Fourth of July Rib Cook-off

This past 4th of July weekend rocked...in short, I saw old friends, met new friends, took in a great bbq and fireworks and really let myself be free to romp around downtown Wilmington. It was a great weekend. Exhausting, but great!

Of course we planned a bbq and while doing so it only seemed appropriate to spice our day up a little with a little competitive cooking....

I challenged my good friend Debbie to a Rib Cook-Off and man did we ever have a throwdown on our hands. Her ribs were a different style than my own, so it really was hard to judge our ribs because they were so different...like trying to judge apples and oranges.

My ribs were slow cooked with a rub in the oven, wrapped in a foil packet with a little water to provide a slow steam. Then, just before the meat falls from the bone I remove them and begin the basting process. I think my trick is to let the ribs come to room temperature...that way the fat seizes a little and they stay juicy. I also prefer to taste the rib itself and then the sauce compliments the smoked meat. I finish them on a charcoal grill to get the crisp, burnt edge texture and lovely smoke flavor.

Debbie's process was to boil the ribs for about an hour, pull them out of the water and then pour on her bbq sauce, cover and refrigerate for 3 hours. Then she finishes them on the grill.

Now about the sauces...I made the sweet, rich, dark and sticky rib sauce with lots of brown sugar, molasses, tomato, vinegar, onion and so on...Debbie mixed Scott's BBQ with a mustard based bbq sauce. As I mentioned before, our styles were totally different as were our bbq sauces. This made it difficult to judge...so we went for overall taste.

Our judges certainly dug in and gave us great feedback "Top Chef" style. Jen told us if we used my technique and Debbie's sauce she would declare them the perfect rib. She loves a mustard-based sauce, but loved the texture and juiciness of my rib cooking technique.

Susan is in love with Debbie, but has been best friends and my roommate on two different occasions, so she was completely impartial...and Tracy decided we both did a fantastic job and declared it a tie.

It was so much fun to compete and have fun and of course, TASTE, our delicious creations.

As a side note, I made some of the best collards fresh from the farmer's market that morning.

I'm starting to really like the blogging idea, if not for more than a journal of my life with food, friends and family.

Hopefully you had a fun 4th celebration and got the chance to enjoy a good old bbq!

Rockin' the Reiss Reunion--Sheboygan, WI

I am recovering from my weekend in Wisconsin, still, and I returned four days ago. Brats and Beer Pong will do it to me every time. As I enter the second half of my third decade on this earth I wonder how much I have aged my insides with all of my adventure eating. I'm no lanky 5'9" chef, instead I carry that unforgivable and non-reduce-able-mid-drift which clearly shows I'd rather drink red wine at night with my neighbor's Patty and Martha than walk 'the loop' which is so conveniently located at the end of my street. I live in bikini country as well, but for some reason I am more motivated to track down a local goat cheese I keep hearing about than lifting weights. Maybe I'll strike a balance...til then, I must go on....

Back to why I was up up in the mid-west. Every 3 or 5 years my maternal grandmother's family has a reunion at my great uncle Peter's farm in Sheboygan, WI. I missed the last one and really wanted to get back to a wonderful part of the country to see some of my mom's side of the family I actually like. Perhaps someday I will enlighten you to that whole family drama, but today is more about the food than the funny farm.

My blog is supposed to be about my culinary adventures, my inspiration for the food I create and should hopefully entertain the would-be readers who stumble upon it.

Well, without further ado, I give you....the brat...no, not a whiny, spoiled child...the bratwurst.

If there is one thing that comes to mind when I think of my family reunion it is always eating bratwurst, with visiting the Gibbsville cheese store as the runner up. Every time I go to a reunion I promise myself, and my digestive tract, I will be gentle and only eat one brat...but then three brats into the day/night I have forgotten this solemn vow and have a love affair with the German born sausage which my family has feasted on for decades. Please, if someone can tell me, why is it that a brat taste SO much better when eaten in it's hometown? I swear, brats taste better when eaten in Wisconsin and for those of you who don't know, Johnsonville brats are made in Sheboygan County.

This year my mom and I decided to give Meisfield's a try. We went to their meat store and hit pay dirt...baby brats, msg-free brats (the downside to many a sausage is nitrites and msg), summer sausage, local Wisconsin cheese...needless to say, my second checked bag on my flight home was actually a soft-sided cooler packed full of epicurean delights!

During my short stay mind went crazy (maybe it was all of the beer?) and all I could do was think about what to do with brats. As I ate my second brat for dinner on Friday night I started to think about incorporating them into an omelet for breakfast, then I had an even better idea...slivered brats with peppers and onions on a pizza...FOODGASM...right then and there....so now it is my intent to perfect the perfect brat pizza...recipe to come as I test it over the next several months. Oh, man, I just had another idea...brat calzone...boooyah!

This blog is supposed to force me to get back to my recipe testing and cookbook research. My friend Liz Biro is a professional writer and is always telling me to blog...so I hope this first blog will propel me into the blogosphere with the rest of the writers out there and give me inspiration to get back to writing my book. So Liz, when you read this, thank you for pushing me and encouraging me. It does help to write about my experiences and I think this blog could really be a motivational source. I owe you....maybe you can come over for a taste test, I was thinking bratsagna?