Hash Tag
Carolina-Style (BBQ) Hash | with Chicken Gizzards and Sweet Sausage | Chicken Cracklins'
HAVING JUST RECENTLY ENJOYED WHAT I soon called "Carolina Week"—a period of days when it occurred that most of my meals were staples from the South, not readily available locally—I figured it was just about time that I tae matters into my own hands, so to speak, and start heartily making these favorite home-style dishes myself.
I've made lots of Southern dishes before, obviously, but one that I had yet to even attempt to recreate was my father's recipe for Carolina Hash, injustly boils down to a meat-based BBQ sauce that traditionally gets served over rice. My dad's version uses ground chicken gizzards and hearts, inherently balanced with lean, gamey, fatty, and sinewy properties that, when all cooked together slowly for a long time, create rich, hearty, homey, and layered flavors.
I am way to humble (smart?) to try to redo what my dad has done expertly my whole life, if not longer. But I did venture put together my own take on this hash, choosing instead to not grind but coarse;y chop some gizzards and hearts, and throwing in some ground sausage meat a smidge of complexity and depth. South Carolina is all about mustard and cider vinegar, and they were as well the base for my hash, as I also added a little bit of ketchup, then hot sauce, garlic powder, sautéed scallions, worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, and some chicken broth to concentrate and meld all those flavors as it slowly simmer mostly cover on my stovetop.
Three hours and many hearty stirs later, I proudly served myself a winner of a dish. Over a bed of white rice, it was easily identifiable and completely reminiscent of the hash I grew up, yet different enough—with the added texture of the slightly bigger chopped pieces of tender gizzards, some added salinity and flavor the pork meat at fat of the sausage, and a slight floral hint from the generous use of scallions—for me to call it my own. My instant and now default side of crispy deep-fried chicken skins, or cracklins'—seasoned with just salt, pepper, and paprika—added another textural punch to the dish when mixed in with the hash and rice.
So now, maybe my dad doesn't have to be solely tasked to bring Carolina Hash to New York City; he can now tap my shoulder and ask me to take over that responsibility.
And I'm in...! =)
Bun Apple Tea!
KAC
Carolina-Style (BBQ) Hash | with Chicken Gizzards and Sweet Sausage | Chicken Cracklins'
