Baby Back Ribs with Cherry Beer BBQ Sauce

Rib date: May 27, 2012
Ribsters: Stults family, McDonald family, and Eric Jorgensen as the Beaver

Steven Raichlen's Baby Back Ribs with Cherry Beer BBQ Sauce recipe was simply off the hook. It may have been my favorite thus far on this swine adventure.

The recipe stems from how well pork and fruit go together in general. Add beer and...presto! Perfection. The thing about it is, these ribs were absolutely made for enjoying with red wine. Though I am sure beer would work too. Beer always works.

The ribs marinate in the fridge for four hours. The marinade is...drum roll please...beer! They suggest a Lambic (cherry beer from Belgium) but since my wife is anti-gluten, we made our own with gluten-free beer mixed with cherry juice. There's other stuff in the marinade too. After four hours minimum, toss ribs on smoker, baste with cherry juice every hour or so until they are nearly ready. Then slather them with the killer Cherry Lambic BBQ sauce until they are fall-off-the-bone tender. Disco!

The key to these ribs is the BBQ sauce, the recipe for which features cherries, beer, and the usual BBQ sauce ingredients.

The recipe was discovered at the now defunct COPIA in Napa, which isn't surprising because they went perfectly with red wine. We enjoyed them with a bottle of Jackse red. Jackse is the red blend we made at work a couple of years ago as a fun team building project. The grapes come from the Napa Valley Vintners property.

Even JR McDonald, who normally enjoys his ribs with a 12-pack of Coors Light, remarked how the ribs made the wine taste better and vice versa.

Funny side notes: Everyone got a hearty laugh at Eric's long laundry list of criteria for girls he would or would not date. Tasha McDonald was amazed, but seems driven to find Eric a girl. A hopeless endeavor indeed...

Chino-Latino Ribs with Guava BBQ Sauce

Rib Date: March 31, 2012 (a.k.a. My Mom's birthday)

Ribsters: Stults family + Eric

These ribs sound fun.  What's not to like about a little Asian and south of the border fusion?

In fact, they weren't all that great.  Fairly unremarkable.  And definitely not worth weathering the rainstorm we had in Napa that day to pull it off.  You can see my wet baseball cap (complete with flashlight attached for illumination) and soaked rain jacket.  I think the big grin was reflective of just being happy to be inside (warm and dry) although the ribs did (and do in the photo) look mighty tasty.

Of all the ribs we've tried in Steven Raichlen's book, "Ribs, Ribs, Ribs," the Chino-Latino Ribs with Guava BBQ Sauce were the least impressive.  According to the book, the recipe originates from Cuba, where some Chinese railroad workers were in the 19th century.  Hence: Chino- Latino.  The rib rub has Asian flavors (Chinese 5 spice).  The cinnamon and cloves add that classic Caribbean touch.  The you add tropical fruit in the sauce and you wonder, "why aren't these delicious?"  Dunno.  They weren't awful, but they weren't delicious either.

We had the ribs with a nice Monticello Napa Valley Pinot Noir that Eric brought.  The wine was better than the ribs.

Maybe we'll have better luck today, as the next set of ribs in Raichlen's bible are about to take their place on  the Weber Smokey Joe: Ribs with Cherry Beer BBQ Sauce!

Happy Memorial Day. 

Thai Sweet Chile Ribs

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.

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.

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.

Mint Julep Ribs

Rib Date: Saturday, November 12, 2011

Ribsters in attendance: Stults family, JR and Aiden McDonald, Gregory family, Snider family, Eric Jorgensen, his pal Sue, and Jerry Mathers, as the Beaver.

When it came to Mint Julep Ribs, the paint can full of booze stole the show. So let's start there.

Barry Martiner's Paint Can is developing legendary status here in the Legendary Napa Valley, America's Great Wine Capital. An old family recipe from Missouri, the Paint Can features Bourbon, ice, fresh mint stolen from your neighbor, OJ, lemon juice, sugar all mixed up in a brand new, never before used, paint can. This last part is important. You put all that stuff in the paint can, tap the lid shut, and shake the hell out of it, and recite this line repeatedly: "If you ain't shakin', you ain't partakin'." After 10-15 minutes, you have the world's biggest and best cocktail, which, of course, is consumed straight from the paint can, which conveniently has a rag tied to the paint can handle to wipe away the drool and some, but not all, of the backwash. Yum.

I thought the Barry Martiner Paint Can would be the perfect pairing with the Mint Julep Ribs, in lieu of wine. It was.

Oh yeah, the ribs were pretty good too. Steven Raichlen's Mint Julep Ribs with Bourbon Mint BBQ Sauce, from his book, "Ribs, Ribs, Ribs" were fall off the bone tender, with a hint of smokiness. The consensus opinion of the attending ribsters was that they were good, but not great. I thought they were a bit nondescript, lacking in the level of mintiness I anticipated.

The rib rub was a mixture of iced tea mix, sugar, dried mint, paprika, salt and pepper. Rub goes on ribs. Ribs go on smoker. Ribs get brushed with a mint glaze, mainly mint jelly, butter and bourbon, ribs come off and get a drizzle of Bourbon Mint BBQ Sauce, then down hatch.

The real highlight of the evening was neither the ribs nor the paint can. It was Dale Snider saving our house from an electrical fire after the boys all smelled something burning. We had some overheating of the original wiring (1972) in an electrical switch box.

Hopefully there will be no such excitement for our next rib adventure! Next up: Chinatown Ribs!

Silly Sidenotes: Eric brought a bottle of booze to supplement the paint can.  Even though it's technically not Bourbon, he brought Jack Daniels, not for the famous name, but because it came with a free cap (see photo).  What we should have taken a photo of was Eric wearing the cap, because it did not fit on his giant melon.  It kept riding up, irritating JR who tried to help Eric with his style, to no avail.

Silly Sidenote Too: Eric and his friend should rent themselves out as party entertainment.  I am not sure what their fee would be.  Ask him yourself: (707) 226-9814.  He also does windows, mini-blinds and will pressure wash your taint.

Sweet, Sticky Goodness

Rib Date: Saturday October 8, 2011
Attending Ribsters: Stults family, Gregory family, McDonald family, Perry family, Butler family, Eric and Jerry Mathers as the Beaver.

Sorry for the tardiness.  I actually drafted this a couple weeks ago.  Trust me, it was awesome.  Funny.  Insightful.  My best work.  And then it got zapped; I got pissed and nearly tossed the iPad across the room and said screw it. 

Oh yeah, I may look happy in the photos accompanying this, but I actually was in the early stages of feeling like death.  Turns out it was e-coli and these ribs were my last "successful" meal for a couple of weeks.  If you are seeking a quick, painful, horrible weight loss plan, do what I did!  Go to Guadalajara, get e-coli, and watch the weight melt away!  10 lbs in two weeks.  Not that I could not stand to lose a few, but, in reality, e-coli sucks badly.  I can't recommend it.

Nothing like a good e-coli story to lead into your rib review.  But there is a tie in, as the e-coli caused a time out in our plan to tackle a recipe every week or two.  We intend to resume tomorrow.  But for now, it's Maple Glazed Rib review time!

The Maple Glazed Ribs were the best thing to come from Canada since ice hockey.  And Rush. 

The ribs had a basic rub, followed by about four hours on the smoker, periodically receiving a glaze primarily made of maple syrup.  As you may imagine, the maple glaze induced a sweetness to the meat, which was accompanied but a touch of peppery spice from the rub and then, of course, the smoke.  Pretty frickin' good.  Sort of the Geddy Lee of meat.

Laura Gregory succinctly described them as "candied bacon."  JR McDonald not only exclaimed the ribs "better than a 12 pack of Coors Light," but he astutely added that the ribs tasted like "when you dip your bacon in the pancake syrup."  Exactly.  Ironically, both Paul Perry and Eric Jorgensen independently said the ribs were "sweet, sticky goodness."

We also did a Beer Can Chicken with the Maple Glazed Ribs.  The chicken was moist and tender, but Ryan Gregory had a hard time getting beyond the can of Coors Light shoved up the chicken's rectum.  He said it reminded him of his last bachelor party.

Kids Corner: Kids LOVED these ribs.  Sweet and not spicy.  My daughter Eilidh said they were "amazing and great for kids."  Her vegetarian friend Delaney stepped off the veggie train for a moment, tried these ribs and said, "they were actually pretty good."

Wine Pairing: We had a nice Oakville Ranch Chardonnay with the ribs.  It paired nicely.  I think next time, given the sweet breakfast flavor going on, a bottle of bubbles would be interesting to to try with them.

Tomorrow night we are looking at Mint Julep Ribs with a Bourbon Mint BBQ Sauce!