Ribs, redux

Since my dear friend missed the first round of ribs – through no fault of her own, I might add, as outside influences conspired to keep her away – and since they were such a hit the last time around, I decided that Saturday would be a good day to go another round with the smoker, and see if the previous success could be recreated.

As faithful readers would know, in our last rib episode, we had ribs and zucchini gratin. Those menu items were repeated today. I made a few tweaks to the rib rub to incorporate slightly less of the chili powder and add some ginger and allspice instead. Llikewise, I made a couple of tweaks to the gratin to make the sauce a bit thicker and experimented with a larger grating of the gruyere – the sauce was a winner, but I liked the look of the microplane grated cheese versus the box grater, so the next time I’ll return to that.

In the meantime, one sister, who has been dictating the menus, is going to be wrapped up in her two jobs and church (Catholic, you know) until after Easter, so I am taking requests from others within the fam and the immediate circle for items to include on the menu. Filet mignon came up while we were sitting around the table talking in the after-eating portion of the dinner program. That will probably make an appearance on the next cooking day, once I decide what to serve with it. Heck, it might even be nice to have some lump crab in a beurre blanc with the steak itself. You never know. But what sides? Main dishes are so much easier to come up with that suitable sides for them, for some reason. Why is that?

4 thoughts on “Ribs, redux”

  1. Hi
    Dee’s mom again. She told me about the ribs and hope you don’t mind but I am going to copy and try. She said they were wonderful and that is high praise from my baby girl.
    Hope all is going well. Helen

  2. I heard how great they were! By the way, seems like you write as well as you cook, some feat I must say! I enjoy reading your stories…
    Audrey

  3. I’m all for people trying whatever loony things I’m doing here. I wouldn’t want to be the only one engaging in such folly.

    Thanks, Audrey. If someone would share, you might get your hands on a rib yet…

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