When I’m barbecuing, it’s usually easy to decide what I’m going to fix as a main item… First of all, it will be meat. Second, I estimate the time I will have, what sounds good, 
and decide on what it will be. But where I struggle sometimes is on side items; I concentrate so much on the barbecue that it’s almost an afterthought when it comes to what to serve with it.
Over time, I’ve found there are things I go back to over and over, even when I want to try something new. For instance, I’ll fix cauliflower or broccoflower in the oven with garlic because I know how to do it, and it’s farily quick, when I really want to try some cinnamon bourbon baked beans. I just don’t seem to plan the time to do the beans, and I refuse to start with Bush’s and just doctor them up.
I really never was a fan of baked beans that much until I had the cinnamon bourbon beans at One of a Kind Smokehouse in Hollywood, SC. Ken makes some great food there, and the beans were some of the best I’ve ever had. I’m going to try to make them soon, really… I may even call Ken and see if he’ll give me an idea of what he does with his.
That’s not to saw the broccoflower isn’t great. The first time Mark and I barbecued together, he made this for the meal, something he and his wife made before. He used cauliflower, which works great, but I like the flavor of broccoflower better. You just take a head of either, and cut the florets off into decent sized bite-sized pieces and put all that into a baking dish. Crush 6 cloves of garlic, and put the garlic with the broccoflower/cauliflower. Drizzle some olive oil over the whole thing, put on some grey salt and fresh pepper, and bake in a 500 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. It’s very tasty!
I also love coleslaw, and it’s hard to go wrong with that as a side. This is more traditional barbecue, and that’s a good thing now and then. My wife has a couple of recipes that are really good, but we haven’t tried one step that I want to try… salting and draining the cabbage befor
e making the slaw. I saw Alton Brown do this, and it makes sense. All that’s done is the cabbage is cut up, then put in a colander with salt and allowed to drain off, then the cabbage is very thoroughly rinsed. Getting the liquid out of the cabbage makes the slaw crisp for longer in the refrigerator, supposedly. We’ll try it out, and I’ll let you know. If anyone wants our recipe for slaw, which uses red and green cabbage with carrot bits and other stuff, let me know; also very tasty!
Baked pototoes are a favorite at my house, too. When I make brisket, we catch the drippings, then use that to coat potatoes when we bake them. Better than bacon grease, but we’re not above that, either. We have a convection oven, and we put the grease on the potatoes then sprinkle some grey salt on them and bake them out of foil to get the skin a bit crispy. A touch of real butter and a dollop of sour cream (or try creme fraiche for something different), and you’ve got a meal or a side.
New additions to my favorite sides include sweet potato chips and blackened/sugared wonton chips. Both are great, though I don’t care for sweet potatoes the normal way.
I’d really like to hear some ideas for good side items. Leave a comment and tell me what your favorites are!
