Ribs!

Spring. It hit 83 yesterday - wow! I had a portrait taken April 14, 2013, in the snow on the deck:


So, for 83 on April 15...no napping through that! We had to cook!!

I had immersed myself in all things sous vide (ha ha) and Linda had a hankerin' for ribs. So we came home with a slab and I set myself to the task of the perfect rib recipe. I started with Meathead (of course) and ended up at ChefSteps for an indoor-outdoor two-stage cook. Here's a link to the cook-off video between the heavyweights.

And here's Meathead's recipe.

I started with silver skin removal (easiest ever - a happy harbinger!) and moved to the rub... Linda had made one some time ago so the exact recipe is lost in antiquity, but I added some stuff:

(source: Kentuckyaki)

A pinch here, a dash there.... oh and two other twists. A little bit of curry powder, and a third of a teaspoon of liquid smoke per side. Note: not the hour marinade in a diluted liquid smoke bath as called for in Meathead's recipe. No, just a small amount applied directly to the slabs.

Mainly because I was headed for sealing the slabs in ziplocks and sous viding for five hours at 165 degrees:


You sharp observers are like, why the knives? Well, since the bags aren't vacuum-sealed, there is air in them, and they will float. So they need some ballast. Thanks Bruce Bettinghaus for the solution!

Next up, remove from the soup, and bags, and add a bit more rub. Then it's time to start two hours on the Q:


You will note the drip pan and the BGE "plate setter" which provides indirect heat. Target temp for the session was 225 F but I was dealing with wind gusts of 30 so I wrangled 260 F to 280 F. The drip pan is the liquid from the ziplocks and an equal amount of water. 



Voila!

One final twist was how to revive a semi-dormant, nearly-expended fire. Dragon to the rescue!!! The video was shot for James, the "Bud" of the narration.

Here's a still of the Dragon at work:


Earlier, Bruce came over and invited us to their dinner! Sous vide prime rib roast. Imagine! So we had a meatfest. Yes, wine was involved. One last artifact:



Interestingly enough, so much attention was paid to the cooking and prep that I completely forgot about BBQ sauce on the ribs!!!

More amazingly, none of the six adults who devoured them ever mentioned sauce. Perhaps it was the prime rib. Maybe the wine... but believe me, someone would have felt comfortable speaking up! So now we have a new standard... ribs no sauce!!!







Comments

David and Mary Margaret Leu said…
A true Michigander. Only you could be laid back and mellow with snow laying on your down jacket...
April 18, 2017 at 6:04 AM
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