Smoke Signals from AmazingRibs.com ~  July 4, 2015
 
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A Forkless Fourth: #Riberty For All!

So many of our holidays are associated with family and food, foremost among them Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.
It is fascinating that on Thanksgiving we almost all eat  Turkey, and the same is true for July 4: We love to cook ribs.

Yes, I sense a trend: Seems to me more and more of us are forsaking burgers and dogs and cooking ribs.

Well that suits me just fine. I started AmazingRibs.com with a recipe for ribs, and in the past 10 years we have grown to more than 1,000 pages covering all things barbecue and grilling. I do know that if I cooked Kobe Ribeyes for my Independence Day party and skipped the ribs, I'd get a steady stream of complaints.

So I'm cooking Last Meal Ribs for a forkless Fourth. Let's all have a Forkless Fourth with ribs just like we all have Turkey for Thanksgiving. #Riberty for all!

Special thanks to the folks at Tony Roma's Ribs for coining the term #Riberty and for the use of their artwork above. If you don't have time to cook from scratch, check out their heat-and-eat hardwood smoked ribs. My fave is the one with the Kentucky Bourbon Sauce.
Last Meal Ribs: The Recipe That Started It All

Here's the first recipe that ever appeared on AmazingRibs.com 10 years ago, and although I have revised and improved upon it several times, it is still the ribs you want tonight if you know it will be your Last Meal.

The best enhancement is the video I did of the method last month, my first serious attempt at quality moviemaking for the small screen. Check it out here.

How about a ribs gallery?


More Ribs Articles, Tips, And Technique

We will be doing more videos this year. Check out our new video page. And notice that there are links to several other articles on ribs with lots of useful tips and technique. And the beautiful blonde? That's Boston TV personality Jenny Johnson, my co-star and savior. Man this video stuff is work and old men like me have trouble remembering our lines. But Jenny saved my bacon more than once. What a pro!
Slow 'n Sear: Better Than The Smokenator Or The Vortex By Far
First the important disclaimer: The inventor of the Slow 'n Sear is David "Pit Boss" Parrish, one of our moderators and the manager of the Pitmaster Club.

Now the important stuff. If you have a Weber Kettle and you have not yet bought a Smokenator or a Vortex, your sloth is about to be rewarded. David has created something better. MUCH MUCH better.

The Slow 'n Sear is an accessory that fits in 22.5" Weber Kettles. It has a bin for charcoal and a trough for water. It allows you to corral your coals all on one side so you can set up a really efficient 2-zone system for low and slow smoking with convection air on one side, and red hot searing with radiant heat on the other side.



It beats the Smokenator on several fronts. It holds more charcoal so it burns longer. The best technique is to fill one side of the charcoal basket about 2/3 with unlit coals and the other side with hot coals. You now have a classic fuse system. As coals burn out new coals ignite. The sucker burns for hours and holds temps rock solid. This baby is really good at long slow smokes for ribs, pork butt, brisket, whatever.

And by "whatever" I mean, how do you like these brioche hamburger buns Chef Ryan and I cooked on it the first day we had it.



It also holds more water and water is important. Water helps control temp fluctuations, but it also puts humidity in the air and that condenses on the cool meat, and wet surfaces attract smoke.

Finally, the top of the charcoal bin is open so you can sear. And brother, with a full load of charcoal just an inch below a steak, you can get a superb dark brown maillard crust. This baby is perfect for reverse searing steaks, chicken skins, even potatoes.



He is in danger of selling out his first production run, so get to the front of the line. Click here and get your Slow 'n Sear.
Press

Seems like the media has discovered us and we've enjpoyed a lot of press lately. Click here to listen to Meathead and Ira Flatow on NPR's Science Friday.



Perhaps the coolest news is our regular appearance on SeriousEats.com. If you haven't discovered this wonderful site, allow me to introduce you. Pay special attention to Kenji Lopez-Alt. We are brothers of different mothers. Max Good did our first  articles for them on grills and smokers. Here' one on the best charcoal grills under $500. And here's one on the best gas grills under $500.

Second Revision To Our New Design

In late May we released a second new design for the site in three months with a "sticky" navigation bar that stays on the top of your screen whatever you are doing. This should make getting around easier. We're still uncovering and stamping out some minor bugs, so if you find one, please let us know here.

But forgive a cranky old dinosaur for this editorial: Smartphones are just not well suited for browsing the web. We're proud of our design and it certainly is nice having our reviews and ratings with you when you go shopping for grills. And it comes in handy to have the recipe for turkey when you are out back by the grill, but doggone it, the durn thing is so slow and clicking links and typing is such a pain on a smartphone.

Do us both a favor, and try to use our site on a desktop or a tablet whenever possible.
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