Recently, my husband and I took a well-deserved vacation to Los Angeles. The tickets were free on credit card points, and my mother said she would happily watch our baby. This was the first time I would be leaving him for so long. Anyway, the 5 ½ hour flight was long and exhausting, and the Wi-Fi on the old Southwest plane was broken. We landed fatigued and exhausted, and as soon as we picked up our rental car, we drove straight to Ditmas. Besides for the vibe being super relaxed and cool, our food was top-notch. Our waiter, David, recommended that we order three appetizers right off the bat to share. And we did just that. Out of the three, the pulled BBQ brisket pretzel bun sliders were our favorite. They were moist, crunchy, and came with an outstanding slaw inside. As I was eating them, just for one moment, I almost took my mind off my furious, screaming baby at home. (Sorry, Ma…)
When we got home, besides for our baby now being in the greatest mood ever, I mentally reviewed all of the amazing food we had eaten over the vacation. I knew I wanted to re-create those sliders at home. The next day, before work started, I put my roast into the crockpot along with any sauce ingredients I had in my pantry to form a tangy BBQ sauce. I put it in around 11 a.m. and put the crockpot on low. I left it in there until about 6 p.m., when I took a fork and shredded it. It was so soft, it pulled apart right away. Then I made the pretzel buns and the slaw. I plated three little sliders on a plate, layering the pulled beef with the slaw on top, just like Ditmas. And oh boy, was it good. #staycationsarethewaytogo
BBQ pulled beef Pretzel Bun Sliders and Slaw
For the pulled beef:
2.5 lb brisket
1 cup ketchup
1 cup duck sauce
5 cloves peeled garlic
¾ cup honey mustard
¼ cup teriyaki sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
Generous drizzle of honey
Bottle of beer
Place a crockpot bag into the crockpot. Pour all of the ingredients into the bottom of the bag and mix with a spoon, until it becomes a thick sauce on the bottom. Place the roast into the sauce and turn it around so it gets coated on all sides. Pour some beer over the roast to keep it moist while it cooks for so long. Keep the crockpot on low for 8 hours. Then, shred your beef with a fork or a pair of tongs. You can leave it sitting in the crockpot on the warm setting until it is served.
Pretzel Buns:
1 cup warm water
1 packet of active dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
Coarse kosher salt
2¾ cup bread flour
Canola oil
6 cup water
¼ cup baking soda
Put the yeast, sugar and 1 cup of warm water in a bowl. Let it sit for five minutes until the yeast starts to rise or bubble. Meanwhile, put the flour into a large well-oiled bowl. Pour in your yeast mixture, and knead until a dough forms. If the dough is too dry or crumbly, add a little oil until it is smooth and elastic. Keep dough in warm place and let rise for a half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 425° degrees.
Meanwhile, prepare the solution to turn your buns into “pretzels.” Put six cups of water into a large pot on the flame to boil.
Check back on your dough, and form it into eight little slider bun balls. Rest them on a sheet of parchment paper to rise some more. Cut two slashes with a knife to make a criss-cross “X” pattern on top of each one. When the water has boiled, add ¼ cup of baking soda. The water will bubble a lot and foam to form a solution. Float the rolls in this boiling solution for two minutes on each side. Remove the boiled rolls with a slotted spoon and place onto a greased cookie sheet.
Sprinkle each roll generously with coarse salt, and place into the oven for 15-25 minutes depending upon how golden brown the rolls are. They should be a deep brown and look like pretzels.
Slaw:
1 package of coleslaw or broccoli slaw
½ cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp celery seed
½ tsp onion powder
Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the slaw. Let the slaw sit for 10 minutes to soak up the dressing.
Slice a pretzel bun open. Layer it up with pulled beef, and slaw on top. Makes about eight sliders. Enjoy!