This needs some tweaking, but it was a tasty start:POM Asian BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup POM juice
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 garlic clove, grated or crushed
Whisk together. Brush on shrimp on the BBQ.
Like I said, it needed some tweaking. There was something missing, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was. Luckily, I have some left over for another night, so maybe I'll come up with something in the meantime.
I also made a drink with some of my POM juice. I love the POM iced teas, so I decided to mix some POM pomegranate & tangerine juice with some good old fashioned Nestea iced tea mix, and it was pretty good. While I'm generally liking the stuff I make with the POM juice, I'm not keen on the juice itself; it's really strong for me. But it's fun to play around with!The weather has cooled somewhat, but it's still hot and the cool weather we were promised hasn't materialized, and according to the forecast, it's going to get cooler, but not as cool as we were led to believe, and not quite yet. What is the point of a forecast when they can't get it right? Why do I even listen to the weather guy?
15 comments:
This really does sound good. I have not tried the POM juice, but the rest of the combined ingredients sound excellent, especially on shrimp.
Grilled shrimp are a favorite of mine, yours look quite tasty. The ingredients sound lovely..interested to hear what you find was missing.
Coyote, I am not sure of the etiquette of these blogs (I am new to the community), but in the spirit of sharing the small bit of knowledge I gained from my experience of making my own BBQ sauce, here goes...
There are three main variables we can control when making a sauce...
Thickness. I am guessing your sauce was thin. Adding a 1/2 cup of ketchup would have made your sauce thick enough to stick to the shrimp better. Possibly what was missing was the result of a thinner sauce. Alternatively (and preferably), if you have the time, combine your ingredients and simmer on the stove for 2 hours to reduce the sauce and make it thicker. This also makes the sauce much more flavorful since the water in the ingredients will simmer out, leaving just the good stuff.
And speaking of flavor, that is the second variable we can control. Your use of hoisin sauce AND Soy sauce probably overpowered the POM. Again, I am guessing, but I think you had an image in your mind of what these were going to be flavored with, and it just didn't meet expectations. My experience with hoisin (limited) is that it is overpowering. Whatever you combine it with will lose its power when matched with the hoisin. I am guessing you tasted the hoisin and not any of the POM. If you wanted to taste more of the POM, leave out the hoisin and keep the ginger (great touch) and soy to maintain the Asian theme.
Finally, sweet vrs heat is the final variable in our control. You have no heat. A small amount (1/2 teaspoon) of chipotal (dried) jalapeno pepper would add a new layer of taste. The front of your mouth tastes the sweet of the honey and POM, and the back of the throat will have a little aftertaste. Of course this is the variable that most sauces concentrate on and you can make if very very hot if you like, but this small amount will still make the sauce a sweet sauce with a little nudge.
Just my thoughts on what you might be missing. Enjoy
Dave
Looks awesome. I really like the layout change too. Much easier to read =)
Throw in some lime juice perhaps?
I love how you worked the healthy pomegranate juice in there! Yum!
Dave: well on this blog (and most others) constructive advice is always welcomed!
Yeah, my sauce was thin. I don't like ketchupy sauces, which is why I didn't use ketchup. I have one BBQ recipe by Bobby Flay that I would use ketchup in, but that's about it. I also didn't think that ketchup and POM would go well together. The hoisin and POM worked well together though, but I do think I overpowered it with the soy, come to think of it. Also, I don't think the acidity of the rice vinegar was necessary. I don't like spicy BBQ sauce much, so I wouldn't add any heat like chipotle to it. I am pretty picky, as you can tell! I don't mind Mexican with a bit of a kick to it, but I like sweet BBQ sauces that are easy on my palate.
I have lots of POP left over, so I'll try something else next time. In the meantime, perhaps the leftover sauce from last night would make a better marinade than sauce.
It's all a learning process, isn't it?
Thanks for your comment!
Alyse: Nice to see you! I like the new layout, too!
Cathy: yeah, lime juice would have been nice, too.
Sadly I can not see your photo. Right now, I am at work, so i can read the blog but photos are always broken links. Damn.
Sauce sounds good to me. Did you use large shrimps? Do you use charcoal or gas?
Pierce: I used medium shrimp, which are cheap and plentiful here, and it's a gas BBQ.
OK Coyote, last post in this subject. It is getting too long, and now I want to use this for my own blog.
You are spot on about the marinade idea. With the hoisin sauce, marinated Salmon sounds great. Accent with some pine nuts and green onions...yumm!
But I have to respond to your preference for non-hot spicey sauces. My wife thinks the exact same thing. In fact, your first note to me was in response to me trying to make a more sweet than hot sauce. I am constantly looking for the right combination to please me and most important of all, to please her.
So, 2 things... first know how your mouth works. The taste buds in the front of your tongue are more sweet sensitive. In the back, they are more hot spiced sensitive. When chefs work a recipe, there are two goals, to mix ingredients so you taste the new item as a whole, or to layer the tastes so you taste different ingredients in different ways in the same bite. A great BBQ sauce should layer the different tastes. Adding a little (note the word little) heat will add that layer feel without affecting the sweet taste of the POM and honey. I advised only a small amount (1/4 teaspoon) of the pepper to add a taste.
BUT, it is important that you simmer the sauce for awhile with the chipotles. this releases the heat throughout the sauce, instead of in concentrated amounts on the lucky pieces of meat that get the chilies on them. Thus making the sauce less hot tasting than if you add the peppers at the end of the cooking process (making a hotter sauce from the same amount of peppers).
And lastly, BBQ sauce is very personal (that is why there are over 1,000 different sauces marketed in the US right now). Ignore everyone's advice (especially mine) and work to find the signature sauce you like.
Keep doing what you are doing (as Bobby Flay says)
Dave
Dave: thanks again for taking the time to write such a detailed comment - I really appreciate it!
Yum, it all sounds good to me...and I actually really do like the juice itself...it is very strong, but somehow addicting!? Ditto on the weathermen...wth!
We were promised cool weather too - and I'm still waiting. Although I can't complain much, our summer has been so mild up to a week or two ago. I love the pom sauce with the shrimp. It sounds real tasty.
You've come up with some great ways to use up the POM juice.
Thanks for the comments on my blog, and the tip about the leftover cake and rumballs. I've always made rumballs with chocolate cookie crumbs, so I'll have to try making them with cake.
Yum.... simply delicious.
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