Year of the Pig

Will sunbathing in a bacon bikini not only tan you, but also provide
you with a porky snack?

Mary decides to find out.

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Back in July I found the book Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn while poking around at the New York City Library. Before I got through the first chapter, I knew this was a book I wanted to own and I returned it to the library. After a very irritating experience with Abe Books (don’t use them), and a 7-week delivery time from a bookseller less than an hour’s drive away, the book was finally in my very anxious hands. The book is a wealth of information about salt and meat, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in hand preserved meats.

The chapters include a wide range of subjects including salt cures, brining, smoking, sausage making, dry-cured meats, terrines and confit, among others. The recipes range from very simple to very complex, but there is just a ton of interesting information in there, and it is very well written and researched, and even has very nice and helpful hand drawn illustrations.

Last week as I was heading to work on the train, perusing the “sources” appendix in the back of the book, I saw the heading for “outstanding sausages, especially dry-cured sausages and meats,” and was very surprised and happy to see that one of the 2 places in the U.S. that the book recommends was just a few blocks away from my office at the corner of 29th Street and 8th Ave, Salumeria Biellese. I just love New York for those moments when you realize that something you are really interested in is right under your nose. Well, of course that day I took a stroll over to the shop during my lunch break. I was very surprised by the look of the place which was totally nondescript; I have probably walked by it 100 times, and have never given it a second look. The place has been open since 1925, and is apparently one of the largest wholesalers of sausages in the country, and I beleve all of their meats are cured in a building right there in Manhattan.

I walked in the door, and it was not at all what I expected. It looked like a dingy sub-par New York deli counter with dirty tables, and steaming buffet trays behind glass filled with unappetizing pastas and soggy to-go lunches. I walked around looking for some sausages. After seeing the huge diversity of offerings on their website I was expeciting a smorgasbord of sausage. Nothing. Just the dingy counter. I got the attention of a guy working there, and asked him about the sausages. He sorta motioned to a cooler behind the cabinet, and asked me what I wanted. I had no idea what they had, so I just asked for a selection of what he would recommend. He ended up slicing me up a 1/4 pound each of the genoa salami, hot and sweet soppressata, prosciutto, and bresaola. There wasn’t much other interaction, but I left with a bag of over a pound of top quality cured meats for about 14 bucks.

The meats were delicious, and I will be going back there. I especially recommend the prosciutto, the sweet soppressate and the bresaola. From reading online, I think you could order some of their more unusual products if you called ahead and had them set one aside for you. This place is a little weird, but a great place to know about.

Stay tuned for more posts about charcuterie. I don’t think I will be attempting any dry cured meats anytime soon, but there are a lot of other recipes in that book that I must try.

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I was lucky enough to find myself in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend on a gorgeous fall day. Charlottesville is a favorite town of mine (yes, I am a wahoo), especially in the fall. I had some time to kill and what better way to kill it then to search out some barbecue? I had read some positive reviews of a place called Jinx’s Pit’s Top on East Market Street, not too far from Charlottesville’s historic Downtown Mall. My friends and I (Mr. Blue and Mr. Red) walked down Market St from the Downtown Mall, not really sure how far it was. We had walked about a half mile or so when Mr. Red spotted Jinx’s in the distance. We crossed the street and made for the place and as we got near, we noticed a figure standing by his car out front. He saw us coming too and yelled out as we came down the block, “I hope you aren’t coming here!,” to which we replied, that we most certainly were. We walked up to him, loading a cooler into the trunk of his car. He nervously and apologetically explained that he had closed the place up and was heading out to a catering job for 300. He was obviously right in the middle of getting everything together, and frankly, he looked a little stressed.

He apologized profusely, and said that he hated to send people away disappointed. He reached into the cooler in the trunk and loaded up a plate with 6 pieces of smoked chicken. He gave it to us free of charge and told us to enjoy. We were all hungry, and most grateful for the delicious smelling chicken.

We had a seat on a couple tombstones at the next door funeral dealership, and got down to enjoying some fine barbecue chicken.

The chicken was flavorful, juicy and good. We sat in the warm autumn sun and enjoyed it to the last bite, all the while watching Mr. Jinx busily loading his car. When he saw that we were done, he called over to see how we liked it, and we let him know it was delicious. We got to talking about barbecue, and I told him I was a big barbecue fan and an amateur “pitmaster” myself. He told me that chicken is not normally on his menu, which is mainly ribs (by popular demand) and his specialty, pulled pork, which he described as Western Kentucky style, NOT that Carolina style. He said the words “Carolina Style” with a sneer and then literally shoved his finger into his mouth and leaned over like he was gonna puke. Fortunately he didn’t, but this man certainly has some strong opinions on Barbecue!

Soon after, he waved me over, and he invited me into the tiny vine covered shack that is the Pit’s Top. The place has like 4 or so tables and a counter, and the wall are all covered with various barbecue ephemera. I don’t know what it normally looks like, but on this day that place looked like a cyclone had come through, and every level surface was covered with a jumble of pots and pans, and other cooking related flotsam. He had obviously been working hard to get everything done.

He pulled out another plate and generously scooped out a pile of pulled pork that looked wonderful. He didn’t offer any sauce, and mentioned that its better without. He looked around unable to find a fork, and I said I was fine to eat it with my fingers. “Even better,” he said, and we headed back outside.

Back on the gravestone, Mr. Red, Mr. Blue and I all sampled the pork, which was by all accounts delicious. Mild but flavorful, and juicy as hell. The pork was pulled in big chunks and pieces that you could really sink your teeth in. The was no shortage of tasty pork fat either. All in all, it was very very good.

Jinx called over again, and I again let him know that it was delicious. He looked pleased, and so were we. I would have loved to chat with him more, but he was obviously in a big hurry, so I guess it will have to wait til the next time I can get back to Charlottesville, hopefully soon. I highly recommend Jinx’s if you find yourself in the area. It’s a treat to have great food from someone who puts a lot of love and care into his ‘cue and takes great pride in work. Thanks Jinx!

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Well, I didn’t really expect to be giving Fette Sau another try so soon, but I am glad I did, so I can set the record straight. This time, I was happy to find their food much more enjoyable. I wound up in Williamsburg again last Friday night, looking to get some dinner with my very hungry friend, Squidocto. He was very hungry, the poor guy, but we were only a couple of blocks from Fette Sau, and I was willing to try it again.

This time, they had no ribs. We waited in a long line going back and forth about what we should order. In then end, we ended up with a healthy heaping tray of food, a winning pork trifecta with some very tasty beef cheeks thrown in for good measure, plus a side of beans, 3 Gus’ pickles, and some saurkraut.

We dug right in, especially Matt:

We had a delightful dinner, moving back and forth between all our choices: We had a solid helping of the pulled pork, which was good and tasty, especially when you managed to get some of the nice blackened smokey bits. I liked it very much with the vinegar sauce that was on the table. We had a sausage, that was nothing special, but enjoyable. We also also split a bone-in pork chop rib which was very good, getting better and better as you approached the bone. And although it was beef, I have to mention the beef cheeks. I have never had such a thing and they are hard to describe. It was dark reddish meat, soft but chewy. The texture and taste were both interesting, intriguing even…savory and downright good. I am afraid you will have to try them for yourself to see what I mean!

We left very satisfied and happy with ourselves. This was a much better trip to Fette Sau. I still feel like I have to try their ribs again, but I am afraid that the problem is that my expectations have just become too high.

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My diet over the last couple months has had no shortage of pork, but it has been sadly short on ribs. I am trying to make up for that this week.

Above is a crappy photo of meat. Sorry about that. The meat in question however is from the Brooklyn barbecue restaurant, Fette Sau. I have already mentioned this place in several posts, including Squidocto’s preview-review about it, but I had yet to try it for myself…until last weekend!

I arrived in Willimsburg around 10 pm not having had a bite to eat since lunch, and headed straight to Fette Sau. The place was hopping with Saturday night Williamsburg hipster types, and a hoofed it right through them to the counter and ordered up a rack of the baby back ribs which are served by the pound and cost around $25. The friendly young woman dropped my rack on the tray and I promptly picked it up and sat it down on one of the long tables, next to the not-that-funny-LCD-screen fireplace. I sat down excitedly and purposefully with my rack of ribs, ready to thoroughly enjoy them.

I planned to take my time with these ribs and savor them. The first bite was promising. They had a nice texture and solid smoky flavor. I have to say, however, I was disappointed. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they are tasty and enjoyable, but nothing to blow your mind. Also, the meat was a little dry and bland compared to say, Texas Hill Country, who’s ribs will blow your mind. Anyway, I got a little bored with these ribs about halfway through the rack, but nevertheless they made a very satisfying tasty meal for a man in desperate need of some ribs. To be fair, I will definitely come back and give the ribs another try. A trip to Fette Sau is certainly still a good time, the place itself has a real nice fun and low-key atmosphere that I dug.

Now, did someone mention Texas Hill Country? Oh yeah, that was me! I made it out to Texas Hill Country again last night, excited to relive my previous experiences with their wonderful pork spareribs. Could it be that they are really as good as I remember? For that I would be willing to put up with their zoo of Manhattanite customers and their inane seating methods, which are frankly just plain irritating. My friend Jay was playing with a Patsy Cline tribute band called the Poor Man’s Roses in the downstairs level (which typically has a good line up of bands), and my friend Ben and I saddled up to the bar to enjoy some ribs, some rye whisky and some music. The band was very good; they do an excellent job of reproducing the sweet, mellow, soulful music of Patsy Cline. As it got later, the crowd began to thin out and we moved over to a table to watch the band, and they even dedicated a nice version of Bill Monroe’s Blue Moon of Kentucky to yours truly, which was very nice, thanks. So, were the ribs as good as I remembered?? Yes, every bit and more so. God bless Texas Hill Country!

Rock on, I finally get to ribulate again! I think I left off at 108 ribs. Now I add 12 from Fette Sau and 3 from Texas Hill Country, which oddly enough, is about an equivalent amount of meat, bringing the grand total for the Year of the Pig to 123. Thank you piggies one and all, and may your ribs find their way to Texas Hill Country!

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A couple months ago, I wrote an entry praising the fine European style pork products of the Ridgewood Pork Store in Ridgewood Queens. Since I have gotten back from my trip to Europe, I appreciate this place all the more, and even though it is a long trek for me, I have managed to get back there a couple times, never to be disappointed except when they are closed.

Anyway, shortly after I got back, Jonel, the owner of the Ridgewood Pork Store, contacted me and sent me some pictures of a “Whole Boneless Pig” they had roasted in the store. He invited me to come by and try it, but I couldn’t make it out there that week. However, Squidocto was more than happy to walk around the corner from his place to check it out and report back. Here is what he had to say:

Squidocto’s report from the field:

I just went and got me some boneless roast pig. At this point they’ve
taken the head off (just as well — that looked nasty), and are just
making slices of the body. It’s absolutely delicious! The meat is
mixed up with some kind of breading and various spices. The result is
a light, fall-apart textured meat with a very rich taste. It feels
rather like an entire meal wrapped in one — a sort of pork
thanksgiving dinner.

I have to agree, that from the photos, it looked a little gruesome, but it sure sounds interesting. I wrote back to Jonel to ask what it is was exactly. He said:

We roast the pig whole, then while it was still warm we pull out all the bones. We chop the meat up, season it up, and then put all back in the pig skin. We tie it up and then let cool in the fridge over night.

Hmm! Sounds like a crazy pork meatloaf on steroids! I definitely hope to try it when they do it again. I am curious also where Jonel got this idea: is it a tradional dish he knows from somewhere, or is it something he just came up with? Maybe he will leave a comment here and tell us!

I love that these guys at the Ridgewood Pork Store seem to genuinely enjoy making the products they sell and seem to like trying new and unusual things. Thanks to Jonel for sharing this with us!

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Well loyal readers, I am back. Did you miss me? I certainly missed y’all! What can I say? I am sorry I have left you in the lurch over the past few weeks. I had a really great trip. You can check out all of my pictures here. Among all of the various highlights of traveling around Europe for 3 weeks, pork was certainly up there, and we enjoyed a lot of it.

God knows, the Europeans love their pork, and there is no shortage of it. Everytime you turn a corner, there it is another Charcuterie, windows laden with untold porky treasures.

I realized how good it was going to be the first day we got there, driving up into the French Alps from Geneva. Outside of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, we passed an outdoor stand loaded with baskets full of sausages. We pulled over and got out of the car to peruse. I looked with slack jawed amazement at the unbelievable assortment of sausages: plain pork, smoked, duck, with nuts, with herbs, with olives, with cheese, with berries, with whatever-other-thing-that-could-fit-into-the-casing! It was amazing, and I wanted to try them all. This trip was gonna be tough.

All of these lumpy looking sausages, stuffed in natural casings, covered with a white mold, sitting unattended outside in baskets certainly looked strange and foreign to me; not a sight you would see in America. But I soon realized these sausages were very typical, and delicious. We somehow made our mind up, and got one of the herb “encrusted” sausages, mainly covered with rosemary. If I need to tell you, it was delicious.

We had many great meals that were nothing more than cheese, bread, and sausage in one of their many varied forms. I have heard friends come back from Europe saying as much, and now I can really understand. All of those things are so fresh and readily available everywhere, and simply wonderful.

We spent some time in the Val D’Aosta region of Italy, and sampled some of the hearty mountain cuisine there, including this wonderful porky appetizer:

In the front is Mocetta (which is actually a very nice cured beef) and in the back is Lardo, thinly sliced cured pig fat, which was savory and sweet, delicate and rich, with a great, soft, smooth texture. Wow, the wonders of pig fat.

In the town of Aosta, we wandered around looking at Roman ruins and pork. We randomly went into this charcuterie:

We went in and struck up a conversation with a very friendly and interesting young butcher (barely pictured in the shadows of the door in the picture above) who was happy to practice his English and seemingly anxious to move away from his small town. He gave us the low down about some of the local meats including Lardo, Mocetta, and also Boudin Sausage:

Boudin, which is also the name of a famous Cajun sausage, is a Val D’Aostan specialty that is prepared from potatoes, diced lard, beetroot, spices, sometimes carrots or wine, and coagulated pork blood. The sausages are stuffed in thin natural gut casings and tied and hung to dry. It was a really mild, sweet sausage which we cut up and ate at room temperature. The potatoes gave it a really soft creamy consistancy, and it was a great marriage of vegetable matter and pork fat. As for the blood, if that turns you off don’t let it; the Boudin was delicious.

In general it was a pleasure to go into any little charcuterie and look around. We waited patiently in line for about 45 minutes in this one, in the town of Noyers, France. We were only third in line but each customer took their sweet time carefully selecting each item they wanted. I enjoyed passing the time in line watching the butcher and a couple of assistants carefully butchering a whole pig. Everything looked wonderfully delicious, and we ended up getting some quiche-like tarts and some duck sausage.

In most cities we were in, there are market days in town that put US “Farmer’s Markets” to shame, and offer a great selection of produce, cheese, meat, and of course sausage! This vendor in Beaune had a great selection of sausage. We tried his smoked sausage which was plain, but very enjoyable.

This market in Colmar was great, and we loaded up on cheese and produce and again, you guessed it, sausage. I actually went up to this vendor and bought a smoked sausage, and an onion tart. Alissa and I sat down in a nearby park and split the tart for lunch. I decided to have a bite of the sausage. It was good, very good! I had another bite, and another, and soon it was gone. I walked right back to the vendor and asked for another. The woman laughed and guessed that I liked it very much, and seemed genuinely flattered by my appreciation of her pork products. We ended up having a nice exchange with her, with our very limited French, about sausage, being from America and our trip.

Ok, so everyone associates the French with good food, and that is all well and good, cause it’s true. The Germans however get a pretty bad rap, which I generally found unfounded. Yes, there is some bad food but in general, and especially if you like pork, you are in luck in Germany. How about this Alsatian dish (I know its still France, but also very German), called Choucroute:

Unfortunately this picture doesn’t quite show what a porky wonder this meal really was, so let me describe it. On the bottom was a really wonderful spiced sauerkraut (choucroute) with Juniper berries, literally piled with a selection of pork that only a starving or insane person could eat. I was both. The pork pile included: Lardon (basically a very thick-cut maple-flavored bacon, delicious), a “Strasbourg” sausage (basically like a big, and very good quality hot dog), a thicker and more savory sausage, a ham steak, and some jambon d’or ( “ham off the bone”, which was sliced right off of a giant ham rotating on a mechanical spit just inside the door of the restaurant, SO GOOD).

In Germany proper, we ate quite a few traditional German dishes which I typically enjoyed very much. At worst, I would find the food uninteresting, but satisfying, and at best I would be delighted, finishing it off with a crisp German beer. We were lucky to stay for 5 days in a no longer operating guesthouse owned by an old family friend of Alissa’s in the small town of Mappershain, near Weisbaden. Heidi, who grew up there running the place as a guest house with her family, prepared us many wonderful traditional German meals, many prepared over a wood fired stove and including produce from her oversized garden. I didn’t really get any photos though, shame on me.

I would also like to mention that I love the German breakfast, even more than the French: satisying black bread, rolls, butter, cheeses, yogurt, soft boiled eggs, and always a good selection of cured meat. I could eat it everyday. Here is a picture of (part of my) breakfast at Gasthaus Lowen, in Opfingen, near Freiburg in the Black Forest:

Now this is a breakfast to get your day going right: delicous smoked Black Forest ham, dense and hearty black bread, cheese, butter, some excellent liverwurst, and a touch of OJ. Not pictured, probably already in my belly, was some yogurt with raw oats, a soft boiled egg and a couple cups of coffee with fresh milk.

Anyway, it was a great trip, and we had a great time. I gotta run now, but stay tuned for more pig posts. Sorry about the long absence. I won’t leave you again. Here are a couple more pig pictures to tide you over. I forget what the sign in German says. Someone tell me.

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This afternoon I was thinking fondly about how delicous the food was at Texas Hill Country was last week, and decided that I should swing by there for a follow-up sampling after work. It was hot as all hell out today, and I just wanted to go for a “lite” meal of a couple of ribs and a side or something, and I figured that the by-the-pound model they have would make that possible and very affordable.

It was Tuesday, so I was a little surprised to see that the place was pretty much a zoo when I got there at 8:20 pm. They said there was a 15 minute wait until they would even give us a meal card. We gave them our names but ended up not having to wait very long at all. The friendly hostess came and got me and gave me the run down of the restaurant. I have to say that over all the staff at Hill Country is very friendly, and go out of their way to make you feel welcome, which I like.

The line at the meat counter had died down to just a few people. We got in line and decided on our orders. The line moved like arctic molasses while a doofy guy in front of me heckeld his buddies about their inability to decide on an order and proclaimed his opinion that this place was nothing but a gimmick. He seemed kind of like a wiener:

The doofy guy and his friends moved along, and when I got to the front I ordered 2 pork spare ribs and a leg quarter of the smoked “market” chicken. I headed over to the sides counter and got a small order of the “Texas Caviar” which is basically a cold bean salad made with black-eyed peas.

We went down and grabbed a seat. Again, the ribs did not disappoint. They were pretty much just like I remembered which was what I hoped for: simply loaded with smokey flavor, and delicious. The outside, a little chewy and savory with a touch of sweetness, the inside tender and firm and dripping with flavor. Also, I would like to point out that this rib was freaking ENORMOUS:

I thought that bigger ribs tended to be tough and harder to cook. Obviously not in this case. I am in love…I would love to figure out how to cook a rib like this, but it seems daunting to say the least. It is so good.

Now enough gushing about Hill Country. Yes, the food is awesome, but it is by no means affordable. I guess that is fine for them though, cause they are packing the place in every night with a bunch of expense-account weilding Manhattan-ites. My 2 ribs were almost $10. Yes they were big, but 2 ribs for $10, that is pricey. I also got a small leg quarter of chicken (delicious and more affordable, almost $4) and a side of the Texas Caviar, which was fine, but just a small cup of bean salad for another $4. So, 2 ribs, 1 small piece chicken and some beans ended up costing almost $20. That is definitely Manhattan pricing, but then again, it’s in Manhattan. I realize I was spoiled by my first trip there when they picked up the tab for the band…I guess I just gotta hope we get another gig there!

Even though they should probably count as more three, we can add on two more ribs for the Year of the Pig. That brings the count to 108 ribs, or 3 pigs 18. Thank you the pigs!

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This past Monday, I was getting ready to head out to M Shanghai’s regular monthly gig (every first Monday of the month) at the Rodeo bar, when I checked my email and found that our gig had been cancelled. The Rodeo bar has been having some kind of trouble with a city inspector, and so they had to shut down that night. I read on in my email and found out that the same guy that books the Rodeo Bar also books the new barbecue restaurant that I have been dying to try, Texas Hill Country, and he offered to let us have our show there instead, as long as we “promised not to defect” from the Rodeo bar. I was very excited, and promptly headed out the door, to make sure I got some time before the gig to check out the food, which I have heard very good things about.

In case you haven’t heard, the long awaited Texas Hill Country opened a few weeks ago in New York City, conveniently located for me, only a couple of blocks from the PATH station in Chelsea, on 26th Street. The idea of this place is to duplicate a Lockheart Texas Style barbecue joint in Manhattan. It seems they have spared no expense, even trucking up loads of native Post Oak, which only grows in Texas, for smoking. The space itself lookes great, and still has a nice relaxed atmosphere. The downstairs area, where they have music is a nice big venue filled with long wooden tables, and I thought the sound in the room was quite good too.

I was most excited to learn that Hill Country feeds the bands and picks up all the beer, which is sadly not always the case in New York. They handed me a meal card, which you can take to individul stations or to the bar. You order what you want and they mark it on the card, and you pay when you leave. It seems like their system can get kind of chaotic when they are busy, especially with the seating, but I had no problem. I got in line for the barbecue, which is all served by the pound. The menu includes Brisket, Beef Shoulder, Prime Rib, Beef Ribs, Pork Spare Ribs, Pork Chops, Kreuz Sausage (pronounced “krites”), Market Chicken, and Game Hen. It all looked good I must say, but I ended up sampling the Moist Brisket, the Pork Spare Ribs, the Kreuz Sausage, the Beef Ribs, the Coleslaw, the Deviled Eggs, Baked Beans, and Potato Salad. I was impressed with everything I tasted, except for the Beef rib, which was completely dry and frankly terrible. I have to assume it was a fluke based on the quality of everything else. If it wasn’t free, I would have taken it back for sure. Everything else I had was excellent and above par.

As for the Spare Ribs, absolutely delicious: juicy and firm, smoky with a spicy, chewy exterior and a very attractive red smoke ring all around the meat. They were unreal, and come highly recommended! It may not be pork, but for the record, the brisket and sides were all delicious. I liked the coleslaw very much, and all of the other sides that I didn’t try looked really good too. There is a lot more on the menu I want to try, and I will be back, trust me. Probably many times.

A word about sauce: Don’t drown your food. Their bottled sauce is even called “If You Gotta Have It.” I stuck my finger in some of it and tasted it. It made no impression, but then, I was really concentrating on the barbecue. This style of barbecue is typically sauce-free, and that is how I would recommend trying it!

I sure hope we get to play there again, cause that was a really great night for me: playing music, wonderful (free) food and free drinks, plus a really great atmosphere and very friendly staff. Hill Country might be my new favorite NYC venue to play in, and I could see myself becoming a regular there. I am a defector!

To keep up the count, I had 2 spare ribs at Hill Country, pushing the Year of the Pig count up to 106 ribs. Thanks to all pigs involved!

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A few weeks ago, I got a new smoker because of the sorry inadequacy of my electric smoker. Do not buy one of those. They are lame. If you want a good and still affordable smoker for home use, get the one I got, the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker, which you should be able to find for around 180 smackers. It comes recommended even by serious Pitmasters, and is capable of kicking out some top notch barbecue. Also, there is a great website obsessively dedicated to its use: The Virtual Weber Bullet which is quite helpful for getting you started and is loaded with clear instructions and lots of pictures. Here is a proud picture of my new Weber Smokey Mountain, happily cohabitating with Phil, the garden gnome:

Over the past two weeks I have fired off the Smokey Mountain a few times to test it out for shorter smoking sessions and have smoked trout and chicken a couple times, with good success. And so it was that yesterday was its maiden voyage for smoking ribs. The night before I had trimmed and generously coated 1 1/2 racks of spare ribs with Magic Dust, covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. Around 10 am or so I took them out and put them in the rib rack, ready for the smoke.

Then I got the smoker set up and lit a small chimney of charcoal, around 20 briquets. I decided to test out the Virtual Weber Bullet Page’s “Minion Method” which basically means that you start with a small amount of lit briquets on a pile of unlit ones, so that they gradually light the other ones at a slow, long pace, supposedly keeping a very steady, slow burning, low temperature fire.

I have to say compared to my other brief experiences with this smoker so far, this method really made it a breeze to operate at a steady temperature. After lighting a small chimney of charcoal, and loading the coals and meat in the smoker, it was off and running. I tossed 2 or 3 good wet chunks of hickory and a small handful of oak chips on the coals for smoke wood. At the beginning I babysat the smoker and adjusted the bottom vents some, but the temperature quickly stabilized right at what I would think is an ideal temperature of about 220-230 degrees (measured with a candy thermometer at the top vent). And that was that! The ribs were smoking away by around 11 am, and for the next few hours I went about my business. I checked on the smoker every 30 minutes or so, but it needed almost no adjustment, and just kept burning away at the right temperature. After a couple hours, around 1:30, I opened the smoker and turned the racks over in the rib rack and gave them a little spritz of apple juice:

After having the smoker open a while, I noticed that the charcoal did start to flare up from the oxygen, and I had to close the bottom vents all the way to try and keep the temperature down as it flared up, approaching 250. I was expecting to smoke the ribs for around 5-7 hours, so around 3 I opened up the smoker again, to turn them and spritz them again with apple juice. At this point they looked pretty close to done to me so I got my butt in gear making the sauce (see Apple City Barbecue Sauce Recipe from the last post) that I was planning to coat them with for the last 20 or 30 minutes of smoking. This sauce has ground up bacon and apples in it, so that is pretty cool. Everything is better with bacon right? So why not barbecue sauce!? I had cooked up the bacon earlier, and I whipped up the rest of the sauce as fast as I could, and gave the ribs a nice coating to let it set up for a little while. The sauce was quite tasty on its own, trust me, and at that point the ribs had a nice looking coating of Magic Dust that looked even better.

I let them smoke for another 20 or 30 minutes, and then opened up the smoker again. They looked wonderful!

I took them off. I had smoked 1 1/2 racks of trimmed spare ribs on the top grate, and the three large “tip” pieces that I had trimmed off on the bottom grate with some kidney beans.

I let the ribs rest on the cutting board for a little while. It was a lot of meat for me to contemplate since I was home alone with no one to share them with, but this was my first time trying ribs in my new smoker and it was nice to try it without feeling like I needed to feed anyone. I cut up some of the trimmings to put in the beans, and froze the others along with a half rack of ribs, to see how they hold up for freezing…

Of course, I didn’t hesitate to slice off a couple ribs for an early dinner, and sat in the back yard and tried them. My first impression was that they looked perfect to me with a nice solid but not charred outside. The inside showed a nice red smoke ring around the edge of the meat, the first time I have really gotten that in ribs that I have cooked. And how did they taste? Fine. Very, very fine. I was giddy about it really. The meat was juicy and succulent. The sauce and the magic dust rub gave it a nice spicy robust flavor that was delicious and went very well with the juicy, smoky pork flavor of the rib meat. The texture of the rib meat was firm and meaty, but moist and tender and full of flavor. I am sure there are lots of other ways I can learn to cook ribs equally well, but I really don’t know what I could do to make them much better. I just hope I can reproduce these!

These ribs were basically cooked following the “Apple City Barbecue Grand World Championship Ribs” recipe out of the book Peace, Love and Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue which I plugged in the last post. I used the rub and sauce from the recipe, but used different smoking methods and hickory and oak rather than apple wood, which I am sure would also be delicious. I think this rub and sauce are a winning combo, but if I had to give most of the credit to one over the other, I would say the Magic Dust is a real winner. Try it out!

As for the rib count for the Year of the Pig, counting what I had the day I cooked them and for leftovers over the next week plus the half rack that I froze, I had another 14 ribs, putting me well over the 3 pig mark at a 102 ribs. And thank you piggy!

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