(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . BBQ! He did come "right over". A Colorado State Open Thread, 6/26/2023 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-26 In last week’s diary, talking about cooking outside, Forester Bob made a comment that the Country Style pork ribs looked pretty good and he would be “right over.” You probably didn’t realize that he was being serious, but by that time we had arranged for him to stop by my house for a couple of days on his way to his summer job. I arranged for him to have some of the ribs fresh off the smoker. The Colorado State Open Thread is dedicated to those brave souls willing to brave perfect summertime weather, perfect winter weather, predominant sunshine, clear star-filled nights, a high ratio of recreation to residents, the most microbreweries in the country, along with many, many wineries and distilleries, crystal clear mountain water flowing down to supply much of the country with water, and sensible politicians (with a couple of notable exceptions). Today, I’m going to post some stories that have a variety of subjects, but I’m going to start by continuing with last week’s subject since it still happens to be fresh (and in my refrigerator). Country Style Pork Ribs, from Costco. They’re not actually ribs; they’re pork shoulders cut into rib-like pieces. As you can see, they have a lot of marbling (fat) throughout. Smoked Pork Ribs The smoker was heated up and the grates were scraped, then sprayed with cooking oil. I do not recommend spraying the cooking grates while they’re on the heat, unless it’s an indirect heat, like I have in my smoker. If you spray it onto live flame, well, I hope your insurance is current. This is how I smoke the ribs, so you shouldn’t be doing this over a live flame anyway. Uncooked ribs, with a rub sprinkled on them These days, there are many rubs that can be purchased in stores to make seasoning the ribs easier. This rub was made by the smoker manufacturer Traeger, but I’ve got some that are premade and some that I’ve assembled myself from recipes in cookbooks and off the Internet. Generally, rubs are made to fit the meat — if you’re cooking pork like this you have some salt, pepper, red or cayenne pepper, for heat, and some sugar (maybe brown sugar), for sweetness. Your recipe may include garlic or onion salt, another type of pepper, especially if you like more heat, some herbs and the quantities of each ingredient can vary. If you go to a spice shop like Penzeys (good progressive company, outlets in Arvada, Littleton and other locations, I think) or Savory Spice Shop (in Fort Collins, Littleton, Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, and maybe another one or two) you can taste their rubs and see if you like them. Rubs are, literally and liberally, rubbed into the surface of the meat and, with these ribs, they can be rubbed into nooks and crannies to help spread the flavor throughout the meat. The smoker was set to the temperature of 225 degrees. This is a pretty standard temperature for “low and slow” cooking of barbecue. Higher temperatures can cook the meat faster, but one thing with these wood pellet grills is that the hotter the cook temperature, the less the amount of smoke. If you set the temperature for something less, like 180 degrees, or even lower, it will take a longer time to cook, but you will wind up with more smoke in the chamber surrounding your meat. 225 seems to be a good compromise when you’re not trying to sear or roast the meat. After thirty minutes, the first turning will take place I’ve had some issues lately where I’ve not been achieving a nice, even cook, so I know I need to turn the meat over around every 30-45 minutes. I took the picture and then flipped the meat, so I forgot it looks better when you can see how it looks on the heated side. Sorry. Guess I’ll have to cook some more and take more pictures. With your smoker (or grill, for that matter) it is important to realize which are the hotter sections of the grill and which are less so. With my smoker, I can’t rearrange things like you can in a charcoal one. A propane or electric smoker and/or grill also has fixed arrangements so it’s good to test your cooking appliance. The way I’ve done it is to just lay down some old bread slices so they cover the whole cooking surface when it’s at cooking temperature. After a couple of minutes, take them off, arrange them in the same order on a table or other surface that can hold them all, and flip them so you can see any differences in the degree of brown of the toast. I knew my smoker had a fan to lightly distribute the smoke and heat around the unit and the side on the right where the exhaust chimney is would be the hotter section, but I hadn’t realized until I did this test that the front and back edges of the grill grates were also very hot because the heat comes up around the metal tray that makes the heat indirect. I keep this in mind as I put things on the grate and I rotate meats so they cook evenly and I don’t leave them oriented in the same direction or always on the outside edges. Swimming in a combination of meat and apple juice. After about an hour, when I judge that I’ve got enough smoke flavoring, I like to put the pork ribs into an aluminum pan to hold them along with their juices. I poured apple juice in to a depth of about a third of an inch to make sure they wouldn’t dry out. This time, I left them uncovered so I could get some more smoke flavor into the meat, but you can cover the meat with aluminum foil to help them cook a bit hotter without drying out. If you do want to cover the meat, you can also just put the pan into your oven and therefore you can keep more control over the heat and it’s easier to keep an eye on them. You can cook these to the point where they’re falling apart like the pork shoulders that are used to provide pulled pork, but I didn’t do that for these ribs. I wanted them to hang together some. You can also spread them with barbecue sauce and let that cook with the ribs for about the last half hour, but since I had three different open bottles of sauce (two were Kansas City style, one was a honey barbecue sauce), I left them uncovered and let my guest, Forester Bob, decide which he wanted. These ribs were combined on the plate with homemade potato salad and some store-bought coleslaw. We didn’t have room for the watermelon; that was saved for the next evening. In other news, more than 200,000 Coloradans have “Long Covid”. That’s about 3% of the population of the state. Symptoms of long COVID Long COVID symptoms may include tiredness, headache, difficulty focusing or paying attention, trouble breathing, pain, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. However, there are many different types of symptoms. They can include (but are not limited to): Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Tiredness or fatigue. Feeling especially tired or sick after exercise or exertion (also known as post-exertional malaise). Difficulty thinking or concentrating (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”). Cough. Chest pain. Stomach pain. Headache. Fast-beating, skipping beats, or pounding heart (also known as heart palpitations). Joint or muscle pain. Pins-and-needles feeling. Diarrhea. Sleep problems. Fever. Dizziness on standing (lightheadedness). Rash. Mood changes (e.g., anxiety and/or depression). Changes in smell or taste. Changes in menstrual periods. Symptoms can go away and come back over time. They may be different from the symptoms you felt when you first had COVID-19. In a posting from the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and the Environment, they cite a 2022 study by the Lieutenant Governor’s “Office of Saving People Money on Health Care” that 10% of Coloradans may have long Covid. That is a bleep of a lot of people just here in Colorado suffering, and my guess is that the higher percentages are in the red counties, like the eastern and western thirds of the state, where there are fewer medical facilities and there was more resistance to vaccinations. Remember, if you have any extra vulnerabilities like a weakened immune system, get your vaccinations and keep washing your hands and sanitizing at the minimum to reduce your chances of getting and keeping Covid. The Denver Post has a long article on this and, I know I sound like a broken record, but they’re now selling a year subscription of their online access for just $4 now. The article is only for subscribers, but I think it’s worth it and I’ll be continuing to cite their stories in the Open Thread. In other news, today the Club Q shooting “suspect”, Anderson Aldrich, pled guilty to the attack and received 5 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus he pled guilty to 46 charges of attempted murder, which had penalties of 48 years each, to be served consecutively. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/26/2177728/-BBQ-He-did-come-right-over-A-Colorado-State-Open-Thread-6-26-2023 Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/