Mike -

Got those China Reds going yet? Did you buy the already made spice pack or did you make your own? I've got another hour or so before I get things going. Had some nice aged mesquite logs stacked on the side of the house, so me and the sawsall made some nice big smokin chunks. Just going to do a light smoke - wifey not real fond of smoked foods - I'll get her turned around one of these days - sure.

Scott

Beach,

About one more hour or so, we're going to be eating later this evening. I'm thinking about maybe 2-1/2 to 3 hours on the grill. These are babybacks, I don't want them exactly "fall off the bone", I'd rather have a little "chew" to them.

I did buy a premixed 5 spice powder (see the Ty Ling bottle on the left in the first photo) , I was going to make my own, but forgot the fresh ginger, so.......
I'm making a few, minor changes to the "China Red", incorporating a few spices and liquids I've found to work well in the past.... but basically they will still be China Red, ala "Mikey"!

Anyway, I've enclosed a photo of the "ready to roll" ingredients, along with about eight pounds of ribs (from Costco) - I'm only using 2 of the 3 racks, the last rack will be frozen for another time.

What it takes to prepare China Red Ribs:

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Ziplocked Ribs, Marinating (Bag on right is the China Red Ingredients, Bag on left is my usual marinade - for fallback, in case of China Red Failure

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About 60 minutes to "grill lighting" and counting! Mike

Beach,

Just reread your post, did you say your using a "sawzall" to cut up wood? What happened to good old chainsaws, axes, hatchets and mauls?


I'm not going to use any smoke, I read somewhere last night that the correct way for Chinese style is NO SMOKE!, they even mist water to eliminate the smoke! I'll try to get back to that article and post it. Maybe I should smoke, I have some mesquite chips, more than enough for these racks. I suppose it would be okay, I'm so used to the smokey flavor. Now you've got me confused, and I'm running out of time to make these kind of decisions!
My wife is also not very fond of smoke - foods that is - I can't seem to get her to quit that other kind of smoking

Mike

Viewers:

For safe cooking habit clarification:

Before I get called on it, the photo shows the marinating ribs on the counter. JUST FOR THE PICTURES, they immediately went into the refrigerater for an overnight marinade!

Mike

Mike -

I was just following the Blue Smoke instructions - they said to smoke 'em! I'm going to do a very light smoke - an hour or less. I can sympathize with your wife - that other smoke is hard to give up - at least I keep it all outside - someday... sigh

Anyway - the Singapores are on

Click to view attachment

Scott

The sawzall is a Ridgid cordless - very handy for a quick chop off the end of a log - I did use a hatchet to make the chunks - does that count??

Beach,

Yea, she keep's it outside too! But when she comes into the house, she smells like an ashtray! But......I give up, the ongoing battle will never be won by me!

The hatchet counts, and if you were to buy and send me a cordless sawzall, I even make allowances for that! (I only have corded Milwaukee's)

Boy, that grill sure looks familiar! I had to look twice, thought you'd been to my house snapping pictures!

I'm going to smoke also, Blue Smoke says it's the only way for China Reds! Who's going to argue with someone who has such a terrific, knowledge filled website like that? Well, mine will be going on in about ten minutes or so!

Mike

I mentioned in a previous post that Chinese tradition is to NOT SMOKE when making ribs. Trying not to take it out of context, here is a link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...agewanted=print
to the page I read that. It's a very interesting article from the NY Tlmes, by Julia Moskin. A bit dated (published back in July, 2004), but still makes for good reading.

I'm quoting from paragraph nine: "The oven used in Chinese roasting looks very much like a modern American barbecue ''pit'' -- a metal box with heat at the bottom. But the heat source is gas, with none of the aromatic wood smoke that defines American barbecue. In fact, smoke is the enemy of Chinese roasting; to prevent it, and keep the meat moist, cooks keep a pan of water in the bottom of the oven."

Hope you enjoy the article, I know I did.

Mike

Beach,

Well, the grill is ready to go, preheated, pan of water to keep meat moist, mesquite chips smoldering with light smoke, custom raised rack oiled, ready for meat:

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Meat is on! (3) racks on left are China Red recipe (from Blue Smoke Webpage), (2) racks on right are "Custom Mike Sauce", a safe fallback:

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Okay, now comes the wait for a couple of hours. Gonna be hard not to keep opening that d!&%m lid! Hey, wait, that's not my job, where is that wench?

Anxious, Mike

Beach,

You must be done by now. Hope yours turned out well. Mine are looking really good about right now! Almost ready to start basting with the honey and Cha Sui glaze! Sure smelling wonderful!

I'd love to have eaten earlier, but we were spending some time with my daughter, home for a few days. They are now up at Giants Stadium, Sting and The Police are in concert, my daughter and friends had tickets. Actually, I'd love to have gone, "I'll Be Watching You" was one of my favorites back in the early 80's! So, I'm missing the concert, she's missing some really great ribs! < chuckle >


Ribs about ready for basting:


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Gotta love grillin'!!!!!!! Mike

Okay, all finito! The saga is over, the fat lady has sang! China Red is now just a contented feeling in our stomach, (well, there were just a couple of leftovers for the coming week)!

Even my wife (who doesn't really care for ribs) thoroughly enjoyed these Far East Morsels! I outdid myself this time, the meat texture just so, oh so right, tender as can be, sugar sweet that melted in your mouth! Succulent, sticky finger licking good! I had all I could do to stop the wife from stealing a few off my plate as I went for another cold one! Once again, Blue Smoke has risen to the challenge, far and away this will be heralded as another great rib success story!

Okay, calm down Mike. They were good though! I have to attribute the tenderness of the ribs to the raised rack. These grill manufacturers really should provide something like this, the warming shelf could easily be enlarged to encompass the entire grill for slow smoking cooks.


Here's the final product:

Glaze applied (three moppings):
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China Red (right), Custom Mikey Sauce (left):
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Been a long day, but well worth the effort! Mike

Cusk -

All done and devoured!

Start:

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Two hours into it: Grate holding at a steady 240 deg

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3-1/2 hours give or take a minute or two:

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The final result? Tender, moist, sticky and gooey - a perfect 10. Flavor - Nancy gave them an 8-1/2, I gave them a 7-1/2. They just didn't have that Asian "zip" to them. The recipe called for thinly slicing the ginger, thinly slicing the garlic, thinly slicing the pepper - I think a coarse chop in the food processor would do more to bring out the Asian flavors. Next time.

All in all it was fun so that makes it all worth it. Nice cold beer helped wash it all down - aaaaah. It's not really Monday already tomorrow is it???

da bum

Mike - the China Reds look FANTASTIC - I'll try those next!

Scott

Beach,

On looks alone, I also give you a ten (if they taste like they look, flavor should also be a ten)! The baked taters and cobbed corn were also a nice touch! So, next time we switch, okay!

You are right, it was definitely fun, though I think I could easily have bought three dinners for what I paid just for the ingredients ('course, most of that is left over for future recipes). I'm learning a lot about Eastern cooking, that's for sure. While ours tasted very good, still not the Chinese "takeout" I'm used to. But I attribute that to the minor changes I made to the Blue Smoke recipe and method, as usual, everything has to get the "American flair". My wife felt it was so much better, but that could also be the extra meat, Costco has terrific cuts, there is a ton of meat between the bones. Takeout rarely has that much, theirs is much more boney. I was also going for just a slight chewiness, but we pulled the meat apart without knives, very easily separating each bone with just slight pulling. The glaze made it, I'm sure, I'm thinking it might also taste good on sirloin tips!

Well, Beach, it was nice knowing that across this country there were two of us accomplishing the same thing at the same time (given the time difference). My pleasure comparing notes on this one! Someday we'll maybe sit across the same table and drink to this! Aaaaaaahh, Monday it is! Mike

Mike -

Yes it was an enjoyable day... I love my new grill and all the experimenting that goes with it. Wifey hasn't gotten into it yet but that's probably because she thinks laundry, ironing, vacuuming, and stuff like that is more important!

It would really be great to sit across one of our tables, enjoy an adult beverage and COOK! One of these days..

Thanks Mike for the great ideas, great posts and the long distance friendship..

Scott

Hmmmmmm, my daughter returned home early this morning from an overnight concert trip to see "The Police" at Giants Stadium. First thing she did upon arriving home (hungry) was to open the refrigerater and grab a handful of leftover "China Red Ribs", nuked them and then wolfed them down. She said I ought to show the local Chinese restaurants how to properly cook ribs! Jeez, thanks, honey, appreciate the applaud! But........... ribs for breakfast? Whatzthat? Oh well, the younger generation! Pleased, Mike

Leftover ribs??? What's that? Kind of like Martha Stewart coming up with ways to store leftover wine - no such thing.

Glad your daughter like the ribs - now I am definitely going to have to cook the Reds!

Scott

Scott,

Look more closely at the photos: I had cooked up in excess of SIX POUNDS of babyback ribs! Always more than we can eat at one sitting, I've found they taste just as well (if not better) reheated the next (or next few) days, without going through all that work again! In fact, guess what I just had for lunch? Hee hee! And still at least two plates full for another day! A quick nuke (after applying a little of the extra sauce) and within four minutes, voila!

Now wine, that's a whole different animal! Open bottles are for quick breathing only! Never for the next day!

Mike

Well I did 5 slabs on Sunday and I wish I had more than maybe one meal for me left over. Smoked them six hours plus. Left the suace for anyone who wanted to add it after but only 2 used any. But then I was feeding my nin grandkids, there parents, a couple friends and one set of in-laws. I was afraid for a minute I might run out. Good thing we als had plenty of seet cord to help fill them up.

And you're absolutely correct on the wine too. I washed my ribs down with some nice cold beer though.

BillB

My daughter recently got me some of those vacuum corks for resealing a wine bottle, and I said, uh, Lisa, you do know we really don't have any bottles that make it to the next day don'tcha:>)

Oh well, it's the thought that counts eh?

Nice fun entertaining and learning topic guys, thanks for all of it!

Bluesin

Bill B,
That was a nice gathering! We were just 4, my wife and I and one couple. I hope your weather cooperated as well as ours, it was a perfect day!

Now lets see; five slabs, one case per slab, that makes, umm, how many beers? <chuckle>



Bluesin,
Well, you can always start your own winery, they seal just as well the first time!

Mike