Now, maybe it seems strange taking tips from a New Yorker on cuisine from the Carolinas, but Ho knows his stuff. Not only has Arrogant Swine been featured on the Food Network’s “Burgers, Brew, and ‘Que,” but Ho also has the distinction of being the only traditional Carolina-style barbecue restaurant in New York, no mean feat. “By traditional we mean that we cook with the whole animal and with wood.” Ho explains. “We burn oak wood down into coals and use that to slowly smoke the pig for 14 to 16 hours.” Arrogant Swine also offers an impressive array of beers and whiskeys to wash down all that good Southern cooking.
With so many types of barbecue to choose from, what attracted this former financial research manager to the Carolina style? “…The history, the call to communal feasting, and the challenge of cooking the one BBQ category which doesn’t resemble any of the other meats.” “Challenge” is putting it lightly: this style of cooking requires great skill. “The hardest part of the process is keeping up with the coals. New wood has to be constantly burnt and you have to keep the temperature going otherwise your cook time will be longer.”
If you can’t make it to Arrogant Swine for Super Bowl Sunday, don’t despair too much: the “Pastor at the Church of Pork” has your game day menu covered with some easy-to-master takes on his restaurant fare. No matter what the Carolina Panthers do on Sunday, follow Tyson Ho’s recipes and your Super Bowl party will be a winner.
Directly from the pitmaster himself:
Recipe #1 Lazy Bum’s South Carolina Ribs (feeds 3)
I’m really lazy and this is my recipe when I want to impress a crowd but not do a lot of work. You could make a twice as complicated recipe, but I guarantee it won’t be twice as good. The restaurant’s ribs are much more complicated, but I’m actually getting paid for them, these are what I make for myself.
1 Slab of Pork Spare ribs (I use 4.8lbs and above, any smaller and it looks a bit sad)
1 Tablespoon of your favorite garlic flavored hot sauce (I use Cholula)
Salt to taste
1/2 cup of brown sugar
Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and throw the ribs in. Take a 4 hour nap. The nap is mandatory, don’t over think this and start basting the ribs, or wrapping it in aluminum foil like some less lazy BBQ manual will tell you. Ribs were designed to combat the tyranny of hard work, don’t fall to the dark side.
To serve simply slice the individual bones and glaze with this Slacker’s South Carolina Mustard Sauce.
Recipe #2 Slacker’s South Carolina Mustard Sauce
Again this isn’t the sauce used at the restaurant but it’s the Super Bowl and my only goal is to move from the couch as little as possible.
1 Cup of Yellow Mustard. Only the cheapest ballpark mustard will do.
1/4 C of Honey
1/4 C of Molasses
1/2 C of Apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons of Siracha hot sauce
Crushed red pepper flakes
Thick cut butcher block pepper (do not substitute regular black pepper)
1 Can (19oz) of peaches in syrup
Bring the mustard, honey, vinegar and Sriracha to a simmer. Turn off the heat and dump in the peaches with liquid. Throw in your blender and when it’s smooth just sprinkle in the red pepper flakes and black pepper for a color contrast.
Recipe #3 Thai Style Frogmore Stew (feeds 5)
Frogmore stew is a staple of Low-Country Carolina cooking. Basically you’re boiling shrimp, sausage, potatoes and corn in an Old Bay Seasoning broth. It’s tasty enough but hardly worth writing a recipe for. If you can boil water, you can make this recipe. Traditionally you use shell on shrimp but peeling shrimp is a royal pain.
Thai Tom Yum Soup paste
3 lbs of red skinned potatoes. The smaller the better.
4 Thai bird eye chilies. More if you like the burn
5 ears of corn
5 lbs of Jumbo Shrimp peeled
2lbs of kielbasa. Any supermarket version will do. If you have a Polish deli like I do, the double smoked wedding sausage is an amazing addition to your stew.
Bring 1.5 Gallons of water to a boil.
Add 2 heaping spoonfuls of Thai Tom Yum Paste
Throw in your potatoes and corn. When your potatoes are tender add the kielbasa and simmer for 2 minutes to heat up. Then turn off the heat and throw in your shrimp and Thai chilies and cover the pot. In 5 minutes your shrimp will be perfectly cooked and because the poaching is so gentle, they will not be rubbery.
To serve, strain out the contents on to some newspaper. Your favorite bottle of hot sauce would be nice. Some crusty buttered bread would be next level. A case of cheap watery beer and you’re a hero.
