blog is a marginal knock-off/rip-off of Jeff Smith’s "The Frugal Gourmet." I am aware of that, and thank-you for noticing.

His personal "issues" and culinary critics aside, it was his show that really got me interested in cooking on a daily basis. When I was much younger, I can remember watching Graham Kerr (The Galloping Gourmet) and Julia Child. But as a young adult, it was Jeff’s show on WTTW in Chicago that really caught my attention. This was long before cable had anything like the Food Network.

Was everything that Jeff made great? No. Not by a long shot. (I don't think I'll ever forgive Jeff for that thoroughly revolting skordalia recipe.) But there are a few gems of his that I still make to this day. I will share those as the blog develops.

Other culinary influences are my Mom’s family in France and my grandparents on my Father’s side. I'm still trying to make a fusion Ukrainian/French meal out of those roots.

After having been told a few too many times that I can actually put a decent meal together, I decided to document (and photograph) various dishes that are consistent hits with family and friends, as well as document (and again photograph) my outings into experimentation with various unused recipes.

I have far too many cookbooks. I also have far too many individual recipes that have completely stuffed several three ring binders. Many were printed and never even made. But I had to have printed them for a reason, right? I hope to revisit those and sift through the pile. That could be fun. We’ll see. If anything, it will clean out the upstairs office.

I’ve also been slowly trying to move away from following recipes word for word, and get into a more free form style of cooking. This has its pros and cons.

The one major problem is that my wife will like something and I can never seem to duplicate it. So, I’m caught in a sort of Culinary Catch-22. I’m trying not to go by written recipes, and yet, I will need to write the buggers down if I’m ever to have any hope of recreating something that was liked.

Oh, the tangled, demented world of the home chef!

I hope to share some tasty things with anyone passing through this blog. Welcome again! Thanks for dropping by! Also, feel free to share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section.