Break Out the Barbeque Grills!

Somewhere in west Texas or south Florida, folks are getting ready to fire up their charcoal grills and dig out their favorite recipes for their best barbeque sauce. Except for Hawaii and a handful of desert states, those are the only places that seem warm enough to enjoy a backyard barbecue.

For anytime of the year, barbeque pork ribs please almost everyone. There is something about the aroma of seasoned ribs and charcoal smoke drifting down the street of the neighborhood that warms the blood of any true southern man.

There is nothing really difficult about preparing and cooking ribs on a barbecue smoker or grill. The hard part comes into play when you are trying to find that perfect piece of meat to throw over the coals, or in most cases, charcoal briquettes.

Good meat markets can give you choices in grades of pork ribs, but in my area you get what is available. You may have to search a little to find a rack of ribs that have more lean meat than fat, but it can be done.

For my money, I look for a nice pink, not red, spare rib. Baby back ribs are great, but I grew up when money was tighter than it is now, so I lean toward the large rack rather than the dainty little baby backs.

Spare ribs only take about 2 ½ hours to cook if you are using a smoker grill if the weather is warm. If it is cold, add at least another hour. With a charcoal smoker, wait until the briquettes have turned white, then add the ribs, but first a little preparation is in order.

There are two schools of thought on removing the membrane on the bone side of the ribs. Some think that by leaving the film on the bone, it seals in the flavor of the meat and spices.

Others believe that by removing the membrane it allows the smoke to penetrate throughout the meat better. I use both methods, depending upon the degree of laziness I'm feeling at the moment.

To remove it, insert the handle of a fork or knife between the film to give you an opening in which to insert your finger and pull the translucent film off the meat. It's supposed to come off in one piece.

That's not how it usually works for me. When I start to pull the membrane off the meat, it tears, so instead of having one piece of film on the ribs, I have two. Then I have to remove each small individual piece that I've made. Occasionally I'll be able to extract a large segment in one movement, but that's not normal for me.

Ribs can be seasoned before they are thrown onto a grill in a barbecue smoker or a barbecue grill by using a rub of various spices which can easily be found on the internet. I prefer using a basting sauce made of vinegar, water and a variety of peppers, which I can apply occasionally as the ribs sizzle. When the meat falls off the bone, the ribs are ready to eat.

Barbecuing is mental food for dreamers. That's why I like to cook at night. I have visions of campfires and hot coffee strong enough to float a horseshoe. I can smell the dust from the herd of cattle that are bedded down for the night and I wonder how John Wayne would grill ribs.