Jay D's Bites: Oven Roasted Barbecue Pork Chops

by Chef Aimee Tortorich

Last month, our friends at Compart Duroc brought some samples of their high-quality pork products. One that stood out immediately was their premium Frenched Loin that in their words is “the pinnacle of fine pork and is the most flavorful cut of the Compart Duroc line.”

I definitely have to agree, and when you have a badass product like this, the best thing to do is to keep things simple. I did a quick sear in a cast iron skillet, transferred it to the oven rubbed in Jay D’s Spicy and Sweet Rub and finished with Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce. The finished product was a moist, flavorful and tender as all get out.

If you can’t find this particular pork chop, that’s okay! Head to your local butcher like Iverstine Farms Butcher in Baton Rouge and get the best looking bone-in pork chop you can find.

Oven Roasted Barbecue Pork Chops

serves 2

1 Tbs avocado oil
2 Pork Chops, bone-in
2 Tbs Jay D’s Spicy and Sweet Rub
½ cup Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat, preheat avocado oil. Sear pork chops until a golden brown crust forms. Season liberally with rub. Roast in the oven at 400°F until internal temperature reaches 145°F. Coat pork chop with Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce; turn oven to broil and broil pork chop about 3 minutes; until sauce is caramelized. Remove from cast iron pan and allow to rest for about 4 minutes.

Feature Beer Friday: Homebrewed Peach Hoppler Milkshake IPA

By Eric Ducote

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first homebrewed edition of Feature Beer Friday.  Normally I'd never feature a homebrew because it's not something that most people reading this would be able to try, but this instance is a little different.  This beer was brewed by my team for the Iron Brewer competition put on by Brasseurs A La Maison that was intended to take place last weekend.  Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our club's control the event had to be canceled, but there is still hope that it will be back later in 2018.  The event has been put on the last 5 years at Tin Roof Brewing to benefit the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, but ATC rules prohibit a brewery from hosting a special event.  Don't worry though, there's a good chance the event isn't dead, but the late cancellation did mean that I had a whole keg of our beer to drink as it's going to need to be re-brewed in order to ensure maximum freshness when the even returns. 

The Peach Hoppler banner. 

As you can almost certainly tell from the banner above, my team (consisting of myself and Mandi, Brenton Day, Brandon Thomsen, and Marcus Rutherford) was assigned peaches and cinnamon toast crunch as the mystery "iron brewer" ingredients, and we decided to turn that into a peach cobbler IPA, named Peach Hoppler.  We used a box of cinnamon toast crunch in the mash per 5 gallons, added a lot of hops in addition to some lactose, and then finished it off with even more cinnamon, some vanilla, and the peaches.  The result is a peach and cinnamon inspired milkshake IPA, bursting with citrus hop flavors that compliment the peach and cinnamon toast crunch and are supported with a slightly sweet milk and vanilla base, not unlike the ice cream complimenting a peach cobbler.  

A pour of Peach Hoppler.

This homebrew turned out really delicious, so I sincerely hope that we will get a chance to put on a take 2 of Iron Brewer to share this with a lot of the readers out there, and also more importantly to raise a lot of support for the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank.  

Jay D's Bites: Supreme Rice Salad with Molasses Mustard Vinaigrette

by Chef Jenn Breithaupt

This is one of my favorite salads to make! I first had this salad when I was attending culinary school at Louisiana Culinary Institute. Chef Mike told us we are going to prepare it for our salad course for lunch service and it captivated me; I couldn’t stop eating it. I thought this would be the perfect salad to incorporate Jay D’s Louisiana Molasses Mustard. Another reason why I love this recipe is because of the freshness it brings to my palate; it is perfect for this Spring!

Supreme Rice Salad with Molasses Mustard Vinaigrette

makes 6 cups

3 cups uncooked Supreme long grain rice
1 cup red onion, small diced
¾ cup orange bell pepper, small diced
¾ cup yellow bell pepper, small diced
2 Tbs garlic, minced
1 cucumber, seeded and small diced
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ cup fresh basil, finely chopped

Cook rice according to package. Lay cooked rice on sheet pan to slightly cool. Combine rice with all vegetables and vinaigrette. Let rice salad marinade in dressing for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Serve cold or room temperature. ENJOY!

For the vinaigrette:
Heaping ½ cup Jay D’s Louisiana Molasses Mustard
3 tsp salt
1 Tbs white wine vinegar
3 Tbs white balsamic vinegar
2 Tbs Jay D’s Blanc du Bois
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

In a blender or food processor, add mustard and salt. On low, gradually add both vinegars and Jay D’s Blanc du Bois. In a thin stream add extra virgin olive oil. Mix for 1 minute then transfer to salad and mix thoroughly.

Wakey Whisk(e)y: Laphroaig 10-Year Single Malt Scotch

By Eric Ducote

Good morning everyone, and cheers to you all on the 7th annual World Whisky Day!  This actually makes my second #wakeywhisky post on World Whisky Day, which is celebrated on the third Saturday of May.  The first time around, I went with the Alberta Rye Whisky Dark Batch from Canada, and this year in the interest of keeping it whisky instead of whiskey I'm going to have some of one of my favorite scotches, Laphroaig's base expression, the 10-year single malt.  

Laphroaig is one of the handful of distilleries from the island of Islay off the West coast of Scotland that is unique enough to be considered its own scotch region.  All of the Islay scotches are known for being heavily peated, the flavor derived from smoking their malt over peat fires, which gives a medicinal phenolic flavor in addition to the smokiness.  Laphroaig was founded in 1815 and they do not go light on the peat, which produces a scotch that they claim "is the most richly flavoured of all scotch whiskies." Well, I'll be the judge of that.

Laphroaig 10-year single malt in appropriate glassware.

The scotch pours a typical dark golden color, and as soon as you catch a whiff it's obvious that there is certainly no shortage of flavor.  The smoky peat flavor hits like a campfire, but also with a strong iodine flavor and an ample aroma of honey sweetness.  Yes, it's certainly rich and complex, and the flavor of this 10-year expression holds on to that complexity with a balance of sweet malt flavors, robust smokiness, and unique peat smoke.  I think the best way to describe this one is a campfire in your mouth, and I mean that in the best way possible.  

I hope you are all enjoying a pour or two of your own on this World Whisky Day! 

Feature Beer Friday: Clown Shoes' Galacticake Douple IPA

By Eric Ducote

Good morning again everyone and welcome back to Bite and Booze for a mid-May version of Feature Beer Friday!  I have enjoyed writing these posts every week as I try some new beers and dig a little deeper into some old favorites.  This week I'm revisiting a brewery that I used to drink regularly, but seems to have faded a bit as the local guys surged.  Clown Shoes Beer originated from Massachusetts, and although they recently were bought by Harpoon Brewing (or their parent company, if we're getting technical) they retained their independence and "craft" status because Harpoon is itself a craft brewery.

I've always enjoyed Clown Shoes... their Hoppy Feet and Hoppy Feet 1.5 were both outstanding black IPAs when that style was all the rage, they consistently put out excellent creative stouts, and their label artwork is always top notch.  However, it had been a while since I had bought any their brews, so when I saw a relatively fresh (canned 3/8/18, always check the dates on hoppy beers!) 4-pack of their Galacticake Double IPA at Robert Fresh Market, I figured it was time to stock the fridge with a little more Clown Shoes.

Clown Shoes Galacticake Double IPA

The beer pours a rich copper color, clear and filtered, with a frothy bubbly head that took a few minutes to dissipate.  The malt that gives the beer it's deeper color is definitely present on the aroma with some caramel sweetness, but backed up nicely with fruity hop aromas like pineapple and plum.  The taste is well balanced between the caramel sweetness and the bitter fruity hop flavors.  The Galacticake is a 9% abv DIPA, but the malts and hops hide the alcohol very well.  There is an earthiness to the hops, but some fruit as well, and a nice blend of flavors that complement each other to form a bitter bouquet, but not one that lingers unpleasantly on the finish.

In summary, this is definitely an old-school throwback DIPA, aiming for a malt-hop balance and relying on bittering hops more than just all the late addition hops that we're getting from the hazy juice bombs.  However, it's a delicious well brewed throwback DIPA that I'd be happy to purchase again.   Cheers!