For the past 10 years we’ve traveled to a second home in Florida for an extended 4th of July weekend. The highlight of each visit has always been an evening cookout and party on the beach with a lot of friends followed by the community sponsored fireworks display launched from a barge towed about a mile offshore.
This year we were overly busy and could not make the trip so we decided to have a party at our home in the Chicago area for around 50 friends, family, and neighbors. It seemed to be an ideal occasion to bring a lot of good people together, and also a perfect reason to commence an overdue freezer dump.
I’m probably forgetting some things, but the primary items served on Sunday were as follows:
•50 bacon wrapped chicken wings served with 2 sauces - traditional blue cheese, and honey-beer-5 spice.
•24 deviled eggs (48 halves). Half of them had a blue cheese stuffing, and the other half had a fresh tuna and chopped olive stuffing.
•10 racks of BB ribs cut into quarters, rubbed, smoked, and served dry with 6 sauces on the side ranging from icky sweet to incendiary. Guess which went first?
•8 lbs of pulled pork served on potato buns with an apple cider finishing sauce, and an optional mustard sauce.
•7 lbs of shredded cochnita pibil served on small tortillas with a thin layer of avocado sauce and topped with habanero pickled onions.
•8 quarts of gumbo – chicken, andouille, and shrimp.
•10 quarts of smoked vegetable gazpacho.
•2 brined king salmon fillets, each around 5 lbs. One had a honey-ancho glaze, and the other was not glazed, but served with a blackberry-chipotle sauce.
•Grilled burgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, and Italian sausages.
•Sides consisted of smoked baked beans with bacon and chopped smoked brisket, grilled corn on the cob slathered with a mix of mayo and sour cream, chile powder, and crumbled cheese, and a large variety of salads.
•Dessert consisted of sliced watermelon and mango, along with a large selection of baked goods brought by some of the guests.
•Needles to say, an overabundance of beverages, adult and otherwise.
Hope everyone had a great weekend.