Bar-B-Que Beans

If you love baked beans you'll go nuts over this clone recipe from the world's first theme restaurant chain. It's real easy to make too, since you just pour all of the ingredients into a covered casserole dish, stir, and bake for an hour and a half. The only element that may give you pause is the pulled pork. It's an effortless addition if you've got some of that pork on hand. If not, just leave that ingredient out. Or you could add some cooked bacon to the mix. Either way the beans will still come out awesome as a nosh-worthy side dish or snack.

2 15-ounce cans pinto beans (with liquid)
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup ketchup
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1/2 cup shredded pork (from last week's recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pour entire contents of the can of pinto beans into a casserole dish (with a lid).

3. Dissolve the cornstarch in a small bowl with the 2 tablespoons of water. Add this solution to the beans and stir.

4. Add the remaining ingredients to the dish, stir well and cover.

5. Bake for 90 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Stir every 30 minutes. After removing the beans from the oven, let the beans cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.

JMR NOTES: The recipe for pulled pork is in the Meat - Pork (in My Favorite Recipes.)

[Back To The Top Of The Page]

Cole Slaw

If you want the authentic Hard Rock Cafe Pig Sandwich experience, you just have to serve your mimick of that pulled-pork sandwich with this creamy, delicious cole slaw on the side. Even if you don't whip up the sandwich, you'll want to dive into a batch of this secret slaw. It's just too easy to make, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire? isn't on tonight. But be sure to let the stuff hibernate in the fridge for a day or two after you toss it. That's the only way to get the flavors up to dancing the perfect tastebud mambo.

1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons milk
dash salt
8 cups chopped cabbage (1 head)
1/2 cup shredded carrot

1. Combine all ingredients except the cabbage and carrots in a large bowl and blend until smooth with an electric mixer.

2. Add cabbage and carrots and toss well.

3. Cover and chill overnight in the refrigerator. The flavors fully develop after 24 to 48 hours.

Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.

[Back To The Top Of The Page]

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

It's the chunkiest dang chicken soup you'll ever slurp down and it comes from the first worldwide theme eatery and hip hangout. Crank up the rock 'n roll and throw all this good stuff into a pot and enjoy this final secret recipe in our series of mouth-watering soup mimicks.

1 pound chicken breast fillets
1 pound chicken thigh fillets
vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 cup sliced carrot
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh parsley
2 cups egg noodles

Garnish:
minced fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Rub a little vegetable oil over the surface of each piece of chicken and arrange them on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the chicken from the oven when it's done and set it aside to cool.

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté the onion and celery in the saucepan for just 4 to 5 minutes. You don't want to brown the veggies.

4. Dice the chicken and add it to the pot along with the remaining ingredients, except the noodles.

5. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots are soft.

6. Add the noodles and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender. Serve with a pinch of minced fresh parsley sprinkled on top.

Makes 6 servings.

[Back To The Top Of The Page]

Orange Freeze

Here's a quick recipe for the dessert drink served at Hard Rock Cafes all over the world. With only a few ingredients you can make this one super-quick in the blender. Great on a hot day. And it's easy to double or quadruple to serve more.

2 cups orange sherbet or sorbet
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup milk
1 sprig fresh spearmint

1. Put the sherbet, juice, and milk in a blender and blend for 15 seconds or just until the sherbet is smooth. You may have to stop the blender and stir the sherbet up a bit to help it combine.

2. Pour the orange freeze into a tall, chilled glass. Place a sprig of fresh spearmint in the top and serve immediately.

Serves 1 as a dessert or beverage.

[Back To The Top Of The Page]

Pig Sandwich

Take a big honkin' bite out of one of these and you'll soon know why it's the Hard Rock Cafe's most popular sandwich. According to the menu the pork is hickory smoked for 10 hours. But since we're impatient hungry people here, we'll cut that cooking time down to under 4 hours using a covered grill and carefully arranged charcoal. Just sprinkle wet hickory chips over the hot charcoal arranged around the inside edge of a grill (such as a round Weber), and let the smoking begin. You can certainly use an actual smoker if you've got one, and go the full 10 hours with this puppy. But while you're still waiting for your sandwiches, the rest of us will have already dragged our full, round bellies over to the couch for a nap.

By the way, make your marinated cabbage a day ahead of time, if you have the foresight.

Marinated Cabbage:
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4 cups thinly-sliced cabbage

4 cups hickory smoking chips

Spice Rub:
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 boneless pork loin roast (3 to 4 pounds)
vegetable oil

Sauce:
2 15-ounce cans tomato puree
1 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (hickory)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

8 Kaiser rolls

1. Make the marinated cabbage at least one day prior to building your sandwiches. Like cole slaw, this garnish needs some time to develop in the fridge. Combine the vinegar and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the cabbage, stir, cover the bowl and store it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the sandwiches.

2. Put the wood chips in a bowl and cover with water. Let the wood soak for at least 1 hour. Light the charcoal after it has been arranged around the inside edge of your grill. You don't want coals directly under your pork. When the coals are hot, drain the water from the wood chips and sprinkle the chips over the top of the coals. You should now have smoke.

3. Combine the spices for the rub in a small bowl and mix well.

4. Rub some vegetable oil over the surface of the pork roast. Sprinkle the spices over the entire surface of the roast.

5. Place the roast in the center of your grill and put the lid on. Let the pork cook for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature of the roast reaches 175 to 180 degrees.

6. As the pork cooks, make the sauce by combining the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Let the sauce simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, then cover and remove from heat. Set this aside until your pork is ready.

7. When the pork is done, remove it from the grill and let it sit to cool for 15 to 20 minutes or until you can handle it. Now you want to tear the meat along the grain, making bite-size strips of shredded pork.

8. Put the shredded pork into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 2 cups of the sauce to the pan and stir. Keep the rest of the sauce for later to serve on the side. Cook the pork for 15 minutes or until it is heated through.

9. Grill the faces of the rolls and stack about 1 cup of pork onto the bottom half of each roll. Add a rounded tablespoon of marinated cabbage on top of the pork, add a tablespoon or so of extra sauce on top of that, then cap off each sandwich with the top half of the roll. Serve with clones for the Hard Rock's cole slaw and baked beans on the side, if desired.

Makes 8 sandwiches.

[Back To The Top Of The Page]