Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Friday (N0T!) Florida Food Fest: Barbecue Spare Ribs

I try, on a semi-regular basis to post something about food on Fridays, but last Friday I needed to continue the saga of the Waccasassa River clean-up. That left us without a good Friday Food Fest post. This is not good as it's obvious from the comments that we all enjoy this "eating" fad.
So, here is last Friday's food post, even though I didn't make these until last Sunday, which would have made it impossible to ...
Anyway, last Sunday we were prepping for paint and doing odd jobs here, so I needed to grill something that could be left for relatively long periods of time to cook on it's own.
Spare ribs to the rescue!

I had one of those double slab packs of ribs so the first thing I did was cut them roughly in half. Each half received a dusting of a commercial rib rub. Sometimes I add a little apple cider or vinegar at this step, but I did not this time.

I made two foil packages by placing the two thick ends together in one double wrapped foil pack and the two thin ends in the other pack.


I already had the coals going and I let them die down just a little before adding the rib packs to the grill. If you notice,they are off to the side and not over any fire. After I shut the smoker grill cover, I only had to go out and check on them every half hour or so.

In the meantime I was taking care of some (not all) of the remodeling loose ends I've created in the past two years. Little things like a piece of trim that was never replaced, an outlet extension not installed after wainscoating, ... stuff like that.

Stuff you get used to if you live here, but the sort of thing that a guest would notice immediately and wonder ... "What kind of trash are these FC folks?"

Think long and hard before you begin to remodel ... unless you win the lottery, then have at it!

Meanwhile, back out at the grill, enough time had gone by that it was time to open the foil and check the ribs.

Mrs. FC likes them with a little crispy char to them and to get that without drying out the meat, I needed to do the next step.



I took them out of the foil and laid them directly over the now barely burning coals for some searing. For this step, you do have to concentrate and stay on site as it only takes a few moments to get the right amount of crispy surface.

No day dreaming.



Here's the finished product.

After they received their brief charring time, they again went to the cooler side of the grill for a good thick coating of sauce. Then they sit in the dark smoky grill while the sauce reduces to a nice glaze.

Since you're gonna ask ... the sauce was homemade.

Not because we usually do that, but because after the ribs went on the grill, we discovered that there was no bottled BBQ sauce in the pantry.

Town is 15 miles away so going to get some seemed a silly waste of gas.

Into a sauce pan went ketchup, ground mustard, some leftover Texas Pete Wing Sauce, vinegar, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, and some dark brown sugar. This simmered on very low heat while the ribs were in their foil packs.

Somehow, all that blended into a wonderfully tangy sauce with just a little heat.

Necessity is the mother of invention ...

and of homemade BBQ sauce.

Now I'm off to continue my kitchen paintjob.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your faithful fans are happy to read we're not the only ones with a house-full of unfinished remodeling jobs. What tasty foods you post. Always enjoy catching up with you!

SophieMae said...

Those ribs look fantabulous! It's much too hot for grilling, so I'll settle for indoor souvlaki - probably chicken, unless I get enough gumption to drive 20 miles to the nearest Publix - with 'sicky' sauce and leftover yellow rice. Whenever I start getting homesick, I just throw together something Greekish... or Cubanesque... or both. 8-]

pissed off patricia said...

My, those ribs look good. Could you pass them over to me, please? Thank you. Now please pass the corn and potato salad. Thank you.

If, let's just say, I had the pepper seeds, when would be a good time to plant them. It's awful hot here now. My little tomatoe plants produced a few tomatoes and said it was just too hot to go on.

I am sincerely interested in growing the peppers if someone will tell me how to make the sauce once I grow them. The sauce I ordered from the site that hurricane teen told me about was just absolutely wonderful. I was dipping everything in it. It was so damned good with shrimp.

So like I said, if the good fairy of pepper seeds helped me get the seeds, when is a good planting time for down here?

R.Powers said...

MOmadness,
It won't be too tastey tonight, the kitchen is out of service due to my painting!
Thanks!

Sophie,
Your Tarpon Springs is showing :)

POP,
I'm not sure how far south you are ... I picture you near Jupiter, but that may just be because you mentioned Mr. POP working with Seaturtles.
Here in Nawth Florida, my Dad starts his seeds in Dec/Jan in his greenhouse.
That way they are sturdy little guys by the time the last frost (Mar 15) is past and they can be put in the ground.
You could get an earlier start being farther south.

I need an address to mail them. You can email me at natcoast@msn.com.
I know mailing messes with your internet anonymity, but you can probably figure a way around that if you are creative.
Whatever the case, the offer stands to you and anyone else out there who'd like datil pepper seeds.
I'll do a datil pepper relish recipe post as soon as I can get enough harvested.
It's easy to make and nothing in a bottle is as good as home made.

Anonymous said...

I shouldn't have stopped by today, I was hungry enough as it is, and I really need to go to the store! The ribs look fantastic, and I like the method you use to grill them.

HOpe the paint job is coming along smoothly!

robin andrea said...

Even though I don't eat ribs (I've never had one in my life!), those look mighty fine, FC. I like your homemade sauce too.

Partly finished carpentry jobs at home is our way of life. Years pass.

roger said...

the shoemaker (or was it his kids) wears shoes in need of repair. the lawyer's son is in jail for pot. the politician's family is corrupt.

and the carpenter's house wants finishing. oh dear, what does a teacher overlook?

that's a mighty nice looking rack of ribs. maybe i'll try your recipe with chicken.

Sharon said...

Oh man, those look great. It's been a while since we fired up the smoker...might be time. :)

R.Powers said...

Laura,
I'm such a tease.
I actually am getting sauce on the keys right now because Emma and I just finished off the last leftover ribs for supper.

Robin,
Years DO pass ... LOL!
I thought it was just me.

roger,
teacher's kids go without money.

Sharon,
I think Beer Can chicken might be next.

h said...

Hmmm. Well, it wasn't truly "low and slow" as Barbecue should be, but we'll cut you some slack.

R.Powers said...

Artfulsub,
Jeez, 4:00 til 6:30 ... I could'a let them go longer, but I was hungry.
Appreciate the slack tho :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the birding advice. I do want to be accurate so that is the kind of input I need.

SophieMae said...

OPAH!

Thunder said...

Ok, now I'm hungry!

I'll share our Rootbeer Ribs recipe with you when I'm down there. I know it sounds wierd, but I'm sure you'll like 'em.

Paintsmh said...

Could I come visit? Pleeeaassseee!!!!

Deb said...

Yum...my mouth is watering! And your improvised BBQ sauce sounds good.

Ava said...

Good morning to you! I hope that all is well and you have a great day!

That is one delicious looking slab of ribs! Now I'm hungry! No ... wait ... I'm starving!!!

R.Powers said...

Cathy S,
Glad to help!

Sophie,
You have more acronymns than the US Army.
What??
:)

ThunderD,
... and when are you NOT hungry?

Paintsmh,
Did your Mom forget to take ribs to the camp?

Deb,
It was good. I think most BBQ sauce concoctions are very forgiving. If you don't get too weird, they are going to taste good no matter what.


Ava,
Hey Ava!
Hope you found something!

Paintsmh said...

But I don't got to the camp much. I stay home and milk the cows. My vacation involves a week at the fair with a string of cows and heifers...though my uncle did make some killer bbq chicken the one day I went up.