Rib Fest

Lake, cousins, food, adult beverages, yuks. 

Another annual Rib Fest has come and gone; and thinking about it I hate to admit that I've sorta lost track of how many there have been.

No dogs this year, but there was plenty of terrific food (including ribs) and wake-boarding, jet-skiing, swimming, cruising, adult beverages, hot-tubbing, family stories, yuks and family.

 

As a consequence of the the family's growing numbers three years-ago we ditched the supper club Friday fish fry and I assumed responsibility for the experience to be held at home.

There were two kinds of fries, beer-battered onion rings, homemade coleslaw, tartar sauce, deli rye and of course, fresh water yellow perch.  Almost five dozen fillets all-told.  Once the oil is up to temperature everything comes-together in about 30 minutes (give or take).  Brandy Old-Fashioneds were involved too.

Yummy chow if you can get it.

Saturday featured more aquatic events, fishing from the pier, hanging out on the patio, More food  and the pièce de résistance:  food on a stick, ribs, sides and desserts.  

 Ohhh man. 

Our parents were the first generation to host summer gatherings like this.  Us cousins are the second generation to continue the tradition.  And it now includes the third and fourth generations.  And, by the way, we've raised the bar and amped-up our game.

Family.  
Channeling Robert Earl Keen - The road goes on forever and the party never ends.... 

 

Rolling Smoke

Haven't made these in many moons.

Baby back ribs.

Memphis rub.

Alder wood.

Adrenaline BBQ Slow 'n Sear aftermarket set-up on the Weber Kettle.

After four hours there was this.....

Turkey Camp

In keeping with the tradition there are Turkey Camp baby back ribs.

 

5 hours on the Slow ‘N Sear® XL in the big Weber kettle.

 

Memphis dry rub from Country Meat Products - Florence, Mississippi. A double fistful of cherry wood chips for smoke.

 

Set it and forget it. No peeking.

 

Fail safe.

 

Boom!

 

 

Smoke Em If You Got Em

Knocked another rack of baby back ribs out of the  park with the slow 'n sear today. 

Look at the smoke ring thru and thru. 

This set up is a smoked meat game changer!

Saturday Update

Project kind of day today.  Up early, trip to the dump, some groceries from Marchant's.  Jill cleaned the bird spikes above the windows and doors and I’m finally at 75% reorganizing the machine shed.

Son-in-Law shared with me last winter that a ‘Slow and Sear’ setup for his Weber kettle had ‘altered his life’.   So, of course, I purchased one.

Now that the grilling season is officially upon us I smoked a rack of baby back ribs today using my Adrenaline Barbecue Company device.  This was a test flight.

Penzeys 33rd and Galena rub and hickory wood 3.5 hours. 

This was excellent. Next time I’ll for sure go 4 hours. I think I could push ‘falling-apart ribs’ at five hours without any dryness. 

Juicy with a perfect smoke ring. 

And there was this for dessert....

I am admittedly a wee bit pissed that we have no guests. 

Being social animals - this time of year there should be some turkey hunters with their wives or girlfriends and maybe some of my friends from Brussels or Sturgeon Bay around here.

Would have been fun to set on the porch and crack wise over cocktails while smoking some excellent food.

COVID crap!

Learn more about the Slow 'n Sear here..... 

Ribfest

Last weekend brought together the cousin offspring of the immediate mothers and fathers

on both sides of my family. 

Not precisely everybody - but most everybody.  This tradition began about the time we finally all found ourselves to be orphans.  There was some trash-talking about rib grilling prowess at Christmastime and this eventually led to a rib competition that generally is held in northeast Wisconsin during August.  I do not own or generally use a gas-fired grill but these turned-out rather nicely.  My ribs - slathered in a tangy Carolina sauce....

Rib Fest

Lake, cousins, dogs, food, adult beverages, yucks.

 click on images to enlarge

Another Rib Fest has come and gone and nobody succumbed to pork poisoning.

The deviled egg competition during cocktail hour must have a reprise.

Four kinds of ribs – cowboy campfire Dutch oven to Carolina style and a couple in-between.

There was even a selection of wines from Romania of all places.

Channeling Robert Earl Keen.  The road goes on forever and the party never ends....

How to Make The Most Delicious Ribs In The World

Last weekend SID and Six Deuce were here at The Platz for some turkey hunting and I finally had an excuse to cook-up a couple of racks of baby back ribs that had been languishing in the freezer of the adult beverage fridge in the garage.  Follow these few easy preparation steps and you too can make the most delicious ribs in the world.

Thaw overnight and remove the membrane from the inside of the rib rack.  Rub generously with Galena Street spice rub.  Let set in the garage fridge uncovered until ready to cook. 

Set aside six heaping handfuls of apple wood chips in a bowl and cover with hot water.  Use whatever wood you prefer - but I like the sweetness apple imparts to pork.

click on images to enlarge

Light a small fire of about a dozen and a half Kingsford Charcoal Briquettes on one side of your Weber kettle grill.  Drain the wood chips.  After the coals are covered in ash top them with half of the soaked apple wood chips.  

Put the grate on and place the ribs on the opposite half of the grill.  Put the lid on making sure all lower vents are wide-open and leaving the top vent half-open.  After thirty minutes add the remaining half of the soaked apple wood chips to the coals, rotate the ribs and replace the lid.  The first hour is critical for the infusion of the smoke in your ribs.

This is a low and slow process.  Go read a book, do some chores or hang out.  All you have to do is check your ribs every hour, rotate the ribs and periodically add a half dozen or so briquettes to the fire as they burn down.   

After four and a half hours top your ribs with whatever flavor and variety of BBQ sauce you like.  This step is totally optional as your ribs will be plenty flavorful from the rub and the smoke.  Return the lid and cook for an additional thirty minutes - for a total of five hours.

Remove the ribs from the grill and allow to rest for ten minutes or so before serving.  If you want to finish a refreshing adult beverage or two put them in a 200 degree oven (uncovered) for up to another thirty minutes.

 

Serve with whatever sides you like.  I'm partial to potato salad, slaw and some sour dough garlic toast.  Home-baked beans are a terrific idea too. 

click on images to enlarge

These ribs will be juicy moist - not fall-off-the-bone doneness - with just the right amount of chew and kissed with spicy-smokey goodness.  The secret is fresh spices in your rub of choice, low and slow heat (never rush or hurry your ribs) and the introduction of smoke in the first hour. 

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

36 Hours

Been a busy weekend.

Left yesterday AM for Legend Lake with a couple of Weber grills and four racks of baby backs.  It was the Inaugural Family BBQ Rib competition featuring the cousins from my late mom's side of the family and me and my brother.  

I got spanked (fourth and last place in the competition) nevertheless everyone had a great time  including some one-on-one with one of Wisconsin's candidates for state supreme court.

Some pics from the weekend.

Rib cooking...

click on images to enlarge

Rib Judging...

Boating...

Sunset...

Finished today with a visit with four additional friends from the Wauwatosa Curling Club on Shawano Lake.  The girls are toast having spent the last two days in and on the water.  

Raising a toast to tired-out Labrador retrievers. Thirty six hours is all it takes....

Good Eats

Sid has been doing some turkey hunting and fishing this last weekend - and it wasn't looking very good for him for awhile.

Rain and high winds caused him to leave the woods.  A small craft advisory chased him and Lawyer off the water.

What to do?

If you're me - you fire up the grill.  And stoke the wood burner and put your feet up in front of the fire with a robust red wine and a good book.

And you have your pals and their Frauen over for dinner.

Baby back ribs done on the Weber - low and slow for four hours - over Cowboy Charcoal and chunks of mesquite.

Recharge the fire with more coal and mesquite and do some Louisiana Redfish.

Lawyer assembled an award-winning salad with Greek yogurt dressing and sautéed eggplant. 

Yum!

Sid got his bird on Sunday.