Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Three slabs of spare ribs and a Faculty Annual Review

The Tuesday after Memorial Day, no kids tonight and my FAR is due on the 1st. I’m leaving town on Thursday so I have to get the shit done. If you smell what I’m shoveling… I’m heading to the farm for the first leg of my journey and then off to my favorite mountaintop in Arkansas for some live music, good friends and fun. I wanted to take some ribs with me to Arkansas so they had to be smoked too. Shit. Thank gosh I’ve got a fresh keg in the beer fridge.

I’m not a bit fan of spare ribs. That fat just kills me. Dad told me if I get them hotter the fat will render and life will be better.

Stage One: Same ole, same ole. Lots of magic dust, 200 degrees, three hours.

Stage Two: I’ve done this before. Foil wrapped in the oven at 300 for an hour. This time I sprinkled some brown sugar as I was wrapping the ribs.

Stage Two: Out of the oven and painted with a bit of sauce (see The Sauce posted below), rewrapped and back in at 300 for another hour.

The results were pretty good. I’ve had a sample and will need a bit more time to analyze…I think they will get eaten. I’m freezing these to take with me on the camping trip.

That is all. I appreciate all three of you for reading this drivel. Oh ya, the FAR is complete as well. A once over the morning and then submission. A presentation proposal and an article to edit and I'll return to my normally scheduled summer.

Disclaimer

I found the chicken and sauce recipe listed below years ago on Foodtv.com. I'm sure I'm not supposed to be posting it but since I'm not making any money off this damn blog, I imagine I'm safe. If somebody at Food TV wants to sue me I will remind them about blood and turnips.

Anyway the recipe is awesome and I highly suggest trying it out with cheap lager.

The Chicken

3 whole chickens, halved (I found 8 hind quarters for $6, so I used those)
1 cup poultry seasoning
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can beer
1 stick butter
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Add all items to a very large pot of boiling water. Reduce heat, cover with a plate and simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the pot and let cool to room temperature, covered.

Your grill should be very hot. We use a smoke box with wet wood chips in the gas grill to add a nice wood flavor (optional). Lightly spray the grill with non stick spray. Add the chicken and get nice grill marks on both sides. The bbq sauce should be in a large pot that has just been removed from the heat.

Very important: Just paint the chicken lightly with the sauce and let it stay on the grill for 1 minute on each side, just to burn the sauce. Remove from the grill and submerge in the hot bbq sauce for a just a second. Put on platter and serve with very sour dough bread and vinegar and oil based cole slaw, cold beer and look out.

The Sauce

The Sauce

5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (#10 size) can catsup
1 large Vidala onion fine chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 tablespoons Worchestshire sauce
3 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 (5-ounce) bottle pickapeppa sauce (This contains: mangos, raisins, tamarinds, salt and pepper, tomatoes)
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
2 large juice oranges
1 large lime
2 lemons
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons grated horseradish
1 can cola, (recommended Dr. Pepper
Few dried chiles, to taste
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, to taste

Place the garlic in cup of boiling water for 3 minutes. Remove and chop fine. Saute the onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until just starting to brown. Remove from the heat and wait 1 minute for the pan to start to cool. Add the chopped garlic, stir, and place mixture in a bowl to cool - never let the garlic hit the hot oil over the fire - this way the garlic will infuse the remaining moisture and not burn and get bitter.

In a large stock pot over medium-low heat add the catsup and bring to a slow simmer, always stirring. After 10 minutes add the onions, garlic, soy sauce, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, pickapeppa sauce, and wine vinegar, and let simmer for another 10 minutes, covered.

Cut all the fruit into quarters and squeeze the juice into the pot. Then, add the fruit to the pot, with the brown sugar, horseradish, and Dr. Pepper. Continue to simmer for at least 40 minutes, covered.

Add the dried chili peppers and cayenne, turn off heat and let the chilis go to work for about another 20 minutes.