Dear Customers,
As summer vacation begins its third and final month, I’m struck by just how quickly the first two have sped by. In my mind it seems like it was just the first of July and now the entire month is gone! Don’t misunderstand me, I’ve loved the warm weather, the sunshine, and yes, even the rain!
When it rains, my first thoughts are, “don’t have to water the garden” and “this ought to help fill the pool up!” The rain we got in late June really “greened” up the lawn again. Nothing is more desolate looking than a front yard full of brown grass. Some years the only reason to mow is to keep the weeds all the same height!
August is jammed full of special events; the McKean County Fair, the Big 30 Football Classic, back-to-school shopping, the start of practice for all the fall sports and, of course, the big elephant in the room – the first day of the new school year!
And speaking of getting an education. . . the summer of 2023 was when I finally learned how to cook spareribs on the grill! In the past, whenever I would try to cook a rack of ribs or two, they’d come out tough and rubbery. I’ve tried direct heat, indirect heat, cooking them most of the way done in the oven before putting them on the grill. Nothing worked the way I wanted it to.
Then I tried cooking them on a pellet grill with a recipe provided by the grill company. It seemed very time consuming, and it was! It takes six hours to cook three racks of baby back ribs to perfection. First, you remove the silverskin membrane from the bone-side of the ribs using a sharp knife. Season both sides of the rack liberally and cook at 180°F for 3 hours. Remove the ribs from the grill and wrap in a boat of aluminum foil. Drizzle a mixture of ½ cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup honey all over the ribs and wrap tightly. Cook for two more hours then remove the foil and return the ribs to the grate. The last hour finishes the job, and this is when you add any BBQ sauce you prefer.
If you like delicious spareribs that literally fall off the bone, then you’ll want to try this recipe. It can be found on the Traeger website, and it’s called BBQ 3-2-1 ST. Louis Ribs.