Where am I? I'll tell you. I am located firmly wrapped around my Niece's little finger!
Last week while eating out at a BBQ joint, she sent me a photo of a rack of ribs. She added a caption "I wonder if uncle John can do better?"..
In other words, she wanted me to throw a BBQ. With diabolical genius, she sent the one sentence that would absolutely guarantee a BBQ at my house. She is a newlywed just back from her honeymoon. Her husband, the poor guy, has no idea what he is up against!
I talked to the wife and she thought it was a GREAT idea. She got on the phone and in no time, we had 17 people attending.
5 racks of baby back ribs, 2 beef briskets, smoked sausage, potato salad, and veggie/pasta salad. I had others bring appetizers, garden salad, and dessert.
Not having a smoker or the knowledge on how to use one, I first dry rub the meat, let the meat sit in the fridge overnight, then brazed the meat in the oven for 4.5 hours. Everything was nice and tender! I then brushed them with bbq sauce and popped the meat on the grill just to develop a "glaze".
On one of the racks of ribs, I tried to go spicy. I added what I thought was plenty of cayenne pepper to the rub and also a large does of tabasco sauce to the brazing liquid. The meat was much more tender, but did not really have a lot of spiciness.
Here are some pics..