TBS & CSR

Last Saturday was my younger daughter's birthday and she requested steak for dinner so I went to the store and found a package of top blade steaks (AKA flatiron steaks IIRC).


I gave them a good seasoning with salt and pepper and drizzled them with olive oil before putting them on the grill over a mix of lump charcoal and windfall oak branches from the yard.


The steaks were nice and rare and we ate them with one of her favorites, Ore-Ida Crispers! fries.


The next day I finally got around to grilling the country-style ribs I'd thawed a couple of days before, using the Country-Style Ribs with Oregano and Mint recipe from Steven's aforementioned rib book. They're made with a 2-step process that starts with a rub


and ends with a marinade.


When I was growing up I never looked forward to my mom's CSRs (which explains why I hadn't eaten any for about 30 years) but these were totally different. The herbs and garlic added a lot of flavor and even though they were thoroughly cooked they weren't at all dry. I grilled them last Sunday morning and our initial plan was to just sample them because we were going to my parents' house for dinner, but we wound up eating 3 of the 4 for lunch. I'd never cooked with mint before and I was a little concerned that the ribs might taste like a porky stick of Wrigley's Doublemint, but that wasn't the case at all.


Brad

Brad:
A couple of great-looking meals you got there. I can tell I'm tired and punchy tonight. I had to read the statement "windfall Oak branches" three times before I understood what you were talking about. I kept thinking I've never heard of the Windfall brand. One question though: How long were those branches sitting around? Once I figured out what you were talking about my next thought was weren't they too green to use?

It's funny my mom was generally a good cook, but I have a few meals myself that I didn't try again for years because my mom didn't exactly do them proud.

Jim

They were pretty dry. The ones I used had been sitting in the garage for awhile and could easily be broken by hand so they burned cleanly.

Unless the wind is really strong most of the oak branches that blow down are already dead, but I can't say that about the other trees in the yard.

Looks like you had a few very nice meals. I know what you mean about childhood "culinary traumas" that keep you from eating certain foods well into your adult life. I'm that way about meat loaf and carrot cake. **shudders** I will use your efforts as inspiration to try to cook some smoked meatloaf before the month is over. Perhaps on Halloween, since it will be a scary occasion.

smokin' gal:
I know what you mean about meatloaf. My mother had two versions of meatloaf. She made one I liked quite a bit and the other one I used to literally go run and hide when I saw we were having it for supper. But I've got to tell you smoked meat loaf is one of the greatest meals known to mankind (gender neutral ). I've made many versions, but I think my favorite version is the one on the Virtual Weber Bullet website. I usually end up making extra loafs because people have been known to have some of the leftovers for breakfast next morning.

Jim