Saturday, August 09, 2008

Mess o' Ribs

It was pretty messy. It took all day. We smoked up the whole neighborhood.
But we got spareribs.
This was the first time we've fired up the smoker (just one of those little R2D2 types) in more than three years.
Cranky is finally, finally holding back on the amount of wood he throws in there. Gah, I've had some meat he cooked that tasted like licking a fireplace.
This time, though: tasty, tender, greasy, piggy. Good marinade (which I boiled down, skimmed off the protein bits, and stirred some homemade "ketchup" into for BBQ sauce).
The best part was that we bought a cheap oven thermometer to perch on the top rack inside, and we discovered that we can keep the temperature at a really even 200ºF.
Which is ideal for smoking pork belly.
If someone wanted home-cured bacon.
Which was the reason we fired up the smoker in the first place.
B A C O N !
However, we are talking about ribs today.

16 comments:

kudzu said...

Oh yum-yum and more yum. I can almost smell 'em and they look perfectly cooked (pullin' away from the bones like that). Good job! If there's anything left on the bones (doubtful) throw them into a stock pot for a little bit of porky goodness to save for later.

Greg said...

meaty,smoky,ribs! You got my attention now.

Zoomie said...

Wow, Kudzu has a great idea for the bones! I'm going to remember that! You guys may be smoky and messy but you know how to live!

Ms Brown Mouse said...

ooh, perfect eat-with-your-finders food.

Sweet Bird said...

Oh snap those look good. And bacon? I'd kill a fool for bacon. If I made my own I'd be as big as a house.

Sam said...

glorious. no other word for it!

Heather said...

If I had one of those lil' robot smokers, I'd be hard pressed to find a reason to leave the house. Except to buy more sh** to throw in it. Ever smoke some cheese?

Chilebrown said...

Very Impressive!

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: Oh, lord. I never thought of boiling the bones! The way I gnaw ribs, there's always a little something good left on them, so this would work. :)

Greg: It's three days later and I can still smell the smoke. Not a nasty, industrial smoke, but a sweet, meat-infused smoke.

Zoomie: I wonder if I ought to take a shower yet? It's fun being a hillbilly.

Morgan: You ever visit Meathenge? Biggles doesn't even know what a fork looks like; it's all fingers food.

Sweet Bird: You kind of want to think it's just a once-in-a-while adventure, but now I'm hooked all over again.

Sam: You see that glistening fat? That's the shiz.

Heather: We've smoked a lot of interesting things, but not cheese. I wanna try oysters.

Chilebrown: From you, a high compliment indeed. (And trust me, it WAS good.)

kudzu said...

Cooks--Pork stock (esp. smoky pork stock) is so good in a bean-heavy minestrone. Even if you get just a little bit to add to veggie or chicken stock, it's worth it for the flavor.

tammy said...

Oh god, can I come over?

cookiecrumb said...

Kudzu: You've convinced me. Better than the corned-beef boiling water I dutifully freeze every March. :P Thanks again.

Tammy: Yeah, come on over. We made tons of ribs; we'll nuke some up for ya. (Whoops, did I sound like Tom Bodett?)

Anonymous said...

That's what I'm TALKIN'bout. Mmm yeah. We've got a pulled pork adventure in our future this week, too. Oh, pig, what ever would we do without you?

(PS the captcha on this comment is "ohufkoc". I can't resist saying it out loud.)

cookiecrumb said...

Sean: I have a wild pig "pulled pork" adventure up my raglan sleeve. Bravo to you.
That captcha? Ohgod, it's my maiden name!

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

I friggin LOVE smoking! I think I'm gonna buy a smoking jacket for the fall. Like..a jacket that I do my smoking in...not an authentic one. A Members Only, I think...

cookiecrumb said...

Nikki: Ha ha! Snork! (Oops, champagne just came out my nose.) I love that.
But. Friends don't let friends wear Members Only. There will be an intervention.