Substitute for apple cider in sauce recipe ?

[Smokin Okie]

I don't want to spend $7 for a large jug of apple cider when I have Martinellis apple juice in the pantry.

Here's the recipe ... its from Mike and Amy Mills book " Praise the Lard " .

 

[smokerjim]

Red wine vinegar, apple juice

 

[mike243]

Vinegar will transfer straight through meat and take a little seasoning with it, i prefer to not add the acid so apple juice or other gets the nod from me, not sure why i see so many folks spritz with it,

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Think it would be hard to get the same flavor without it.

 

[indaswamp]

The sauce will taste flat without the acid, but will still taste good.

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

I don't want to spend $7 for a large jug of apple cider when I have Martinellis apple juice in the pantry.

On a related note, and perhaps everyone else on the board has already thought of this, I keep a pack of 100% apple juice juice boxes in the cabinet. The 7 ounces or so in each box is plenty for small-scale cooks, perhaps thinning a sauce, or for use in a small spray bottle to mist the meat. It beats the alternative of having 95% of a half-gallon bottle of apple juice sitting in the back of the fridge for weeks after a cook.

 

[jcam222]

Our local Savealot sells ACV in small bottles. I bought huge bottles as I go through p lmk entry but it's an option. I'd also think if you have white vinegar or really any perhaps mix 50/50 of that vinegar and apple juice

 

[Fueling Around]

As far as I remember, the only difference in apple cider and apple juice is the juice is pasteurized
I have used the little bottles of Martinellis
When I want orange or apple flavoring, I keep frozen concentrate.
Scrape out a tablespoon or so to reconstitute 1/2 cup

 

[BandCollector]

I don't want to spend $7 for a large jug of apple cider when I have Martinellis apple juice in the pantry.

Why do you have to buy a jug of apple cider vinegar? All of our grocery stores have small bottles of it year round.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Mrs Okie and I are deep into making this sauce. And its not going well. Mrs Okie wants to kill me for attempting this. Grating the apple, onion and pepper was a chore. The bacon bits was not easy. Its simmering now on the stove, and I hope it tastes good, because it doesn't look great. We're afraid we did not grate fine enough.

We won't be doing this one again, unless flavor just knocks us over.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I don't want to spend $7 for a large jug of apple cider when I have Martinellis apple juice in the pantry.

Cider has been fermented then they remove the alcohol. So I would just roll with apple juice because there is plenty of vinegar in the recipe already for zip and tang.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Waiting for it to cool for tasting .

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

Cider has been fermented then they remove the alcohol. So I would just roll with apple juice because there is plenty of vinegar in the recipe already for zip and tang.

Cider is what comes directly from the press, without filtration. It can be fermented, and may do so on it's own if a preservative isn't added or the natural yeast otherwise killed, like by pasteurization. But all cider starts out with zero alcohol content.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Cider is what comes directly from the press, without filtration. It can be fermented, and may do so on it's own if a preservative isn't added or the natural yeast otherwise killed, like by pasteurization. But all cider starts out with zero alcohol content.

That sounds right. Guess I was thinking of hard cider. But yeah straight from the press and unfiltered or lightly filtered sounds right. I don’t like apples they make me nauseous all except for the green ones. Don’t know why. So I don’t eat the stuff. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Would I make this sauce again ?

You bet your bippy I would, its delicious. wow, its good ! It helped make some of the best baby backs I've ever smoked.

This sauce, along with the Mill's Pure Magic rub is excellent. I found this cook in their book " Praise the Lard " , its called " Legendary Ribs " and I see why.

The actual cook is lot simpler than the sauce, its basically just put them on the smoker and spritz with apple juice. No wrapping. No added liquids in a wrap to braize to tendernesss. Cook took a little over 4 hours.

The Pure Magic rub is a dust. The say to use a coffee or spice grinder to grind the ingredients into a fine powder. That went against my thinking on powdery rubs, I prefer course rubs, as powdery rubs can cake and block smoke absorption and course rubs help build bark or crust. But Mills says the meat absorbs the rub and I found that to be the case.

From the book .........

 

[Smokin Okie]

Some finished product

 

[Gonna Smoke]

As far as I remember, the only difference in apple cider and apple juice is the juice is pasteurized
I have used the little bottles of Martinellis
When I want orange or apple flavoring, I keep frozen concentrate.
Scrape out a tablespoon or so to reconstitute 1/2 cup

I keep the small boxes previously mentioned by S Smoke-Chem BBQ , but haven't thought about the frozen concentrate. I like that idea, thanks...

 

[Bigtank]

I bookmarked this thread. Looks good, I may want to get that book.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I bookmarked this thread. Looks good, I may want to get that book.

" Praise the Lard " is a recipe book published in 2018. But inside the recipes there's a lot of barbecue knowledge passed along. I normally won't read a recipe book cover to cover, but I did this one.

Their first book , " Peace, Love, and Barbecue " that was published in 2005 is excellent. I just found it this past summer. If I had bought that book in 2005 it would've changed my barbecue life. I bought my first WSM in 2002 and looking back, that book would've been huge for me.

Almost as large an impact as Aaron Franklin's first book, which inspired me to get past my WSM and make better barbecue.

Mike Mills passed away in December 2020. He had a large influence on a lot of people. His daughter Amy is still carrying on.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I re-heated these ribs yesterday evening. They lost a lot in being frozen. Everything does lose flavor but these were not anywhere near as good.

And the vac seal bag they were frozen in turned reddish. I can't get the plastic cutting board clean. Its still got red stain. The ribs themselves were red all the way through .

They say it melts into the meat. And I think vac sealing pulls the rub all the way into the meat. I've not seen anything like this.

The rub I used was from " Praise the Lard " and called Pure Magic , not Magic Dust. Its the same ingredients, but they call for using a coffee grinder or a spice mill to grind the rub into a fine powder.

I'm not nearly as enamored with it.