Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Ribs
I'll start with an apology to my vegetarian friends. This post is not for you.
On Father's Day, I decided that one of the things I wanted to do was use my BBQ to cook some spare ribs. We went to Costco and bought a package of ribs on Saturday along with some other meal items. I then went home to research how to fix them.
The internet has a lot of conflicting suggestions on the best way to make BBQ ribs on the grill (vs. a smoker). I reviewed this and determined that if nothing else, I needed many, many hours to cook them right. I was up for the challenge once I picked up some extra charcoal and mesquite chips at the grocery store.
I am NOT a gas BBQ person. I prefer charcoal as much for the experience of lighting it and the pride in the fire I make as in the actual cooking.
On Sunday, we made the rub with a recipe I found on the internet and wrapped the ribs in foil covered with the rub in the morning. Not quite the overnight marinating that is suggested, but good enough.
I started the fire at around 2:30pm. I got my foil pans of water ready per the indirect cooking suggestion and soaked my wood chips. At 3:10pm, the ribs hit the grill.
Over the next few hours I tended the fire and turned the ribs every half hour. I added wood chips and charcoal throughout the afternoon. The goal is low heat and slow cooking, but it was lower heat then I expected. One thing I didn't have was a thermometer to make sure it was the right temp. I also didn't get as much smoke as I expected from the wood chips (I'm sure that my neighbors thought that it was too much smoke though!). The rub was fully cooked in and for the last 1/2 hour I added BBQ sauce to cook in.
We finally had dinner when I removed the ribs at 7:00pm. The first rack that we had was fully cooked. The general consensus was that they were good, but a little more salty than we prefer. The ribs were not tough, but also not as tender as I expected.
The 2nd and 3rd racks were a little pink, so we decided to cook them some more. The fire was still going, so I added some coals and went for direct cooking over the fire vs. the indirect method used the rest of the day. I cut these into smaller portions (Drew's suggestion) and let these cook another 1/2 hour while turning them occasionally. These have made great leftovers for meals and are better than the first rack. We used a different BBQ sauce on these too which might make a difference.
Total cooking time was around 4 hours for the first rack and an additional 1/2 hour for the other two racks. If the family will put up with it, I plan to try the slow cooking method on something else again and see if I can perfect it. The overall process was time consuming, but very enjoyable.
Cooking meat over fire that I get to eat off of the bone -- a great Father's Day!
On Father's Day, I decided that one of the things I wanted to do was use my BBQ to cook some spare ribs. We went to Costco and bought a package of ribs on Saturday along with some other meal items. I then went home to research how to fix them.
The internet has a lot of conflicting suggestions on the best way to make BBQ ribs on the grill (vs. a smoker). I reviewed this and determined that if nothing else, I needed many, many hours to cook them right. I was up for the challenge once I picked up some extra charcoal and mesquite chips at the grocery store.
I am NOT a gas BBQ person. I prefer charcoal as much for the experience of lighting it and the pride in the fire I make as in the actual cooking.
On Sunday, we made the rub with a recipe I found on the internet and wrapped the ribs in foil covered with the rub in the morning. Not quite the overnight marinating that is suggested, but good enough.
I started the fire at around 2:30pm. I got my foil pans of water ready per the indirect cooking suggestion and soaked my wood chips. At 3:10pm, the ribs hit the grill.
Over the next few hours I tended the fire and turned the ribs every half hour. I added wood chips and charcoal throughout the afternoon. The goal is low heat and slow cooking, but it was lower heat then I expected. One thing I didn't have was a thermometer to make sure it was the right temp. I also didn't get as much smoke as I expected from the wood chips (I'm sure that my neighbors thought that it was too much smoke though!). The rub was fully cooked in and for the last 1/2 hour I added BBQ sauce to cook in.
We finally had dinner when I removed the ribs at 7:00pm. The first rack that we had was fully cooked. The general consensus was that they were good, but a little more salty than we prefer. The ribs were not tough, but also not as tender as I expected.
The 2nd and 3rd racks were a little pink, so we decided to cook them some more. The fire was still going, so I added some coals and went for direct cooking over the fire vs. the indirect method used the rest of the day. I cut these into smaller portions (Drew's suggestion) and let these cook another 1/2 hour while turning them occasionally. These have made great leftovers for meals and are better than the first rack. We used a different BBQ sauce on these too which might make a difference.
Total cooking time was around 4 hours for the first rack and an additional 1/2 hour for the other two racks. If the family will put up with it, I plan to try the slow cooking method on something else again and see if I can perfect it. The overall process was time consuming, but very enjoyable.
Cooking meat over fire that I get to eat off of the bone -- a great Father's Day!
Monday, June 11, 2007
Father-Daughter Campout
Hayley and I went to a Girl Scout Father-Daughter campout this weekend. We had a great time! We drove up on Friday afternoon and returned on Sunday afternoon.
Here are some of the activities:
Night Hike - this included a Native American story of how night and day came to be and where the stars and moon came from.
Day Hike - This hike ended with a nice overview of the camp and a rock we got to climb up. We climbed down the other side through a tunnel where we got down with our back on one wall and legs on the other to scoot down to the floor below.
Archery - We got to fire 2 rounds followed by a home-made bolo setup that was fun to try out on plastic PVC targets.
Canoeing - We went to camp with another father/daughter who we shared a canoe with. Our bottoms got wet, so good thing it was a warm day!
Swimming - the camp has a nice pool, so we didn't have to / get to (depending on the point of view) swim in the lake.
Pit - we brought the card game Pit and met a bunch of new friends when we played in the dining hall during some free time. Hayley got email addresses for 2 other fifth graders that we met: Haleigh and Alyssa.
The drive to camp takes about 2 hours without traffic. We left early in Friday with our friends the Koppes to avoid traffic. Once we got past the traffic problem areas we were early enough that we stopped in Old Town Temecula for some micro-brewed Root Beer and locally made popcorn and nuts as snacks.
This was definitely a good bonding weekend!
Here are some of the activities:
Night Hike - this included a Native American story of how night and day came to be and where the stars and moon came from.
Day Hike - This hike ended with a nice overview of the camp and a rock we got to climb up. We climbed down the other side through a tunnel where we got down with our back on one wall and legs on the other to scoot down to the floor below.
Archery - We got to fire 2 rounds followed by a home-made bolo setup that was fun to try out on plastic PVC targets.
Canoeing - We went to camp with another father/daughter who we shared a canoe with. Our bottoms got wet, so good thing it was a warm day!
Swimming - the camp has a nice pool, so we didn't have to / get to (depending on the point of view) swim in the lake.
Pit - we brought the card game Pit and met a bunch of new friends when we played in the dining hall during some free time. Hayley got email addresses for 2 other fifth graders that we met: Haleigh and Alyssa.
The drive to camp takes about 2 hours without traffic. We left early in Friday with our friends the Koppes to avoid traffic. Once we got past the traffic problem areas we were early enough that we stopped in Old Town Temecula for some micro-brewed Root Beer and locally made popcorn and nuts as snacks.
This was definitely a good bonding weekend!
Labels: Camping, Hayley, Rob, Scouts
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
A New Company
A few weeks ago, we were having a husband/wife conversation about whether I would stay with my current company for the rest of my career. I explained that something seems to happen every 2 - 3 years on average that is usually outside of my control and leads to a new job. Of course, it has happened again.
My resume is full of these: Jonas & Erikson going out of business, Great Plains acquiring Solomon, Microsoft acquiring Great Plains, etc. There is sometimes short term pain associated with these changes. However, every change has always had many more positives than negatives. I don't know it that is dumb luck or what.
Last Friday, Hitachi Consulting acquired Iteration2. Yesterday I attended an orientation into the new company. It sounds great. Better perks and benefits, I am continuing to do the same job for now, lots of career opportunity, etc.
Now I need to let all of my customers know and start the process of switching contact info, signing up for new benefits, updating the "work" link on this blog, etc. That is part of the short term pain (not much pain, but it is more than zero).
My resume is full of these: Jonas & Erikson going out of business, Great Plains acquiring Solomon, Microsoft acquiring Great Plains, etc. There is sometimes short term pain associated with these changes. However, every change has always had many more positives than negatives. I don't know it that is dumb luck or what.
Last Friday, Hitachi Consulting acquired Iteration2. Yesterday I attended an orientation into the new company. It sounds great. Better perks and benefits, I am continuing to do the same job for now, lots of career opportunity, etc.
Now I need to let all of my customers know and start the process of switching contact info, signing up for new benefits, updating the "work" link on this blog, etc. That is part of the short term pain (not much pain, but it is more than zero).
