Birthday BBQ

When I asked our little boy what food he would like to have for his first birthday party, I sure was surprised to hear him say "ribs, beans, cole slaw, and home-made ice cream"! Well, not being one to disappoint, I took up the challenge and made enough of each to serve the twenty some people that came to his party last Saturday. Here are a couple of pictures of the ribs along with the recipe. For those of you who don't already know, over the past number of years I've taken an interest in "real" barbeque (that's barbeque the noun, not the verb). Yes, there is a lot of time involved which is why you have to embrace the barbeque mantra - "low and slow".


Fred's First Birthday Ribs

For the Rub

Rubs are seasoning mixes and there are scores of recipes. Some cooks apply a rub just before cooking, some let it sit on the meat overnight as a sort of curing process. There's no need to buy rubs in the store. They're easy to make. Here's a great all purpose rib/pork rub.

Yield. Makes a bit more than two cups, enough for about 10-12 pounds of ribs.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sweet paprika
1/4 cup kosher salt
4 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons ground coriander
Optional: 2 tablespoons crushed dried chipotle or other hot pepper. Be careful with this ingredient. Not everybody likes it as hot as you do! You can leave it out if you are serving to a large crowd that is bound to contain a few wimps, and serve pepper flakes on the side.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly. If the sugar is lumpy, crumble the lumps by hand or on the side of the bowl with a fork. If you store the rub in a tight jar, you can keep it for months. If it clumps just chop it up, or if you wish, spread it on a baking sheet and put it in a 250F oven for 15 minutes to drive off moisture.

For the Sauce:

You have no idea how many different styles of sauces there are. In the Carolinas they like a tangy-sweet yellow mustard sauce, or maybe just a sugar-vinegar mix. As you move farther west you find more tomato-based sauces with varying levels of sweetness and heat. This recipe is for a Kansas City style sauce - thick and sweet.

Yield: Makes about two cups of sauce.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon powdered garlic
1 cup ketchup
3/4 cup apple butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
3 tablespoon A1 steak sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate (1/2 square)
1 teaspoon ground ginger dissolved in a few teaspoons of water
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons of Chipotle Tabasco sauce for mild, 4 for medium, 6 for hot

1) Melt the butter over low to medium heat.
2) Cook the onion and garlic until translucent, being careful not to brown the garlic.3) Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low for ten minutes.
3) Pour into blender and blend for a couple of minutes to smooth.

Cooking the Ribs

The night before you cook the ribs, rinse the slabs with water, and remove the membrane that is covering the curved side of the rack (call me to ask how to do this, its hard to explain). To apply the rub, use a basting brush to apply a thin layer of yellow mustard onto the slab (trust me, you won't taste this mustard once they're cooked) and apply a generous amount of rub to each side. To prevent cross-contamination, one hand sprinkles on the rub and the other hand does the rubbing. Don't put the hand that is rubbing into the powder. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.

The next day, about 2 hours before you start cooking, remove the ribs from the fridge to allow to come to room temp. Prepare your grill for indirect heat.
(for a gas grill see: http://amazingribs.com/technique/gas_grill_setup.html)
(for a charcoal grill see: http://amazingribs.com/technique/charcoal_grill_setup.html)

I used what is known as a 3-1-1.5 method of cooking the ribs (see this link: http://bbq.yyyz.net/R_3-2-1_ribs.asp). This means that you smoke the ribs at ~250 for 3 hours, then double wrap in foil curved side up along with 1/2 cup of apple juice for 1 hour, followed by a final 1.5 hours to finish them off. Keeping the temperature steady is important, and only open the cover every 45 minutes or so to add some wood and rotate the ribs. You'll know when the ribs are done by picking up a slab by the middle and slightly bouncing it up and down. It should be flexible and almost start to break in half. You should also see about one-quarter inch of rib bone exposed.

Leave the ribs dry if you want to go Memphis style (Although many love their 'cue smothered with sauce, the dry style favored in Memphis is to lay the rub on thick and eat the slabs crunchy) or for "wet ribs" brush on sauce for a final 10 minutes of cooking over direct heat. Either way, have extra sauce to serve alongside and unleash the carnivores.

Hope this has made you hungry. Although they take a bit of time to make, they're worth it. I find it is a good motivator for a Saturday of yard work. Mow the lawn..check the ribs...weed that flower bed...check the ribs...paint that trim...check the ribs. Then at the end of the day...drink some beer...eat some ribs...drink some beer...eat some ribs...et cetera, et cetera...Zzzzzzzzz.