July 18, 2005

Rib Advice

Marcus Aurelius offered up his rib-making method. It's deserving of its own post:

Here is what I have found in trying to make ribs.

1.) Marinade! Go to Third Old World Street to the Asian store across from Usingers. Ask the kindly Filipino gentlmen for "Momma Sita's Barbecue Marinade Mix". We cut our ribs up into pieces about 3 bones per. Soak the ribs in the marinade mix for a night or two. Apply a rub if you want (before the soak).

2.) Before you cook prepare a "mop sauce" to baste the ribs. Usually this is something along the lines of lemon juice (or lime juice), some spices (garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne etc) and an oil. Search for mop sauce on the I'net and choose an appealing recipe.

3.) Fire up your grill, put the ribs on when ready. Now, this is the trick, you want to barbecue the ribs slowly over indirect fire. I have heard it said if you can keep the cooking temperature under the boiling point and yet bring the ribs up to tempeature you will have very tender ribs. However you may not have that kind of time. Baste the ribs with the mop sauce. If you have smoking material toss that on as directions dictate.

4.) Be sure you have beer on hand. This time of year weiss beer is best! This is for the pit crew!

5.) When the ribs are done, then get out your finish sauce. This is the tomato based sauce. Apply to one side and turn, apply to other side. Make sure to paint both sides and do not leave the painted ribs on the heat for too long. Tomato based and sugary sauces will burn quickly on the grill.

Who says America has no culture!

I didn't get that lavish. I simply put some baby-back ribs in a baking dish, covered them with 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce, wrapped foil over the dish, and baked them in a 350-degree oven for one hour. I then let them cool to room temperature. Next, I fired up my gas grill and grilled the ribs for about 10 minutes while basting them with more bbq sauce. They came out pretty well. They weren't fall-off-the-bone tender and had no smoky flavor (other than from the BBQ sauce), but they were meaty and delicious. My method is based on the technique from Dave Leiberman's recipe. It's no where near authentic BBQ but I have no desire to get a smoker and do it right. I'll leave that to the professionals.

My potato salad turned out well too. I boiled some red potatoes until they were fork tender. In the meantime, I chopped up some green onion, yellow onion, and carrots (no celery was in the fridge) and tossed them with some Miracle Whip, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, dill, salt, and pepper. When the potatoes cooled, I cut them into bite-size pieces and tossed everything together. It turned out well. It just needed some mustard.