Jean of the Islands -All about the Sauce Part 2
(Detroit in my childhood was short on Caribbean influences and long on Deep South cooking, and as a kid I would rather Eat than Cook (2)...
Having grown up in Detroit's Northwest section at a time when it was more Jewish than Black , I remember the bakeries that sold huge loaves of slightly sugary white bread. This bread was great for Dagwood sized sandwiches. When I started high school I discovered the food joints surrounding the school even though I had no lunch privileges off campus (1) during the school day...After school I would walk until I saw a bus, so a walk down Wyoming near Curtis on my way to 7 mile road was a chance to sample some of the best BBQ this side of the South. Thanks to the Great Migration, families had brought up their grilling, sauce and pork fixing traditions and each spot had its own style. This was before the era of Anita Baker singing near Fenkell. The west side had their joints and the East side had theirs.
I did not have a favorite- as a hungry kid who had 2 gym classes a week, and ran even in the winter all I remember was How Affordable all this Good Food was... One spot- Brothers BBQ near Mumford High ( actually Curtis and Wyoming also had a spot downtown on East Jefferson near St Antoine.) I ate lots of Hoagies like the one pictured below - rib slabs cost more and I was paying for it through my job at Woolworths.
I relocated to the 3rd Coast in 2015 having lived in NYC since 1985 , so I was not expecting to find the old joints.When I left in 2015 NY was having a BBQ moment, and we are not talking Food Trucks. Massive ovens, serious meatlockers, picnic tables and fixings- felt like Memphis...cost like Ditch Plains...but the sauces kept you coming back so damn the cost...
My last year in NY included doing wrap up hurricane work and I treated myself to BBQ smoked for Days thanks to the joint efforts of city/fed government creating a foodie zone - trying to bring people back to restored National Seashore at Jacob Riis Park.
BBQ on the beach reminded me of home. Picking up a box of bones or a big sloppy pulled pork sandwich, which was gone by the time I got home. So this summer, I decided to explore the food renaissance of Detroit OUTSIDE of Midtown/Corktown or any other improved neighboorhood) - sorry Slows ... and to keep it simple .
Why not start with the BBQ scene? Starting with the sauce. Actually starting with Wyoming ave and creating a BBQ trail based on who managed to hang in there , all this time. No Yelp, No Eater. Instead reviewing Detroiters on forums like Detroit YES where people speak truth to power- remembering the was things wuz...
Using forums like Detroit Yes eliminates places are still running on their old reps . In any case - for any one off. non chain joint -catch them on a good day- like Friday (payday). This article is not covering the corner grill in the empty lot scene- because I have not sampled it yet...
Here is the thread on the Old Joints:
https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?8180-Detroit-s-Shrinking-BBQ-Joints
My list from back in the day favors the west side since I had intermittent access to a car... - running errands for my parents restricted my foodie mapping ..
Well, let's try to recreate it. We know it had ground pork, not beef. French bread or roll, which? How about any crusty roll, a ciabatta maybe? Onions and green pepper, raw, chopped, sliced? Or chopped and cooked along with the meat? What kind of cheese?
The sauce, the review (NYT) says sweet and spicy. A lot of people I know doctor Open Pit with their own special secrets. Can we start with Open Pit? Is it sweet enough as is? Then add the hot sauce preferably with scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, cinnamon, thyme and black pepper. More sugar? orange juice maybe?
Here is a list of jerk spices with proportions for one recipe. You are supposed to coat the meat with oil, rub on the spices and grill.
Maybe add this amount of spices to 2 cups Open Pit and adjust to taste?
"Since visiting Jamaica, I've become a big fan of jerk chicken and fish," writes Lee Ann Odell from Boulder, Colorado. "I came up with my own version of that zesty island flavoring especially for this contest. It's a great sauce for ribs, whether you're grilling them or making them in the oven. It makes me feel like I'm on vacation!"
Version B
SERVINGS: 16
CATEGORY: Low Fat
METHOD:
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 20 min.
Ingredients:
1 bacon strip, halved
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:
In a saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Discard bacon or save for another use. In the drippings, saute the onions and jalapeno until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; cool. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 cups.
The lady that owned Brothers took the recipe to the grave.
This recipe is very close. . And thanks to our friend Jeff Broder, who writes for the Metro Times. Latest Article on the people who took over the Brothers BBQ spot in June 20th 2018 edition of Metrotimes.com
Version C
NOTES
(1) (on the edge of MaryGrove College campus was an academically rigorous school run by nuns called Immaculata High School )
(Detroit in my childhood was short on Caribbean influences and long on Deep South cooking, and as a kid I would rather Eat than Cook (2)...
Having grown up in Detroit's Northwest section at a time when it was more Jewish than Black , I remember the bakeries that sold huge loaves of slightly sugary white bread. This bread was great for Dagwood sized sandwiches. When I started high school I discovered the food joints surrounding the school even though I had no lunch privileges off campus (1) during the school day...After school I would walk until I saw a bus, so a walk down Wyoming near Curtis on my way to 7 mile road was a chance to sample some of the best BBQ this side of the South. Thanks to the Great Migration, families had brought up their grilling, sauce and pork fixing traditions and each spot had its own style. This was before the era of Anita Baker singing near Fenkell. The west side had their joints and the East side had theirs.
I did not have a favorite- as a hungry kid who had 2 gym classes a week, and ran even in the winter all I remember was How Affordable all this Good Food was... One spot- Brothers BBQ near Mumford High ( actually Curtis and Wyoming also had a spot downtown on East Jefferson near St Antoine.) I ate lots of Hoagies like the one pictured below - rib slabs cost more and I was paying for it through my job at Woolworths.
Recipe http://faithfulprovisions.com/pulled-pork-hoagies/
 |
| Rajesh TP Photographer |
I relocated to the 3rd Coast in 2015 having lived in NYC since 1985 , so I was not expecting to find the old joints.When I left in 2015 NY was having a BBQ moment, and we are not talking Food Trucks. Massive ovens, serious meatlockers, picnic tables and fixings- felt like Memphis...cost like Ditch Plains...but the sauces kept you coming back so damn the cost...
My last year in NY included doing wrap up hurricane work and I treated myself to BBQ smoked for Days thanks to the joint efforts of city/fed government creating a foodie zone - trying to bring people back to restored National Seashore at Jacob Riis Park.
BBQ on the beach reminded me of home. Picking up a box of bones or a big sloppy pulled pork sandwich, which was gone by the time I got home. So this summer, I decided to explore the food renaissance of Detroit OUTSIDE of Midtown/Corktown or any other improved neighboorhood) - sorry Slows ... and to keep it simple .
Why not start with the BBQ scene? Starting with the sauce. Actually starting with Wyoming ave and creating a BBQ trail based on who managed to hang in there , all this time. No Yelp, No Eater. Instead reviewing Detroiters on forums like Detroit YES where people speak truth to power- remembering the was things wuz...
Using forums like Detroit Yes eliminates places are still running on their old reps . In any case - for any one off. non chain joint -catch them on a good day- like Friday (payday). This article is not covering the corner grill in the empty lot scene- because I have not sampled it yet...
 |
Photo by Fancycrave.com from Pexels |
Here is the thread on the Old Joints:
https://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?8180-Detroit-s-Shrinking-BBQ-Joints
My list from back in the day favors the west side since I had intermittent access to a car... - running errands for my parents restricted my foodie mapping ..
The Margo the Foodie 5
Vickys BBQ -Warren just before West Grand Blvd turns to the river
Parks BBQ - New Center
Brothers BBQ near Mumford High (home of the Jean of the Islands Sauce)
Youngs BBQ (Livernois)
Sanders BBQ (Fenkell & Greenfield)
near my last job before I moved to NYC in 1985 (Silhouette America-Living Well Lady Gym, burned to the ground)
Oh my-- Jean of the Islands Sauce- I did not equate the sauce at Brothers BBQ with an actual person despite the fact that they sold the sauce in the store. I was just a kid then- not someone who loves spices and heat- blame NYC for that !! Sichuan food ruled when I first arrived in Morningside Heights, then bun bo Hue ... Afghanistan to Zagreb --- it is all good ....
Debra, My friend Jeff Broder
sent this to me. He may have found it on Chowhound on the web. It's not from
any of the original Brothers family or employees, as you can tell from the
first two lines, but the writer seems to care
about the whole business of the Boogaloo. (A believer!) It might be
worth a test batch that you could then try out on some of the old-heads we must
all know. Those that remember the sandwich, that is.SO now that I like spices and heat and Caribbean influences here is a curated dicussion of Jean of the Island sauce. Thanks to Detroit Metro Times on May 24th 2018
there is a successor Chef Gregs's SOUL "N" the Wall
at the old Brothers BBQ address at 10009 Curtis trying to recreate the sandwich I used to inhale https://www.metrotimes.com/table-and-bar/archives/2018/05/24/how-chef-gregs-soul-n-the-wall-revived-detroits-legendary-boogaloo-sandwich
As for what is in this sauce ? Here are 3 possible recipes for the sauce and the sandwich ... I curated and re edited the thread so it reads easily thank you Detroit Yes contributors , Metrotimes.com Chowhound.com - individual names /nom de plumes are preserved in the thread
VERSION A gazhekwe 8/23/2010
Soul Boogalooo Sandwich with the Jean of the Islands
Sauce
Well, let's try to recreate it. We know it had ground pork, not beef. French bread or roll, which? How about any crusty roll, a ciabatta maybe? Onions and green pepper, raw, chopped, sliced? Or chopped and cooked along with the meat? What kind of cheese?
The sauce, the review (NYT) says sweet and spicy. A lot of people I know doctor Open Pit with their own special secrets. Can we start with Open Pit? Is it sweet enough as is? Then add the hot sauce preferably with scotch bonnet peppers, allspice, cinnamon, thyme and black pepper. More sugar? orange juice maybe?
Here is a list of jerk spices with proportions for one recipe. You are supposed to coat the meat with oil, rub on the spices and grill.
·
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
·
2 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
·
2 teaspoons ground allspice
·
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
·
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
·
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I might leave this out if you
use the scotch bonnet hot sauce, but I am a wimp)
·
1/2 teaspoon salt
Maybe add this amount of spices to 2 cups Open Pit and adjust to taste?
Version B
Nice detective work
gazhekwe...yeah, I guess you could say the Boogaloo was a kind of glorified
sloppy joe, but it sure tasted unlike any sloppy joe I ever made at home. It's
quite possible that the sauce was a commercial barbeque sauce that had been
doctored up with some additional ingredients as you suggest. Whatever they did,
it definitely had a unique flavor. The sandwich that Akbar's served was made
with ground beef instead of pork, ketchup instead of Brother's sauce and I
think they put theirs on a hot dog bun instead of a french roll. Either way,
both were very good.
J Cole Detroit Yes Thread 9/8/2009
Debra, My friend Jeff Broder
sent this to me. He may have found it on Chowhound on the web. It's not from
any of the original Brothers family or employees, as you can tell from the
first two lines, but the writer seems to care
about the whole business of the Boogaloo. (A believer!) It might be
worth a test batch that you could then try out on some of the old-heads we must
all know. Those that remember the sandwich, that is.
 https://www.instagram.com/byrawpixel/
I don't know if that recipe is
close to Jean's Sauce of the
Islands or not, but it sounds
like something worth trying.
Any recipe that calls for
bacon fat, molasses, onions,
jalapeno peppers and
ketchup is okay by me.
J Cole
Detroit Yes
|
"Since visiting Jamaica, I've become a big fan of jerk chicken and fish," writes Lee Ann Odell from Boulder, Colorado. "I came up with my own version of that zesty island flavoring especially for this contest. It's a great sauce for ribs, whether you're grilling them or making them in the oven. It makes me feel like I'm on vacation!"
Version B
SERVINGS: 16
CATEGORY: Low Fat
METHOD:
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 20 min.
Ingredients:
1 bacon strip, halved
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 tablespoon chopped jalapeno pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions:
In a saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Discard bacon or save for another use. In the drippings, saute the onions and jalapeno until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Remove from the heat; cool. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 cups.
From
Gary on Detroit Yes.com 9/8/2009
Jean
of the Islands Sauce creator
As for finding Jean Johnson, let's hope someone
who knows her pops in and sees this. Google is full of recipe connected info
re: Jean Johnson, Portland, OR food writer. Nothing about BBQ Sauce that I
could find. She has a book, too, and I did look through it. Nothing recipe
related in Detroit though.
BOOGALOO SANDWICH
The lady that owned Brothers took the recipe to the grave.
This recipe is very close. . And thanks to our friend Jeff Broder, who writes for the Metro Times. Latest Article on the people who took over the Brothers BBQ spot in June 20th 2018 edition of Metrotimes.com
Version C
Jean's Sauce Of The
Islands
1 gallon can of ketchup.
1 quart lemon juice
2 cups Worcestershire
4 cups sugar or to taste
1/2 cup Jamaican paprika
2 Tbs cumin
Cook over low heat till proper consistency.
B. Boogaloo Sandwich
For The Boogaloo sandwich (best sandwich on earth)
Obtain quality fresh bakery French bread type sub buns
split sub buns down the middle as you would for a sub.
Boil chopped Spanish or white onions in salted water uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.
Drain onions in colander. Do not rinse.
Sauté ground pork at medium high heat in a skillet until browned. Brother's used course ground pork. You want some of the pork almost crispy.
Ladle some boiled onion into each bun, followed by sliced American cheese on one side of the bun add pork that has been mixed with the sauce (A., above).
Wrap in aluminum foil for about 5 minutes too heat bun and melt cheese.
I used to buy about 10 Boogaloos a week for my employees in Royal Oak. I was heartbroken when they closed.
The extra sauce can be kept for weeks in the fridge.
Detroit Yes Thread Moderator Well there we have the latest in our attempt to capture the glory that was the Boogaloo Sandwich. And thanks to our friend Jeff Broder, who writes for the Metro Times. He lets the story come slowly out of the person that's lived it -- sounds like a good recipe. Chowhound.com--- also thanks for mentioning Detroit!!
UPDATE
1 gallon can of ketchup.
1 quart lemon juice
2 cups Worcestershire
4 cups sugar or to taste
1/2 cup Jamaican paprika
2 Tbs cumin
Cook over low heat till proper consistency.
B. Boogaloo Sandwich
For The Boogaloo sandwich (best sandwich on earth)
Obtain quality fresh bakery French bread type sub buns
split sub buns down the middle as you would for a sub.
Boil chopped Spanish or white onions in salted water uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.
Drain onions in colander. Do not rinse.
Sauté ground pork at medium high heat in a skillet until browned. Brother's used course ground pork. You want some of the pork almost crispy.
Ladle some boiled onion into each bun, followed by sliced American cheese on one side of the bun add pork that has been mixed with the sauce (A., above).
Wrap in aluminum foil for about 5 minutes too heat bun and melt cheese.
I used to buy about 10 Boogaloos a week for my employees in Royal Oak. I was heartbroken when they closed.
The extra sauce can be kept for weeks in the fridge.
Detroit Yes Thread Moderator Well there we have the latest in our attempt to capture the glory that was the Boogaloo Sandwich. And thanks to our friend Jeff Broder, who writes for the Metro Times. He lets the story come slowly out of the person that's lived it -- sounds like a good recipe. Chowhound.com--- also thanks for mentioning Detroit!!
UPDATE
I hung out at Chef Greg's this Friday June 22 and he told me that he uses stewed tomatoes. No Ketchup no Open Pit or any other BB sauce as the boogaloo base .
NOTES
 |
| Main Road Nanjing |
(2) Margo the foodie spent a semester in China , and has eaten hot spicy foods from Montreal to Marrakesh
 |
| Great Wall of China Badaling section near Beijing |