Rib date: Feb. 11, 2012
Ribsters: My fantasy football friends: Ed Bryant, David Crum, Myles Davis, George McCuen, Andy Szmidt and Rick Wells. And the Stults family (Gill, Eilidh, Riain and me)
Last night I hosted the annual Rules Meeting for our fantasy football league. The league is pretty awesome if I do say so myself. In 1995, when the Oakland Raiders returned to NoCal from LA, I had the good fortune of being executive producer of their radio pre and post game shows. I spent a lot of time in my little Mazda Miata ( no, I am not gay, not that there is anything wrong with that) driving between Napa and SF. I put that time on the road to good use, trying to create the ultimate, reality-based fantasy football league. With some fine tuning and improvements from Andy and Tony, the ship set sail in 1996 and it is the greatest fantasy league ever. We have 16 dudes, all good guys, and many have been in the entire time. Our waiting list to get in the league is long. One of the reasons the league is so strong is we all get together after the season to review the rules and vote on changes. And eat good food and drink good wine.
We got through the rules pretty quickly and painlessly and turned our attention to talking sports, catching up in general, and Thai Sweet Chile Ribs. The ribs spent the day marinating in a cilantro wet rub, went on the smoker at 3, came off several hours later, and were pretty friggen good.
Near the end of their time on the smoker, I basted them with a Thai Sweet Chile sauce. It's important to note it is the milder and sweeter Thai chile sauce and not the Sirancha, which is good but will light you up. The ribs came off tender, with a nice smoke ring, a light cilantro flavor and the tangy sweetness of the sauce at the end.
If I had 3 thumbs, I'd give these ribs three thumbs up. But I only have two.
They went well with the guilt-free cucumber salad my wife made, as well as her yellow-eyed peas (I think that is what she said) and some Pinot David brought. You can always count on David to bring good pinot. If you want his contact info to invite him to your parties, let me know.
The only problem was we had way too much ribs. The culprit there was Jim Van Winden, who
popped by just long enough to finagle the rules so he gets to keep Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski
next year for next to nothing. Then he bolted. Being about 12 feet tall, I think I added a rack just for Jim. Oh well, we are about to turn those leftovers into Thai Chile Rib quesadillas. I wonder what David is doing for dinner?
For more on the Thai Chile Ribs, see page 85 of Steven Raichlen's rib bible, Ribs, Ribs, Ribs.
Congrats to Andy on his third consecutive fantasy football championship. The devil just posted a message on our league message board indicating he plans to collect soon.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Buccaneer Baby Backs
Rib Date: Sometime between Christmas and New Years
Ribsters: my father-in- law Douglas Shearer, my Aunt Shirl, Chuck and Elaine St. Clair, Gill, Eilidh, Riain and me.
Family from far and near came to enjoy the Buccaneer Baby Backs. Traveling the farthest was my father-in-law Douglas, who visited from Scotland over the holidays. My Aunt Shirl was here from Portland, Maine. The St. Clairs, meanwhile, came all the way from Coombsville. Elaine is my wife's cousin.
Enough on the family dynamics; more on the ribs. Coming from the Carribean, this is basically how pirates made ribs back in the day. Speaking of pirates, did you kow their two favorite letters are "R" and "I"? These ribs marinate in pepper laced wet rub for a number of hours, then get a rum-based BBQ sauce at the finish. I am not 100% certain, but it may have been my father-in-laws's first rib experience. He must have liked them, because he had seconds. I, on the other hand, thought they were OK. Sorry- no photos of these ribs.
Ribsters: my father-in- law Douglas Shearer, my Aunt Shirl, Chuck and Elaine St. Clair, Gill, Eilidh, Riain and me.
Family from far and near came to enjoy the Buccaneer Baby Backs. Traveling the farthest was my father-in-law Douglas, who visited from Scotland over the holidays. My Aunt Shirl was here from Portland, Maine. The St. Clairs, meanwhile, came all the way from Coombsville. Elaine is my wife's cousin.
Enough on the family dynamics; more on the ribs. Coming from the Carribean, this is basically how pirates made ribs back in the day. Speaking of pirates, did you kow their two favorite letters are "R" and "I"? These ribs marinate in pepper laced wet rub for a number of hours, then get a rum-based BBQ sauce at the finish. I am not 100% certain, but it may have been my father-in-laws's first rib experience. He must have liked them, because he had seconds. I, on the other hand, thought they were OK. Sorry- no photos of these ribs.
The Italian Girl Comes to California for Chinatown Ribs at Scottish Lady's House
Rib Date: Saturday after Thanksgiving
Ribsters: Wiss Family (Kim, Barry and Momma), Irene and boyfriend from Florence, Italy, Stults family (Gill, Eilidh, Riain and me)
Hello all nine of my followers. Sorry to have been MIA of late. Even though our Napa Valley winter has been more spring-like, I haven't done a lot of rib smoking. I have done some, but haven't done a great job keeping up with my blog. Now it's time to catch up.
The Chinatown Ribs, done back 'round Thanksgiving time, may have been may favorites so far. They had the renowned authentic Chinese flavors like Hoisin and five-spice. They were dark, reddish, with a candy-like sweet crust, and moist and tender inside. The five-spice gave it that hint of anise (not anus) and the Hoisin a plummy goodness. We enjoyed the Chinatown Ribs with some tasty chicken fried rice. To drink: Beaujolais Nouveau- a perfect pairing indeed.
Chef Kim said the Chinatown Ribs were "Mouth watering, bone sucking and fantastic. They went great with the Beaujolais Nouveau, but would have been even tastier with a 12 pack of Coors Light."
Her husband Barry said, "These ribs make you feel like sexy time!" Clearly Barry found the ribs arousing to some degree. He added, "They make you feel like king of the castle. And we are not lying, gypsy."
Check out Steven Raichlen's Ribs, Ribs, Ribs book for the recipe details. It was almost 3 months ago that I made these. But trust me, they were killer.
Ribsters: Wiss Family (Kim, Barry and Momma), Irene and boyfriend from Florence, Italy, Stults family (Gill, Eilidh, Riain and me)
Hello all nine of my followers. Sorry to have been MIA of late. Even though our Napa Valley winter has been more spring-like, I haven't done a lot of rib smoking. I have done some, but haven't done a great job keeping up with my blog. Now it's time to catch up.
The Chinatown Ribs, done back 'round Thanksgiving time, may have been may favorites so far. They had the renowned authentic Chinese flavors like Hoisin and five-spice. They were dark, reddish, with a candy-like sweet crust, and moist and tender inside. The five-spice gave it that hint of anise (not anus) and the Hoisin a plummy goodness. We enjoyed the Chinatown Ribs with some tasty chicken fried rice. To drink: Beaujolais Nouveau- a perfect pairing indeed.
Her husband Barry said, "These ribs make you feel like sexy time!" Clearly Barry found the ribs arousing to some degree. He added, "They make you feel like king of the castle. And we are not lying, gypsy."
Check out Steven Raichlen's Ribs, Ribs, Ribs book for the recipe details. It was almost 3 months ago that I made these. But trust me, they were killer.
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