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Testimonials
I rank your contribution to society right up there with Jonas Salk.
Kendall Storie, Lewisville, Texas
The only bad thing is... they think this can be pulled of every week! I've started a monster and it is all your fault! If I hadn't found your site, the food would have sucked and I wouldn't be in such demand!!!!!
George Kline, Johnstown, NY
I do a lot of competition BBQing in the Houston area, so you can imagine that I have read almost every article on the net about BBQ. It's funny, they all say about the same thing. This is the only site that gives some good detailed info with out a bunch of BS. I have been a meat cutter for most of my life, so it is easy to spot those who don't know what they are talking about.
Perry Goodwin, Humble, TX
Un-b-lievable. I am a rank amateur using a relatively cheap Char-Broil grill from a home improvement store. I added a water pan and small smoker box and 3 hours later, the best baby back ribs I've ever made. No comment needed from my family... the sauce on their faces and mound of bare bones said it all!
Pete, Palm Harbor, FL
Thanks to your site, my wife thinks she doesn't have to cook anymore!
Cori Alcorn
Last week a grilled ribs according to your "Last Meal" recipe with the Memphis Dust as rub and Bourbon sauce. I will never par-boil my ribs again...
Joakim Johansson, Sweden
I made the brisket with your recipe and I am now a rockstar in my friends eyes.
Jason Paret, Soldotna, Alaska
Your advice gave me the edge to win our summer rib cook-off while using my Weber Genesis Silver Gas grill. I thought I'd let you know that in an attempt to one-up me this year, a friend purchased the Weber Smokey Mountain and used your Memphis Dust rub and your directions and made the best ribs I've ever had - and that includes the ribs that come to town during "Rib-Fest"! So I have ordered my own WSM (18.5) and look forward to trying your recipes on it.
Keith, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Since my wife is from Chicago she really misses her old food hangouts such as Al's and those delicious Italian Beef Sangwiches. Having just returned from Chicago and eating at Al's, your recipe almost duplicated Al's. "That's the taste" my wife said. Thanks!
Tony Perez, Las Vegas, NV
I love BBQ, especially ribs, my wife does not. Over the past several years I have made ribs for myself. I have tried different ways, and my wife has always taken one bite, looked at me and thrown the rest in the garbage. I stumbled on your site and cooked ribs while she was out of town. After sampling the best ribs I have ever cooked, I convinced her that the internet had magically taught me to make ribs she would like. Used the gas grill set up and nailed it. My wife had several ribs, and was upset when we ran out. Looking forward to brisket!
Bill, GA
I whipped up a bunch of your KC style sauce. It is OUTSTANDING! It blew everyone away at our Memorial Day family cookout! I have traveled extensively and have had the priviledge of eating a wide range of barbecue styles. My theory about barbecue is it is a lot like sex - even when it's not very good, it's wonderful.
Ross Warnell, Kansas City, MO
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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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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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Chinese Mu Shu Pork Burgers
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 It's time for a change of pace. Skip the ground beef and go for the ground pork.
These wonderfully flavorful and juicy burgers contain most of the same ingredients found in the Chinese restaurant classic, Mu Shu Pork (also spelled Moo Shu Pork). In restaurants it is made from shredded pork, scrambled eggs, wood ear mushrooms, day lily buds, ginger, garlic, green onions, and served on tortilla-like Chinese pancakes slathered with rich, sweet, hoisin sauce, and rolled up like a burrito. Here I have deconstructed and reconfigured it as a colorful, flavorful, better burger. Chinese Mu Shu Pork Burgers.
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Italian Sausage Smoke Bomb:
The Ultimate Meatloaf Recipe
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 In case it escaped you, in January 2009, just in time for Superbowl parties, the arteries of the internet were clogged with bacon. The bodacious Bacon Explosion, a home made sausage log stuffed with bacon, wrapped with bacon, dusted with barbecue spice rub, slathered in barbecue sauce, and then smoked, was featured on all the cooking message boards, Good Morning America, and even got ink in the New York Times.
I was not impressed. The sweet barbecue sauce and barbecue spice rub clash with, and hide, the savory wonderfulness of the sausage and bacon. And bacon inside is redundant. So I modified the recipe, taking some concepts from the popular method for serving Italian sausage here in Chicago as I learned it from my wife's Italian-American family.
For the Italian Sausage Bomb, I have deconstructed the classic Italian sausage sandwich, rearranged the ingredients, and amped it up a notch. I've replaced the bacon stuffing with mozzarella cheese and a mix of peppers and onions. It is then served on pasta and topped with marinara sauce. The result is far more sophisticated and satisfying. Italian Sausage Smoke Bomb: The Ultimate Meatloaf Recipe.
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Drunk Chuck
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 Just in front of the rib primal, the best and most expensive section of steer, is the chuck primal, which includes the shoulder meat. Chuck steaks can be a little tough because these muscles work harder than the meat a little further back, and they have more hunks of fat and gristle, but they can also have great flavor and be relatively cheap. Here's what you need to know when shopping for chuck and a great way to cook it. Drunk Chuck.
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Marvelous Marinara Sauce
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It's August and that means tomatoes! Fire roasted tomatoes! Marinara sauce is the great classic Italian tomato sauce from Naples (or maybe even from Spain, but don't say this too loudly in the wrong company or you might find a horsehead in your bed).
Marinara is the base sauce (or gravy as my Italian-Americans in-laws call it) for spaghetti and meatballs, pizza sauce, and so many Mediterranean dishes. It is so easy to make, and it freezes well, so there is no reason to every buy it in a jar again. If you have a recipe that needs it, you can make it a day or two in advance and keep it in the fridge. Marvelous Marinara Sauce.
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Ciao Down Grilled Eggplant Parm
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 Eggplants, tomatoes, and fresh herbs are all in season. Now. If you love "Eggplant Parmesan" as served in most restaurants, you are in for a treat, because this simple grilled version just kicks its butt. Slaughters it.
Most of the time the eggplant is breaded and fried, and then buried in red sauce and cheese that is one electron from being plastic. The frying completely masks the flavor of the eggplant and stringy pizza cheese adds nothing but chewiness and calories. Great Eggplant Parm should taste like, well, eggplant and Parmigiano-Reggiano. We get there by grilling the eggplant rather than frying it, and using real Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese from Italy. Grilling leaves the eggplant's natural flavor intact, adds a nuttiness and sweetness, and doesn't turn it mushy if you do it right. Then there's the marinara sauce, made from fire roasted tomatoes... Ciao Down Grilled Eggplant Parm.
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Caprese Tomato Salad
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If you don't use up all your tomatoes on marinara sauce, nothing says August better than a Caprese Tomato Salad.
This classic rustic salad from the Isle of Capri off the west coast of Italy (Caprese means "of Capri"). It is pure August on a plate.
There are a few tricks to make the best Caprese ever. Here's one: Get a nice balsamic and pour the whole bottle into a saucepan. Boil it until it reduces by half. Then let it cool. But be careful, cheap balsamics have sugar added, and if you reduce it too much the bubbles will get thick and the vinegar will get gooey, like taffy. When you're done reducing it, you'll have a thicker, almost syrupy vinegar, perfect for drizzling on Caprese Tomato Salads.
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GrillGrates: My Favorite New Toy
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 I was skeptical when I got a sample of this new product from the inventor, Brad Barrett, but I am now a believer. Big time.
The concept is very clever on many levels. Made of hard anodized aircraft grade aluminum, GrillGrates are sold in interlocking sections and sit on top of you current grill grates.
The rail tops are flat and wide and make perfect dark grill marks. They are also unbelievably easy to clean with a wire brush when hot. The secret is the base. It can get very hot and distributes the heat evenly eliminating hot spots and magnifying the radiant heat and helps prevent burning.
Meats like chicken and pork chops brown beautifully. Juices drip and are vaporized in the valleys between the rails and penetrate the meat preventing flareups and enhancing flavor. The sturdy stainless steel spatula's fingers slip between the rails and lift even the most delicate pieces of fish with ease. I have even thrown wood pellets into the valleys between the rails and they begin smoldering quickly and impart a delicate wood smoke flavor.
The company also makes another surface called RealEase, a porcelain enamel hybrid coating that is more non-stick and easier to clean. But the standard anodized aluminum surface releases the meat nicely when it is ready, especially with the custom spatula, and you can easily spray or wipe it with oil if you want. For discount pricing and direct ordering from Amazon.com, click here.
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Oldies but Goodies
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Here are some articles that have been online for a while, but I wanted to remind you of them because sweet corn, cukes, and basil are all in season.
Ultimate Corn on the Cob. The best way to cook corn is on the grill, and I have a few tricks that you can use to make the Ultimate Corn on the Cob.
Thai Cucumber Salad. One of the simple pleasures of dining in a Thai restaurant is the lovely delicate cucumber salad they serve as an appetizer. We like it so much we make a big batch and serve a big scoop as a side dish with barbecue. The delicate piquancy of the mild rice vinegar is a great counterpoint to the sweetness of a classic Kansas City sauce. And the best part is that, unlike so many other cucumber salads, there is no oil in this recipe!
Genovese Pesto. Pesto is one of the world's great and most versatile sauces, and making it is quick and dirty. It is a classic on pasta, but it also makes a superb spread on toast for a fresh tomato sandwich, a scoop into any spaghetti sauce brings it to life and adds depth, and toss some in with potatoes and go straight to heaven.
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The Zen of Balsamic Vinegar
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 After reading this you may wonder about my taste buds (if you don't already), but I love vinegars, and I can even sip a good balsamic like a liqueur.
A decade ago only chefs had heard about balsamic vinegar, and today the most mundane supermarkets stock several brands as well as a growing selection of balsamic vinegar salad dressings. Chefs and foodies consider balsamic as essential as extra virgin olive oil. But the price for a bottle ranges from $5 to $500. How can that be? What is the difference? The Zen of Balsamic Vinegar.
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The Zen of Rice
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 Rice is the primary food for more than half the people in the world. It is the seed of a grass and is the staple of many cuisines from Asia to Mexico to Africa because it is rich in protein, starch, and vitamins. It is versatile enough to be an integral part of an entree or a dessert.
There's brown rice, enriched rice, converted rice, minute rice, long grain rice, medium grain rice, short grain rice, arborio rice, black rice, red rice, jasmine rice, and more. Here's what you need to know about rice and how to cook it. The Zen of Rice.
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Be a Recipe Test Pilot!
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 There are six new recipes ready for testing on my Recipe Test Pilot page. They include Mary's Little Lamburgers, Portland Salmon on a Salad, Oriental Slaw, Indian Fruit Lassis, John Mariani's Diaquiri Recipe, and three Refreshing Spanish Summer Sangria Recipes.
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Great gifts for the barbecue fan
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 Visit the AmazingRibs.com Gift Shop for a chuckle. There are now more than 30 steak-themed designs, about 20 hotdog-themed designs, and more than 30 wine-themed designs. Order aprons, hats, shirts, sweatshirts, intimate wear, and
other apparel for men, women, kids and pets, beer mugs, posters, and
other tschotschkes.
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