Peanut Butter Ribs

Rib Date: September 1, 2012
Ribsters: JR and Aiden McDonald, Kim and Barry Wiss, Stults family

My friend Jim Smith, owner of the Wine Country Inn in St. Helena, Napa Valley, makes killer peanut butter and jelly ribs. These Peanut Butter Ribs were entirely dissimilar, but still good.

The Peanut Butter Ribs were Southeast Asian-inspired (think satay from your neighborhood Thai joint...)

The ribs spent the day relaxing in a bath of homemade peanut butter, coconut milk, chicken stock, soy sauce, lime juice, ginger, garlic, etc. All your typical tasty Asian ingredients. TIP: Shake up your extra coconut milk with some pineapple juice and rum for a refreshing cocktail while you watch the smoke bellow from the smoker.

The ribs went on the Weber Smokey Mountain smoker around 2:45 pm, and, other than feeding more charcoal as required, required little else for 4 hours and 15 minutes. They did take longer than most others. Not sure if the thick coating of peanut butter spicy goo insulated the ribs from the heat, or if the lack of wood smoke somehow affected the cooking duration. Whatever. You can't be in a hurry when you are smoking ribs. And, it allowed for more homemade pina coladas and catching up with good friends.

We rode the Asian theme, as Chef Kim made a tasty Vietnamese rice noodle salad and JR did spinach sautéd with spicy sausage. Simple but delicious.

While the ribs themselves were pretty good, the meal as a whole was excellent! All the flavors tied together nicely and everyone went back for round two.

Some comments from the attending ribsters:

Chef Kim said they were delicious, but her recommended tweak would be to thin the peanut butter sauce out a tad. She's right.

Her hubby Barry also liked the ribs, but thought the peanut butter sauce would benefit from a touch more spice. He's right too.

A collective suggestion was to add some Asian chili oil, like they have on the table at most Chinese restaurants, which would thin it out will kicking it up a notch. Bam!

My wife Gill liked how they fell off the bone and how the caramelized peanut butter sauce gave it that Asian twist.

JR liked them, adding that they went well with his 12 pack of Coors Light. (We enjoyed a nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Provenance Vineyard in Napa Valley- a great wine!)

For a kids' perspective, my 11 year old daughter Eilidh said they were merely "OK.". She didn't dig the peanut sauce, which was pretty much the entire recipe, so, that explains her less than positive review.

We spent dessert (Model Bakery almond cookies and a bottle of Dow's LBV port- remember, real port comes from Portugal!) game planning our booth at the Browns Valley Elementary School Chili Cookoff. Vote for team Holy Mole'!!!