Southern Style Dry Rub Pork Ribs

In many, if not most households, the husband is the master of the grill. Not in this house. The Cajun cooks nothing, and I mean nothing.  So I'm the resident cook and griller, though I am certainly as amateur as it comes. What you read here, is my learning process and what I'm picking up from cookbooks and from research, and frankly might just be all wrong.  I am a gas grill girl for the most part, although on occasion I do also use my Weber kettle grill and I actually do even own a cheap-o smoker. The smoker is too time consuming and needy for my attention span and personality, and the charcoal is generally a hassle and too wasteful for just the two of us. So gas is the winner for me.

In the past, I have always only owned the cheapest gas grills, which consequently also meant the smallest gas grills, but this spring I stepped up on my grill size to one that is large enough to actually do "zone" cooking - also known as cooking a rack of ribs over indirect heat. In the past I've had to bake them and then finish them with a sear on the grill. {I did, of course, christen my brand new grill with my favorite cut of steak, a ribeye, adorned with absolutely nothing.}  

I got a little help with these ribs from an old cookbook of mine, The Barbecue! Bible, along with most of the tips in the recipe. Although adapted, these are dubbed Memphis style ribs (though mine weren't trimmed) for a couple of reasons.  First, they start with a nice, dry rub marinade, using paprika, black pepper, a little bit of brown sugar, salt, celery seed, my fabulous and favorite Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning, garlic powder, dry mustard and just a tad of cumin. Set aside a little bit of the rub mix to use at the end if you like - it adds another layer of flavor and is another trademark Memphis technique apparently.

The ribs are massaged all over with the rub, covered and left to marinate in the fridge overnight or about 8 hours if possible.  Second, they are smoked rather than grilled, or as The Barbecue! Bible refers to them, "smoke cooked." I used some mesquite chips in a smoker box, because that is what I happened to have on hand - the Barbecue Bible author Steven Raichlen has some nice wood blends, and I have the pork blend of hickory, apple and maple already ordered for the next pork round!

An hour into cooking, the ribs are treated with a simple vinegar and mustard mop sauce.  Memphis style ribs are served sans sauce, so the mop sauce is used only for basting during cooking.  I had never tried a mustard based mop before, at least not to my recollection!  Surprisingly there wasn't any strong mustardy taste to the finished rib.

The hardest part for me was trying to figure out when the ribs were actually ready.  From what I've read, there are apparently a couple of tests, none of which are foolproof.  One way is when the meat pulls away from the bone about 1/4 inch or so and is fork tender.  Another is sticking a toothpick in several areas (sort of like testing a cake); they are supposedly done when there is no resistance to the toothpick. Another says to bend the rack to see if the meat splits, another to sort of try to split away the bone to see how easily it tears, and another is simply cutting into the center to look!

These ribs were nice and meaty and finished with a nice, crusty exterior. They had a great spicy bite to them that we both loved, and though they were done at about 2-1/2 hours, I wished I would have left them on just a bit longer.  These instructions are written for a gas grill, and my new grill has 5 burners plus a searing burner and I did have some challenges regulating the heat at first, finding that I had to run 3 of the 6 burners (30,000 BTUs) on high throughout the entire cooking process, in order to maintain the recommended 350 degrees. To be honest, I think these could have gone a bit longer.  They had a nice tooth to them, but had not tightened up enough for me. New grill.  First round using indirect cooking on this grill. Trial and error!  I'll definitely be doing these again.

I tried these ribs as is and they were delicious, but since The Cajun and I prefer our ribs a bit on the saucy side, we passed the sauce at the table.  

Southern Style Dry Rub Pork Ribs
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

1 recipe dry rub marinade
1 (approx. 5 pound) rack of pork spareribs, baby backs,
   or your favorite rib
Wood chips and smoker box

Dry Rub Marinade

2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
2 teaspoons Slap Ya Mama, or your
   favorite Cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cumin

Mop Sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup of yellow mustard
Pinch of kosher salt

Combine dry rub ingredients. Set aside a tablespoon of the rub and reserve for sprinkling on the ribs in the last few minutes of cooking, if desired. Pull the papery skin off the back of the ribs and rub half of the dry rub on the ribs; turn and rub the other half. Wrap and place in the refrigerator to marinate overnight, or for up to 8 hours.

About 30 minutes before grilling, soak the wood chips in water. Drain and place into a smoker box, or make a tray out of aluminum foil. Place the smoker box over direct flame on the active side of the grill - the opposite side from where you plan to place the ribs. Light all the burners on the grill to high - you want to get the grill up to about 500 degrees, or hotter.

Once the chips begin to smoke, reduce the heat on the active side down to medium to medium high. You'll want to maintain a temperature of about 350 degrees, so adjust up or down as needed. Turn all of the burners off on the inactive side, where you plan to place the ribs. Under the inactive side where the ribs are going to be, carefully remove the grates and add a cheap aluminum foil tray right under the grates, on top of the heat tent (but not right on the burner), to catch the drippings, if desired. Fill it about halfway with water. Replace and oil the grates using a pair of tongs and a paper towel folded over several times and dipped in oil, and place the ribs on the grate above the drip pan, if using one.

Grill (or smoke cook as the book says) the ribs without turning, over the inactive side of the grill, for one hour.  Brush generously on both sides with the mop sauce and continue cooking for another hour to hour and a half, or until the ribs are tender and have shrunk back from the ends of the bone.  In the last 10 to 15 minutes of cooking, sprinkle with the reserved rub if desired.

Serve with sauce at the table, for folks like me.

Leftovers? Build a BBQ Sundae!

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Fabulous southern sweet tea infused with strawberry!

Southern Strawberry Sweet Iced Tea

This Southern Strawberry Sweet Iced Tea is a quick and delicious variation of my southern sweet iced tea that is a nice refreshing change from the usual. You can certainly use your own usual tea recipe, or even make adjustments to mine in the strength of the tea, the sweetness, the tartness of the lemon and the level of strawberries to suit your own taste.  Make it your own, but I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.
Strawberries are pretty cheap for us down here right now ($1.50 a pound) that I've sure been enjoying them, and even bought some to put up in the freezer. In case ya missed them... I featured a super delicious Homemade Buttermilk Strawberry Sherbet, showed how to make those pretty Strawberry Fans for a garnish, and I gave a shout out to my Fresh Strawberry Pie, Strawberry Lemonade, and Miss Lucy's Strawberry Angel Cake too.
I promise I do have some other non-strawberry recipes in the pipeline, it's just that I've been busy outside, enjoying this absolutely gorgeous weather, and getting my veggie gardens cleaned up, refreshed, and planted. And I don't mind saying that by the time evening rolls around, I'm pretty darned tired. I just haven't had the time or energy to upload and watermark photos or type up the posts!  Well, it is spring afterall, and trust me - the heat of summer will be here quick and then, well, it's pretty difficult to do much of anything in the garden. The strawberry sweet tea is certainly refreshing after spending the day digging in the garden. Happy gardening!

Looking for regular Southern Sweet Iced Tea instead?

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Southern Strawberry Sweet Iced Tea
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

One recipe of my Southern Sweet Iced Tea, using
   5 tea bags, steeped in 4 cups of hot water for 5 minutes)
1 cup of sugar or sugar substitute
2 cups of fresh whole strawberries, cleaned
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 1-1/2 lemons)
Ice cubes
Extra strawberries, for garnish

Prepare the iced tea according to the recipe (I use 5 tea bags in 4 cups of hot water, steeped for 5 minutes and sweetened with 1 cup of sugar or sugar substitute).  While the tea is steeping, puree the strawberries in a food processor or blender, then pass the puree through a strainer.  Squeeze the lemon juice and set aside.

Once the tea is finished steeping, strain and remove the tea bags and stir in the sugar.  Fill a pitcher halfway with ice, pour the strawberry puree on the ice, add the lemon juice, and pour in the tea.  Stir well and refrigerate. Fill individual glasses with ice, pour over and garnish with a whole strawberry, if desired.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Mint Infused Southern Sweet Iced Tea
Strawberry Lemonade
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Homemade Strawberry Buttermilk Sherbet

A delicious and easy sherbet made with buttermilk and fresh or frozen strawberries. You will love this one..

Strawberry Buttermilk Sherbet

I first found this recipe in Southern Living magazine several years back, but have since revised it by adding more strawberries and less vanilla. It is a wonderful light and low fat dessert for spring or summer and perfect for right now when strawberries are so perfectly sweet and delicious. It could not be any easier, either.

Clean and rinse 4 cups of whole strawberries and put them into your food processor or blender and puree.

Pass the puree through a strainer using a spoon or spatula.  Be sure to scrape out the bowl and then the bottom of the strainer also. These silicone spatulas pictured are perfect for making sure to get the last drop of anything out of a bowl because I'm telling you, they lick the bowl clean.  As with most of the products featured in the Deep South Dish Store, they are another tool that I personally use and nearly every single day in my own kitchen.

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How to Make a Strawberry Fan Garnish

Strawberries are in season now - these below were some from Dover, Florida that The Cajun recently brought home for me.  Aren't they gorgeous?  And they are so sweet and delicious this year.

{And to you Florida strawberry farmers who are plowing under strawberries because you have an overabundance of them and can't get your market price because there is more supply than demand - shame on you! DONATE THEM to a food bank if you don't want to send them to market, give them to the local people that you inconvenienced when you needed them to sacrifice to save your crops during the freeze, let people come pick them for free, but DON'T JUST DESTROY THEM!! Y'all ought to be fully ashamed.} 

Strawberry fans are so simple to make and look so pretty as a garnish for any strawberry dish like this dessert, or this dessert, for instance. {Helps a little bit with the photography too for light colored desserts!} 

Leave the stem intact, or scoop it out and substitute a sprig of mint in place of it. Very simple, yet very elegant.  Give one a try!  Grab some mint from the garden, a nice blemish free strawberry, and a good sharp paring knife. The only Wusthof knives I own is a fantastic 3-piece paring knife set my daughter in law got for me from my wish list at Christmas. I use these knives several times daily, and highly recommend them for everybody.

Grab the berry by the stem with one hand, and with the other hand, use the paring knife to cut slices into the length of the strawberry - somewhere between 5 and 7 slices or so, depending on the size of the berry.  Take care not to cut all the way through to the top. You want to stop slicing just short of the very cap of the strawberry.

Lay the knife flat across the cuts and very gently press down, so that the strawberry spreads.

Leave the stem intact if you like, or a sprig of mint looks really pretty also, so if you'd like to use that, gather the fan back up and remove the stem from the strawberry. 

Using the paring knife, very carefully drill out a hole for the stem of the mint.

Stick the mint garnish on top and press the stem of the mint gently into the top of the strawberry.  Spread the fan out again and garnish.

The All American Burger

The good ole classic All American Burger to me means a good ground chuck beef burger, pickles, tomato, grilled onion, mayo, mustard and ketchup on a toasted bun & topped with bacon and cheese, if you like. 

All American Burger

Saturday was a gardening day so supper had to be simple. Grilled burgers and southern style potato salad.  Grilled corn on the cob would be good too, but we just had that the night before {and yeah, I know, that's a lot of starches} so I settled on the burger and tater salad and it was plenty. Oh, well, there might have been a bit of leftover banana pudding involved there too. 

Since I've previously put up posts for a classic onion burger and my pepper jack stuffed burger, I thought I'd do a post for what I consider to be a basic, all American burger. Nothing fancy or outrageous here, just a simple, classic, ground beef burger with a light brushing of butter, a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and dressed with mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pickles, tomato and lettuce all on a toasted bun.  Throw a little cheese on there, and you've got your classic cheeseburger.  Add some bacon, and you got yourself a nice bacon cheeseburger. Ain't nothin' wrong with that!

I didn't get a photo of the buns, but use the melted butter to brush the insides on all of the buns first, reserving the leftover butter.  Stick them back together and back into the bag or just wrap them up in something; set aside.  Cut the onion into about 1/2-inch thick rings.  Shape the burger patties - but take care not to manhandle them.  You really want to just gently press them down and shape around the edges without handling them too much.  Over handling ground beef will rob your burger of it's tender juiciness and toughen it, so just sort of push the ground beef gently into a patty shape, about 4 inches across. Make a slight indentation in the center of each patty.

Brush the burgers and the onion slices very lightly with some of the remaining melted butter, but only on the top side. Sprinkle the burgers and the onions with salt and pepper on that same side. Reserve the rest of the butter for when you turn the burgers. 

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

A wonderful potato casserole featuring Velveeta, sour cream & diced tomatoes, plus optional garnishes of tomato, avocado, green onion & additional sour cream.

Velveeta Truck Stop Potato Casserole

I have no idea how Velveeta Truck Stop Potatoes got it's name. Do they sell something like this at truck stops? I don't travel the highways enough to know!

The basic recipe for this dish is all over the internet, so I have no idea where it originated. Mine is a little bit different from the traditional recipe which uses red potatoes, a combination of cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, plain diced tomatoes and garnishes with extra tomatoes, avocados, green onion and extra sour cream. The garnishes are really pretty, but it's all stuff The Cajun won't eat so I skip it. I prefer regular baking potatoes, Velveeta cheese, Rotel tomatoes and no garnishes, but you could certainly reverse substitute, or make it your way! It's a different, but delicious potato casserole.

This recipe is family sized for a 9 x 9 inch dish, but doubles great for potlucks.

Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 hour
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

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Velveeta Truck Stop Potatoes
From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

2-1/2 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons of butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup of chopped onion
1 can Rotel tomatoes, drained
1-1/2 cups of sour cream
1/2 pound of Velveeta cheese, shredded

Optional Garnishes:

1 tomato, cleaned, seeded and chopped
Chopped avocado
1/2 cup of sliced green onion
Sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 9 inch baking dish; set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; add the potatoes and cook for about 3-4 minutes, drain and set aside to cool slightly. You just want to parboil the potatoes.

Melt the butter and saute the onions until tender. Add the drained tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Place the drained potatoes in a large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper. Stir in the onion and tomato mixture and toss. Add the sour cream and Velveeta and stir. Transfer to butter baking dish and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until hot.

To Garnish: If desired, garnish top with a ring of chopped tomatoes all around the outside, then a ring of avocado, then green onion, and make a strip of sour cream down the center. Makes a pretty presentation for a potluck or church supper!

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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Old Fashioned Seven Layer Salad

Classic 7 Layer Salad topped with a mayonnaise dressing is a common salad for parties, potlucks, church suppers and holidays, but why not make one just because?

7 Layer Salad

Seven Layer Salad is a good old-fashioned salad that has been around for years. It's perfect for potlucks, church socials, reunions, funerals, and of course, the holidays!!  A salad made with 7 layers, typically with lettuce, sometimes tomatoes, chopped and sliced boiled eggs, peas, celery, bacon and cheese, or really whatever your favorite tossed salad ingredients are. Then the salad is topped off with a thick layer of a mayonnaise based dressing, often Ranch dressing, and tossed just before serving.  Seven Layer Salad was a very popular salad back in the 70s and 80s, and though it kind of went the wayside for awhile, it seems to be making a resurgence. Since I am determined to bring back some of those old classics, I, for one, am thrilled.

For my layers I like to use shredded romaine lettuce, Roma tomatoes, boiled eggs, frozen green peas that are lightly steamed, celery, bacon and cheddar cheese.  I finish it with a slightly sweetened, but tangy, mayonnaise dressing on top. Layer the ingredients from the outside rim of the bowl and then in toward the middle, so that you get a little peek of everything from the outside of the bowl. The dome of a covered cake plate, turned over and placed into a smaller, wide bowl, makes a great container for the party size salad - just make sure it is seated well and won't shift around.

Click Here to Read More & to Get Recipe »

Watergate salad is a well-loved fruit salad, made up of pistachio pudding with marshmallows, pineapple and Cool Whip and often other add-ins.

Original Watergate Salad

This original Watergate Salad is another one of those classic recipes that dates back to the 70s and that just about every southern cook has in their party file, though like everything else, with some variations.  It's still a very common dish at baby showers, bridal showers, and even weddings down south, and I honestly cannot remember a single event that Mama catered where this wasn't expected on the table. As a young girl I had no idea what was behind this dish, and it was years before I had any interest in finding out, but by that time I had fallen in love. Course these days I love pistachio anything, but back then the thought of it very likely would have elicited a totally different reaction and I would have missed out on this tasty treat.

Apparently known by quite a few names over the years, including Pistachio Pineapple Delight - believed to be the original name of the recipe Kraft used when they introduced their pistachio pudding to the marketplace.  A few others have popped up along the way, including Green Stuff, Green Fluff, Pistachio Delight, Pistachio Salad, and Picnic Passion to name a few.

Though nobody has ever been able to verify the story, it is said that a Chicago food writer is the one who assigned the name "Watergate" to this salad, thanks to the political monkey business with the Watergate scandal going on in our country at that time.

I always have a hard time figuring out where this dish belongs. Is it a salad - along the way of say, fruit salad? Or is it really a dessert? Truth is, it is not so sweet that you can get away with having it as a side dish to any meal, but at the same time, it's a perfect light dessert too. Either way, it would be an absolute welcome addition to your Easter menu.

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Recipe: Original Watergate Salad

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 10 min |Inactive time: 1 hour |

Yield: About 12 to 16 servings

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Ingredients

• 1 large (1 pound 4 ounce) can of crushed pineapple, in 100% pineapple juice, drained - reserve the juice
• 2 small packages of instant pistachio pudding mix
• 1 large (16 ounce) tub of non-dairy topping (like Cool Whip), thawed
• 2 cups of miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts, optional

Instructions

Drain the pineapple, but reserve the juice!! Stir together half of the pineapple juice with the pudding mix until well blended. Gently fold in the Cool Whip and carefully stir in the pineapple, marshmallows, and pecans. Add additional juice only if needed - you want this to be moist but not runny. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour or preferably overnight.

Serve in individual clear goblets or retro ice cream dishes. 

Variations:  Add 3 to 4 bananas, sliced; garnish with shredded sweet coconut and/or Maraschino cherries, drained.

Source: http://www.deepsouthdish.com

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Posted by Mary on March 22, 2010

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Paula Deen calls it the Ultimate Coffee Cake, Rhodes, the Butterscotch Bubbleloaf, some still call it Monkey Bread or Pullapart Bread. Whatever you call it, it's pretty darned delicious!

Butterscotch Pull Apart Bread

I'm sure everybody has a recipe like this, made with frozen bread rolls and butterscotch pudding. Even Paula Deen makes it and calls it the Ultimate Coffee Cake, and I made it too, so here it is! Mine is an adaptation of the Rhodes Famous Butterscotch Bubbleloaf, but it's virtually the same recipe that Paula uses too. Nothing could be easier either since you pretty much just dump very convenient Rhodes frozen dinner rolls into a bundt pan and sprinkle the top with butterscotch pudding the night before you want to have this for breakfast.

I've seen just about every imaginable variation of this pull apart bread though - some using biscuits, some using frozen bread dough that is thawed and cut up, some dipping and rolling the individual pieces in the butter and then in cinnamon sugar, some let the bread dough rise, then sprinkle it with the cinnamon sugar, let it rise again, then dip it, some using only granulated sugar, some only brown sugar, some a combination, some a little bit of sugar, some a lot more, some mix the pudding with the sugars, some don't use pudding.

In other words, if there is a way to change this up, somebody's probably already done it! Have I mentioned that I'm a bit lazy?  That's why this version is great - you don't even have to thaw the rolls!  After you add the dry pudding mix to the frozen rolls, you sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture on top and then add chopped pecans.

As y'all have seen with my breakfast casserole, I'm not real hip on things that you have to remember to put together the night before to begin with (too lazy and forgetful), so while you do need to do the night before assembly or earlier in the day if you're making it for later, I love the simplicity of this recipe. It really is basically a dump recipe. Once you get everything into the bundt pan, you just pour some butter over it all and set it aside somewhere to rise.

No dipping and rolling and all that - though I'm sure if you want to take the time to do that it can only make it better. But for this, just dump it all in a bundt pan, cover loosely with a bit of plastic wrap and stick it in a safe place overnight (or for about 7 hours or so) and then bake it.

Known by a few names - pull apart bread, monkey bread, and bubble bread to name a few - it's just delicious and so easy to throw together when you let frozen dough do part of the work for you. Enjoy!

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Recipe: Butterscotch Pull Apart Bread

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 10 min +7 hour soak |Cook time: 30 min |

Yield: About 8 servings

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Ingredients

• About 20 frozen Rhodes Bake N Serv dinner rolls
• 1 (3 ounce) package of butterscotch cook and serve pudding mix
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, melted

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly butter or spray a bundt pan and add the frozen dinner rolls in the bottom. Sprinkle with the pudding mix.

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of the frozen rolls. Sprinkle top with the pecans and pour melted butter all over the top.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft free place (such as the inside of a turned off oven, with the light turned on), for about 7 hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes. Loosen around the edges of the pan and the center tube and let rest a few minutes; turn out onto a large plate. Let cool slightly and serve warm.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

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©Deep South Dish

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French Market Beignet Doughnuts
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Breakfast and Brunch Recipes

Posted by Mary on March 21, 2010

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