CANE “HONEY,” MORE

Once the jar was open, I had no choice but to find some other uses for miel de caña, cane “honey,” or Spanish molasses. (See last week's blog for more about miel de caña, a tradition in Málaga where sugar cane once was grown.)

 

As molasses is often an ingredient in barbecue sauces, I decided to make one with only molasses as the sweetener and no added sugar. Instead of the usual ketchup as a base ingredient, I used fresh plum tomatoes in the market now.

Pureed tomatoes simmer with molasses, vinegar and spices for a not-too-sweet barbecue sauce.

Fatty ibérico pork ribs caused flare-ups on the grill.

I first tried the sauce on a couple racks of ibérico pork ribs. Fresh ibérico pork is fabulous, because the fat keeps the flesh especially juicy. However, the dripping fat caused constant flare-ups on the grill. After having to scrape off all the encrusted bits afterwards, I plan next time to par-boil the ribs first to remove some of the fat.  

Molasses quickly caramelizes on the grill, so add sauce once ribs are cooked.

Ready for grilling--chicken legs are seasoned only with salt, pepper and fennel pollen.

Chicken legs worked much better. They grilled slowly until tender, then were painted with the sauce to glaze them. I am “harvesting” wild fennel flowers and stripping off the pollen to use as a seasoning. It’s especially good with pork, chicken or salmon. Any other spice or herb could be used instead—cumin is my usual favorite.

Molasses in the sauce gives a touch of sweetness to balance the vinegar. Pimentón adds some heat.

Barbecue Sauce with Molasses
Salsa Barbacoa con Miel de Caña

Use either ordinary pimentón (paprika) or smoked pimentón or both in this sauce. Two kinds are called for, sweet and “hot” (pimentón picante). If the hot is not available, use cayenne, but in a lesser quantity.

Lightly oil measuring spoons and cups before measuring the molasses. The sticky molasses slides right off.

Use light or dark molasses, not blackstrap.

Makes about 2 cups sauce.

1 ½ cups skinned and chopped plum tomatoes (about 5 tomatoes)
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
½ cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
¼ cup dark molasses
1/3 cup Sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon hot pimentón
1 tablespoon sweet pimentón (paprika)
Fennel pollen or other spices or herbs (optional)

Place the tomatoes, red pepper, onion and garlic in a food processor and process until vegetables are finely chopped.

Combine chopped vegetables in a saucepan with molasses, vinegar, salt, two kinds of pimentón and herbs, if using. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer the sauce until reduced and thickened, about 20 minutes.

Cool sauce. Sauce keeps, covered and refrigerated, up to one week.

To use the barbecue sauce: spread it on grilled foods (chicken, pork, beef, vegetables) once they are fully cooked and continue grilling until the sauce begins to brown and glaze the food.

 

More barbecue sauce recipes:

American Barbecue Sauce and Spanish Adobo.

Garlic-Parsley Oil. 

Another recipe with fennel pollen:

Pork Chops with Fennel Pollen.

More about ibérico pork:

Grilled Ibérico Pork. 

FORAGING FOR WILD FENNEL

Wild fennel.

When I saw a ChefShop newsletter touting wild fennel pollen, 17 grams for $19.89, as a “well-kept seasoning secret” with “incredible flavor that stands on its own.” I said, “I gotta try some of that”. So I went to the edge of the garden, where the weeds range tall, and picked a bunch of flowering bracts of wild fennel.

I pan-fried pork chops with slivers of garlic, put them on plates and, rubbing the fennel flowers between finger and thumb, I sprinkled pollen over the chops. So aromatic! A fresh, sweet fragrance, very nice with pork.

Pork chops sprinkled with fennel pollen.

My fennel pollen, bright yellow dust, is free for the taking, completely seasonal. I will pick some more flowers and allow them to dry in the sun, then shake out the pollen to save for later use. I bet it will be good with salmon. With cheese dip. With vegetables. Maybe sprinkled on pizza.

Or, with prices like that, perhaps I should package and sell it.

Wild fennel doesn’t produce a fleshy bulbous stem like cultivated Florence fennel. The bulb of cultivated fennel, which you can buy at the grocery store, is used raw or cooked.

Wild fennel flowers.

Wild fennel grows on dry slopes in Mediterranean lands and in California. A perennial, it sends up green fronds in the springtime. They grow to tall, rangy stems and, by the end of summer, bear yellow flowers, bracts of immature seeds. The seeds eventually turn brown and fall away and the  plant dies back in the winter.

In Spain the first feathery shoots are foraged to be added to potaje, a stew with chickpeas, wheat berries and sausage. Snippets of the fronds are also sprinkled on spring vegetables such as fava beans, peas and artichokes. 

Once the stalks grow tall and fibrous, they are not fit to eat. But they make a wonderful addition to a grilling fire, producing an aromatic smoke that adds a subtle flavor to sea bass or bream.

Fennel pollen, like yellow dust.

When the stalks make yellow flowers, it’s time to collect the pollen. Before  I was turned on to fennel pollen, I collected the green seeds to use in cooking. I especially like them in late-summer tomato sauce to serve with meatballs or pork. I sun-dry the seeds for use year-round.

Come October, the flower heads of wild fennel are used as seasoning for home-cured olives. See that recipe here.

Pan-fried pork chops with garlic and fennel pollen.