Ribs and a Beautiful Day

February 13, 2011--We finally had nice weather in Southeast Texas on Sunday--sunny, mild, high temp near 70, a great day to cook something outdoors.  The past few weeks of February have been cold and sometimes rainy.  I think that for the first 12 or 13 days of February we had 10 nights below freezing, and one of them got down to about 19 degrees.  Daily highs mostly in the 40's, not the kind of weather I like for being outside around the barbque pit, but sometimes it's OK.  It was a little easier to be out there when I was younger.  Heck, sometimes now when I'm at the hunting lease and get up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning and the temperature is below 35, I will decide to just crawl back into bed and cover up and say, "Let the younger guys do it."  Now, I'm not always that way, but sometimes.

Anyway, I decided that today would be a good day for some pork ribs.  Pork ribs, baked beans, and cole slaw.  It came together well.  I seasoned the ribs and put them on to cook around 3:00 in the afternoon and they were ready to eat by around 6:30-7:00.  And now, I've got to find out how to post some pictures.  I took some pretty good pictures of the ribs and pork chops I smoked, and I'd like to share them.  I'll also tell you how I seasoned the meat and made the cole slaw dressing.

When I seasoned the ribs I started with some pepper/vinegar sauce.  I sprinkled both sides of the slab of ribs with the vinegar sauce, then I rubbed it in a little.  I think that the use of the vinegar/pepper sauce helps to cut through the outer layer of fat a bit and open it up for the other seasonings, the dry seasonings.  I sprinkled one side with the Bolner's seasoning and and some black pepper, and then the other side with some of John Henry's seasoning and some black pepper.  I didn't use a mopping sauce for the ribs today.  Sometimes I do, but today I didn't.  When I do, it is the same mop I use for brisket or chicken. 

I'm planning to cook a brisket or two at the deer lease in a couple of weeks and I'll take some photos and post a recipe.

I put the ribs on the grill, no direct heat, fire in the firebox, not under the meat.  I used a combination of charcoal and mesquite.  I tried to maintain the heat and somewhere under 250 degrees, at least 180-190, but less than 250.  It's ok to turn the ribs over a few times, but I mostly keep them with the fat side up, the same as for a brisket.  I do turn them
 sometimes to alternate between the meaty end of the ribs or the less meaty end of the ribs, but keeping the fat side up. 

After cooking/smoking the pork chops for about an hour or an hour and a half, I wrapped them in heavy duty foil and put them on the cool end of the grill.  I seasoned them the same way I seasoned the ribs.

The beans we had were just canned beans, Bush's baked beans, the ones with extra onions.  The cole slaw recipe follows--

KFC Coleslaw

 Recipe By     : Copy Cat Web Site

 Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:20

 Categories    : Coleslaw

   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method

 --------  ------------  --------------------------------

    1      head          cabbage -- finely chopped

    1      medium        carrot -- shredded

      1/3  cup           granulated sugar

      1/2  teaspoon      salt

      1/8  tablespoon    pepper

      1/4  cup           milk

      1/2  cup           mayonnaise

      1/4  cup           buttermilk

    1 1/2  tablespoons   white vinegar

    2 1/2  tablespoons   lemon juice

 Be sure the cabbage and carrots are chopped up into very fine pieces about the 

 size of rice kernels.  Combine the sugar, salt, pepper, milk, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar and lemon juice and beat until smooth.  Add the cabbage and carrots and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

This dressing recipe makes great slaw.  Be sure to use real mayonnaise and real real buttermilk.  Light mayonnaise and milk/lemon juice works, but it's not as good.

Spices used

On the grill

About two hours

On the plate

Be sure to check out the photo at the bottom of the page.  It includes a picture of my barbque tool.  It is almost two feet long, a two pronged fork on one end and a hook on the other.  An iron barbque and Dutch Oven tool made by a blacksmith in Needville, Texas.  I've had it for about 15-20 years and it's definitely one of the handiest tools I've ever used in outdoor cooking.