Best Damn Ribs Ever

Wine:

GC Pinot Noir 2006
Prosecco Sparkling Wine Brut Zonin
Vin Du Bugey-Cerdon “La Cueille ” (2 bottles)
Amador Foothill Zinfandel 2006

It was a warm night and we ate on the deck. Billy and Kevin joined us for dinner. We sure drank a lot of good wine!

We started with Hummus and Pita Chips from Joan’s on 3rd. They have the BEST toasted pita chips! We also purchased their Green Bean / Potato Salad, The Los Angeles Times had recently reviewed it and given it high marks, we wouldn’t grade it that high.

Besides wine, Kevin and Billy brought a great home made Asian Cole Slaw.

The high point of the dinner was the Barbequed Ribs. We purchased baby back ribs from Harvey Guss and decided to SLOW smoke them. We followed a recipe that Cathy found in License to Grill by: Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. The recipe is called: Chinese-Style Baby Back Ribs with Ginger-Scallion Sauce.

This is an AMAZING recipe! We cooked the ribs covered in our Weber Grill to smoke them. We first marinated the ribs and then cooked them wrapped in aluminum foil. At the end we removed the foil and moved all the coals to one side of the grill and placed the ribs on the other side of the grill to cook them via indirect heat. The name of the game is to keep an even temperature of about 220 degrees for about 2 ½ hours. You really have to play with the vents and adding fuel to the fire to make it happen. Billy at the end showed us how minute changes in air openings vastly affect the temperature. I don’t think we ever had better ribs, anywhere!

We made a great salad that we ate with the leftovers, Cherry Tomatoes, sliced Persian Cucumbers, Green Onions, Basil, some of the Toasted Pita and home made blue cheese dressing. It was really tasty.


For dessert we had a Peach / Blueberry Pie from Joan’s on 3rd. It was good!

Chinese-Style Baby Back Ribs with Ginger-Scallion Sauce
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½ cup soy sauce
½ cup white vinegar
¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons freshly cracked white (or black) pepper
2 tablespoons five-spice mix (found in Asian section of grocery)

6-7 pounds pork spareribs

For the Sauce

½ cup white vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ cup minced scallions (white and green parts)

1. Build a small fire in ½ of covered grill besides coal we soaked some pieces of Apple and Maple wood, drained and added to the fire to produce a better taste; let the fire burn down somewhat.

2. In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, pepper, and five-spice mix and mix well. Generously coat the ribs with this mixture and place them on the grill but NOT over the coals. The other option is to do what we did, and spread the ribs on the grill and then loosely cover the ribs with aluminum foil. Put the cover on the grill and try to maintain a temperature of 220 degrees. After about 45 minutes flip the ribs and continue cooking. Ribs are done when you cut one open and there is NO pink meat in the center. Usually this will be about 2 ½ hours.


3. While you are cooking the ribs, make the sauce: in a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the scallions and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the fire, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes until sauce has been reduced by half. It should coat the bottom of a spoon when dipped in the sauce. Remove the sauce from the heat allow to cool and stir in the scallions.

4. When the ribs are done, paint the ribs and return to the grill for a final browning of the sauce on the ribs.