I have been making and eating some good food here over the past couple weeks
and was wondering what some of you cooks have been making that turned out
especially well, or that you at least made a good effort to make. Yesterday, I
finally, finally got around to making a huge package of spareribs my Dad gave
me a few months before he passed away. His hope was that I'd smoke them on my
smoker and share them with him. Last Wednesday would have been his 76th
birthday, so I finally decided to take the plunge yesterday. I found the
recipe in one of my cookbooks from "America's Test Kitchens" titled "Steaks,
Chops, Roasts, and Ribs". It's a unique book in that each chapter is based on
a certain cut of meat you want to make, but may not know how. This chapter was
called "I want to make spareribs". The method was to apply the rub a day or so
before and refrigerate them to let the rub really work its magic. Then, the
ribs were set on cooling racks set inside rimmed baking sheets, covered tightly
with foil, then baked at 300 degrees for an hour. Then, the foil is removed
and the ribs are baked another hour. Then, you apply a very-generous amount of
barbecue sauce and put them back in for another hour and a half. And then the
quirky part, you wrap them in foil and slide them into a large paper bag, close
the bag, and let them stand for an additional hour. The ribs were very tender,
but I wish I had gone with my gut to brush them with more sauce and run them
under the broiler for a couple minutes before serving, as I found the outside
to be more dry than I prefer. But, the rub formed a very good crust on the
top, and as I said, the ribs were so tender that you could almost seperate them
by just using your hands. It is definitely a recipe I'll make again. Other
good recipes I have made lately were the skillet pork chops with a honey and
soy glaze that I flavored heavily with garlic and ginger, served along brown
rice and a salad of fresh spinach, strawberries, and red onion and dressed with
a sweet and creamy poppy seed dressing. I also made some excellent barbecue
chicken sandwich filling in the slow cooker on a day when Emily and I were
especially busy, so that worked out very well for us that day. I also tried a
recipe for taco chili in the slow cooker, but while it was good, I found it
somewhat underwelming. I also made one of my favorite recipes - Firehouse
chicken. If I haven't mentioned that one on list before, and you like chicken
with a crispy skin and flavorful, juicy meat, be sure to ask. We also had a
picnic with some friends at the park last week where we tried to replicate the
Bonseye burger from Red Robin. For those who aren't familiar with it, the
burger is glazed with teriyaki sauce and includes grilled pineapple along with
all the other usual burger toppings. Those burgers were outstanding,
especially with all the chips and baked beans our friends brought to share.
Some recipes in the works include a simple French toast casserole, an Asian
chicken noodle soup in the slow cooker, pizza buns, which are made much like
cinnamon rolls except you fill the inside with tomato sauce and cheese and
pepperoni before rolling, cutting, and baking. I'm also planning to make
chicken pot pie, a great recipe I came across for chicken thighs, chunks of
Italian sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions all cooked together in a large
roasting pan, and Cobb Salad. OK, not everything I make every day is
necessarily gourmet, but those are the things that stand out. Not every day
lends itself to cooking for a couple hours in the kitchen what with an
adorable but demanding toddler in the house. We have our share of nights with
just plain BLTs, crunchy tacos, or humble wraps for dinner. So, what are you
all cooking or planning to cook?
Jon
