This is in the category of things you didn't know you needed... Chicken fried ribs! How in the world did we find them? Remember Connie's list of the 51 best sandwiches? One is at Fox Brothers BBQ in Atlanta. A couple of years ago we drove through and we had the Fox Brothers Burger - which is really chopped smoked beef brisket - but HAD to try the chicken fried ribs appetizer. This trip, we made sure there was time to head downtown Atlanta and visit Fox Brothers. And, I came away determined to try and make chicken fried ribs. There are two parts to this. One is the ribs themselves and the other is the bbq sauce. It's Alabama white BBQ sauce. Something I've never made. Now, I have a pretty darned good taste memory so I thought I could recreate it once I surfed the web and checked out how others prepared it. Some put in massive quantities of vinegar, some a smidgen. Some used smoked paprika. Most used horseradish and garlic. I started by dolloping some mayonnaise in a plastic storage container - probably a cup and a half. Tossed in a couple of teaspoons of horseradish followed by an equal amount of crushed garlic. Then, I poured in a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar. And, I went hunting for the smoked paprika. I know it's on the second shelf. But, it was buried. Out came the juniper berries, then the curry. As I had my hand on the next item I looked to the right and saw Penzey's BBQ 3000. Ah HA! That would not only have smoked paprika but also some other good stuff. It'd do just fine. In went about a tablespoon of the BBQ 3000. The sauce was too thick so another tablespoon of vinegar went in. Stir, taste, we have a winner! You all like my fancy bowl? LOL Hey, at least I didn't use a plastic spoon!
Next it was time to figure out the ribs. Connie'd run errands most of the morning and came home to smoke the ribs while I stayed at the office and plowed through a bunch of work. I'd gotten home to a lovely smoked rack of ribs. He said he kept them at about 250 for a couple of hours.
After looking at the few chicken fried ribs recipes I could find, I decided to just wing it. I saw ones with panko and ones with corn meal. But, I just didn't think the Fox Brothers ribs had either. So, I went with the flour, egg/milk, seasoned flour dipping routine. I know. You look at that and think, "What a total complete and entire mell of a hess!" And, yes, I closed the drawer before I kept dipping. Connie'd reached in and gotten the candy thermometer to check the temp on the hot oil and he didn't get the drawer totally closed as I took the photo.
The seasoned flour had salt, pepper and more of the BBQ 3000.
I heated up a couple of inches of vegetable oil in a deep saucepan and started dipping the ribs. Three at a time could be fried so I was pretty glad we'd done just one rack!
The first batch came out and I realized they were craggier than the ones we'd had at Fox Brothers. But, they were still good!
Connie said he'd like mac and cheese with the ribs. I was thinking the tomato pie with pimento cheese topping that I'd read on the New York Times site. So, I compromised. Pimento cheese mac and cheese it was. And, sliced tomatoes with basil and balsamic glaze on the side. Made me very happy that I'd spent $3.99 a pound for half a pound of heirloom tomatoes! They were fabulous. The mac and cheese was a basic cheddar mac and cheese with 2 oz of diced pimentos and about 20 shakes of chipotle Tabasco sauce added. I used 3T of both butter and flour and about 2 1/2 cups of 2% milk. Then, stirred in about 8oz of shredded Cracker Barrel extra sharp cheddar.
So there you have it. What you didn't know you needed! Here's how it looked all put together.
When we moved in here a year ago, everything from the old freezers got just thrown into the new freezers. I couldn't find anything. I knew I had some flat meals as Connie calls pre-made dinners. But, they weren't anywhere easy to find. It was a mell of a hess. So, Sunday morning we got up kind of early and headed out to do our shopping. I knew we were taking dishes to a family get together on Memorial Day, having guests over Tuesday evening for heavy appetizers and wine, having the quarterly neighborhood dinner on Thursday and going back to John and Pam's on Saturday after the service for Donald. It was going to be a week of cooking and I needed a bunch of things. Plus, I'd snagged a couple of new cookbooks on clearance at Half Price Books and there were a few recipes calling my name. I carefully made out all the menus and grocery lists. Sunday evening was to be salmon on the grill with roasted beets and pine nuts plus roasted radishes with anchovy sauce. Except that we couldn't find salmon. I'd gotten ribs to make Friday so those would have to substitute. And, I'm so glad they did!!!
We got home from our shopping and I started unloading freezers. Now, all the stock is together. An entire shelf of homemade stock.
I see a LOT of risotto in our future. And, I've found the frozen spaghetti sauce and frozen stroganoff. And, flat meals have been taken to the office. Connie's happy to have a stash of chicken Caesar lasagna and chicken green bean casserole. Vegetables are together. As are fruits. And, pestos (mushroom truffle and basil are two of the kinds...) Meats are organized. I now know where the ground lamb patties are. YAY! All of the shrimp shells and lobster shells for stock are organized.
I am one happy camper.
While the freezer was getting cleaned out, I started the ribs. The recipe called for putting them in the slow cooker. I knew that putting them on a half sheet, covering them with heavy duty foil and low and slow cooking them in the oven would have the same effect. And, it meant not having to wash the slow cooker... I made the initial sauce and slathered it on. Quite frankly, it looked gross. Four hours later when I took the ribs out of the oven I wished I'd used a deeper pan. A TON of fat had cooked out. It made a mell of a hess in the oven and on the floor. So, that's the bad news. The good news is that once I got the ribs on the grill and the bbq sauce on they looked amazing. And, they tasted amazing.
Alongside I made goat cheese mashed sweet potatoes and mojito watermelon. The mashed sweets are super easy. Peel and cube the potatoes. Cook them in salted water until they're very soft. Drain them and toss in a knob of butter. Mash until that melts. Add a chunk of goat cheese - maybe an ounce for two small sweet potatoes - and finish mashing. Devour.
These ribs are right up there with the best we've ever made.
Thai BBQ Ribs
Ingredients:
juice from one lime (about 1T)
1 T brown sugar
1/2 t cracked peppercorns
1/4 t ground ginger
2/3 c fresh cilantro, divided in half
2 Thai red chiles, divided (I used crushed red pepper - about 1/2 t)
4 lb pork baby back or spare ribs
1/3 c sweet chili garlic sauce
1/4 c BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays
Directions:
In the bowl of a blender put the lime juice, brown sugar, peppercorns, ginger, half the cilantro and one of the chiles. Blend until smooth. Put the ribs on a the bottom half of a roasting pan or another pan with relatively deep sides and slather them with the sauce.
Cover with foil and bake in a very low oven (250F) for a couple of hours. Heat your grill. Mix the sweet chili garlic sauce and the BBQ sauce. Brush the ribs with the BBQ sauce and grill them until the sauce has caramelized and you've got good grill marks. Serve sprinkled with the remaining cilantro and pepper slices (if you used the real things...)
adapted from Kraft Food and Family
Well, let's talk about everything we've missed talking about.
Connie had a birthday. Not one of the big ones but we celebrated nonetheless. Three dishes and three cocktails. Loved the meal. Haven't blogged about it yet... In truth, I can't find the recipes now...
Drove the Natchez Trace to a conference in New Orleans. Amazing food and drinks. Except for the food at the conference hotel - Hyattt by the Superdome. Go to Borgne but do not stay at that hotel. The food was the worst conference food I've EVER had. And, I go to a LOT of conferences! New Orleans, however, was stellar. Antiones, Commanders Palace, Arnauds. Oh, yeah.
Had a party. 90+ people at our house for a pitch-in. We did BBQ from Black Diamond. Except, we found out on Friday that we'd have 90+ instead of 70+ and we couldn't add to our order. On to Sam's to purchase six racks of ribs. Many dishes that I want the recipe for. YUMMM
Went to Michigan for a long weekend with our friends Chris and Mark. Saugatuck and the Hungry Village Tour. AMAZING! Then, on to Grand Rapids for the Meijer Gardens and the Gerald Ford Museum. One fabulous B and B and one we'll not be back to.
Family party at my brothers where he cooked the PERFECT summer dinner. Yup, it just doesn't get better than bbq chicken, corn on the cobb, sliced cucumbers, salad, cheesy bacon potatoes and pickled beets.
Now, if I was to do a blog on all of those I'd still be typing tomorrow morning when I'm supposed to be at the office for the first of six appointments. With an internet that's running at maybe 25% of what it's supposed to be doing. Painful. So, let me tell you about the ribs and the leftovers from the party. Oh, and a few photos from the party. Of course.
Back in 1994, Cheryl and Bill Jamison published Smoke and Spice. I bought it that year. It was my first true barbecue cookbook and is still my favorite one. I've tried rubs, marinades, sauces, entrees, side dishes. They've all been wonderful. So, when we wound up with a herd of ribs to cook at the last minute, I turned to Smoke and Spice. I'd already decided to use the Maple Mustard Porter mop and sauce we made a couple of months ago. Nice warm spices, thyme, brown sugar. Those were the flavors I was looking for. They were there. In a rub recipe called Sweet Sensation rub that I first used back in May, 1997. It was labeled, "WOW" back then. Same applies today.
Here are a few shots of the party:
Then, we had leftovers. Lots of our friends left goodies. Sue left half a pan of baked beans. These weren't just any baked beans. They were so good that Connie stopped me in the hall outside our offices and asked who'd brought them and could I get the recipe because they were the BEST beans he'd ever had. I had to agree. Sammy and Sarah left chorizo mac and cheese. Killer. Just killer. There was another half pan of REALLY good mac and cheese. And, Nancy and Roy left some of her German potato salad. That I don't share. Connie says he's not that fond of potatoes so I take that as a green light to hoard the potato salad all for myself. It's the best I've ever had. There was a big tub of a yummy bean, corn and red bell pepper salsa. I have NO clue who brought that. We also had some of Becky and Dave's loaded baked potato salad. Yummy! Brett and Gabe left a huge bowl of pimento cheese. Not only is this one of our favorites, but Brett kicks it up with jalapenos and other goodies. Connie said please, please, please get the recipe. I've already got it somewhere in my email. Thank goodness! We had part of a pan of mostly pulled pork with a few flecks of beef brisket mixed in. The meat was a bit crispy and dried out but I'm too Scotch to toss that. As Connie said, it was kind of reminiscent of burnt ends. We had a few ribs left. Last, but not least, there were a few dried out pieces of smoked chicken. So, an overload of protein and carbs. What to do?
Lunch Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was ribs and baked beans. Normally after two times I'm done. Not quite sure I'm done after three even though we're out of beans... Yes, I'll share the recipe as soon as I get it. This will go to family dinners and be devoured!
Monday night was pulled pork and pimento cheese sliders. On the side we had carbs, carbs and carbs. And, boy oh boy was it all good!
Tuesday night some of the pulled pork got mixed into some of the mac and cheese along with some pimento cheese and milk. The whole shebang was topped with toasted panko crumbs and baked. The only thing missing was some red peppers. Either roasted red bell or peppadews or another red pepper would've added a bit more pizazz.
Wednesday night was hot smoked chicken and pulled pork salad. Topped with shredded cheddar and crumbled bagel chips that Brett had brought for the pimento cheese. We paired that with a cherry cherry tomato salsa. Yes, there are two cherries in that description. I'll share those recipes in another post...
Sweet Sensation Rub
1/4 c ground allspice
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c onion powder
2 T salt
2 t ground nutmeg
2 t ground cinnamon
2 t dried thyme
I'm feeling like I should rename this blog KateMightCook. Feels like forever since I really dug into the kitchen and prepared a meal. Sunday morning we finally got our hair cut. We were both on the verge of having to buy rollers. Connie had a fro when he was a teenager. Me, I had LONG straight hair. It won't accept a perm and has a bountiful number of cowlicks. Much better short at my age. Then, we delivered a carload of stuff to the Fairview rummage sale. The service was about ready to start so we got to sneak in the sanctuary and say hi to Mom and the rest of the MOPS crew. Finally, we were off to the office. Saturday our broker/dealer's website was down. All day. Connie needed it to prep for my appointments next week. We were WAY behind. So, we dug in and worked on reviews. And worked. And worked. Finally, about 4:00 I said if we were going to eat the ribs before 9:00 we'd better go home.
Over the last few weeks I've bought a few new cookbooks. Cooking with Beer, Adventures in Grilling and Simple Fresh Southern. The first two I could pretty much make everything in. The last, not so much. My menu was Maple Mustard Porter Ribs from Cooking with Beer, Grilled Fingerling Potatoes from Adventures in Cooking and Braised Carrots with Tarragon and Lime from Simple Fresh Southern.
What did we think? I think I could eat a whole rack of the ribs by myself. They were that good. You need to make sure the sauce has an opportunity to caramelize on the ribs. It's just about perfect. No, actually it is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing. The potatoes were very good. A four on a scale of one to five. They didn't get grill marks but they tasted wonderful. The carrots were also very good. I used a bit too much lime juice but they hit the spot. And, the best news is that we had enough leftover for Monday night's dinner! Now, I might note that the leftovers weren't quite as good...
Maple Mustard Porter Ribs
Ingredients
1 c porter (we used Guiness stout)
1/2 c maple syrup
3 T Worcestershire sauce (ok, I confess, I totally missed this)
2 T spicy brown mustard
1/4 t crushed red pepper
2 lbs pork baby back ribs
salt and pepper
Directions:
Combine the beer, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and crushed red pepper in a medium saucepan. Bring it to a strong simmer and cook until it's reduced to 3/4 cup.
We used our Big Green Egg so did not follow the original recipe from here on out. The original calls for covering a half sheet with foil, putting the ribs on the half sheet, slathering them with sauce, wrapping more foil over them and baking them at 350 for 50 minutes. Then, it has you broil the ribs with the meaty side up, slathering them with the sauce. Instead, we grilled them. I started them meaty side down, flipped them and flipped them again. Each time I slathered them with sauce.
adapted from Cooking with Beer
Grilled Fingerling Potatoes
Ingredients:
3 lb fingerling potatoes (small red skins will work)
1/2 c plus 2 T white wine
olive oil
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 T whole grain mustard
2 T minced flat leaf parsley
1 T minced fresh tarragon
salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions:
Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Cook them over medium heat for about 10 minutes. You should be able to easily pierce them with a fork or knife, but they should not be fully cooked. Drain them and toss them with the 1/2 c wine.
Heat your grill. Allow the potatoes to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, mix the dressing ingredients: mayonnaise, mustard, parsley and tarragon.
Brush the potatoes with olive oil. Grill about 5 minutes per side. I used a grill basket so didn't get great grill marks. You'll do better if you grill directly on the grate. Remove the potatoes from the grill and toss them with the dressing.
You can serve them hot or cold. Both are delicious!
adapted from Adventures in Grilling
Braised Carrots with Tarragon and Lime
Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
1 large white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 t kosher salt
2 lbs carrots, cut into 2-3" lengths, 1/3" in diameter
1/2 c white wine (preferably Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc)
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
leaves from three sprigs fresh tarragon
grated zest and juice of 1/2 lime
Directions:
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. When it is shimmering, add the onions. Cover the bottom of the pan with the onions to give them as much surface area as possible to caramelize a bit. Sprinkle on about 1/4 t of salt. Once the onions are lightly caramelized, remove them from the heat and transfer them to a dish. Put the carrots and wine in the pan along with 1/4 t of salt and the pepper. Cover the skillet and simmer the carrots for about six minutes or until they're tender. Remove the lid and add the tarragon. Cook the carrots until the liquid has almost evaporated. Add in the onions, lime juice and salt and pepper. Toss and serve.
