What's Cooking?

[ness]

Found one morel yesterday, had it for breakfast.

[ness]

So, here I go. This isn't going to be groundbreaking stuff, and I'm not claiming this is the single best way to do it. You'll see I'm not a BBQ purist too. I hope to give folks some ideas, and maybe get a little critiquing going. Also, I'd love to hear what other folks are doing.

 

My brother is a trained chef, and worked at a number of restaurants and country clubs around Kansas City. The chef's life is a tough one -- working every weekend and every holiday, on your feet the whole time. If your sous chef calls in sick on New Year's Eve, well those potatoes aren't gonna peel themselves. He gave it up several years back for an office job, but along the way he became a competition BBQ guy, and he has brought home a lot of ribbons through the years. He has a BBQ catering business (Kansas City Rib Company) on the side and does a few contests each year, including the American Royal. I've gotten most of the technique and a few ingredients from him, but the recipes are mine.

 

ness' BBQ Rub #3

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If I use a tablespoon as a 'part', it makes enough for 2 slabs of baby back pork ribs with some left over. One tablespoon = 3 teaspoons, if you're wondering. I can't do the math on ¼ tablespoon, so I wing it.

ness' BBQ Sauce #4

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Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer 30-45 minutes or until slightly thickened.

 

I get the cryovac packages of ribs. The first thing I do is rinse them off then dry them very well with paper towels. Next, I turn them over to bone side up, and slide a butter knife under the membrane between two ribs, trying to get all the way to the other side without tearing it. Then I cut the membrane, grab it with paper towels and pull it down the length of the rack -- trying to get it all in one piece.

 

 

After the membrane has been skillfully removed in one piece, it will look like this:

 

I hit them pretty heavy with the rub, and press it in to make sure there is good contact.

 

I've done this the night before, and 2 or 3 hours before on the day of cooking too. I don't really notice much difference. Either way, I give them at an hour or so on the counter so they come to room temperature before going on the grill. Yep, I said grill.

 

I had a Weber Smokey Mountain for years, but when it finally rusted through I didn't replace it. I'm pretty happy with the results using the indirect-heat method on my Weber kettle, so that's all I've done the last couple years. I typically use a combination of apple and hickory chips, but I've also used pecan, cherry and others. About two handfuls is plenty -- one of the first things I learned is there can be too much smoke flavor. Since I'm using the kettle now, I don't have as much room for lump charcoal, so I use briquettes. To maintain the heat at 225 to 250, I only need a few briquettes (say, 10-12) going at the start and I add them 3 or 4 at a time as things move along.

 

I cut each slab in half, and place them in rib racks. I set them perpendicular to the fire, and rotate them every hour or so.

 

After about 3 hours, I take them off and wrap each section in foil, then put them on the grill grate away from the fire. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours to finish them up, depending on a lot of factors like temperature, meatiness, whatever. The ones I've been getting at the store lately are pretty meaty, almost too meaty to my taste, so they take longer. Generally, they're ready when the meat has pulled in from the tips of the ribs, and you can easily twist a bone within the meat. 'Falling off the bone' is over done in my book. I want something to chew.

 

When they're ready, I bring them inside and take them out of the foil. I baste them with BBQ sauce and put them under the broiler for about 5 minutes to get the caramelization I want. Then I pull them and give them a ½ hour rest before slicing them up.

[BilletHead]

Better be more coming.

[ness]

Yeah -- I'll be adding to it. Wanted to post it so I didn't lose it.

[ness]

Had dinner at my brother's house last night, and that's always a treat. He did a top sirloin roast on the smoker, but it was roast with a little smoke -- not BBQ. Outstanding, and it was cooked perfectly to medium rare. I don't know what seasoning he had on the outside, but it was great. That's one thing about his stuff -- it's always seasoned very, very well. Before hand he threw together some quesadillas that had a meat and mushroom mixture with just a little of some kind of savory sauce that held it together. There was some fennel seed in there, but I don't know what else. He did those right on the grate over the coals of his offset smoker. Outstanding! Grilled vegetables and a real Ceasar salad, complete with anchovies. Dessert was a 'poke' cake that was German chocolate, with condensed milk and caramel sauce. I'm not a big dessert fan, but that was dang good.

[rps]

Your rub is similar to what I have used in the past. In the last few years I have switched things around a bit. I use brown sugar, smoked paprika, Cavendars instead of Lowry's, plus I add some Chinese five spice and ground coriander instead of cloves. I have been known to sneak chili powder in there as well.

The removal of the silver skin is an excellent point.

As for using the kettle - good on you. The key is controlling the temp and the amount of smoke. A trick I learned was to make a foil package that contained the chips I wanted to use. and then poke 15 or so holes in it with an ice pick. You toss the packet on the coals and the lack of oxygen forces the chips to smoke rather than flame. You get plenty of smoke over a longer time period from one double handful of chips.

Enjoy!

[rps]

I took an internet recipe for Carolina style mustard sauce and changed it to make it more "friendly" without changing the sweet and tart that I liked.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups yellow mustard
1.5 cups tomato sauce
1 cup (packed) brown sugar
1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
1.5 cups beer
2 Tbs. Chili powder
1 Tbs. black pepper
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. Liquid Smoke
4 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. Franks Red Hot sauce
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive sauce pan and simmer over low heat without boiling for 30 minutes. The sauce will need to rest for a few hours in the refrigerator so the vinegar softens and melds.

Yield will be 3.5 pints of sauce.

[BilletHead]

Well Ness I am drooling waiting to hear if they tasted as good as they looked,

BilletHead

[ness]

Well, deviated a little from the plan. I had to get some things done, and didn't want to tend to the fire all afternoon, so I brought the ribs in and finished them in the oven. After an hour I tool them out of the foil, sauced them cooked them another hour. You really can't go by the clock with these -- I screwed up the last time I did ribs by doing just that. Total cook time on these about six hours.

So, here's the final result. I gotta say -- these are very tasty.

I don't like these really meaty ribs so much. I'd rather have them trimmed a little closer to the bone. I suppose I could do that myself.

[rps]

Well, deviated a little from the plan. I had to get some things done, and didn't want to tend to the fire all afternoon, so I brought the ribs in and finished them in the oven. After an hour I tool them out of the foil, sauced them cooked them another hour. You really can't go by the clock with these -- I screwed up the last time I did ribs by doing just that. Total cook time on these about six hours.

So, here's the final result. I gotta say these are very tasty.

I don't like these really meaty ribs so much. I'd rather have them trimmed a little closer to the bone. I suppose I could do that myself.

All pork products are meatier than they were years ago, and leaner. The "real white meat" campaign and the "anti fat" groups are to blame. The next thing you know, we will have to buy free range pig.