put that in your pipe and smoke it
Happy 4th of July! It’s Independence Day here in the States and my feelings about this holiday are pretty predictable… not a huge fan, but easily dazzled by sparkly fireworks at night.
What I love about the fourth is most obviously the fireworks. The mosquitoes (mozzies for the Aussies) not so much.
Joey Chestnut unseated the reigning champion, Takeru Kobayashi, at the annual Nathan’s hot dog eating contest on Coney Island today. He ate a record 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes. *erp* Takeru Kobayashi downed an impressive 63 in the same time, but was also suffering from a mouth injury. Competitive eating is serious business and totally fascinating and unappetizing at the same time! No hot dogs for me today, thanks.
We had our July fourth bbq for lunch today. I find the large meal in the evening makes for that fat, sleepy feeling, whereas the large meal at lunch gets worked off with the activities of the remainder of the day – if you don’t go lie on the couch “for a minute”. If you’ll recall, I baked the ribs covered in foil in a slow oven overnight for 8 hours. This morning, I found the meat to be tender and delicate – as in, ready to fall off the bones. Perfect.
lovely spare ribs on the grill
I gently set the slab on the grill at medium heat. Note to self: in the future, when taking the ribs out of the oven, set on a rack to let the fat drip off. The fat that solidified onto the ribs melted instantly and began a short but raging grease fire. Gently, because the whole thing seemed about to fall apart. In the last ten minutes, I brushed on some of the bbq sauce (this time I did a mix of half mutha sauce and half store-bought for more sweetness). When flipping, we had to exercise caution. I used two sets of tongs and for the last two flips, Jeremy helped by using two spatulas so the whole thing wouldn’t be ripped asunder.
july fourth spread
mission accomplished for real: tender, juicy, falling off the bone spare ribs
Of all my bbq experiments, this one got the most mmmms and ooooohs from Jeremy. The spare ribs come from my favorite part of the piggy – the belly. That’s where bacon comes from too. Mmmmm, bacon… auggggggg. If you will recall from the Simpsons:
homer: are you saying you’re never going to eat any animal again? what about bacon?
lisa: no.
homer: ham?
lisa: no.
homer: pork chops?
lisa: dad, those all come from the same animal.
homer: heh heh heh. ooh, yeah, right, lisa. a wonderful, magical animal.
Indeed.
I made a batch of crème patisserie to use up some leftover chocolate chiffon cake and chocolate roulade. With the leftovers from using the leftovers, I did up a couple of chasers in strawberry and cherry. I love cherries – seeds don’t get stuck in your teeth.
marsala-soaked roulade with crème patisserie and macerated cherries
