My brilliant Jess thought to jerk them and then grill them...did I mention she's an unparalleled grillmistress? Some sort of strange alchemy occurs when you combine a piece of meat, a hot grill, and her skill (unintentional rhyme!) with timing. She's also really pretty, so it's like dinner and a show!
Tonight, I witnessed that magic first hand as I acted as sous chef and let Jess take the reins. We found a nice slab of ribs, around 5 lbs, nicely meaty but with just enough fat to keep things interesting. This slab also had a great "skirt," which is not an item of clothing in this case but is rather a nice bit of meat that's somewhat on the outside of the rib bones. First, Jess cut the skirt from the main slab leaving us with two gorgeous pieces of pork goodness. Ooo baby... She had me salt and pepper the two pieces, squirt them with dijon/wine mustard, and then sprinkle each liberally with jarred jerk seasoning. She rubbed the mix in to the meat and we gazed in awe...
Cue the "Hallelujah" choir!
These two beautiful pieces went onto our hot grill to sear, about 15 minutes on each side. The grill was then turned on low so the pieces could brown and cook but retain their moisture.
Seared and sizzling...
Jess flipped them often every 10-15 minutes to make sure they cooked evenly, rotating them over the hottest part of our grill. They smelled heavenly!
After about 40 minutes, the skirt was already done. So we ate it! That's pretty much what the skirt is for...it's an appetizer for the cooks while you wait for the main event to finish. Ribs are so clever! We made up a quick batch of the mustard/jerk mixture and basted the slab with it about an hour into the grilling process. It began to make a beautiful crust almost instantly.
After an eternity (ok, ok, only an hour and a half) of smelling good smells and hearing meat sizzle and gazing into the open grill with rapture, our slab of ribs was ready!
Grilled meat was a great invention. Well played, cavemen.
The ribs were covered in foil and left to rest for 10 minutes on this cutting board to reabsorb some of their juices. The suspense nearly killed us; we drank some beers to maintain sanity. Feel free to do the same while you wait!
I made up a quick batch of broccoli and onions so as to not look like complete savages. After the slab was chopped up into its component riblets, we ate like there was no tomorrow!
We thought about just eating the meat. But veggies are good for you!
What an amazing meal. If I may say...it was positively rib-stickin' good. ;)
Try it. You'll like it.
-Sam
I'm considered the grill master of the family myself. Will have to try these along with the cream spinach shrimp and grits.
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