When weather changes your BBQ plans ...

Hi,

If everything had gone to plan, I would have made baby back ribs per request of my family.

Digging into the magic freezer, the baby back ribs I thought I bought were St. Louis loin ribs. Instead of a 3-4 hour cook, I was looking at a 5-6 hour cook. To accomplish this feat with the weather predicted, I needed to have my cook finished by 1:00 pm. I was awake early enough to listen to the doom and gloom, but did not inch my way out of bed.

While not moving from bed, I was spinning ideas in my head for alternatives. I could begin smoking, then when the weather pooped out, I could wrap the ribs in foil and finish in the oven. Except I was really not keen to do anything once I really got up.

I recalled seeing a Cook's Illustrated recipe for Tuscan Grilled Pork Ribs (Rosticciana). I looked it up, it used St. Louis ribs. Once you remove the silver skin, cut the ribs into two-bone portions, salt and pepper, then left the ribs sitting on a rack for an hour at room temperature.

While I still entertained cooking outside via Weber grill or the Weber propane, it began to pour outside. As a dainty little flower, I did not want my sweat plastered hair to get wet. Yeah, it was a bit hot in the kitchen today, because of a freshly made rhubarb pie and potato salad.

Instead, I turned on the broiler, because why not have just a little more heat. I preheated the broiler pan, which I never did before to help bump this along. I painted a light coating of oil on the meat side and added more salt.

If this had been outside, the meaty side would have been placed against the heat source. For indoor broiler, I pointed the meat toward the broiler above. It cooked for about six minutes, then flipped for another six minutes and finished by flipping meat up once more for another six minutes. Meat thermometer tip between the two ribs should register 175 to 185 degrees.

A garlic, rosemary, lemon and olive oil vinaigrette accompanied this. My family preferred Sweet Baby Ray, which I took to mean it did not really matter how I cooked this beast.

As we ate dinner, I sorta apologized for not providing the smoked ribs as promised. My Dad and sister responded, they don't like smoked food. Excuse me, what were you expecting for dinner today? Who knows.

In addition to the rhubarb pie and potato salad, there was (pick your Balkan country) cabbage salad and German sauerkraut salad (skipped the red pepper and added a quantity of applesauce instead of grated apple).

By the time the dishes made their way to the dishwasher, I went back to bed.

So how was your holiday?

Regards,
Cathy2

Sounds like a rough day, but with a tasty outcome -- even if you didn't get the applause you deserved. Really impressive endeavor -- and clever solution to the weather problem. Hope you got a good night's sleep after all your work.

Pouring rain, no grilling. No cooking either. So we went to eat at Smashburgers. Easy peasy.

Sunday and Monday I took food I made.

Sunday and Monday I baked Basque cheesecake. I made that recipe 3 times in a week. ”The Jewels”has a sale on Philly cream cheese and I bought their eggs on sale last week.

Sunday I also made ”chip and sea”. A mix of potato chips, nuts, seeds, heat, and nori that is addictive and ridiculously easy, just like the cheesecake.

Sunday I made a pretty easy batch of 100% wild yeast focaccia as well.

And yesterday I used the cream cheese in a savory application for a cheeseball, also easy as dirt + Ritz crackers were on sale.

Pics from last several days are on Instagram b/c I can’t upload from my phone. Swipe left past the cute kidney and pup for food. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx8dL00FTvy ... 3ppm7vpb8p