the most amazing fucking ribs ever

readers, i have died and gone to rib heaven. what is the secret, you ask? well i will tell you. i have discovered my new food guru... sam the cooking guy. i was introduced to sam by avani, who heard about him from her friend christina who lives in san diego. sam is on local san diego tv helping people to navigate their kitchens to culinary bliss.

sam is awesome because he is just like whatever. the dude sets up a video camera in his kitchen, opens his fridge, and makes something out of whatever is in there. meanwhile kids and dogs run in and out of the kitchen, shit is freezer burned, he substitutes like mad, and all his recipes have a very minimal number of ingredients and require no skills.

"sure liz," you say, "we have heard of 30 minute meals and all that, but that stuff is not actually that good of food." and therein, dear readers, lies the difference. at easter avani brought over this sweet "finger bread" she called it made with a recipe from sam the cooking guy. what she did was bust open a few cans of poppin' fresh, throw on some raisins and pecans, douse it in cinnamon and sugar, bake it, and then dump 2 sticks of melted butter on top. nothing special? you are wrong. it was one of the best fucking desserts of my life. i am sorry, i cannot stop saying fuck. that is how good sam's recipes are.

sell your soul good finger bread (unfortunately the recipe is not online)

i was already pretty sold on sam based on the online clips avani had showed me, but this finger bread convinced me completely that he is a culinary genius. everything is quick and easy and cheap and damn good.

a week or so after easter, avani told me that she had made sam the cooking guy's ribs for liberal foodie and her husband. the husband, who considers himself a rib connoisseur, proclaimed them "some of the best ribs i have ever had." i am a rib freak so knew i had to try this recipe. before tonight, i had never made ribs before, mainly because i was intimidated. wait that's not true, once i got some precooked and presauced from trader joe's and put them in the oven for a half hour but that doesn't really count.

anyway, i love them and making them at home is so much cheaper than eating them out but i just was scared. i wanted them to be fall off the bone tender and crazy flavorful and i knew if i made less than stellar ribs at home, i would be so disappointed that i might never try to make them again. friends had given me recipes before but nothing had really wowed me enough to get over my fears and try it.

today was the day, and it was all thanks to sam the cooking guy. i got the urge to grill at work and i knew it was my time. i headed to the grocery store and picked up some baby backs and sauce on my way home and set to work. two hours later, i was eating one of the most delicious meals i have ever made.

you simply cannot argue with this

i am going to list sam's recipe below, but as usual i had to mess around with it (specifically, the sauce). with the ribs i also made:

• my red cabbage slaw (with the recipe slightly altered to include fresh pineapple chunks and a few tablespoons of seasoned rice wine vinegar and less lemon juice)
• the hungry mouse's fiery chili lime rice (with the recipe altered to include no chipotle pepper, jasmine instead of basmati rice, and extra cilantro, and also i made it in my rice cooker instead of on the stove)

this meal was amazing. i kept saying "oh my god yum" as i ate. i sat outside (i eat all my meals outside lately) and my upstairs neighbor stuck her head out and laughed at me for being so enraptured over my food. and the best part is that i made so much food that now i have lunch for the rest of the week. yay!

sam the cooking guy's sticky sweet ribs (recipe and how-to video here)

• 2 racks pork back ribs, about 4 pounds
• 1 1/2 cups barbeque sauce, plain
• 1/4 cup pancake syrup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons white vinegar
  

1. Mix sauce, syrup and brown sugar, set aside
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Place ribs in their racks (I just mean do not cut them) in a large baking/casserole dish
4. Pour vinegar into dish with ribs and cover tightly with aluminum foil
5. Bake about 90 minutes or until very tender
6. Remove from oven and carefully lift off tin foil - watch out for steam
7. The ribs are now fully cooked and just need to be 'sauced' finished'
8. Heat bbq to medium and place ribs meat side down without sauce - but you can baste the back with the sauce
9. Cook until they start to develop grill marks, and turn over - now baste the top
10. You could stop here after they grill a bit on this side, or you could baste them a bit more and then give them a couple more minutes meat side down - that's what I do
11. Give 'em one extra baste them after they've been removed, but just before you serve them

as i said, and as you guys know by now, i literally cannot make a new recipe without playing around with it. i didn't believe sam that the ribs could be that good with a sauce of only bbq sauce, pancake syrup, and brown sugar, so i added a few things and it turned out delicious. however, after having eaten the ribs, i now have total confidence in sam and i can say honestly that i think his sauce would probably have been excellent on its own.

liz's rib lickin' good bbq sauce

whisk all of the following together:

• 1.5 c. sweet bbq sauce (my favorites are bone suckin' sauce and shum daddy's bbq sauce)
• 1/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/4 c. pure maple syrup
• 2 T. soy sauce (i prefer tamari)
  
• 1 T. hot sauce (my favorite is melinda's xxxtra hot sauce)
• 1 T. grated fresh ginger or s&b prepared ginger paste in a tube which you can find at asian grocery stores (i am totally addicted to this)
  
• a few shakes each of garlic powder, chili flakes, and lawry's seasoning salt

dinner of champions

this meal was absolutely wonderful. i felt sorry not only for the hungry children in china but for all people everywhere who were not sitting in my backyard dining with me tonight (which would be everyone). anyone who has not eaten the meal i had for dinner has not lived. i was in food heaven, and i owe it all to sam the cooking guy. sam, you are awesome!