Leftover barbeque

[Gifted Gourmet]

From today's Charlotte Observer comes an interesting column by Kathleen Purvis

100 ways to eat leftover barbecue

which, (so what's new?), leads me to a natural question: "If one finds oneself with leftover barbeque, what can you make with the leftovers?"

The only ways the author suggests are "barbeque pasta" and "barbeque omelets" .. both of which use up the remaining meat. Upon a quick look at recipes for leftovers, I found "barbeque gumbo" and "barbeque hash", both of which sounded quite tasty.

What do you do with your leftover barbecue meats?

[WHT]

I have never had much in the way of leftovers. Most I reheat in a high humidity process and serve.

[Behemoth]

This might be boring but...I love leftover BBQ sandwiches with sauteed greens (such as broccoli rabe) or with arugula & swiss or provolone cheese. (Which one depends on the BBQ).

[Varmint]

Barbecue tamales

Barbecue empenadas

Barbecue shepherds pie

Barbecue spaghetti (i.e., barbecue ragout)

Barbecue ice cream

OK, I added that one just to make sure y'all were paying attention. I'm headed East later today to tour an emergency room of all things, but I do plan on hitting 2 or 3 classic eastern-style joints prior to that. I'll report back.

[enrevanche]

"Leftover barbecue?" What's that?

Chopped or pulled pork barbecue actually freezes beautifully, so if I had a bunch of leftover 'cue, I'd package it up in an airtight container and bung it into the freezer, to be reanimated at a later date and served with freshly made coleslaw.

Reheating tip: it's important to add some moisture, at least a few drops of water, to the pan, as barbecue tends to dry out a little. You can also re-awaken the flavors somewhat by adding a touch of your own vinegar-and-pepper based sauce after reheating (1 cup good cider vinegar, 1 tbsp brown sugar, red pepper flakes to taste.)

If I had just a couple of servings of leftover 'cue (the usual situation), well, I've used barbecue as the meat (instead of sausage or bacon) with scrambled eggs and grits, have made highly acclaimed barbecue burritos (add seasoned rice, black beans, and guacamole, wrap in a fresh flour tortilla) and barbecue pitas (grilled pita bread stuffed with 'cue, sliced tomatoes and sliced sweet onion.

Regarding Varmint's ideas, I think I am going to put "barbecue ragout" and "barbecue shepherd's pie" on my list of possibilities.

Oh, and about the article you linked above...

Much as I respect Alex Julian, the only proper beverage accompaniment to a plate of 'cue is a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

[sparrowgrass]

Our local BBQ place makes "Terrible Taters"--giant baked potatoes topped with butter, sour cream, shredded pork or beef, and sauce.

Might just have to hit the Warehouse for lunch.

[Mayhaw Man]

I freeze bbq all the time. When I go to all of the trouble to fire up the pecan wood in this thing

http://images.egullet.com/u10237/i5229.jpg]My Webpage

I usually cook more than I need. It is kind of a long day when I am cooking ribs or pork butts and it just seems to make sense that I do a little extra.

THe meat that I am going to freeze gets pulled a little bit before it is done and is cooled at room temp. I then wrap it tightly in heavy duty foil, bag it in the vacu thing, and then freeze.

I remove from the freezer and thaw overnight when I am ready to make a meal out of the meat. Pop it in a 300 degree oven until it is up to temp on the meat therm., and voila!-pretty close to perfect Q. It works great and it can save the day when we are having company and I know that there is a pretty good chance of rain the next day (as there often is, some parts of the Parish have had 15" since last Monday night ).

[Varmint]

It's actually pretty good on a salad, too.

[tryska]

what is this "leftover barbecue" you speak of?

[PopsicleToze]

Leftover barbecue pork makes a fantastic sandwich dressed with leftover coleslaw. Just toast the bun, load it up and there you go.

[bilrus]

Much as I respect Alex Julian, the only proper beverage accompaniment to a plate of 'cue is a tall glass of sweet iced tea.

I like a cold Dr. Pepper with mine.

[browniebaker]

Leftovers? If there's any, I just zap it in the microwave and eat it out of hand.

[mnebergall]

Those folks who are in the dark about the existence of lefotover barbeque are not doing it right. I always cook way more than I think will be consumed just so there will be leftovers. My standard operating procedure is to cook as much as the cooker will hold.

[NewYorkTexan]

Unless there is a big crown over, I always have leftovers from smoking a full brisket.

cubing the meat and making chili out with it. The smokiness works well with the heat of the chili.....and no, beans do not ever go near my Texas chili.

[Mayhaw Man]

Unless there is a big crown over, I always have leftovers from smoking a full brisket.

cubing the meat and making chili out with it. The smokiness works well with the heat of the chili.....and no, beans do not ever go near my Texas chili.

You're right. Chopped barbequed brisket makes great chili. Very, very thinly sliced and then marinated in that bad ass Spiracha Hot Chili Sauce (the one with the rooster on the bottle) can make a great little hot snack on some good toast points.

Re: The Beans in the chili........yeah, yeah, whatever

[Lan4Dawg]

any true "left overs", & by that I mean any thing we can not possibly eat w/in a week in some form--sandwiches, on baked potatoes, over grits, &c, goes in the freezer and is used the next time I make Brunswick Stew. I have a section in the freezer full of turkey, chicken, beef, pork, &c leftovers-mostly smoked-that when the mood hits me or the necessity arises I pull out and use to make Brunswick Stew.

[memesuze]

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers

[memesuze]

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers

[memesuze]

freeze it and save it to heat up just before boarding an airplane so you can taunt your fellow passengers

sorry - the board just went crazy....

Edited May 13, 2004 by memesuze (log)

[kpurvis]

It's actually pretty good on a salad, too.

I can vouch for that one. There's a restaurant here in Charlotte, the Roasting Company, that serves a salad topped with their version of pork barbecue. I've also had a lot of luck making a version of corned beef hash with barbecue and leftover baked potatoes, topped with a poached egg. And the original S.C. barbecue hash started as a way to use leftover barbecue. (Although the version down around Charleston, with the innards and stuff, apparently evolved as a way to use all the pig parts you didn't use for barbecue. Offal, but true. )

[Gifted Gourmet]

Might this be similar, kpurvis?

Barbecue Hash Recipe

Because your article brought me the inspiration for this thread, I am forever in your debt!! Thanks!!

[davidthomas8779]

Because barbecue shouldn't be sauced except just before eaten, I don't worry about having to freeze sauced Q. I usually take my leftovers and toss it cubed in a hot wok with chopped bok choy or another asian green.

Note that the first sentence was there just to irritate Varmint and the rest of the ENC BBQ crowd.

[Chad]

At the end of my last barecue smoking adventure we had about a two pounds of chopped Q left over.

New leftover food find: Pulled pork quesadillas. They were amazing.

I was thinking of doing carnitas, but my wife talked me into the quesadillas instead. Good call on her part. Simplicity itself, just a very lighltly oiled and salted tortilla on a baking sheet, a layer of pork with some chile powder sprinkled on it, a little cheese, add another tortilla & repeat so that you have a triple decker. The top tortilla is also very lightly oiled and salted (mainly to brown and crisp it up a little). Pop into a 450 oven for about 10 minutes. I was skeptical about cheese on pulled pork, but it worked beautifully. Luckily I made two of the things. We finished off the first one in about five minutes.

Give this one a try.

Chad

[TGTyson]

I too freeze excess 'que with great results - I typically cook 20 pounds or so at a time and there are only two of us in this household (and my wife's a vegetarian).

- - -

Please don't stone me, but while living in Memphis I discovered the joys of Barbeque pizza.

Pizza crust

thin layer of tomato/molasses based (Memphis style) sauce

plenty of pulled pork

more sauce

sprinkle with shreaded parmesean.

Onto the pizza stone until some of the pork starts to crisp up.

Try it before you dis' it.

- Tom Tyson

[dls]

Unless there is a big crown over, I always have leftovers from smoking a full brisket. 

cubing the meat and making chili out with it.  The smokiness works well with the heat of the chili.....and no, beans do not ever go near my Texas chili.

Thanks for the hint. I've got about 2 lbs of leftover brisket that I smoked last weekend looking for a new home. Chili it is (who in the hell puts beans in their chili, especially with smoked brisket).