BBQ'd Ribs

On Mother’s Day I barbequed ribs. I had bought this package of ribs not realizing there were three slabs in it. Oh well, I froze the leftovers for another meal.

I put these on low on the grill—turned off the middle burners (of 4) so that I wouldn’t have to watch these 24/7—after all it was Mother’s Day and I had other things I wanted to do, like nothing.

The ribs looked like they were getting a little dried out after being on the grill for three hours, so I heated up a stick of butter and some red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar. I thought I remembered my dad making this mixture when he barbequed chicken. Seems like you could use it for beef too. Only I think I should’ve basted it from the get go. I don’t know if you can revamp already dried up meat. My dad probably sprinkled his bbq with Stagg or Falstaff too!

I had rubbed the ribs with Penzey’s Spices—Galena Street (Rib and Chicken Rub-Traditional Southern style bbq rub).

About an hour before they were ready, I doused them with bbq sauce (Sweet Baby Ray’s is one of my favorites) so that the sauce will cook on. When you eat the ribs, the sauce and the meat will stick to your teeth. It’ll be chewy. Mmmm, nothing better than chewy bbq.

The ends of my ribs were a little dried out—so I’d suggest basting from the get go!

Rating & Type: E/P

Sloppy Joes

I’ve been told, but I can’t remember who told me (lovely aging process) that my mom made the best Sloppy Joes ever. No one seems to have the recipe or if they do, they’re not sharing. I don’t know where I came up with my Sloppy Joe recipe, but it surely isn’t rocket science when it comes to putting it together.

I have had Sloppy Joes by others that is more like spaghetti sauce or chili in its consistency (although not my spaghetti sauce or chili). Their Sloppy Joe is soupy. I want to shout – put some oregano in this will ya! or where’s the cumin and chili powder for crying out loud? This one Sloppy Joe I had caused the bun to be totally soggy to the point of not being able to pick it up. There’s nothing good about tomatoey soggy bread (soggy bread with gravy, yes, but gag me with the tomatoey soggy bread). Just my own personal preference.

Sloppy Joes should definitely be sloppy, hence the name. But sloppy in the sense that the meat gently falls out of the bun. Not sloppy sog-the-bun. Sloppy Joes need to be eaten with your hands, not a fork.

The pictures of my Sloppy Joes were made with one pound of ground beef. Brown and then drain. Add brown sugar (about ½ cup), squirt in a little catsup, bbq sauce and a tiny bit of mustard. Cook until it’s the consistency you want (but remember, not too sloppy). Just enough sauce to make it juicy. You can throw in some onion flakes if you want, but usually these four ingredients is all I use.

Scoop some onto your bun. Your bun will have just a slight bit of juice soaked in… like my picture here.

You can take a bite or two and watch crumbles of Sloppy Joe fall out of your bun, but this can easily be picked up with your bun like you pick up corn with mashed potatoes. Notice my picture of the crumbles of Sloppy Joe and notice the next picture where it’s picked up by the bun?

Remember, no juicy soupyness for Sloppy Joes.

P.S. I will be totally humiliated and mortified if I find out my mom made soupy Sloppy Joes.

Ingredients:
Ground beef
catsup
bbq sauce
mustard
brown sugar

Rating & Type: EE/B