Help keep AmazingRibs free!
With a $25 donation you'll get a 100% cotton, brushed twill, adjustable, low profile cap with the AmazingRibs.com patch sewn on. I'll even toss in a small bag of BBQ'rs Delight excellent wood smoke pellets.
Click for more info and pictures of the hat.
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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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Testimonials
I searched the web for smoking tips and always came back to your site. It was the most in depth and knowlegeable ot there. I smoked a 12 pound brisket on Christmas and it turned out perfect.
Steven Estes, Victorville, CA
WOW! I am now the hero of the family and we are hooked. We get nothing over here anything like this. I take my hat off to you and dub thee Sir Meathead (lays sword on shoulders). Confirmed rib addicts,
David, Viv and family, Perth, Western Australia
I see you put A LOT of work into this, and let me tell you it is appreciated! I have learned many new things here so far. I may have to quit my job though so I have more time!
Harold Holt, North Bellmore, NY
Anyway, I just wanted to tell you I absolutely love the Memphis Dust. I whipped up a batch last year in the summer and have had it in an air tight container since, using it when needed. It has amazing flavor and I love using it on a variety of meats. Also, your Rib recipe is awesome, and I have passed it on to numerous friends. Thank you for putting it out here for us everyday folks to use!
Kelly Yetzer, Little Falls, MN
For Thanksgiving this year, I used someone else's recipe to smoke a turkey. It came out pretty good-my relatives were impressed. Then for Christmas I smoked one using your recipe. Yee-Haa!! It was twice as juicy as the first one, the skin was crisp-and the gravy recipe was marvelous! I may have unleashed a monster, as I will probably henceforth be required to smoke all holiday birds. Looking forward to trying all your recipes. And I will order any gear through your Amazon link as a small gesture of support.
Ron Wydella, Ramsey, MN
Thank you for the recipe for the Tuscan Marinated Ribs. I've made these twice in my modified Brinckmann water smoker. The first time I followed your instructions to the letter. Yesterday for Christmas dinner I experimented by adding just a touch of Oak smoke. They both came out fantastic!
Art Inglesby, Cranford, NJ
Just wanted to join the crowds of your followers to say THANKS for making my Christmas wish come true. I am my wife's favorite, my kids' hero, and my mother-in-law's envy. Hope you had a MERRY CHRISTMAS and your New Year will be a Happy one. Thanks again!
JB Baldridge, Fort Worth, TX
Now I know which mussels NOT to discard. This will save me a lot of money. I find it peculiar that this website outshines all of my cookbooks on a subject like this. "Basic" facts when you think of it.
Yeropean
Tried your Cow Crust a few weeks ago on a rib roast. Awesome! I can't wait to check more recipes out. So far your website has been more informative by leaps and bounds compared to other websites. Thanks.
Brian Lusk
Meathead, I'm making killer pizzas with the Za Grill! It works perfectly. I've been using ur Rendeveous Rub on St. Louis cut ribs - excellent with the two-zone method. Everybody loves the ribs. Thanks for your website and sent it to my folks in AR.
William Burns
I bought all the books on barbecuing before discovering our site, but have learned more practical technique from from you that all the other so-call BBQers put together.
Jim Davis, Hendersonville, NC
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Click here for more testimonials and pix from readers
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About Smoke Signals
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|  Smoke Signals is the free email from AmazingRibs.com and Hedonism Evangelist and Barbecue Whisperer, Meathead.
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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Nominated!
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|  AmazingRibs.com has been nominated for a Golden Ladle Award for the Best Food and Drink Website in the 2010 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards!
Ian Parmenter, Chair of the awards, has announced that a jury of "more than 50 eminent industry professionals around the world" has said that AmazingRibs.com is "among the highest achievements in this field over the last two-and-a-half years."
Winners will be announced May 3, 2010 at the Intercontinental Adelaide in Australia at Tasting Australia, but nomination alone is an honor. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
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It's Salmon Season!
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|  Salmon are running and any day now there will be a run of fresh wild salmon in the stores. Here are two wonderful things to do with salmon, one new on the website, and one tried and true:
The new recipe was inspired by a quick weekend getaway with my wife to Portland, OR. What a great city! As luck would have it we stumbled into a wine and food festival on the streets near their wonderful art museum. One vendor was preparing fresh Pacific salmon on a cast iron griddle and serving it piping hot on a bed of chilled Romaine lettuce with shredded provolone cheese. Another was selling King Estate Pinot Gris. It was an unforgettable lunch in the park on a picnic table. So simple, so heavenly. I have duplicated the recipe, and even devised a few enhancements. And it works beautifully on other fish, too. Click here for Portland Seared Salmon on a Salad.
The other recipe has been on the site for a while, but now's a good time to remind you that no fish is more receptive to smoke than salmon. This recipe creates an elegant, delicate, moist piece of meat with a hint of sweet and a hint of savory garlic. And you can do it on any grill or smoker. I call it Schmancy Smoked Salmon.
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Buying Guides to Grills
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In the past few weeks I have been rewriting and upgrading my grill buying guides. I've added several new grills to my deck (much to my wife's chagrin) and gotten to know the security guards at Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, and the local grill stores. They seem to be really interested in meeting the guy with the clipboard and camera on his knees in the grill department.
Well I poked and prodded all the floor demos I could find, took reams of notes, cooked on everything I could find short of sneaking into backyards after midnight, browsed all the manufacturer's websites, downloaded their manuals, read comments from owners on the message boards, and I now have a pretty complete list of grills and comments on their features and strengths and weaknesses. I've done a lot of the legwork for you.
 If you're thinking of replacing the rustbucket out back, here's the place to start your shopping. I've made some significant updates to one of my most informative
articles, The Thermodynamics of Cooking, so you
should probably begin there to understand what is going on under the
hood.
Then read my updated article, Charcoal vs. Gas Throwdown, sure to
tick off everyone. Then go to my article How To Buy A Grill, print it, and take
it with you when you go shopping. It's like a checklist of everything to look for.
Now see who won Meathead's Hot Stuff Awards.
Gas Grills Reviewed. Even if you're not in the market, you might want to read my discussion of how gas grills work and especially how the new "infrared" grills and "sear burners" work. Bottom line: Modern gassers can match charcoal in heat output, and when it comes to flavor, heat is more important than fuel. Speaking of which,
Charcoal Grills Reviewed. The Weber Kettle is ubiquitous, and there are plenty of cheapos in the drug stores, but you will be surprised at some of the options on charcoal grills nowadays. I've even included two fireplace inserts that you'll want to install in your chalet in Jackson Hole before next winter.
Small & Portable Grills. I wasn't able to try many, but I have produced a pretty complete list of what's out there with links. If you're looking for something for the beach, tailgate party, balcony, Winnebago, or yacht, you might want to check these out.
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Is This the Best Smoker on the Market?
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|  I have just gotten the new MAK Grill 2 Star General, a pellet burner, and with it's thermostatic control, temperature readouts, warming oven, grill and smoke roast and cold smoke capabilities, this may be the best backyard smoker ever. Is it worth $2,000? Read my review.
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Spice Blends Make Everything Better
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|  One of the best secrets I've learned about cooking, is you can amp anything up to 11 with the a spice blend. Right from the bottle, a few dashes can turn a simple pork chop in to a tear jerker.
So I've been having fun making spice and herb blends lately, and you'll be seeing more of them soon. Many of you have praised my previous efforts and found novel uses for them I never anticipated: Meathead's Memphis Dust, Simon & Garfunkel Rub, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow Crust, Ras el Hanout, and Big Bad Beef Rub. Here are two more to add to your spice rack:
 Mayo Mojo. Here's a spice mix that I add to mayo and
turn it into a special sauce.
Then I use it for egg salad, deviled eggs, cole slaw, or potato
salad.
Homemade Five Spice Powder. If you want to add an Asian accent to a dish, there are three ingredients, any one of which will do the job: Hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and five spice powder. Five Spice Powder is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and Szechwan peppercorns. Some recipes also contain ginger, nutmeg, and licorice. If you don't want to bother making your own, it is available in the spice or Asian section of better super markets, but if you make it yourself, it's a lot cheaper and more satisfying.
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Things for Mom
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|  I had a friend ask me recently what to get his Mom for Mother's Day. She, it seems, is of the breed of Mom who is happiest in her kitchen. So I started compiling a list of what every kitchen needs, and I went a little overboard. Here's my ever growing list of what a well-equipped kitchen needs. And then some.
Or you could get Mom a fun apron, T-shirt, sweatshirt, hoodie, thong, or cap with one of these designs.
 
 
 
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Best BBQ Book in Years
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|  Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book: Recipes and Secrets from a Legendary Barbecue Joint by Chris Lilly
Chris Lilly is the Executive Chef of one of the nation's classic old joints, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, in Decatur, AL. He is also the head of the restaurant's much decorated competition team. Surprisingly thin with a pointy chin and piercing eyes, his angularity is significantly softened by his drawl.
Most barbecue chefs have a pretty small repertoire, limited to the classic Southern barbecue canon, ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken, sausage, and sides like beans, cornbread, and slaw. Yes, they're all there in this superb book, but Lilly also includes fun riffs on Caribbean Jerk Pork and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp. There is also a version of Big Bob's famous white chicken sauce, but I he clearly felt restrained from giving away the restaurant's secret recipe, and frankly, I think my reverse engineering of the ingredients comes closer to the real deal.
Lilly is a fine story teller, and he shares with us what it is like to work at a small town barbecue joint, as well as the fascinating legend of Big Bob and his family all the way back to 1925.
The photos by Ben Fink are rich and rustic, and it's a shame he is only mentioned in small type in the back of the book. He deserves cover credit. The images really make the recipes look worth cooking and make Big Bob's look like a destination. Likewise the historic images give the reader a real sense of the heritage of the recipes.
I have one other nit to pick, and that's the table of contents, which contains only chapter titles and not a listing of the stories and recipes. If classic Southern Barbecue is your goal, this is the one book you need.
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Meathead Feeds the Huffington Hungry
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|  Huffington Post, the popular online newspaper, launched a food section on 4/12, and Meathead, was honored to have the lead article, which is a slideshow of my photographs and words.
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The Ultimate Mint Julep for Derby Day Saturday
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|  My wife and I always watch the Derby with a mint julep in hand. By the time the Kentucky Derby rolls around on the first weekend in May,
mint is ready to pick, even in harsher climes, and it flourishes all
summer long sporting lovely lavender flowers by midsummer.
Bourbon is the quintessential American whiskey and the drink of choice of many Southerners. Made in Kentucky, mostly from corn, when properly made, filtered, and aged, Bourbon can rival the finest Cognacs in richness, depth, and complexity. Here's the ultimate recipe for Marvelous Mint Juleps and the story of the famous Kentucky Derby cups.
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Save This Link
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 If you like all the info I give you for free and would like to help me buy charcoal, copy this url link and save it: http://tinyurl.com/yazmwlq. It takes you to Amazon.com and tags anything you buy with my affiliate code so I get a small referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. Low prices, fast delivery (often free), good refund policies, and often there is no sales tax, are the best reasons to buy from Amazon.com, but clicking on that link before you shop helps me devote more time and money to you. Thanks!
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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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