Princess Ribs

Rib Date: November 22, 2013

Ribsters: Ryan and Laura Gregory, Barry Martin, Sean Wickersham and Julie Ross, Stults family and Eric Jorgensen as the Beaver.

I salute you Steven Raichlen, lord of the ribs and author of the bible thereto, "Ribs, Ribs, Ribs," for the last two ribs recipes have been nothing short of spectacular.

Following the "Bad to the Bone" ribs were the superbly delicious "Princess Ribs."

"Princess Ribs" are the brainchild of Kansas City's Dianna Royal, a.k.a "Princess," who must be of rib royalty in this porky Mecca, as she's often sporting a tiara. The Princess has garnered dozens of trophies and medals with her "Princess Ribs" recipe.

The recipe begins with a unique and flavorful rub featuring some sweetness and salt, chile powder, cumin, cinnamon and allspice, among other ingredients. A little sweet, spicy, salty but interesting layers of flavor with the cumin and cinnamon. Off to a good start.

The ribs received a good 2 1/2 hours of smoking on my Weber Bullet. The recipe calls for cherry wood, but I didn't have that handy so used an alternate hardwood.

While the ribs were smoking away, my sous chef/wife was creating the "Sweet and Seriously Hot BBQ Sauce" as the recipe stipulates. It's a from scratch BBQ sauce that's thick, rich, sweet on front, then sneaky spicy on the back. The spice comes from cayenne pepper, to taste. Ours wasn't too hot (because she made it; not me-- probably better that way.) This sauce was so good I found myself standing at the stove enjoying it by the spoonful, straight.

Ribs - before and after basting with the S&SH BBQ sauce

After the initial smokin', the ribs came off, got a good basting of "Sweet and (almost) Seriously Hot BBQ Sauce" then were wrapped tightly in foil and returned to the Bullet for another hour. Then...magic.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a fresh, light, dry, fruity red wine released on the third Thursday of each year-- the first wine of the current vintage-- meaning just a few short months ago it was a gamay grape on a vine in France. Turns out, Beaujolais Nouveau goes great with Princess Ribs. And if one bottle goes great, then six bottles must be even greater!

In addition to the wine and ribs, we had some doctored up baked beans, Laura Gregory's killer coleslaw (maybe best I've had- fresh and fragrant) and some oven baked fries. Delicious dinner.

"These are the best ribs I've had here," said aforementioned Coleslaw Queen Laura.

"There's a sweet fire in my mouth," stated Barry Martin, who also proclaimed they "Tasted like a Disney princess" and the flavors were "vagi-soft."  Hmmm...

The best backhand was from Julie Ross. "These were so good, they made me forget the last ribs," she said. (Couldn't agree more. The last time Sean and Julie were ribsters was when we did Grilled True Babyback Ribs, which were awful.). Julie added that the Princess Ribs "Didn't make her mouth Thor."(Inside joke; had to be there )

Eric Jorgensen said the ribs gave him a "wow-gasm."  Ding.

In sum- these Princess Ribs were indeed rib royalty- a recipe to repeat. Or, as said by Sean Wickersham, the "Princess Ribs are fit for a king."

Next: Porkosaurus Memphis in May Championship Ribs.

Bad to the Bone Ribs with Razor Bone Sauce

Rib Date: October 26, 2013

Ribsters: Knauer family, McDonald family, Perry family, Stults family
Is this another Steven Raichlen ribs recipe or the title of one of those late night Skinamax movies?

That silly question was soundly answered by the attending ribsters, several of who proclaimed the Bad to the Bone Ribs "best ribs ever."
Unsure if I concur, but they deserve at least to be in the conversation.

You can see why the Bad to the Bone Ribs rock. They are the competition ribs for an Arkansas-based husband and wife team that has won 27 regional championships. The main secret is a three-step cooking process, beginning with several hours of low and slow cooking on the smoker...with plenty of wood smoke. (I used Oak.).

After hours on the smoker.  Before basting in apple juice, butter, sugar & honey 

After step one the ribs are tender and smokey. They then get basted with a combo of apple juice, butter, brown sugar and honey. Smothered in that combo of sweet goodness, the ribs, wrapped in foil, return to the smoker for another 45 minutes.

The last step requires sparking up the Weber grill. The ribs get coated in a sticky sweet BBQ sauce-- the Razor Bone Sauce-- before being finished for a few minutes per side over direct heat, allowing the BBQ sauce to caramelize.

Finished product!

Voila. Razor Bone badness! Smoky. Sweet. Tender. Nothing fancy. Old school.

Rookie ribster Shelly Knauer came strong, comparing the Bad to the Bone Ribs to Rutherford Grill's and saying she dug the fall-off-the-bone tenderness. Her husband Nathan said they "happen to go great with beer." (Don't all ribs?)

Paul Perry said they were the "best BBQ meal of the year" and were tasty with the nice Pinot Noir he supplied, while his wife Corrinne thought they were "pretty fabulous" and had nice "layers of flavors."

Speaking on behalf of the roughly 27 children present, Aiden McDonald said, "OMG they're so good.". Pressed for more, he said the three words to describe the Razor Bone ribs were "delicious, sweet and delicate."

My wife/sous chef Gillian said they were her favorite so far on the porky journey.

Next up: Princess Ribs.