ckreef Posted June 24, 2018 Report Posted June 24, 2018 With the over abundant Blueberries I have at my disposal this year I decided to can a batch of my Blueberry BBQ sauce. I did tweak the recipe a little bit. We’ll see how it turns out. I started by lightly smoking 5 cups of Blueberries at 200*. Here they are after about an hour. Some of them lost their color but that's OK. The juice is in the bottom of the pan (you just can't see it) and they'll all get there color back once you start cooking it. After an hour or so I dumped them into my pot and smashed them a bit with a potato smasher. Bring to a full rolling boil. Mix up the other ingredients and add to the blueberries. Return to a full rolling boil. After the second rolling boil jar up the mixture and water process for 10 minutes. Check back tomorrow night. We’ll open a small jar and see what we got. 4
Foothill.Q Posted June 24, 2018 Report Posted June 24, 2018 With the over abundant Blueberries I have at my disposal this year I decided to can a batch of my Blueberry BBQ sauce. I did tweak the recipe a little bit. We’ll see how it turns out. I started by lightly smoking 5 cups of Blueberries at 200*. Here they are after about an hour. Some of them lost their color but that's OK. The juice is in the bottom of the pan (you just can't see it) and they'll all get there color back once you start cooking it. After an hour or so I dumped them into my pot and smashed them a bit with a potato smasher. Bring to a full rolling boil. Mix up the other ingredients and add to the blueberries. Return to a full rolling boil. After the second rolling boil jar up the mixture and water process for 10 minutes. Check back tomorrow night. We’ll open a small jar and see what we got. I'm betting it will get a big thumbs up!! 2
ckreef Posted June 24, 2018 Author Report Posted June 24, 2018 3 hours ago, Foothill.Q said: 3 hours ago, ckreef said: With the over abundant Blueberries I have at my disposal this year I decided to can a batch of my Blueberry BBQ sauce. I did tweak the recipe a little bit. We’ll see how it turns out. I started by lightly smoking 5 cups of Blueberries at 200*. Here they are after about an hour. Some of them lost their color but that's OK. The juice is in the bottom of the pan (you just can't see it) and they'll all get there color back once you start cooking it. After an hour or so I dumped them into my pot and smashed them a bit with a potato smasher. Bring to a full rolling boil. Mix up the other ingredients and add to the blueberries. Return to a full rolling boil. After the second rolling boil jar up the mixture and water process for 10 minutes. Check back tomorrow night. We’ll open a small jar and see what we got. I'm betting it will get a big thumbs up!! I think so too but I also think I could slightly improve it with 2nd batch next weekend, we'll see. 1
tekobo Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 Smoked blueberries. Who'd have thunk it? Does the end result benefit from this extra stage or would you stick to the original recipe @ckreef? More to the point, what does Mrs @skreef think of this new innovation?
ckreef Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Posted June 25, 2018 1 hour ago, tekobo said: Smoked blueberries. Who'd have thunk it? Does the end result benefit from this extra stage or would you stick to the original recipe @ckreef? More to the point, what does Mrs @skreef think of this new innovation? We're going to find all those answers later this evening when I open a jar. When Mrs skreef saw my post about tweaking the recipe she wasn't particularly happy as she really liked the original version.
skreef Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 2 hours ago, tekobo said: Smoked blueberries. Who'd have thunk it? Does the end result benefit from this extra stage or would you stick to the original recipe @ckreef? More to the point, what does Mrs @skreef think of this new innovation? I loved the original so him tweaking it, I got worried. Maybe we find out this afternoon if it gets a thumbs up. 1
tekobo Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 41 minutes ago, ckreef said: We're going to find all those answers later this evening when I open a jar. 13 minutes ago, skreef said: I loved the original so him tweaking it, I got worried. Maybe we find out this afternoon if it gets a thumbs up Looking forward to the result of the taste test. I've got a pile of gooseberries here and smoking before making a sauce for pork is a potential option if your blueberry experiment worked. All I can say is - good luck @ckreef! 1
jonj Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 Gooseberries and pork? I would not have thought of it. As a kid on the farm, I used to pick gooseberries for my grandmother to make cobblers ("... all the sugar they will take, and a little bit more."), but I hadn't considered them for a sauce for pork. Nor, actually, a blueberry BBQ sauce. This is very interesting... 2
tekobo Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 20 minutes ago, jonj said: This is very interesting... Yes it is. Keen to see if/how KK and fruit combo will work. I love gooseberries and rhubarb and always stock up in the summer, cooking and freezing packs for use in pies, crumbles and fools through the winter. This year's variations could well be smoked sauce for pork if @ckreef's experiment looks promising and sous vide berries. On the latter I am keen to see if I can keep the berries whole in the vac pack for freezing for later use in things like clafoutis. Yummmm.
tony b Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 Preserving the integrity of the blueberries in a vacuum sealer will be tricky, unless your model has a "soft food" option/button. My older one does, but the newer version doesn't, so you just have to time it manually to shut off the vacuum and start the sealer process.
MacKenzie Posted June 25, 2018 Report Posted June 25, 2018 If you freeze the blueberries before vacuuming sealing they will stay in tact. 1
ckreef Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Posted June 25, 2018 4 hours ago, MacKenzie said: If you freeze the blueberries before vacuuming sealing they will stay in tact. You got that spot on. For freezing I line a 1/2 sheet cake pan with parchment. Fill with berries and put that in the freezer. Once frozen solid vacuum seal. I'll even do that with cut up peach slices.
ckreef Posted June 25, 2018 Author Report Posted June 25, 2018 We had an accident at work at the end today that I had to attend to. Currently 2 hours from the house and can't leave for another hour or so. The tasting might have to wait until tomorrow. 2
ckreef Posted June 26, 2018 Author Report Posted June 26, 2018 Disaster at work yesterday led to me working 17.5 hours so I saved the tasting until tonight. All I can say is........ Hell Yea!!! I've been making this for a few years now and this is the best to date. This is a finishing/dipping sauce. Chicken or pork sounds right to me. Next weekend I'll make another batch but do a slightly different procedure with the smoking phase. This has KK cold smoker written all over it, unfortunately I don't have one yet. (one day I will) @tony b unfortunately it was a bad one. 2 people hospitalized overnight for observation. They should be alright but............ 3 2
MacKenzie Posted June 26, 2018 Report Posted June 26, 2018 Glad to hear that the injured parties are expected to be just fine.:) 1
Pequod Posted June 26, 2018 Report Posted June 26, 2018 Did I see your recipe posted somewhere? I just so happen to have a cold smoker. I could try it out for you.
