BBQ'd Spare Ribs.....From Zero to Done in 3 Hours

Being in the semi-retirement mode has it benefits. Even my wife Lupe is cashing in on that action.

Here's the story. Lupe works for one of the local elementary schools, Harry S. Truman here in Santa Rita (Guam). As school was getting closer to the beginning of the new year, all hands have been on deck to clean everything up, give the school a new paint job and all else that goes with readying the school for the new year.

Well this past week all the employees brought in pot luck food to feed all the volunteer workers that were not employees of the school. She told me about 10 persons total from the outside. Well, I get this semi-frantic call from Lupe about 8:30 in the morning, about an hour after she left for work. She said that they had a whole lot more volunteers show up than was anticipated. A whole lot more. She asked for my help. No problem, what can I do, right?? Lupe says I need for you to BBQ!! Ahhh, that may be a problem!! I have no nothing on hand to feed the multitudes. She said and I need for you to BBQ Spare Ribs. Oh yeah right!!! Ha, even better yet. I asked her what time is feeding? Lupe says 11:30am. Great, that would mean that I would have to go to the store, buy a case of spare ribs, which will be frozen, come home, defrost them, prepare them, season them, build a fire, grill them and have all that ready by 11:15 so that she can deliver them to the school in time for lunch. Oh yeah, no problem I told her. Just be here to pick them up. I will try my best. Small order...right??

Well, I went to the store, which is 10 minutes away, and bought the case of ribs. Returned home, put them all in the sink filled with water, and defrosted the ribs. Not my #1 choice of defrosting meat, but in a pinch it works just fine. Remember, just like the old days when we didn't know any better. No one died or got sick back then. At least no one I know.

Anyway, while the ribs were defrosting in the sink, I went outside, cleaned out the ashes from my Santa Maria-style BBQ pit from the last BBQ and started the fire with a small bag of Match Light Charcoal. It's the rainy season on Guam and I had a lot of wet wood. But I had some dry stuff, though not enough for the BBQ. That is why I will use the Match Lite as a starter. Works great to start up wet wood, as it did on this day. I loaded up the pit with small kindling on top of the Match Lite and placed my dry stuff with a little of the wet wood on top of that. After about 10 minutes of burning it was all a go.

I went back inside, and started trimming the rib tips off the rib racks. Then I cut each rack in half just to expedite the defrosting. The rest of the rib prep was just rubbing them down with my basic salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powders. I placed the ribs in a large plastic bag to marinate until the fire was ready.

After the rib preparation, I went back out to the pit and spread the fire out, cleaned and oiled the grill down and readied everything for the ribs. Just before I slapped the ribs down on the hot grill, I oiled it one last time and starting cooking. 

Time was a little after 10am. I thought I would have plenty of time for this. Ribs are normally only about an hour long grill time for me. The case of ribs filled up my entire grill. The fire was still a little too hot so I raise up my grill just enough so that the right amount of heat was hitting my ribs. Love my grill. I basted my ribs with olive oil and freshly squeezed calamansi lemons as they cooked. We have the lemons in our garden.

What's great about calamansi lemons is they are not as overpoweringly tart like the regular yellow lemons. Great flavor for BBQ and grilling.

My Santa Maria-style pit (B-Pit) by made by my Son-In-Law, Barry Quinata, Umatac, Guam

Ribs on and cooking nicely.

Ribs are just about done.

Well, when it was all said and done, the ribs were cooked, packaged and ready for delivery by 11:20am. Lupe was waiting and she made the delivery. 

Yep, BBQ'd Spare Ribs from Zero to Done in less than 3 hours!!! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. 

Just another beautiful and fun grilling day on Guam.

Until next time....

BBQ'd Pork Country Ribs

Pork Country Style Rib Dinner

Pork is without a doubt my favorite BBQ meat. Spare ribs are my favorite. But running a close second are Pork Country Ribs. 

Pork Country Ribs are not true ribs. They are cut from the front end of the baby backs at the shoulder. They typically will have part of the shoulder blade bone in them. But they are short at around 5 to 6 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches square. They are meaty and grill fantastically. They are also excellent for low and slow cooking. But I also like them because they are about a 30 min. grill. So if you are in a hurry and want to chow on some great "ribs", this is the cut for you. Fat, Juicy and Tasty. A great "Triple Threat".

Typical package of County Ribs

Well, my wife Lupe had a long day at work. I asked her if she was up for some country ribs. She said she was definitely game. So I figured I would grill the ribs, heat up some fresh, garden picked long green beans in butter and serve with a little bit of butter/herb mashed potatoes.

Long beans (asparagus) harvested from our garden. Heated in butter with a little salt and pepper.

Well about 30 minutes later, dinner was served.

Viola!!!

BBQ'd Pork Country Ribs, Butter/Herb Mashed Potatoes and the Buttered Long Beans

Though this was a very simple menu, it was very tasty and quick to put on the table. We were more than satisfied.

Until next time.

What have we been BBQing lately???? Plenty

Been so busy cooking, both indoors and out, planting and fishing that I haven't posted in a while. So let me show you a few pics of what's been happening......

Grilled Firehouse Burger. You can read about it and see the rest of the pictures here.

Chamorro Burger.

Portobello/Chamorro Burger.

I wrote a blog post on both of these burgers. Read all about them here.

Even did a smoked Yellow-Fin Tuna Burger. Here is the photo.

Grilled some chicken...

Even Eggplant, Pork Chop Steaks and Portobellos went down on the grill..

And we mustn't forget the fresh bottom fish...

So as you can see, there has been a lot going on over here at our place. Planting, cooking and fishing has consumed most of my time. It gets so tiring living this boring life. But I don't have a choice.........I live on Guam. As my good buddy Rudy the Mechanic says, "It's just like that!!!"

Until next time....

Pork and Chicken BBQ- Bare Essentials

Sometimes you just get together and BBQ at the spur of the moment. Unplanned as some would say. But do you ever notice those are some of the best times? And that is exactly what we did on this day.

Our good friends Rita and Peter Carbullido invited us to their home for a little impromptu BBQ. Peter told me he had dry rubbed some pork belly, pork chops and pork country ribs. PORKALICIOUS is what we are talking about!! My favorite meat. Our contribution would be a couple of dry rubbed chickens and of course some finadene' denanche' (hot pepper paste). So I went over looking forward to some good eats!! 

When I arrived, Pete, who has quite an open BBQ pit setup in his backyard patio, was under a tree in the empty land across the street with a few blocks and a grill with the fire already going. That's what I like.....bare essentials. Here is a photo of the elaborate BBQ set up!!

Prep table, a few chairs, some concrete blocks and a grill. Now who wouldn't love that. But the most important ingredients to a great time are great company and BBQ. We had it all!!

Enough with the speech. Don't we always say that pictures are worth a thousand words. Well here are a couple thousand worth.....

Maple rubbed chicken.

Super simple but efficient set up.

Chicken is looking awesome!!

Pete is slapping down the pork rubbed with salt and pepper...

Master griller in action!!

Slicing the chicken because they are hungry. Pete's nephew... a protege in training??

Nope, he is an eater. Must have sampled about 5 or 6 times.

Now he is getting serious!!

Pete's youngest son, Brandon, is polishing off his plate.

Our gals, Lupe and Rita are really enjoying their food. Looks like Lupe is either yawning, sneezing or is enjoying her hot peppers. Hehehehe!!!

To round out the menu, we had a delicious macaroni salad, turkey stuffing and Spanish rice with finadene' denanche' on the side.  Of course we had our share of refreshments. 

We were joined by Rita's parents, Mr and Mrs Blas and another nephew. We had a great time and we were blessed with great weather. 

Just another Guam day.

Until next time....

Pork Spare Ribs BBQ

I did a little BBQ for my daughter, Naomi, because she had just graduated from Nail Technician class. This was a 3 month course to become certified for something that she has been doing for a long time, and that is nail art.

I just had to grill some pork spare ribs because that is what she likes to eat. Naomi prefers baby backs, but for some reason I just couldn't find any that I liked. But big, fat, juicy pork spare ribs are not too bad either.

Anyway I sparked up the grill with some local tangantangan wood and grilled a couple of slabs. Of course first I rubbed them down with Rib Rub (in recipes section) because I planned on saucing these puppies up. 

The sauce that I used on these is a great little concoction of 2/3 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Award-Winning BBQ Sauce and 1/3 cup of Kraft's Catalina Dressing for a little more tang. Applied 2 coats. Bam!!!!! Sinimple and great tasting.

Anyway the final result was very tasty ribs.

I also grilled some chicken for added variety. Just used regular salt and pepper for seasoning.

Had plenty of meat for the party.

I had a blast!! They even got me to try that Wii Game, Dance Party 3. Those kids almost killed me.

Until next time....

Chicken and Pork Adobo

Well last night, Wednesday, is my wife Lupe's weekly Scrabble night. She invites friends and family over for a few intense games. Of course this means, that I get the opportunity to cook. I love it!!!

On the menu were a couple of recipes given to me by one of my friends from FaceBook's 671 Recipes, Maria Puno Ravela. She gave me a chicken adobo and a pork adobo recipe. The chicken adobo recipe is credited to Jean Jasmin. Anyway, I could not decide which one I wanted to cook, so I cooked them both. Problem solved!!

Here are pictures of those dishes:

Chicken adobo with achote powder for the color.

Pork adobo with added achote, tomato sauce and potatoes.

Here are the recipes for both:

Pork Adobo - Maria Puno Ravela

2-3 lbs pork (with some fatty parts, like butt, or belly)

8- 10 cloves garlic

1 tsp coarsely cracked pepper

2 pcs bay leaves

1 1/2 cups white vinegar (datu puti when available)

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 tablespoon sea salt

1. Combine all ingredients in a thick saucepan

2. Cover and simmer over medium heat. Check occasionally and stir to prevent the meat from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

3. Allow liquid to reduce. Cook until fully reduced and only the oil is visible, with the sauce dried into tasty bits clinging to the meat.

4. Turn up the heat to crisp the meat and cook until crispy golden brown.

5. Adjust heat occasionally to prevent the meat from scorching.

6. Serve warm over rice. Allow to cool and store in refrigerator or cool dark part of pantry. When submerged in pork fat and properly cooked , it will keep for several months in the refrigerator.

I did add in one packet of powdered achote (Mama Sita's Achuete [Annatto Powder] 1/3 oz. packet), one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and two large russet potatoes cubed. 

Chicken Adobo

Recipe by: Jean Jasmin

1 lb chicken wings

1 onion chopped

4 cloves garlic chopped

2 Bay leaves

1 bag achote powder

1/4 Cup Vinegar

3/4 Cup Water

Salt

Pepper

Oil

1. Heat oil and Sauté garlic and onion

2. Then add your achote powder stir until dissolved.

3. Add chicken wings. Seasoned with salt n pepper. Let it cook for about 10-15mins

4. Add 1/4 cup vinegar and 3/4 cup water and bay leaves.

5. Simmer until done. You can tell when the soup is thick it's 
cooked.

The directions were easy to follow and the results were delicious. Just about everything was wiped out. There was just enough left over for me to enjoy a taste for breakfast.

If you have the opportunity, give yourself a treat with something different but delicioso....try these adobo dishes. They may just be your new favorites.

And for more fantastic recipes, pay a visit to 671 Recipes. Click on the photo and document buttons on the top of the page just under the 671 Recipes title. That where it is all happening.

Adios for now,

Until next time....

Grilling Babyback Ribs on Guam Video

I thought I would try my hand at making a video. Of course it would have to be one about BBQing or Grilling. This one includes me grilling some babybacks for dinner.

This is my first time out of the chute so please have patience with me. I'm no pro but it is entertaining. I would appreciate any constructive suggestion on how I can make my videos better using Windows Movie Maker (I'm a newbie!!).

You can view this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BELP9-gWvq4

Just click away on the link and roll the film....

I hope you enjoy the video. I am looking forward to a more technically improved video the next time around. Only time will tell.

Until next time....

Rain Stopped, So We've Got to BBQ

Guam Weather Graph courtesy of http://ns.gov.gu/index.html

It is the rainy season on Guam right now. You see, Guam only has 2 seasons, the dry season from January until June and the rainy season from July until December. Of course there is plenty of overlap and being that Guam is a tropical island, it rains every month. But the so called, Monsoon" season is upon us.

So it was with great pleasure that the weather turned for the better and gave us some sunshine. And you know what that means to me......that's right....BBQ!!!!

I jumped right on it, not paying attention to what day it was, and got the pit going. And the menu had to be one of my favorites, baby back pork ribs, and grilled veggies with a little shrimp thrown in. Spur of the moment type thing. You know how that goes. 

By special request, my daughter Naomi wanted me to sauce up the ribs. I usually just like my ribs with dry rub only but every now and then a little makeup never hurt anyone.

So here are photos of what I did and how I did it.....

Got a good lump charcoal fire going...

Baby Backs. Sometimes we have just got to show the backside of ribs.

Baby Backs with makeup!!

Grilled Shrimp

Grilled Veggies

Just off the grill and onto the dinner table.

Now some of you probably know that I usually use my Rueben's Rub seasoning and that I don't give out the recipe. And I'm still sticking to that, but it contains garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, sea salt, Kosher salt, parsley, black pepper and MSG/Accent/Ajinamoto. But it is how much of each that is the kicker. Anyway I also spritzed everything down with my water/pineapple juice, honey and canola oil mix. I was very light on the honey. Imparts a subtle but noticeable flavor that seems to enhance the taste of the ribs. It makes those ribs "pop".

All of this was served with beans and rice.

Well, as usual, I forgot to take pictures of one thing or another and on this occasion it was of everyone eating. So unfortunately this post is lacking. I reserve the right to blame my age. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Hope you enjoyed this little impromptu BBQ.

BTW, you have probably noticed that it has been awhile since I have posted on this blog. That's because I was off island in the States. There are quite a number of blog posts that chronicled my activities over there. You can view those post at my sister blog site, Guam Firehouse Cook.

Until next time....

BBQ for Breakfast?.......Why Not?

When I BBQ and Grill, I always like to cook more than enough so that we will have a few meals worth of delicious BBQ. And one of my favorites for breakfast is leftover BBQ. Ahhh yes, the "Breakfast of Champions". You all know how that is....right? Oh yeah!!!

This morning my wife Lupe and I got up at the crack of dawn, had our coffee and turned out to the yard. We have a small lot of about 1/2 acre but we have so many plants, flowers, ferns and orchids, that it keeps us two old folks busy enough.

Right around 10 o'clock things were starting to wind down and Lupe went inside to cook us some breakfast. I finished up what I had to and went inside to cool off. Lupe told me, "Breakfast in 5 minutes!". That was music to my ears.

She brought my plate out and...whoa!!! What I saw was definitely a culinary treat. I had a feeling something was up when I smelled the aroma of coconut oil in the air.

Here's what I was served by my wife Lupe....

What you see here are the leftover BBQ'd marinated pork spare ribs, with white rice and the sautéed eggplant/green onion/cream cheese omelet.

The unique treat that she served up on me was the way she made her egg omelet. Here is what she did...

First she diced up the Asian eggplants, about 1/2 inch by 1/4 inch thin cuts and also diced up the green onions. She sautéed these in 1 tablespoon of virgin coconut oil. That was the secret. If you have never tried cooking with coconut oil, you are in for one big treat. The flavor, the aroma, is something so unique, it just characterizes the tropical island flair.

While sautéing the veges for about two minutes, my wife seasoned with granulated onion and garlic powders as well as freshly ground black pepper. When finished, she sets this aside.

Next she prepares the egg omelet (6 eggs) using a little butter. After the first flip she "folds" in about 2 oz. of cream cheese then flips the omelet over in half.

She then layers the sautéed eggplant and green onions over the top of the omelet.

The final step is to slice up the omelet so that all the flavors blend into one another and serve.

I have got to say, this was the first time I have tried this dish and it was delicious. Of course I had to pour a little of my Salsa Ranchero over the ribs and a little taste on the omelet just for a kicker. You can imagine, right?

What did my wife, Lupe, have to say about her scrumptious breakfast...."Don't Bother Me!!!!".

This is the "Don't Bother Me" look. Ever seen this look before?

Well, this powered me up for a few more hours out in the yard. It's pure hell working for a slave driver. All you guys out there know what I'm talking about. HeHeHe!!

Until next time....

Pork Balls and Firehouse Chili Beans

Pork Balls and Firehouse Chili Beans. What else would you expect a bunch of hungry firefighters to eat? Well we cooked, we ate, we moaned. But it was good!!!

The pork balls are actually marinated pork butt cubes, cut to about one inch, marinated in Worcestershire and soy sauces and a little Cholula Hot Sauce added to round it all out. On top of this I rubbed it down with Bob-BQN's Brisket Dust Rub.

I then lightly greased up a cooking pan, added the pork and placed this in the oven at 300 F. After about 2.5 hours it is ready to serve.Here are a couple photos of the Pork Balls....

Freshly baked pork balls right out of the oven.

Up close.

The Firehouse Chili is typical firehouse. Quick to make with a lot of flavor.

Here is the recipe....

Firehouse Chili Beans

Ingredients

• One can Hormel Chili with Beans, 15 oz can
• One can Kidney Beans, 15 oz can 
• One Can Stewed Tomatoes, 15 oz can 
• One Can Chopped Green Chiles, 4-5 oz can 
• 2 Tbsp of Bob-BQN’s Brisket Dust (rub) 
• 1 Tsp of Puerto Rican Pig Powder
• Kosher Salt to Taste 
• One Package of Bacon, fried 

Directions 

• Add the can of Chopped Green Chiles and sauté them in their own liquid. 
• Add the can of Chili beans. 
• Add the can of Kidney beans with the water. 
• Add the can of Stew Tomatoes with the water. 
• Add the fried bacon. 
• Heat all this at medium heat stirring constantly. 
• Once it starts to boil, lower heat to simmer. 
• Add the Brisket Dust, Puerto Rican Pig Powder and stir. 
• Taste test then add the Kosher Salt to taste. 
• Continue to cook and stir until the liquid is reduced to a thick sauce. 

Serve hot.

And here are the pictures....

All the ingredients are simmering.

Steaming hot!!!

The sauce has thickened just right and it is ready to serve.

These dishes are easy to prepare, very tasty and pack tons of flavor. This definitely fits the bill with firefighters. 

To round out our meal we served hot corn in butter sauce, white rice and finadene.

What else could any hungry firefighter ask for in a meal?

Try it....you might like it.

Until next time....