I picked up some ribs on Friday gone from my favourite butcher. I didnt order them as a friend does that for me. She has been blessed with a spectacular decolleteage. (Thats massive tits if you didnt know) She normally goes to the shop in a low cut top and short skirt and bats her eyelashes at the butcher and he always throws a few extra ribs in. I could not get away with this ploy but she can and I take full advantage of the fact that she is a good friend. The ribs were supposed to be in sheets but the butcher had chopped and cleaved them for me. I guess he thought he was being helpfull but this wasnt what I had planned for and I could not complain as I got a really good measure for my money.
The problem was I had around 30 ribs and the amount of marinade, dry rub, basting sauce and finishing sauce I would need to coat every single surface was now huge. I spent five hours mixing herbs and spices in industrial quantities. By the time I had finished my eyes were watering because of the amount of chilli and cayenne I had used. But they went in the fridge to marinade over night and then I tossed them around in a large bowl to cover them in the dry rub I had made and then they went into the oven for 2 hours. After a lot of basting and slathering they were eventually ready some 3 hours later.
There were supposed to be 9 people for dinner but only 5 made it and it was impossible to eat all I had cooked but we all gave it a really good try. Even after a bottle of Bourbon, several gallons of beer and some vodka to give us the inspiration to finish them off we could not manage it. However as evryone agreed they were the best ribs that any of us had eaten. technically the barbie season starts in a few short weeks but because of the lousy weather we suffer in this country its hard to know when I be able to clean my grill out and start cooking for real. I guess thats why we dont have any barbecue championships in the UK, you cant rely on the weather. I have actually cooked in all weathers and a couple of years ago I barbied on new years eve at minus 2 centigrade just to prove I could.
Sadly for now its just practise in the kitchen even if we do end up three sheets to the wind.