Anonymous Tue May 23 19:41:02 2006

3 cups water

leftover barbeque

2 onions -- chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 small tomato

fresh or frozen corn kernels

tomato paste

1/8 cup vinegar

Cajun seasoning

thyme

dill

basil

chili powder

red pepper

black bean garlic sauce

soy sauce

nuoc nam

chopped pickled jalapenos

curry powder

paprika

Good use for old Q: Since I like to experiment/practice a lot, I tend to accumulate a

refrigerator full of OLD Q every week or two (OLD Q, to me, is 4 to 7 days old. Over a week,

and I feed it to the dogs or toss it). Being one who hates to waste Q, I developed a good

use for it. Here\'s what you do: Get a pot with a capacity of 4-5 cups. Fill it approx. 1/2 full of

water, put on the stove to warm up on med.-low heat. Get out your non-toxic old Q, chop it

up into tiny pieces. I like to use pork shoulder, chicken (pulled strands of breast meat from

a whole one or finely chopped), and smoked sausage (not the store-bought junk. Smoke it

yourself. Hot Italian sausage smokes up real good. Slice it ~1/4 inch thick). I never let ribs

or turkey get old enough to use, so I can\'t say if they will go well or not. Chop up 2 onions, a

hot pepper, 2 or 3 garlic cloves, and small tomato. Add a generous amount of fresh or

frozen corn kernels. Add enough of the above (in your own proportio

ns) to fill the pot almost to the top. Add spices below to suite your taste. If you like beans,

add some with a slice of bacon. Bring to a HIGH SIMMER/ LOW boil. Cook down until the

liquid level just barely covers the rest of the ingredients (takes a long time). After it has

boiled down, add tomato paste/sauce to thicken (a good, thick RAGU sauce without

mushrooms works OK). Add a little vinegar (no more than 1/8 cup. Just barely detectable).

Simmer/low-boil some more. Periodically taste and adjust seasoning during this time. You

will note that grease collects on top. I stir it back in, but it is healthier to skim most of it off. It

tastes better if you leave it. Once you achieve the stew-like consistency you like best,

eatitup! It goes excellent with cornbread. If you cook it down too much, you can add more

vinegar and ketchup/tomato paste, simmer more (stirring frequently to prevent scorching),

and you have yourself the makings of several DANDY sloppy-Joe style BBQ sand

wiches.