Mixtape: Wrecked
For some, fall means pumpkin spice or (the far superior seasonal treat) Count Chocula. Apple picking. Flannel. The Innocence Mission. For me, it's BBQ season. See, it's too buggy and muggy in D.C. during the summer, so spending a whole day in the backyard tending to a fire is not my preferred way to choogle. As soon as the temp dips below 75, I'm out smoking various meats and veggies on weekends.
I picked up the BBQ hobby just before the pandemic hit. I like the pace — low and slow, as it's said, but with an attention to small details that make a big difference — which pairs nicely with BBQ's sense of play. Different woods and methods yield different results. I prefer cherry wood for turkey, but pecan when it comes to chicken wings, for instance. For ribs, I mix apple and cherry, but like to throw in some oak in the last hours. It's all a bit improvisational, which speaks to my music brain. Not to brag, but I've gotten pretty good! At least for an amateur.
Now that I've got some smoking methods down, I've started to make my own sauces — some are fairly traditional, ketchup-based, everybody's-happy jams. Others are more experimental, like a peppery Mexican stout sauce that inspired a ribs-based chili that won my friends' annual chili cookoff. (Side note: I really only make sauces for ribs and weirder cuts of pork that are harder to keep moist. But I'm not one of those no-sauce-ever types!) Here's a recipe for my latest sauce, inspired by this year's county fair trend:
Dr. Pepper & Pickles BBQ Sauce
14 oz. Dr. Pepper
2 oz. bread & butter pickle juice
2 c. ketchup
½ c. honey
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. paprika
Put everything in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer and stir until thickened, which is about an hour or so. Your house will smell like whatever 23 spices are in Dr. Pepper and pickle brine, so… heavenly. Personally, I like my sauces a little watery; if you don't, just add tomato paste. Let cool, then transfer to a bottle. This recipe can easily be cut in half, but, c'mon, what's the point of just a little BBQ sauce? —Lars Gotrich
P.S.: I'll be at Furnace Fest in Birmingham, Alabama, next week. If you're there, come say hi! I've found the people at this hardcore festival to be among the sweetest and friendliest around.
Stream the Viking's Choice mixtape via BNDCMPR. Follow my Bandcamp collection. Tracklist below:
Romperayo, "La canoa del soldado"
Gong Gong Gong & Mong Tong, "Escaping Encirclements"
Moin (feat. Olan Monk), "Guess It's Wrecked"
Gato 'e Monte & Felipe Orjuela (feat. La Nueva Estudiantina Electrónica), "El poema de su greñero"
Haley Heynderickx, "Foxglove"
Toby Driver, "Raven, I Know That You Can Give Me Anything"
Darius Jones, "Another Kind of Forever"
Kristen Roos, "Feight"
Nala Sinephro, "Continuum 6"
Abriction, "Teal Rain"
Hey, ily!, "(Dis)Connected"
A Place for Owls, "broken open seed"
The Innocence Mission, "This Thread is a Green Street"
His Name is Alive, "Livonia"
Ka'tzon La'tevach, "To Be Born in the Wrong Side of History"
Cime, "DIYUSA"
Des Ark, "trust me bird"
The Submissives, "Obsessed"
White Suns, "Sport & Spectacle"
Mount Eerie, "I Walk"
Henriette Eilertsen & OJKOS, "Valfart"
Joan Shelley, "Mood Ring"
ISLEPTONTHEMOON, "Safety"
Dame Area, "Vengo dall'aldilà"
Pyrrhon, "Out of Gas"
Sun Araw, "Lifetime"
Inga McDaniel, "Jamaican Sand"
Zonk, "B"