Let's talk
BBQ. You've got ribs, tri-tip, chicken,
fish and the grand daddy of all BBQ meat -- brisket. My favorite has to be beef ribs for the most
succulent of dining experiences. This is
a dish that is fairly easy to find at a restaurant, but for the home cook, it
is the greatest of challenges.
As I
mentioned, beef ribs are one of my favorite BBQ meats. Good beef ribs are available wherever a
butcher cuts meat. But great ribs, the
large meaty, tender, and delicious ones, are very rare. I like to apply a dry rub after the ribs are
cleaned. This is the first step in the
cooking process. After rubbing, they go
in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Let's take a
moment to talk about BBQ vs. grilling vs. smoking. We think of each cooking process the same
way, but the results are completely different.
BBQ is the general term for this type of cooking. Grilling is what we all do on our gas
grill or a charcoal grill.
Smoking is that slow cooking
process that adds the flavor we know as BBQ.
I am very lazy when it comes to smoking.
I selected a pellet smoker. Think
of it as a smoke oven. The pellets are
fed to a fire pot. The smoker
temperature and pellet feed are controlled by an electronic thermostat. Beef ribs need to smoke for about 4 hours at
200°F. I like to put a pan of water in
the smoker to keep the humidity up and keep the meat moist.
The last
step is the sauce. I use an old family
recipe. It is not clear if the recipe
was first used by my mom or my aunt.
After some tweaking, the sauce is all mine. I cut up the rack to obtain individual ribs
and apply liberal amounts of sauce. I
also have found that applying sauce and putting the ribs back in the smoker
forms a very nice thick layer of sauce.
The home
cook can only do so much. There are a
number of excellent BBQ restaurants throughout the US. I think the best in the US is the Salt Lick in Driftwood, Texas, www.saltlickbbq.com. If you are ever near Austin, TX,
the Salt Lick is an experience you will never forget. It is my opinion that the best chain BBQ place
is Lucille's Bar-B-Que, www.lucillesbbq.com. They have a number of locations in California and Nevada. I also like Wood Ranch in our local area, www.woodranch.com. All of these restaurants excel at great food.
I've enjoyed
making my BBQ for a few large parties and at smaller gatherings at my "homestead". There is some talk about a commercial release
of my BBQ sauce. Stay tuned for an
update!
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