Birthright BBQ

Because Birthright just wants us to all keep in touch, they sponsored the big meal of our Rhode Island weekend.  The meal was "recommended" kosher, but we respectfully ignored the recommendation and made a bar-b-que pork feast.  Hey, the important thing is that we were together.

We prepared the meal like a cute little family - each person had their role.  Sam manned the smoker in the backyard where he made the following:

• Pork butt with a dry rub made with black pepper, paprika, raw sugar, dry mustard, and cayenne
• Ribs that were first rubbed with brown sugar, paprika, cayenne, and chili powder then mopped with a bbq sauce made with brown sugar, onions, tomato paste, tomatoes, corn syrup, mustard, worcestershire, and cider vinegar 
• Salmon with a brown sugar and dill rub

Since he had all the meats and bbq covered, the rest of us worked on the sides.  Rebekah created a mean bloody mary with sriracha sauce, further proving that sriracha can be used in just about any dish.  Jill made mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, Spiro chopped her little heart out, and I made a fruity guacamole.  Dan is the only one who didn't contribute in a culinary capacity, but he brought his own car and drove us to the grocery store so he was allowed to sit around with a beer.

Rebekah lives near my office so she knew I was trying to channel nearby Toloache's guac when I mentioned wanting to try my hand at a fruity version.  We didn't try to copy them - we tried to make it better...and may have succeeded.  In addition to the common ingredients of avocado, tomato, lime, cilantro, habanero, and chile powder, we used shallot (sweeter than the typical white or red onion to go better with the fruit), mango, and Asian pear.  I don't think I can go back to non-fruit guac anytime soon.

Not only was it nice to see everyone together again, it was nice to watch everyone working together in the kitchen without killing each other.