Guiding principals: tangy, sweet, spicy, smokey, complex. Great on everything, but made for the ribs.

Ingredients:
(2) 46 oz cans tomato juice (only salt added) OR fresh tomatoes: see notes below
1-1/2 cup white vinegar
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp sweet hungarian paprika or better yet, smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground chipoltle pepper
2 tsp salt
2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
12 cloves garlic, smashed (see this video for easy peeling)
1 Tbs liquid smoke (see note below)
1-1/2 cups honey
and maybe 1 tablespoon Tabasco Hot sauce (the original red only)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients, except for honey, liquid smoke and Tabasco in a large pot.
2. Simmer for hours and hours until very thick, stirring occasionally, more so as it thickens.
3. Add honey and simmer another 30 minutes, stirring more frequently to prevent burning.
4. Remove bay leaves.
5. Taste and add Tobasco Hot sauce if you see fit.
6. Add liquid smoke.
7. Transfer to a blender and puree well.

Yields about 3 pints

Notes:
To substitute fresh tomatoes for canned juice, use six pounds, cored and skinned. See the videos below.
The initial simmering will take 6-8 hours.
Halving the recipe will halve your simmer time.
Adding the liquid smoke in the beginning can greatly diminish it’s flavor so it’s better to add it at the end when the simmering is done.

Regarding liquid smoke: I use Wright’s Hickory or Mesquite Liquid Smoke. The labels list no illegal ingredients. I emailed the company to be sure and they confirmed the legality. Find the exchange below.

My inquiry:

I am on an extremely strict diet that does not allow me to have any forms
of refined sugars, gums or starches.

Do either your hickory or mesquite liquid smoke products contain any forms
or refined sugar, gum or starch?

Thank your for your help.

Sincerely,
Paul Stocker

Their reply:

Dear Mr. Stocker,

Wright’s Liquid Smoke is a natural product that gives foods a charcoal broiled taste.

It is made from hickory wood that is burned in an enclosed unit.
As the smoke rises it is captured in a condenser, allowing the smoke to cool.
The cooled smoke forms water droplets (condensation).
The condensation droplets are collected in a pan, filtered and placed in 55 gallon drums.  The drums are taken to the production filling location where it is filtered for a second time and transferred to the filling line.
The bottles are filled, capped and labeled.  They are then placed into shipping cases ready for distribution.

It contains no salt, carbohydrates, sugars, gum, starches, food additives, colorings or carcinogens. It is designated “natural” by the FDA.

—

Some other liquid smoke brands do contain illegals so read carefully.

Here’s an article on Slashfood about liquid smoke.

In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that the gold standard for investigating a processed food as set forth by Elaine Gottschall is to get a physical letter from the company on official letterhead with a person’s title and signature. By this measure, my investigation fails as I conducted it by email. Given this specific product and that most communication now takes place electronically, I am personally comfortable with the validity of the email exchange. You will have to decide for yourself where your comfort lies.

If you want to omit the liquid smoke, but keep the smoke flavor, two options come to mind:

• Increase the smoked paprika
• Smoke some onions or other vegetable on your grill and use them in the sauce (Thanks to Marilyn on the BTVC-SCD group for this suggestion).

Video:
How to smash garlic.

This short video shows you how to remove the skins from tomatoes.

Making ketchup from scratch. Same method, slightly different ingredients.

For more of my videos, including higher quality versions, visit my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/eatingSCD

This spicy treat gives you a little bit of your breakfast back. Try it with eggs and banana pancakes and you’ll think it’s the old days when you ate with wild abandon.

Ingredients:
1-1/2 lbs. ground chuck beef
1 tsp ground anise seed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground fennel seed
1/2 tsp ground mustard
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
3/4 tsp ground coriander seed
1/2 Tbsp. dried oregano
3/4 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, finely minced (see this video for easy peeling)
1/2 white onion, finely minced
1 large egg, beaten

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix very well. Get yourself some rubber gloves and dive right in.
2. Form thin patties or link shapes.
3. Fry on medium heat for 5-7 minutes per side.

Notes:
Try other meats or add some pork to this recipe if you like.
The egg makes for a more tender sausage, but can be eliminated if necessary.
Fry this up as crumbles instead of patties or links for use in other recipes like pizza or spaghetti sauce (I’d eliminate the egg for this purpose).
Make a bunch and freeze in serving portions for a quick fix.

Butter is the key to making this soup rich, warm and comforting. The tiny bits of spices add a complexity and earthiness that round out the feel good factor.

Ingredients:
1 lb. stew beef (my butcher regularly has this cut-up convenience ready to go)
1 lb. carrots, cut about 1/3 inch thick (or use baby carrots)
3/4 yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1 quart hot water.
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, pressed (see this video for easy peeling)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
1/8 tsp. ground mustard
1/16 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/16 tsp. ground clove
1/2 tsp. dried parsley

Preparation:
Before you begin, Set a quart of water on to boil (I use a tea kettle). If it boils before you are ready to use it, turn off the heat and leave it covered.

Instructions:

1. In a dutch oven over medium high heat, saute the carrots and onions in 4 Tbsps. butter for 5-10 minutes or until they begin to brown.
2. Remove carrots and onions from pan to a covered bowl.
3. Saute beef for 3-5 minutes, until it begins to brown. Turn once and cook for 3-5 more minutes.
4. Remove beef from pan and put with carrots and onions in covered bowl.
5. Add about 1/8 inch of water to pan, scraping bottom of pan to release all the brownings. This is where your soup gets much of it’s flavor and all of it’s color so do a good job.
6. Add garlic and spices to pan and cook for another minute. Don’t let pan go dry!
7. Return carrots, onion and beef to pan and cover with 1 quart of hot water.
8. Simmer on medium for 35 minutes or until carrots and beef are done.
9. Taste soup and salt to taste. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter into soup.

Notes:
Yields about 6 cups.
Additional vegetables can be added such as mushroom. Just follow the same sauteing procedure.
Freezes well.

Ingredients:
mixed baby greens
asiago cheese, large shavings
strawberries, sliced

Family Favorite Dressing:
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 T water
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp black pepper, fresh ground
1 clove garlic, smashed (see this video for easy peeling)
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder

Directions:
1. Combine all dressing ingredients in a shakable container.
2. Shake well, dress greens and toss to coat.
3. Top salad with strawberries and cheese.
4. Sit back and rake in the compliments.

This dressing naturally separates and will need shaking right before using.

Note that the large shred of asiago cheese is preferable to the small. The large pieces assert their character in a way that a small simply cannot and are vital to the experience.

If possible make this dressing a day ahead to give the garlic time to suffuse as the flavor will improve with time.

No need to refrigerate dressing. It will keep a week or more at room temperature.

Notes:
Smashing the garlic is important. Mincing the garlic will not give the same effect. Smashing will allow more of the essence of the garlic to infuse the dressing.

To add a little extra sparkle to this salad try topping with some chopped candied pecans.

Videos:
How to smash garlic:

How to shave cheese and why you’d bother to do it:

For more of my videos, including higher quality versions, visit my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/eatingSCD