Kansas City Ribs - Recipe

Like the Outlaw Josey Wales chewing on a cigar, a bottle in one hand a gun in the other, waiting in the arid dust-blown streets to take revenge against the men that burnt down his farm and killed his wife, I stood chewing on a piece of Chorizo, a plastic cup of sangria in one hand a pair of tongs in the other, waiting in the cool suburban night, smelling of after-rain and charcoal, to take revenge on the pig that burnt down my farm and killed my wife.

OK, I should tell the truth here: this pig never did anything to my farm and never laid a hoof on my wife. In fact, unless I am mistaken, I do not have a wife. Or a farm. What I do have is a good recipe for Kansas City style spareribs, and the only way to make it a reality was with a giant rack of delicious pork spareribs. Behold the beauty of this selection as seen when first placed on the grill. I'm really beginning to love grilling, and am dreading the quick approach of winter. I think I will still grill, even in December. Who can stop me?

Kansas City Style Spareribs

5-7 lbs. pork spareribs, trimmed of excess fat

For the Rub
2 Tbsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. hot hungarian paprika
1 1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black peppercorns
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the Sauce
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 1/2 cups ketchup
juice of 1 small lemon or about 3 Tbsp.
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
black pepper to taste

Instructions

(1) Mix the rub ingredients together in a bowl and coat the ribs on both sides. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours. I left mine in overnight.
(2) for the sauce, sautee the onions and celery in the melted butter for about 7-10 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients. Boil for a couple minutes while stirring constantly, reduce heat and simmer for another ten minutes.
(3) The grilling: you'll want to use indirect medium heat for these, so place all the briquets to one side and wait until the flames have subsided. I happened to have some oak wood chips, which I soaked in water for about an hour. Once the flames had subsided I added the chips for an extra nice smoky flavor.
(4) Place the ribs on an area of the grill that does NOT have any coals under it, or it will be charred on the bottom. After about an hour you may need to add a few more briquets on top of the burning ones to keep the fire going, depending on how hot your briquets burn. There is no need to turn the ribs, since this is indirect heat. Leave the lid closed! Total cooking time should be about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. During the last half hour, begin basting the ribs with the sauce. About every ten minutes or so. Reheat the leftover sauce and serve on the side.

These are really, really, very good.

Pinchy

They say that during law school you should "live like a student now so you don't have to live like a student later." I have not really taken this to heart.

True, my rent is relatively low (for D.C.), and I try to pack a lunch on the days when I intern at the Superior Court, instead of eating small, overpriced sandwiches from "gourmet" chains like Costi and Au Bon Pain-ful For Your Wallet. But I can't resist using a healthy chunk of the financial aid on luxury foods now and then. Hence last week's $25 per lb. lobster.

It was my first time making lobster. Nothing special, really. You just put it in some salted water until its done. The little fellow in the picture above made no sound when he went in the pot, to my confusingly mututal relief and disappointment. We also sauteed some jumbo shrimp with capers in butter/garlic/lemon sauce. I don't typically like rosé, but we had a really tasty one - if I get the name I'll post it.

Also, from a few days ago:
Here's our back-patio grill. It's a dual charcoal/gas grill, but I usually use it for charcoal. These brats were boiled in beer before we put them on. TASTY.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. My amigo Javier from Madrid is sadly leaving for Spain in a couple weeks and is having a large fiesta. He has enlisted me to help with the food. He's supplying the chorizo, jamon serrano, and manchego. After dismissing the idea of a time-consuming paella, I decided to go with several different meats, including some memphis-style dry rub ribs and some lamb kebabs. That's on Saturday, so expect a good post on Sunday.

K.M. is BACK. For Real This TIme: Israeli Mango Soup Y'all

Alright alright alright. I know I said at the beginning of summer that I was going to be posting again all summer long with fantastic recipes and adventures. It wasn't a lie. It was more of a well-intentioned but flawed prediction.* But the fans have spoken, all two of them (three if you count my mother), and I've decided that I missed the blog too much to let it slip away into the ethernet forever.

So how about a quick recap? (If you just want the mango soup recipe, skip to the bottom, you ingrate).

Law school is much better now that the first grueling year is over. I actually have time for the important things in life. Like fun. Washington D.C. is an all-around fantastic place, for music, nature adventures, and, of course, food. Toward the end of spring I bought a vespa and being more mobile has enabled me to explore more nooks and crannies of the area. There are three million sushi restaurants in this town. There are amazing Ethiopian restaurants on U Street, where you can see live traditional dancing several times a week. There are the inexpensive and very tasty Guatemalan and El Salvadorean restaurants of Mt. Pleasant. In Silver Spring, to the north, there is a gigantic Asian market where I'm able to stock up on panko, fresh fish of all kinds, and enormous containers of kimchi.

I also took a week-long trip to Memphis. Two major highlights: (1) Seeing Radiohead from about fifteen feet away at Bonnaroo Music Festival, and (2) gorging myself on Memphis BBQ. I didn't get a pic of the Q, so here's one I took of Radiohead. They so gooooood.

Other summer highlights: I've been playing soccer twice a week on the National Mall with a rag-tag bunch of grad students and foreign students studying english. One such gentleman, Carlo, from Genoa, promises me that we'll be cooking soon, so stay tuned for some nice Italian food.

Also, made good friends with a woman from Tel Aviv who taught me how to make this incredible spicy mango soup. No, it's not really an Israeli recipe, but calling it that made you curiouser, did it not? Thank you, I'm aware that 'curiouser' is not actually a word. It's called artistic license. Lay off man.

I have to say this is one of the most interesting and tasty soups I've ever had, and I heartily recommend it, especially while the last few weeks of summer are dripping away. So here it is, courtesy of Limor Ben-Har:


Mango Soup
4 large mangoes - 2 can be ripe and two maybe not so ripe
3/4 stick of butter
2-4 chillis - chopped (I used thai chilis, but whatever you like)
4-6 garlic cloves - chopped
1/2 cup white wine (I only had red wine on hand, but it tasted just as good)
2 cups of cream (the more cream the sweeter the soup will be)
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
salt and pepper

(1) Cube two of the mangoes and puree the others in a food processor.
(2) Melt the butter, add garlic for a minute, then the chillis for another minute, then the cubed mangos for a couple of minutes, stirring all the while.
(3) add the wine and spices, stir until it boils, then add the cream
(4) stir on low heat until it boils, then simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (5) taste to see if you need more spicy... if it's too thick, add milk, if it's not, add cream.

Tastes even better as leftovers!

Below you can see it on the stove, next to some of my now perfected gyoza.
Good to be back.

*See what law school is doing to me?

Summer Approaching - Return of Kitchen Monkey

Yes, law school has been all-consuming. But KM's last final of his first year is on Friday, and he shall once again return to the blogosphere. Expect new Ramen adventures, trips to some of D.C.'s finest ethnic markets, and a trip to Memphis, hopefully with some sweet sweet BBQ.

The Monkey is back.

Help!

I'm getting bombarded with SPLOG! Does anybody know a way to block out blog spam? PLease?

In other news, the predictive memo I'm working on is almost done, and finals are approaching quickly. Mindbogglingly so. If you need to be humbled, may I recommend law school?

I will try and post some actual, real, food posts during Thanksgiving, and tons during Christmas. The six burner Viking Range is going to get more of a workout than Richard Simmons on Oxy Contin.

Cheers,

KM

I've Been Busy

So I feel compelled to post because Nick from I'm Cookin' Here memed me today. The idea of the meme: find the 5th sentence of your 25th post and repost it, looking for any hidden subtext or deeper meaning. So here it is:

"Don't ask me to make a cake, I won't."

Having analyzed the surrounding context of this phrase, and having also pondered the possible latent or subconscious meanings behind it, I have come to the conclusion that it signifies that I hate cake. This was also the overt and explicit meaning of the phrase. Go figure. Does it reveal something about my inner psyche? I believe that my inner psyche also hates cake. So there you have it.

What else is new? Just had a birthday sushi party. About 20 of my fellow law school classmates showed up, as well as some of my sister's friends from USAID, and I taught a number of them how to make sushi, then let them do most of the roll-making while attended to some potato croquettes. It was a grand old time, with much (perhaps too much) sake and wine ingested. We will be finding little bits of sushi rice stuck to chairs, tables, and cats for weeks to come, but it was worth it.
And just in case there are any doubts about the subtext behind this last paragraph let me be explicit:
Mmmmmmmmmmmm, sushi.