June 18. Dia de los Padres.
I want my baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back ribs....I want my....

It's Fahzahs Day so it must me one thing; RIBS.

Today I used a modified Raichlen basic bar-be-cue rub; I added 1 tsp of mustard powder; split the paprika into 1/2 Sweet Hungarian and 1/2 Smoked Spanish Paprika; 2/3 of the pepper was white pepper; used Jurassic Salt instead of regular Kosher salt.

I also did not add any sauce like the mistake I made last time. Cooked low and slow at 250 degrees for 2.5 hours; mesquite and hickory wood; in the last 30 minutes I brushed them with some Bone Suckin Sauce (non Hot) to keep them moist (they appeared dry...but come to find out, I was wrong).

We had three BBQ sauces to choose from tonight. Some Kansas City Hickory Sauce from bar-be-cues galore, bone suckin sauce, and Sauce Kings Garlic and Habanero BBQ sauce; or to put it mildly, the sweet KC (ketchupy) sauce, the vinegary Carolina sauce, and the HOT stuff. (Sauce Kings is a local concoction I stumbled upon...delicious). These were added at the table.

In a word, these were the most perfect ribs I have ever made. The temp was constant, the smoke was good and evident in the ribs, they peeled off the bone just like they should and they were succulent. I started at 2:20 pm, took them off about 5:15 and ate about 5:40 pm.

June 3rd. Family visiting. Requested the tri-tip specialty. Made one spicy and one sort of....well, also with same spice rub. Potatoes. F. Mclintocks Trail Camp Beans. (was there anything ever made that went better with tri-tip ?. corn. all-in-all a fabulous evening of food.

Used the leftovers to make a thai-steak like salad.


June 10th. Rosemary hamburgers and some hot dogs and hot links. This is the easiest recipe for turning ordinary hamburgers into something special for your guests. They may be expecting ground beef made into patties, but add some sauted onions and roasted garlic, crushed dried rosemary, tomato paste, Jamaican allspice, Jurassic salt and some fresh pepper and there you go.

The tomato paste mixed into the ground beef not only adds a lovely element but it also makes the grill marks jump off the burgers. Must be something about the sugar in the tomato paste and that chars a bit off the 500 degree grill bars on the Weber Platinum.

No wood this week. Pressed for time. World cup will do that.