Clearly, this blawg is my ultimate ticket to wealth, power and fame...I mean, I talk about Class A football AND meat, so it seems like something I can securely stake my financial future on. We've really just started it, though, so the bucks haven't started rolling in just yet. I say that only to indicate that what is to follow is an unpaid endorsement. I received no compensation of any kind to talk about the tastiness of the product in question. My integrity and good name are not for sale anyway...largely because no one has made me an offer yet. In this case it wouldn't matter, though, because I assure you I wouldn't lie about important things like barbecue or sweet tea.
I was having a few people over to watch the Super Bowl yesterday. I love watching football even when I don't particularly like or care about the teams playing, as was the case yesterday. Really, inviting people over for the game is just an excuse for me to cook, which I like doing, and enjoying adult libations, which I also like doing. As I documented in an earlier blawg, I had the smoker out quite a bit last week, doing beef ribs, pork tenderloin and some other stuff. I figured I'd just grill some burgers and maybe make little smokey cocktail weenies and tell the people coming over to bring other stuff if they desired more than burgers and weenies. When I went to the store, though, I saw that baby back ribs were on sale for three dollars a pound off their regular price. Why, it would just be irresponsible of me as a consumer to pass up those savings, wouldn't it? There's a little work involved in getting the smoker out of my sketchy, creepy shed, getting it going and prepping the meat, but once the ribs go in, there isn't a whole lot of work to be done. So I bought them and took them home. Now, my personal preference on baby back ribs is to put a fairly robust, spicy rub on them and finish them with my homemade spicy, mustard-based barbecue sauce. My wife doesn't like that sauce though (she's a wonderful human being otherwise) and really, most people go for sweeter pork ribs in a red sauce. I mean, all of you people are wrong, but my primary aim is to make the folks I'm feeding happy. Actually, I like red sauce quite a bit, I just prefer mustard. But, in the effort of being a people-pleaser, a sweeter, red rib it would be. I like to use my own rubs and sauces whenever possible, because I can make things taste exactly the way I want and it feels more authentic to do it that way. On Sunday, in order to make the sweeter red ribs I figured everyone wanted, that wasn't going to be an option, though. I do have a sweeter, red sauce recipe I worked up that I like, but I didn't have any in the fridge. It has bacon in it, so it doesn't keep very long and it is hard to store. Making some wasn't an option either, because one of the ingredients is bourbon and it was Sunday and I was out...I did have some recently, must have evaporated or something...hard to see how it does that in a closed bottle...must be real hot in that cabinet. Anyway, I'd have to go the store-bought route, so I checked to see what I had in the fridge. I had some Mountain Q, but it was the jolokia kind, which means it has ghost peppers in it. I dig hot stuff, but ghost peppers are used to make gas grenades in some countries and topical ointments in others. So, eating this would be like chasing down a tear gas bomb with a big glass of Bengay, which is probably more than my wife and guests can handle. Mountain Q hickory flavor does work well on ribs, just oh by the way. I had a few others, but settled on Desert Pepper Trading Company's Honey Pecan Sauce, which I'd bought a few weeks ago. I'd had their salsa before and liked it quite a bit, but was unaware that they made barbecue sauce until I'd seen it on the store shelf. I like trying new sauces, so I bought some. I tasted it and liked it. It was sweet, without being like a big buttload of sugar cubes and you could definitely taste the pecan, but not in a heavy-handed way. The balance was nice and there was some smokiness and heat. It was subtle, but it was there. Of course, once sauce is exposed to heat, the flavor can change, so tasting a finger full out of the jar might not be an accurate indicator of what it's going to taste like in the end. When I was ready to wrap the ribs, I put a little brown sugar and squeeze butter on, which gives them a nice sheen and some moisture. Then I brushed on the sauce and put the ribs back in for another 30 minutes or so. When I took them out and cut them, they looked good, with the sauce and rub (I did use homemade rub) having caramelized nicely. The sauce didn't get runny or gloppy in the heat, it just adhered to the meat like it's supposed to. The ribs had a good color and smoke ring and I can happily report that the flavor of the sauce intensified a little, but didn't change. You could taste the honey, pecan and a little heat and smokiness. The quality of the sauce is pretty high. The ribs were a hit and even I, with my strong preference for spicier ribs, enjoyed them a lot. So, there you go. If you like red sauce on your ribs or anything else, I'm encouraging you to give this stuff a try even though I'm getting nothing in return...other than some dang good ribs. http://desertpepper.com/
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TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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