Mixed Grill w/ Spicy Bourbon Sauce

Happy Monday everybody!  Honey Caramel Ice Cream won out the poll (by a landslide!) last Friday, so look forward to that sometime this week.  We had a pretty good weekend, going out to dinner with friends and just enjoying this beautiful weather!  Which has turned into gray skies and cold rain!  What a way to start a week off huh?

It was a beautiful weekend in our neck of the woods.  Temps were 65F or above and guess who had to work on Saturday?  Me!  Couldn't enjoy any of it!  Well, any of Saturday, anyway.  I did get a pleasant surprise when I came home Saturday night though - found out I got a $2000 scholarship toward the Fall Quarter of Culinary School!  Major score!

Good thing I had Sunday off... and the weather was still just as nice.  So we took the opportunity to bust out the grill for the first time this year and fire up some good meats!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Bon Appetit's recipe


For Marinade:


3/4 cup dark brown sugar
6 large garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup mild molasses
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 & 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tablespoon Sriracha
salt and pepper, to taste
3 green onion, chopped

For Meat:

1 rack of baby back pork ribs (2 lbs.)
8 beef back ribs (3 lbs.)
8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon bourbon

To prepare your marinade, in a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, garlic, molasses, soy sauce, rice vinegar, chili powder, ginger, and Sriracha.  Mix until sugar is dissolved.  Season with salt and pepper, to taste, then add green onions.

Sprinkle meats with salt and pepper on both sides. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Place pork ribs and chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet.  Place beef ribs in a metal baking pan.  Use half of marinade to coat all meats and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.  For remaining marinade, cover and set in fridge until ready to grill.

Position one oven rack in bottom third of oven and another in top third of oven.  Preheat oven to 350F.

Add beef broth to metal pan with beef ribs.  Place ribs meat-side down on top of broth (if not already in that direction).  Cover baking sheet with pork and chicken, as well as pan with beef, tightly with foil.  Place chicken and pork on lower rack and beef in top rack of oven.

Bake the chicken and pork for about 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and open foil.  Cut pork rack into individual ribs pieces and place on a large platter.  Place chicken on platter, as well.  Bake beef for a total of 2 hours, then remove from oven and open foil.  Place beef ribs on platter.

Carefully oil grill racks with a kitchen towel and fire up charcoal grill under medium high heat.

Meanwhile, prepare your bourbon sauce.  Pour the pan juices from pork, chicken, and beef baking sheet/pan into a medium saucepan.  Carefully spoon off the fat.  Boil juices until reduced by half and slightly thickened, about 25 minutes or so.  Add bourbon (I used Woodford) and bring mixture back to a boil.  Remove from heat and season with salt, pepper, and additional Sriracha, if desired.

Place meats on grill (I had to do this in 2 batches - had enough room for the pork ribs and chicken on the first batch, and then the beef ribs on the 2nd batch) and brush with reserved marinade.  Grill until slightly charred, about 10 minutes or so, turning occasionally.

Serve meats with prepared bourbon sauce and your choice of grilled veggies (we stuck with potatoes and asparagus). 

This was definitely a great way to kick off the grilling season, let me tell you.  We tried to invite people over so we wouldn't seem so gluttonous with all this meat between the two of us, but nobody bit the offer.  So they definitely missed out!  So next time you need an idea for a barbecue/cookout - let this be your answer!  Enjoy your Monday guys!

Lazy (Wo)Man's Ribs

You know the keyword is "lazy" here. Lazy doesn't imply sloppy or not good either. Lazy just means that this is little to no effort... and what kitchen gadget provides that little or no effort appeal? You guessed it... THE CROCKPOT! I don't think these recipes are going to stop either, so you better get used to bringing out that thing and enjoying the food that comes out of it! These ribs are truly so easy you won't even believe how great they turn out.

Ingredients:

About 8 or more Pork Short Ribs
1 Cup Brown Sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/8 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder

Turn your crockpot on to the high setting.

Stack the short ribs in first. Then, one by one, just "dump" each of the above ingredients (and feel free to improvise, because that's exactly what I did here!) on top of the short ribs.

Once all the ingredients are in there, you can either use your hands and be primal with it, or take a spoon or tongs and just move the ribs around so that they're evenly coated with all the ingredients.

Then cover the crockpot and cook on the high setting for about 1 hour. Then switch to low and cook for about 8 hours, or at least 5.


Yeah... it was THAT easy. This was probably the best ribs I've made so far. The meat was tender and falling off the bone. There was a sweetness from the brown sugar and a savoriness from the rest of the spices. It was great and I hope you try this! Enjoy!

Soy-Spiced Braised Pork Ribs

I have a confession. I was oh so excited about these ribs. It was a night where I had to work and I was just gonna let these babies braise in the slow-cooker all day and just be tender and fall off the bone meat. So didn't happen. I made the mistake of setting the temperature too low and it was like they sat in luke warm water all day. The flavor was there, the meat was cooked, it just wasn't what I had envisioned... but so it goes... as adapted from Foodies' Kitchen

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sake
1/4 cup sherry wine
1/4 cup sugar
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
1 lb. pork ribs
1 to 2 cups water

Alright, I've got to start out by saying that the ribs were probably the meatiest ribs I've ever bought. I've never seen ribs with so much meat to bone ratio. With that said, let's get on with it...

Combine all ingredients, except ribs and water in slow cooker. Stir to dissolve sugar.

Add the ribs and add water until ribs are about 2/3 covered.

Crank slow cooker to high until mixture comes to a boil. Then simmer down at low for 8-9 hours. Don't make it too low like I did, or you'll just have lukewarm liquid around the ribs and they won't get tenderized properly.

And that's pretty much it. I did make a quick sauce out of the braising liquid though.

Take 1 cup of liquid and heat in small saucepan under high heat. Mix 1 tablespoon of corn starch with 1 tablespoon cold water. Add to saucepan and stir until thickened. Take off heat and season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over the ribs.

Andy said the best part of the meal was the mac n cheese. It was the Annie's Mac N Cheese, which I personally think is the best boxed kind you can get. He said the ribs were good, he didn't care for the cinnamon spice in there, but he said they weren't bad. That's a nice way of him telling me I shouldn't make that again for a long time. But anyway... you win some and you lose some. And if you guys haven't signed up yet, sign up for the next Foodie Fights, where i'll be the judge since I won this last competition with cumin/pecan. Thanks to all that voted! Enjoy!