Pork Ribs and Whisky Stones

This Patriot’s Day, we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and fire up the grill, because what’s more patriotic than some barbecued ribs?  We went with a rack of spare ribs as well as a few racks of baby back ribs.

Peanut butter isn’t what usually springs to mind when someone says, “ribs”, but when we saw a recipe for Peanut Butter Ribs in Steven Raichlen’s Ribs, Ribs, Outrageous Ribs.cookbook, we had to try it.

Besides peanut butter, the marinade included coconut milk, sriracha and soy sauce, and was very similar to Thai peanut sauce.  We slathered the mixture on a couple racks of baby back ribs, and placed them in the refrigerator to rest overnight.

The next day, we cooked them over indirect heat, with a few handfuls of hickory chips for smoke.  The peanut sauce caramelized nicely, much like a regular barbecue sauce, and the flavor paired surprisingly well with the pork.  The ribs had a big smoky flavor and the meat pulled away from the bone easily.

For the spare ribs, we made a bourbon basting sauce, this time from Raichlen’s Barbecue Bible.  We applied a quick rub of salt, pepper and paprika to the ribs and threw them on the grill, basting with the bourbon sauce every half an hour or so.

After they had cooked for about two hours, we wrapped them in foil, along with some of the bourbon sauce, and returned them to the grill for an hour.  When unwrapped, the ribs were tender and moist, with a buttery, tangy flavor from the basting sauce.  In fact, KD liked the sauce so much that she took to pouring it over the ribs before eating.

Since we already had the bourbon out, we decided it was time try out the Whisky Stones that the folks at Teroforma sent us.  Made from soapstone, they are much softer to the touch than expected, and won’t scratch your glasses.

After freezing for a few hours, adding whisky stones to a glass of bourbon will chill the drink down a bit without diluting it.  They look very cool in the glass, and allow you to enjoy the full flavor of a drink while still taking a bit of the edge off.

While it might not be quite the same as battling the British at Lexington and Concord, we feel that we did our patriotic duty by enjoying the American classics, bourbon and barbecued ribs.

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