Grilled Pork Skewers with Pineapple Rum Barbecue Sauce

I like cooking things on skewers. Just a few days ago I made grilled chicken and veggie Kebabs for  Mother's Day. There's something so satisfying about grilling long sticks of chopped up meat. It cooks quickly and you get that delicious char flavor from the grill on the outside. Plus, when the meat is in small pieces like this it's easier to marinade and takes the flavor more quickly.

I made my own barbecue sauce for this recipe since it was the main star today. I tried to incorporate carribean flavors with rum, pineapple, and allspice. Similar to jerk chicken but with a few extra flavors. 

The rum I used is black rum. This is not to be confused with dark rum, which is just aged rum, colored by the wood barrels. Black rum has a very strong molasses flavor, sometimes being colored with burnt caramel. The barrels it's aged in are briefly charred so they impart more flavor. It's used mostly in cooking, baking, and candy making, and to balance the flavors of other, lighter rums. 

The sauce is the main star here. It would be just as good on chicken or beef, I just happened to be in the mood for pork today. 

To make this recipe you'll need:

Pineapple Rum Barbecue Sauce

4 tbsp butter 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds 1 onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 3 habanero peppers, minced 1 tbsp grated ginger 4 tbsp brown sugar 1/2 cup black rum  1 pineapple core, mashed to extract the juice Juice of 1 lime 1 tbsp thyme 2 tbsp allspice 1/2 tbsp cinnamon 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika 1 tsp coriander 1 cup ketchup 4 tbsp Worcestershire 2 tbsp molasses 1/2 tbsp soy sauce Cilantro essential oil (optional) 

Skewers

1 1/2 lbs boneless pork ribs

2 bell peppers, cut into large chunks 

1 onion, cut into large chunks

4-6 king oyster mushrooms, cut into rounds

Olive oil 

1/2 tbsp thyme

1/2 tbsp allspice

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

Make the sauce first. Melt butter in a large pan or saucepan over medium high heat. Add the cumin, garlic, ginger, and habanero peppers and sauté until it starts to become fragrant. 

Add the onions, brown sugar, and spices and cook for a few more minutes, allowing the onions to caramelize in the sugar and the spices to coat everything. 

Deglaze the pan with rum and reduce it by 3/4. Then add the pineapple juice as well as some of the mashed pineapple. 

Add ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and molasses and simmer to blend all the flavors. If the sauce is too thick, thin it out with another splash or rum. 

Add freshly grated nutmeg and lime juice to taste, then strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Discard all the used veggies. 

Chop the ribs into cubes and marinade them for an hour in some of the sauce. Then thread everything onto skewers. Preheat your grill before you start threading so it's hot when you go to cook the kebobs. 

Mix the olive oil, allspice, thyme, oregano, and cinnamon and brush the vegetables with it. 

Cook the vegetables, brushing with oil and spices every time you turn them, until they're charred around the edges and slightly soft. Cook the pork, brushing with sauce each time you turn them, until they reach an internal temperature of 145 degrees. The veggies may take less time than the pork so put them on a separate skewer. 

Serve with a squeeze of fresh lime juice