Niman Ranch: Pulled Pork with Barbecue Sauce

Oh, barbecue. Or, as I will be referring to it through the remainder of this post, BBQ. One of the staple American foods. Though its form may vary throughout the country, one thing remains true: it's usually pretty @#*%&$ing amazing. Oh, and there is one other unfortunate truth: commercially, it usually comes with gluten-laden soy sauce. Gah! So, you can imagine how intrigued I was when, while trolling my local Whole Foods for dinner ideas, I spotted a tub of Niman Ranch's BBQ pulled pork, with the "Gluten-Free" tag prominently displayed on the packaging. "Why, hello," I thought. "Wouldn't it be interesting to try you... especially on one of Canyon Bakehouse's fantastic buns?" Dinner plans made!

So, who are these guys? Well, from what I can gather, Niman's food animals have it pretty good. Until, you know, they are killed and turned into BBQ. But before that point, their animals are kept relatively uncaged, fed vegetarian-only feed, and never injected with hormones. Of course, that latter talking point is slightly dispelled by an admission that "Federal Regulations prohibit the use of hormones in pork." One assumes that even if that were not true, Niman would not be going crazy with the stuff. The takeaway? This isn't ordinary meat. Cool!

Preparing the BBQ is pretty easy. It comes in a pouch within a tub. You slit some holes in the pouch, rest the pouch in the tub, and nuke it for 4-5 minutes. You then let it rest, dump it out of the pouch, and you're good to go. Since 4-5 minutes is usually how long it takes me to toast a hamburger bun, the timing worked out splendidly. While it was cooking, I checked out the ingredients a little to see what type of BBQ I was dealing with. The result: tomatoes, brown sugar, vinegar, soy sauce... the closest BBQ-variant seems to be Texan. Suits me fine- I'm not as big of a fan of Kansas City's BBQ, and the Carolina mustard-based sauces can be hit-or-miss. Carolina's other BBQ style, the vinegar sauce, on the other hand... DROOOOOOOOOOOL... Er... anyway. The smell that wafted out of the microwave was very enticing, and I had my sights set on good times. I was not disappointed. I would not call the taste of the BBQ sauce "complicated," but I would call it very tasty. As I inferred, the first two ingredients listed for the sauce are tomato puree and brown sugar. No surprise, they're the two most-prevalent taste elements present. If you're not a fan of tomato/brown sugar BBQ, you won't like this. I am a fan. Case closed. The pork, meanwhile was nice and tender and was pulled enough that there were few large, sandwich-busting chunks present. However, there were the occasional chunks of straight fat in there, and those had to be fished out. I know fat is responsible for a lot of beautiful tastes, but I am not a fan of large globules. Get rid of those, and my list of complaints drops to... well, none.

Of course, there is the nutrition issue. It's BBQ, and no one expects a pulled pork sandwich to be the most healthy of delicacies. That said, I am pleasantly surprised by the nutrition info, here. The serving size is a reasonable 1/4 cup (which seems about how much I put in my sandwich). In that quarter-cup, you're getting 110 calories (40 from fat), which is not tremendous. But you're also getting 4.5g fat (1.5g sat fat, 0g trans fat), which seems reasonable, 30mg cholesterol, which is maybe a bit much, and 210mg sodium, which is... okay. So, kind of a mixed bag, here, is what I'm saying. Still, given the usual bomb o' unhealthiness that makes up a typical American BBQ, these stats are pretty good. So, if you want a quick BBQ dinner, check out Niman's Pulled Pork!

Read on!

Glutino BBQ Chicken Pizza

I'll admit- I'm something of a traditionalist when it comes to pizza. Well, okay, besides the gluten-free-crust part. Just get me some tomato sauce, mozzarella, and some combination of pepperoni, sausage, and onion, and I'll be happy. Part of the reason for this, I'll acknowledge, is because the types of GF pizza one can pick up in the store are usually limited to cheese and some sort of vegetable-laden abomination. However, when I saw the item I'm reviewing today in the freezer case of a nearby Sunflower Market, my interest was piqued. It didn't hurt that this pizza was coming via Glutino, one of my favorite GF brands. Almost everything I've tried of theirs, I liked. So, if I was going to go off the map, so to speak, with a pizza that wasn't covered in tomato-ey goodness, this seemed like a safe place to start.

I'll admit to being slightly surprised at the size of the pizza itself. This was not a pizza to share. Its radius was roughly that of the burners on my stove. Nevertheless, I pressed on, stuck the frozen pizza disc in my oven for about 15 minutes, and OM NOM NOMMED the output. The results? Pleasantly favorable! The BBQ sauce was what I was most worried about (I'm not a fan of typical BBQ sauce), but what I encountered had a lovely tomato sauce/brown sugar base with a bit more kick to it than I had anticipated. Not an unfortunate amount of kick, though. I'd say about right. According to the ingredient, the cuplrits were cayenne powder and black pepper. Good to know. The other vital part of the pizza, the chicken, acquitted itself well. It reconstituted with a firm, not rubbery (thank God) texture. Good. The cheese? Well, I've yet to see a pizza mess that part of the equation up.

I think I'm safe in saying that Glutino's BBQ Pizza is a success. Their website indicates it is a new product, and only available in the US as of this writing. I found it in a Sunflower Market; I imagine it will be making the rounds of all the usual suspects soon enough. Keep your eyes peeled!

Read on!