Back from the Northwoods
Although it's not quite the "promised land" that Joe-Be-Wan recently returned from, the northwoods are pretty much the "promised land" to native Wisconsinites. Below is a picture of the lake that my family cabin is on.
We arrived at the cabin Saturday afternoon so I did not have time to BBQ anything. But that doesn't mean we didn't have BBQ. I had brought along some pork shoulder I had frozen from the last time I made it so we enjoyed that Sat. night. Sunday I made another easy meal, pork chops, since I spent most of the day replacing some boards on the facing of the cabin roof that needed to be replaced to stop some leaks. See my work below. :)
Monday night we went with burgers. Not too exciting so no pictures of the burgers. Tuesday I decided to make the smoked chicken. No rub this time, just lots of kosher salt and fresh black pepper. The fire was a little hotter than it should have been, but I anticipcated it would be due to the grill I was using. The chicken was done in a little over one hour and was awesome. I prefered this seasoning and smokey flavor over my past attempts when I used a rub. Picture below.
Wednesday we went with ribeye steaks. I marinated them all day in a beer marinade that I had found online awhile back and my wife loved. I will post the marinade on our recipes page. The steaks turned out very juicy and tender. I liked the marinade alot better this time on the steaks because the oregano flavor was not as strong as the last time I made them. See pictures below.
Thursday was the big test. Could I adequetly smoke a rack of spare ribs on small, square shaped grill? The answer, YES! I have been waiting almost a month to make the Maple Glazed ribs from Raichlen's Ribs book. After tasting them at Joe-Be-Wan's party a few weeks ago, I knew I had to make them. I trimmed and rubbed the ribs on Wed. night and sat overnight in the fridge with the brown sugar based rub on them. I took them out and let them get to room temp. as I got the grill ready. After about an hour, they were on the grill and the smoking was pouring out of hte griil. We spent the afternoon hanging out on the pier and swimming but I had the grill within view so I could see when I need to add more wood. After only about an hour, the ribs had already taken on a smoked look and we ready for the first glaze application. I brushed the glaze on the ribs and let them go another 30 mins. I then glazed them again, wrapped them in foil, and put them back on the grill. It was about 2:30 at that time so I figured I would just keep them wrapped until we ate around 5:00. I unwrapped them again at about 4 to check them and glaze and add more glaze. I could tell already that they were going to be very tender. At 5 I took them out of the foil, glazed them again, and placed them directly over the fire. Five mins later I took them over the grill. They were so tender that part of them actually fell off the bone when I took them off the grill. Although some, myself included, usually say that you don't want ribs "fall off the bone" tender, these were still awesome! The best ribs I have made so far. Pictures of the sweet and sticky ribs below.
Friday was leftovers night so I got to enjoy the ribs, chicken, and pork shoulder all over again!
The one downside to the week was the fact that we were one week early for the Pig in the Pines ribfest that was going on in St. Germaine Aug. 3-5. Normally we would have been up there that weekend but we had to choose an earlier week this year. All week long the local radio station taunted us with advertisements for the ribfest by advertising for ribs from Pigfoot and Sgt. Oink. Needless to say, we may just have to plan next year's vacation around the 3rd annual Pig in the Pines. You can check out the ad for this year's fest here.
All in all it was a great vacation. The weather was a little hot for a few days (upper 80's) especially in the cabin which just traps the heat inside. But it wasn't too bad and even the bullies had a good time.
We arrived at the cabin Saturday afternoon so I did not have time to BBQ anything. But that doesn't mean we didn't have BBQ. I had brought along some pork shoulder I had frozen from the last time I made it so we enjoyed that Sat. night. Sunday I made another easy meal, pork chops, since I spent most of the day replacing some boards on the facing of the cabin roof that needed to be replaced to stop some leaks. See my work below. :)
Monday night we went with burgers. Not too exciting so no pictures of the burgers. Tuesday I decided to make the smoked chicken. No rub this time, just lots of kosher salt and fresh black pepper. The fire was a little hotter than it should have been, but I anticipcated it would be due to the grill I was using. The chicken was done in a little over one hour and was awesome. I prefered this seasoning and smokey flavor over my past attempts when I used a rub. Picture below.
Wednesday we went with ribeye steaks. I marinated them all day in a beer marinade that I had found online awhile back and my wife loved. I will post the marinade on our recipes page. The steaks turned out very juicy and tender. I liked the marinade alot better this time on the steaks because the oregano flavor was not as strong as the last time I made them. See pictures below.
Thursday was the big test. Could I adequetly smoke a rack of spare ribs on small, square shaped grill? The answer, YES! I have been waiting almost a month to make the Maple Glazed ribs from Raichlen's Ribs book. After tasting them at Joe-Be-Wan's party a few weeks ago, I knew I had to make them. I trimmed and rubbed the ribs on Wed. night and sat overnight in the fridge with the brown sugar based rub on them. I took them out and let them get to room temp. as I got the grill ready. After about an hour, they were on the grill and the smoking was pouring out of hte griil. We spent the afternoon hanging out on the pier and swimming but I had the grill within view so I could see when I need to add more wood. After only about an hour, the ribs had already taken on a smoked look and we ready for the first glaze application. I brushed the glaze on the ribs and let them go another 30 mins. I then glazed them again, wrapped them in foil, and put them back on the grill. It was about 2:30 at that time so I figured I would just keep them wrapped until we ate around 5:00. I unwrapped them again at about 4 to check them and glaze and add more glaze. I could tell already that they were going to be very tender. At 5 I took them out of the foil, glazed them again, and placed them directly over the fire. Five mins later I took them over the grill. They were so tender that part of them actually fell off the bone when I took them off the grill. Although some, myself included, usually say that you don't want ribs "fall off the bone" tender, these were still awesome! The best ribs I have made so far. Pictures of the sweet and sticky ribs below.
Friday was leftovers night so I got to enjoy the ribs, chicken, and pork shoulder all over again!
The one downside to the week was the fact that we were one week early for the Pig in the Pines ribfest that was going on in St. Germaine Aug. 3-5. Normally we would have been up there that weekend but we had to choose an earlier week this year. All week long the local radio station taunted us with advertisements for the ribfest by advertising for ribs from Pigfoot and Sgt. Oink. Needless to say, we may just have to plan next year's vacation around the 3rd annual Pig in the Pines. You can check out the ad for this year's fest here.
All in all it was a great vacation. The weather was a little hot for a few days (upper 80's) especially in the cabin which just traps the heat inside. But it wasn't too bad and even the bullies had a good time.
2 Comments:
At 7/30/2006 9:28 PM,
Joe-Be-Wan said…
Well done young Pig-i (hence, take on Jedi). Looking the grill you were using, and the meat you produced, you have truly reached the next level- expert meat with little resources.
So for the maple glazed ribs, maybe it wasn't just me- maybe it just makes them that tender. The leftovers I had convinced me that they weren't too tender- they just "happen" to fall off the bone.
I'm saddended you didn't do the white sauce w/ the chicken. I know you don't like it much, but it goes so well w/ the chicken.
Welcome back to MCW. I'm bringing in my Sunday's smokings, so I expect my new computer to be installed pronto.
At 7/31/2006 9:00 AM,
T-Bone said…
Mmmmmm Ribs. You forgot to put the "M" on the chimney for "Moist." The "H" for "Heat" is already there.
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