Plate O'Meats
Posted by Unknown , Saturday, October 26, 2013 9:19 PM
I love to cook. I have for years now. I've worked in restaurants, catered, and have always been involved in some sort of food service since I was 18. It's a big part of my life. I think most people in my little world know that if they come to my house for any reason, they will be fed well. Let me be clear, I love cooking. BUT, I don't love baking. Don't ask me to bake cookies. Or cakes. Or any kind of pastry. I can swing a few dessert recipes, but not many. And I finally figured out why. Chemistry. Baking requires a certain amount of chemistry. You have to measure exactly, follow a recipe without improvising much. Because if you mess up the balance of baking soda, baking powder and lemon, you get a disgusting chemical reaction that tastes AWFUL. Guess what? I stink at following directions. (I think it's my rebellious nature) I like to add, subtract, pinch, guesstimate, all that jazz. That's why I love cooking, you can do that. You can be creative without fear of upsetting that balance of chemistry. Someday I hope to correct this handicap, but I'm in no hurry. I will stick with the art of cooking.
During the summer, right near Labor Day weekend, I get nostalgic for my hometown of Reno, Nevada. I have lived in lots of places, but I consider Reno my hometown. First off, my dad and brother still live there, and also I spent my high school and early adult years in that area. I got married there, had my second son there, and lots of other milestones. It's the place I remember best with fondness.
Reno has a small town mentality, it's located in a basin, surrounded by mountains, and everyone knows everyone. I love that, I miss it. During the summers they have a great line up of events. Farmers markets, concerts, art shows, Hot August Nights, Street Vibrations, and cook-offs. My FAVORITE cook-off, John Ascuaga's Nugget Best in the West Rib Cook-off. Oh my word. I die. Ribs. For. Days. A full week of people coming from all over, even Australia, making ribs. The smell is amazing. We managed to get up there in 2012, and it was still awesome. More crowded, but still fantastic. You can buy samplers of all the vendors participating, or full and half racks. I love the samplers, trying out every idea of what they consider the best rib in the west. Dry rubs, sauces, meat falling off the bone, pork, beef, slow cooking, smoking, so many different ways of making ribs. I think over the years we tried most every kind available.
ANYWHO, when Labor Day comes around, my mind turns to barbeque. If I can't be in Reno, we do our own rib cooking. I have found that the ribs I make are better than most I've found in restaurants, and of course it's cheaper to make at home. It's ridiculous how much we pay when we dine out. Same with steak, I will put my filet mignon recipes up against most any steakhouse in the area. My husband will back me up on this, he's pretty snobby when it comes to steak or ribs. Over the years we've come up with some favorite ways to prepare both. We'll talk about steak another day.
When it comes to ribs, I try to stick to pork, and I prefer the baby back cut. I've tried the St. Louis style, they tend to be cheaper and there's a lot more meat on them, but there's also a lot of weird bone and cartilage. I don't like dealing with that. Just a personal preference. The first thing I do is remove the thin membrane from under the rack, you can look up how to do that on YouTube. The membrane is not fun to eat through and the texture is gross to me. Also, the flavors you add to your ribs can permeate the meat better if you remove it. Then I cut the ribs into portions, three or four bones per section. At this point I have also set my oven to 250 degrees. I prepare a big roasting pan, with a rack placed on the bottom, and pour my favorite liquid of the moment into the bottom. Sometimes I use apple juice, sometimes pineapple juice, or even cherry coke. Coke is one of my favorite things to use. Oddly. I only use about a half inch of liquid in the pan. Just enough to cover the bottom really. Then I start preparing my dry rub!
Dry rub is my favorite thing about ribs. It adds so much flavor to the meat, you might not even want sauce. I like to use brown sugar as a base for my rub. I usually have two or more racks of ribs to cook, so I start with one cup of brown sugar to build my rub on. Here's the full recipe, but keep in mind that you can tweak it to add and subtract the spices you love:
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
3 Tablespoons Onion Powder
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
3 Tablespoons Dry Mustard
3 Tablespoons Lawry's Seasoning Salt
3 Tablespoons Black Ground Pepper
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Ginger
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
Mix well.
Next up, I drizzle a little olive oil all over the ribs and massage it in. Not a whole lot, just enough to thinly coat. Then we take our dry rub and sprinkle it on the ribs. I like to make sure they are covered completely, as much as the ribs will soak up, front and back. Then I stand the ribs up on the rack, laying them against each other. Tent with foil. I put them in the oven for about 4 or 5 hours, until the meat pulls away from the ends of the bones. It will look like its shrinking. Sometimes I even cook them 6 hours. Then I take the ribs out and let them rest for about 20 minutes while I heat up the grill to about medium high. The grill I really only use for the caramelizing of the sauce, and a few grill marks. Sometimes I use a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, sometimes I doctor up a bottle, sometimes I make my own. I've created a sauce using pineapple juice that has become my favorite, I'll share that another day.
Once you are ready to put the ribs on the grill, bring your ribs, barbeque sauce, and a barbeque brush out to the grill. Put the ribs on the grill bone side down and baste the tops with a few brushes of sauce. Flip, brush the other side with sauce, and put the lid down for about five minutes. Flip and repeat until sauce is coated to your liking. Serve on a platter with extra sauce on the side. Like I said, you don't have to sauce them at all, they will still be delicious, but I like sauce. Also, secretly, I like my ribs slightly burned. Just slightly! I don't know why. I'm just gross like that.
Here's a picture of the last batch of barbeque ribs I made. I also made grilled chicken and beef ribs using the same rub. It goes on most any meat. For sides I made sweet cornbread with blueberries, (Have you ever tried that??? I decided it might be good, I was right.) and a roasted corn salad with cherry tomato's, diced avocado, purple onion and cilantro, seasoned with salt, pepper, lots of curry powder and a splash of red wine vinegar. SO good. Looks like I had some hot links on this plate as well. Meat overload. We had friends over the night i made this, we called it "Plate O'Meats".
ANYWHO, when Labor Day comes around, my mind turns to barbeque. If I can't be in Reno, we do our own rib cooking. I have found that the ribs I make are better than most I've found in restaurants, and of course it's cheaper to make at home. It's ridiculous how much we pay when we dine out. Same with steak, I will put my filet mignon recipes up against most any steakhouse in the area. My husband will back me up on this, he's pretty snobby when it comes to steak or ribs. Over the years we've come up with some favorite ways to prepare both. We'll talk about steak another day.
When it comes to ribs, I try to stick to pork, and I prefer the baby back cut. I've tried the St. Louis style, they tend to be cheaper and there's a lot more meat on them, but there's also a lot of weird bone and cartilage. I don't like dealing with that. Just a personal preference. The first thing I do is remove the thin membrane from under the rack, you can look up how to do that on YouTube. The membrane is not fun to eat through and the texture is gross to me. Also, the flavors you add to your ribs can permeate the meat better if you remove it. Then I cut the ribs into portions, three or four bones per section. At this point I have also set my oven to 250 degrees. I prepare a big roasting pan, with a rack placed on the bottom, and pour my favorite liquid of the moment into the bottom. Sometimes I use apple juice, sometimes pineapple juice, or even cherry coke. Coke is one of my favorite things to use. Oddly. I only use about a half inch of liquid in the pan. Just enough to cover the bottom really. Then I start preparing my dry rub!
Dry rub is my favorite thing about ribs. It adds so much flavor to the meat, you might not even want sauce. I like to use brown sugar as a base for my rub. I usually have two or more racks of ribs to cook, so I start with one cup of brown sugar to build my rub on. Here's the full recipe, but keep in mind that you can tweak it to add and subtract the spices you love:
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
3 Tablespoons Onion Powder
3 Tablespoons Chili Powder
3 Tablespoons Dry Mustard
3 Tablespoons Lawry's Seasoning Salt
3 Tablespoons Black Ground Pepper
2 Tablespoons Paprika
1 Tablespoon Ginger
1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
Mix well.
Next up, I drizzle a little olive oil all over the ribs and massage it in. Not a whole lot, just enough to thinly coat. Then we take our dry rub and sprinkle it on the ribs. I like to make sure they are covered completely, as much as the ribs will soak up, front and back. Then I stand the ribs up on the rack, laying them against each other. Tent with foil. I put them in the oven for about 4 or 5 hours, until the meat pulls away from the ends of the bones. It will look like its shrinking. Sometimes I even cook them 6 hours. Then I take the ribs out and let them rest for about 20 minutes while I heat up the grill to about medium high. The grill I really only use for the caramelizing of the sauce, and a few grill marks. Sometimes I use a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce, sometimes I doctor up a bottle, sometimes I make my own. I've created a sauce using pineapple juice that has become my favorite, I'll share that another day.
Once you are ready to put the ribs on the grill, bring your ribs, barbeque sauce, and a barbeque brush out to the grill. Put the ribs on the grill bone side down and baste the tops with a few brushes of sauce. Flip, brush the other side with sauce, and put the lid down for about five minutes. Flip and repeat until sauce is coated to your liking. Serve on a platter with extra sauce on the side. Like I said, you don't have to sauce them at all, they will still be delicious, but I like sauce. Also, secretly, I like my ribs slightly burned. Just slightly! I don't know why. I'm just gross like that.
Here's a picture of the last batch of barbeque ribs I made. I also made grilled chicken and beef ribs using the same rub. It goes on most any meat. For sides I made sweet cornbread with blueberries, (Have you ever tried that??? I decided it might be good, I was right.) and a roasted corn salad with cherry tomato's, diced avocado, purple onion and cilantro, seasoned with salt, pepper, lots of curry powder and a splash of red wine vinegar. SO good. Looks like I had some hot links on this plate as well. Meat overload. We had friends over the night i made this, we called it "Plate O'Meats".
September, 2013
Posted in
We love eating at the Paulsons! Always good food, and lots of it!