The fall is amongst us and the winter is slowly approaching and it’s about time that I start using my slow cooker again. I enjoy cooking with my slow cooker because it’s effortlessly easy to make delicious meals. I love the aroma’s that fill my home and envelope my taste buds. The smells just get me so excited for dinner.

There are a lot of things I like to cook and today I am in the mood for barbeque mainly barbeque pulled pork. I love making pulled pork, it’s a sure crowd pleaser and there is so much that you can do with the left overs, for example quesadilla’s or a meat pie that you can put it in a pie shell with extra potatoes and carrots.

One of the reasons I enjoy making barbeque foods is because it just makes think back to the times I spent with my Grandpa Becker. It just makes me feel good. Every time I try a new barbecue recipe, I can’t help thinking I am someone out on a ranch somewhere in the western states. The reason I feel this way is because once you make one main barbeque dish your side dishes should match and then you aren’t too far away from a semi traditional western meal. The wonderful smells usually have me day dreaming.

I am a Long Islander first and a New Yorker second. My family hailed from just about all five boroughs minus Staten Island. So needless to say I am not a rancher or a huge outdoorsy person but that part of life does intrigue me it’s an interesting fantasy.

My Astoria Queens born Grandfather, on the other hand was all but consumed with western living and culture. To say he loved it was an understatement. He turned himself into a German New York City Cowboy. He worked the ranches in Upstate New York and rode the Brahma Bulls in the rodeos in Madison Square Garden. I have fond memories of going to my grandparents’ home and watching the rodeo on public television, they watched it all the time. One time my sibling’s, my father and my grandfather went to Madison Square Garden to see the Rodeo. It was a sure sight to see, watching all those cowboy’s getting launched from an angry bull and running for their lives. It was a very memorable experience. I still imagine the look of excitement, and nostalgia on my grandfather’s face as he watched those riders. I knew he was reminiscing.

The one thing my German Grandfather loved to eat was sandwiches. He loved anything slapped between two slices of bread and if he had a beer along with it, he was truly a happy cowboy. He was a simple man. So the recipe I have created is in honor of his life and is called “German Cowboy Pulled Pork Sandwiches.” Typically, you wouldn’t associate Germans and cowboys but this is as cowgirl as I am going to get and after reading my story it is very fitting. Try the Recipe and enjoy. Please comment and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you…Bis bald.

GERMAN COWBOY PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

Ingredients:
Pork Loin Rib end meat appox 5lbs for 4 people
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cup original bbq sauce ( I say original because you will add spices to it)
1 1/2 tablespoons barbeque seasoning
2 teaspoons ground mustard powder
1 tablespoon marjoram
1 German Lager (pick something on the lighter side ex. a pilsner)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1 medium yellow onion
1 carrot
Nice hearty rolls (optional)

Other items you will need

Slow Cooker appox 4 qt
Browning pot
one small pot

Preheat slow cooker. It’s important to preheat your slower cooker first because if you add the hot ingredients to a cold slow cooker you run the risk of cracking the slow cooker’s ceramic bowl. Preheat the browning pot., add the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Salt and pepper pork on both sides and place in pan, brown the meat on all sides. While the meat is browning start creating your sauce.

In a separate bowl add your barbeque sauce, beer, barbeque seasoning, marjoram and mustard powder. Whisk until all ingredients are completely incorporated. Halve and slice the onion and carrot. Pour half of the sauce you just whisked into the bottom of the crockpot. Place the browned meat into the crockpot. Tuck the onions and carrots in the crock pot so all the ingredients are equally distributed. Cover the meat with the rest of the sauce. Put the slow cooker on low and let it cook for approx. 4 to 5 hours. The meat is done when the meat starts pulling away slowly and easily.

Once the meat is cooked and cooled a bit you will be able to start shredding the meat with 2 forks. Save the cooking liquid! Strain the onions and carrots, and dispose of them they have done their job. Put the cooking liquid in to a small sauce pan and using a wooden spoon try and skim some of the fat off the top. Bring the cooking liquid to a boil and then reduce to a simmer this will allow the cooking liquid to reduce and thicken. Once the liquid is reduced to almost half, add appox 1/4 cup of the bbq sauce to the pot to thicken even more. Use approx. 1/2 the sauce for the meat and save the other half for those who want extra sauce serve immediately.

I recommend several sides to serve with this meal such as baked beans, sauerkraut, corn, German potato salad and a good pickle.

These last few weeks have been difficult for all people living on the coast especially for those of us who live in New Jersey, New York and Long Island. I am a native Long Islander with long standing roots in New York City and especially in Brooklyn. My heart goes out to all those people who has faced hardships in these last few weeks. I am thankful and count all my blessing each and every day.

Part of my family, myself included has branched out to the state of New Jersey and has become my extended home. Its been difficult to see all the devastation and destruction done to our coastal and inland communities in New York, Long Island and New Jersey. I think of the memories I have and the ones other families have. I think of the places they took their children and their children before them to. I think of the sights they loved visiting and the activities they loved doing that will not be the same once even after we rebuild.

This experience has made me more appreciative and grateful of the little things. Because the many common necessities that have put our area to a stand still are the very things that many people don’t live with on a daily basis.

I apologize for not making a note about this sooner and not continuing to post as quickly as I would’ve liked, but I have been with out power for quite sometime and only now am I able to restart. The photo I am sharing to day I believe to be very appropriate for these troubling times for the people in the tri-state area are enduring. Its a photo of my Family on Coney Island in Brooklyn. (I am sure many of us have a similar photo, or one of your family on the Jersey Shore, on the Long Island sound or ones of the South Shore if you have one I would love to see it). It’s a picture of my Great Grandfather Theodore, my Grandfather Christian, my Great-Uncle Theodore (Teddy) and my Great Grandmother Emma. I am making this my reminder that we will always have many memories to share and that will last. But when we rebuild we will make new memories to have and to give that will make us stronger for our future generations.

Thanks for reading be well, be healthy, and stay safe.

Bis Bald
– Kerilyn

I have been pondering about how to start my culinary quest.  After giving it some serious thought I figured I would start in one of my favorite places New York City. Although I grew up on Long Island I believe I am a true city girl at heart. I love New York, I can’t say it enough. I enjoy the vibe and the colorful people.  I love arguing with my boyfriend about which subway is going to get you from east side to west side the fastest. I lived on the Lower East Side and the Upper East Side, but I love the Upper East Side because a good part of my family history starts here.

As I walk the city streets I think of the places my ancestors may have lived and streets they may have walked. I think about how it looked when they were alive and how much things have changed.  I recently had to move and I haven’t lived in the city for a while and it’s already changed tremendously.   But I know when I go back walk the streets and go a little out of my way I will find that hole in the wall, that special place that has been there for generations.

There’s a story I was told about my great grandfather Theodore Becker and great grandmother Emma Unglert. They both grew up on the Upper East Side and fell in love.  The Becker family and the Unglert family had disagreements amongst themselves and disapproved and forbid their engagement. Outraged and saddened by this Theodore and Emma decided to get married despite how both their families felt. They married and started a family in Astoria Queens where they had my grandfather Christian Becker and his brother Theodore.  I think of how hard it was for them to have this disapproval about their relationship when they were only looking for two families to come together and celebrate a unity.

So starting my culinary adventure here in New York City is very fitting. One of my favorite places I love to go to is on the corner of 86th and 2nd Schaller and Weber.  It’s a tiny mecca for any western European looking for a piece of home. They have all sorts of German goodies from duck roast, to cookies, to a deli counter with brats and other sausages hanging from the ceiling.  All those wonderful goodies crammed into one small convenient store. I figured I would pick out one or two things to get the creative process going but before I realized it my arms were full and thought to myself….I need a basket. I picked out things that interested me and the ideas started coming. I picked things that were “homie” and family made and others that were a little more gourmet. So after making my selections and checking out I was armed with one well packed heavy grocery bag. (I think the cashier thought I needed to lift weights) I happily and excitedly trekked home almost dragging my overfilled bag, to start delving in to the German culinary world. I can not wait until I share my first recipe. Stay tuned… Bis bald