Cooked my first ribs . . . unplanned, of course.

Scene: Bedroom, late afternoon/evening. Lump under the covers, vaguely human-looking, obviously a night-shifter. Somewhere, a phone rings:

Me: (grunt) . . . H’lo.
Wife: Hi, Sweetie. Time to wake up. It’s 4:15.
Me: ‘m up, ‘m up. Where ya at?
Wife: We’re at my parents’ house. We’ve been invited for dinner and I’m just seeing if you’re ready to cook.
Me: I can be ready. What’m I supposed to cook?
Wife: Well, since you were talking about trying ribs, we planned on having you cook those. Mom bought 2 racks of . . . ( Rest lost in crash of phone hitting floor.)

The race was on. The challenge? Cook my first baby-backs, do it reasonably well, and do it in time for 3 small children to eat and get to bed at a reasonable hour, all with no prep work done. Can I do it? I hurried to the in-laws’ house to see.

I started the process about 4:45pm with making a rub, peeling the membrane, and setting up the grill for indirect cooking (gas, sorry all you purists out there ). Once they were on, I mopped about every 20 minutes with a mix of apple juice, soy sauce, and white wine vinegar. Towards the end, I applied sauce and let it bake on as a glaze. They came off at 7:00pm. Total time: 2:15, with 1:45 actual cooking time.

Actual exchange:
Wife: Rob, I’m hungry. When’ll the ribs be done?
Mother-in-law: You can’t rush greatness.
Wife: I’m not rushing greatness. I’m rushing Rob. (How’s *that* for an ego-deflator? )

Overall, they came out pretty good. Could have been better, and I overcooked ‘em a little, but I heard no complaints. More than once I heard “Rob, these are good. Whatever you did, it worked.” They were moist, especially the middle ones, with a good flavor.

BTW, lights out for the kids was at 8:30. I made it.

Here they are, rubbed and ready to cook . . .


. . . and after cooking. I was looking for the ends to recede the 1/4 inch, but didn’t see it. It’s a good thing Karen got pushy.


My daughter, Gillian, enjoying a rib.


The wife, with our youngest. I guess Clarissa wishes she had teeth.


Rob - TX Sandman

If the family was happy then it was a job well done. Way to go, great story.

Way to go,I loved the story.Your daughter isn't the only one who wishes,that she had teeth .
Bill

Woo hoo! you did it (and impromptu, with a time table - great job!!) the mop sounded really tasty. loved the story - great writing!

Enjoyed the well told story very much and got a big bonus with the pictures following it. Now where's my rib? Waaaaaah! (While I still have my teeth )

Bob-BQN wrote:

Enjoyed the well told story very much and got a big bonus with the pictures following it. Now where's my rib? Waaaaaah! (While I still have my teeth )

I hate to break it to you, but we lost 'em. They never made it off the table.

Thanks for the comments on the story, everyone. I guarantee that's *exactly* how it happened (minus some rather colorful comments not suitable for a family show.)

Rob - TX Sandman

Rob, ditto, great story , great pic's. Thanks for sharing a family "Q" moment.

I really enjoyed it.

TX Sandman wrote:

Scene: Bedroom, late afternoon/evening. Lump under the covers, vaguely human-looking, obviously a night-shifter. Somewhere, a phone rings:

Me: (grunt) . . . H’lo.
Wife: Hi, Sweetie. Time to wake up. It’s 4:15.
Me: ‘m up, ‘m up. Where ya at?
Wife: We’re at my parents’ house. We’ve been invited for dinner and I’m just seeing if you’re ready to cook.
Me: I can be ready. What’m I supposed to cook?
Wife: Well, since you were talking about trying ribs, we planned on having you cook those. Mom bought 2 racks of . . . ( Rest lost in crash of phone hitting floor.)

The race was on. The challenge? Cook my first baby-backs, do it reasonably well, and do it in time for 3 small children to eat and get to bed at a reasonable hour, all with no prep work done. Can I do it? I hurried to the in-laws’ house to see.

I started the process about 4:45pm with making a rub, peeling the membrane, and setting up the grill for indirect cooking (gas, sorry all you purists out there ). Once they were on, I mopped about every 20 minutes with a mix of apple juice, soy sauce, and white wine vinegar. Towards the end, I applied sauce and let it bake on as a glaze. They came off at 7:00pm. Total time: 2:15, with 1:45 actual cooking time.

Actual exchange:
Wife: Rob, I’m hungry. When’ll the ribs be done?
Mother-in-law: You can’t rush greatness.
Wife: I’m not rushing greatness. I’m rushing Rob. (How’s *that* for an ego-deflator? )

Overall, they came out pretty good. Could have been better, and I overcooked ‘em a little, but I heard no complaints. More than once I heard “Rob, these are good. Whatever you did, it worked.” They were moist, especially the middle ones, with a good flavor.

BTW, lights out for the kids was at 8:30. I made it.

Here they are, rubbed and ready to cook . . .


. . . and after cooking. I was looking for the ends to recede the 1/4 inch, but didn’t see it. It’s a good thing Karen got pushy.


My daughter, Gillian, enjoying a rib.


The wife, with our youngest. I guess Clarissa wishes she had teeth.


Rob - TX Sandman

Hey Rob,
Those are nice pix of your family, where are you in the pix?

Tim

Rib Man............Saves the Day!!! Cool story. Looks like your efforts were truly enjoyed by everyone. Looks like your youngest wishes she could have enjoyed the ribs too. Nice looking family............and ribs, too!

Amazing what a bump will do!

I thought those pics looked familar............you got me!!!!

It really is amazing! I thought this thread was long gone.

dickeydoobbq wrote:

Those are nice pix of your family, where are you in the pix?

I'm the one behind the camera, of course. ( Yeah, like you didn't expect that line.)

Actually, Karen took a picture of me one night. She decided she needed proof I was out grilling after an ice storm.

T-Rex wrote:

Rib Man............Saves the Day!!! Cool story. Looks like your efforts were truly enjoyed by everyone. Looks like your youngest wishes she could have enjoyed the ribs too. Nice looking family............and ribs, too!

Thanks! Yeah, everyone really liked the ribs. It was a lot of fun, except for the whole "surprise"-kinda thing.

Rob - TX Sandman

Good job, way to do under pressure.

nice job

very nice, good story!! makes me hungry