The Catch-up Continues! George Smokes Ribs and Barbecues Chicken!

Hi again, Biddy!


This entry will cover two meat-cooking adventures: James Villas ribs in mid-spring, and barbecuing an entire chicken a la Cooks Illustrated last weekend.


First, the mid-spring ribs. James Villas' "Smoky Oven-Roasted Spareribs" called for baking and basting the ribs in sauce. He calls for liquid smoke in the sauce, but George and I don't have liquid smoke and we aren't fired up about using it anyway. Instead, we used our stove-top smoker! If you don't have one, I'd love to get you guys one at some point! It's just a small metal drawer-shaped thing that comes with wood chips of different varieties. You can actually do some awesome smoking on our tiny, tiny stove!


We used baby back and spareribs. We smoked them in the smoker using hickory chips for 45 minutes. Then we basted them in Villas' sauce: 


1 1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. water
1 c. ketchup (the only thing we use ketchup for in our household!)
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
3 Tb light brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp liquid smoke (we didn't do this)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes


You simply simmer the sauce ingredients for 10 minutes, and then baste the ribs with the sauce in a 350 degree oven for 2 hours, basting at least every 20 minutes. See below!

George's smoker! You put some of the wood chips in the bottom of the smoker, and then place the meat-filled rack on top of it. You slide a lid over the entire thing, and cook it on the stove! The wood chips smoke and the low temperature, smoky environment slowly cooks the meat.

In this photo, we're halfway through the baking and basting process. 

We served it with greens and my favorite cole slaw recipe from James Beard. It's a light, simple slaw, but it is absolutely delicious and very flavorful. WARNING - this will likely require a trip to the spice aisle of your grocery store. We definitely didn't have mustard and celery seed sitting around. 


James Beard's Chopped Slaw (from American Cookery)


Mix one head of cabbage with 1/2 c. olive oil, 2-3 Tb vinegar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp celery seed, 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp dry mustard. Let it sit in the fridge for an hour and you're done!

The James Beard cole slaw. So light, but so flavorful!!

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm always too hungry to show you pictures of a beautiful final product. I didn't remember until we were almost done! Delicious!!

Let the meat cooking continue! Last weekend, we grilled an entire chicken using a recipe from Cooks Illustrated The New Best Recipe. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to finish it without overcooking it, but it basically worked. We had to put the thighs back on the grill, but in the end all of the pieces were cooked to perfection.

All good chicken recipes begin with brining. We definitely skip this step from time to time, but it helps to keep the chicken from drying out during cooking! We typically brine in the fridge for about an hour, when we have the time. The  brine has 1/2 c. salt in two quarts of cold water. It takes up a LOT of room in the fridge!

The rub! We were serving dinner to Amy and Paul, Carol and John, and Eileen. We definitely needed two birds!

George rubbed each chicken with three tablespoons of the Pantry Spice Rub in The New Best Recipe:

2 Tb ground cumin (does this mean Biddy can't have it?)

2 Tb curry powder

2 Tb chili powder

1 Tb ground allspice

1 Tb ground black pepper

1 tsp ground cinnamon

George grilled the two whole chickens over indirect heat breasts side up for half an hour. He had hickory wood chunks in the fire for smoking (we soaked the chips in water in advance to make sure that the hickory didn't flame). After a half-hour, George flipped the birds and cooked them for another 35 minutes. He removed the bird and let it rest (the resting is my least favorite part of cooking meat!). When he carved it, he noticed the legs weren't quite done, so we put those back on the grill. Very flavorful!

The finished product.

Again, I didn't remember to document this dish until it was almost gone - but we made pate out of the livers in the chicken! I cooked the livers on the stove and then put them in my mini cuisinart with a shallot, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. Delicious!!

Two delicious meat meals. I could not have done these meals on my own; good thing George is motivated!! Tonight? Seafood sausage gumbo!!!!! A la Paul Prudhomme!


More recipes to come. Happy Cooking, Biddy!


Claire