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Testimonials
Well, the Big Rib Cook-Off happened on Memorial Day. My day started smokin' at 5 a.m. after your Meathead's Magic Dust made intimate friends with my baby backs all night. After the smoke party and your apple juice trick it was time for your Kansas City Classic Sauce. Let's just say my ribs went faster than sunshine on day one on ground hound day!!! I won first place by a landslide!
Mark D., Covina, CA
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I was in the grocery looking at ribs a couple days ago. Some guy decided to help me because I am, after all, a helpless female =) He asked me how I was going to cook them and I said I'd probably boil them first, then oven bake with some sauce. He nearly passed out right there in the meat aisle. He wept, and through his tears told me, "No! You have to smoke them! Please, whatever you do don't boil them! Noooooo!" I chose some baby backs and determined to smoke those babies if it was the last thing I did. I found your website after some searching around, liked the way you had things organized, so I started the rub. Fast forward one day and I am pleased to report that I just served my family two slabs of some of the most flavorful, tender, juicy, delicious ribs I have ever had in my life. There were times where I wanted to give up. The temp was very difficult to control, especially since I found out 1 hour into it that the thermometer on the grill was broken, but in the end, it was all so worth it and it was your instructions and recipes that pulled me through. I followed everything as you described plus used the Vermont Pig Candy recipe for the sauce. So a big thanks from my house to yours!
Jana, Edgewood, MD
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I am the person at barbecues that completely avoids ribs. We couldn't eat them fast enough! I am going back to the store tomorrow to get some more! Thank you very much for your website. It has turned me around to ribs... OUR ribs anyway!
Jennifer Collins, Santa Rosa, CA
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FIRST COOKOFF: 4TH PLACE RIBS 4TH PLACE SHOULDER. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!
Doyle Pate
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Your Crack 'n' Cheese recipe is seriously f*ing yummy! Good cold for breakfast, too!
Gary Grossman
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My wife is much impressed with my culinary skills after tasting your Red Wine Sauce. I can use the points! Surely the French have it right: the sauce is everything!
Jim Fitch, Sebring, FL
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I bought an Oklahoma Joe on closeout at Costco 6-8 years ago. I never could get the darn thing to work very well. I found your site a few months ago and was really impressed and encouraged. Yesterday we were at the grocery and I saw some really good looking turkey drumsticks. They turned out fantastic! I'm making a list, going to Costco tomorrow to buy meat and briquets, and then I'm going to start trying things from your site -- page by page.
Bill Daley, Albany, OR
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Click here for more testimonials and pix from readers
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Show Me Yours
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I've been getting wonderful emails and pix from you. Man, you folks
know how to party! Send me pix of your versions of my recipes or your party and I might publish them on my site.
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Be My FB Friend
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| Smoke Signals is Free
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About Smoke Signals
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 Smoke Signals is the free email from AmazingRibs.com and Hedonism Evangelist Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn. Please send me feedback. Especially if you think an article or recipe is
confusing, if you know a better way, or if I made a mistake. Daddy
taught me that "praise is cheap, criticism priceless." If you like my website, please click here to forward a copy of this to a friend. And remember: No rules in the bedroom or the kitchen!
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Beefing Up for Father's Day
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 My Father loved to cook outdoors. My earliest memory of grilled food is the taste of his beef short ribs. With that memory in mind, I have been beefing up the beef section of my site the past few months, and there is more to come.
As a tribute to his memory I began with a definitive study of the Zen of Beef Ribs. In this article we learn the difference between short ribs (short ribs can be up to 12" long!), back ribs, rib roasts, English cut ribs, flanken cut ribs, boneless ribs, and dino ribs, with plenty of photos. There is also a discussion of best ways to make this tough cut tender.
It is followed by another article on how to Barbecue Beef Short Ribs two ways, Texas-style (above) and Chicago-style, with a photo tribute to the king of shorties the late great Bobby Mueller of Taylor, TX.
In my article The Zen of Beef Labels I discuss the different grades of beef, aging of beef, and some important terms that you need to know when shopping for beef. There is a good picture of three ribeyes side by side, Choice, Prime, and Wagyu.
In The Zen of Beef Cuts you can view and download three great charts, just like the ones at your butcher shop, that will answer all your questions about what the different cuts of beef are.
And remember, there's a really handy meat temperature guide on my site. It is far more accurate than the one the USDA distributes, closer to the guidelines top chefs use. Follow it to make sure you don't overcook your meat.
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Korean Kalbi
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 Man, you've gotta love a restaurant with a grill embedded in every table.
That's right, most Korean restaurants put a grill in a hole in every table. And most of them offer Kalbi (also spelled Galbi), cooked on these mid-table grills. Kalbi is the Korean word for "rib" and it is beef from short ribs, cut thin, marinated, and grilled very quickly. This is an excellent use of an otherwise tough but tasty cut. And it is easy to make at home. Here's how.
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Change Your Life Red Wine Sauce
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 When you put a piece of meat dunked in this superb red wine sauce, your life will change. You will understand why the French are masters of cuisine. Similar to the classic French Bordelaise sauce, this velvety rich sauce makes a classic topping for beef. I love it on beef tenderloin or filets mignon. It really illuminates a lightly smoked pork chop. As heretical as it may seem, it is great on pulled pork. I like to serve boiled baby potatoes on the side, and I douse them with this sauce too.
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Crusty Flank Steak
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 My two favorite steaks: Expensive ribeyes and inexpensive flank steaks. Because I'm a cheap SOB, I cook flank steak a lot more than than I cook ribeye.
Flank steaks are cheaper because they have very little fat, and they can be chewy if you screw them up. Here's how to get a cheap steak to taste as good as the expensive stuff: Crusty Flank Steaks.
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Gaucho Chimichurri Sauce
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 Chimichurri Sauce comes from Argentina where the pampas are for cattle grazing, and grilled grass-fed beef with bright green sauce is practically the national dish. No one is sure who invented it. One popular story says it was named after an Irishman, Jimmy McCurry whose name was mangled to chimichurri. OK, I'll buy that.
There are hundreds of recipes for this simple Argentine no-cook sauce, but all contain copious quantities of fresh parsley, with olive oil, garlic, and salt. The secret ingredient in my recipe is the lemon juice which gives the whole thing a lively lift and works great with the steak juices. I love it on flank steak. Chimichuri can also be used on pork chops and roasts, on lamb, as a pasta sauce, salad dressing, or dipping sauce for bread.
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Crack 'n' Cheese
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Of course it would be best if you cooked for Dad on Father's Day, but if he insists on firing up the grill, you can make this incredible side dish. Unlike most of my recipes this one is not simple. It takes effort and time, but my Crack 'n' Cheese is positively addictive and the results well worth the effort.
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Foodporn |
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I am often asked, especially by food bloggers, about my photography, especially my foodporn since almost all the photography on AmazingRibs.com was captured by my right index finger.
Although I do have formal training as a fine art photographer, I have had no training at food photography. The differences between these disciplines is like the difference between a barbecue chef and a Chinese chef. Both make great tasting meals, but they approach their art very differently and with very different tools.
So I've written an article about what I've learned about shooting food as well as how I shoot in the field when I visit ribjoints. I've included a list of tips on technique, a list of my tools and equipment, and links to some good references.
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Seed: My New Book |
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I know you're waiting for my books on barbecue, but you'll have to wait a bit longer. They're not done yet.
Meanwhile, I have just released Seed, a 13 x 11" book of more than 50 photographs. It is a closeup look at seeds.
Anyone who gardens, cooks, or loves to eat as much as I do cannot help but marvel at the diversity and elegance of our foods. In this book I have attempted to do what Picasso said good art should strive to do: Show us something we have never seen before, or show us something we have seen many times in a way that it seems like we have never seen it before.
Many of the images seem strangely human. Artists call the phenomenon of seeing humanity in the objects around us "equivalence", so if we see a bit of ourselves on these pages, then perhaps this book helps prove the aphorism "we are what we eat".
Click here to see the contents of Seed. You can even order prints there.
Click here to order the book Seed from Blurb publishing.
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Meathead will not be at Brat Days
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I am sorry to say that the folks who make Johnsonville Brats decided that they don't want to pay my speaker's fee and they broke their agreement with me, so I will NOT be doing a demo at Brat Days as I promised here and on my website. If you were planning to meet me there, I'm sorry to say I will not be in attendance. Needless to say, I am pretty peeved at them backing out of a commitment. But hey, things could be worse. At least I'm not a Chrysler dealer.
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Be a Recipe Test Pilot!
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 Testing is the final step before I release a recipe to the public. On my Recipe Test Pilot page I post links to recipes that are ready for prime time but need testing. Volunteers try the recipe and send me feedback. If they fill out the recipe tester's form, I send them an "Official Recipe Test Pilot" Flying Pig Certificate (above) suitable for framing and give you appropriate credit on the website.
Click here to go to my Recipe Test Pilot page and get links to my recipes in need of testing. They include Steak Wino, Crowing Chicken Piccata, Ciao Down Grilled Eggplant Parm, Italian Sausage Bomb, The Leader Dog (a Michigan Coney),
Charmoula Herb Paste and Ras el Hanout Spice Mix and Moroccan Lamb Mechoui, Pecan Tassies, Mu Shu Pork Burgers, and New Orleans Red Beans & Rice.
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A Gift For Dad
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 I've completely renovated the AmazingRibs.com Gift Shop with new designs and more than 100 humorous captions. The ribs-themed designs are better looking, there is a series of more than 30 steak-themed designs, about 20 hotdog-themed designs, and more than 30 wine-themed designs.
You can now order aprons, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, intimate wear, and
other apparel for men, women, kids and pets, beer mugs, posters, and
other tschotschkes. Many of the shirts can now be printed front and back. Why not get Dad an apron or shirt for Father's Day? Order now to make sure it arrives in time.
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