Turkey is now much easier to find in October. Our first couple of years here, finding a turkey so far in advance of American Thanksgiving, was impossible. One memorable year, the best we were able to do was a dismal smoked turkey, pulled from the depths of Wal-Marts walk in freezer, most likely left over from the previous Christmas, or maybe even the Christmas before that. It truly was the turkey that should have stayed in the store.
As for dining out, our options are far from limited, but we know from experience that Blakes Restaurant (https://www.facebook.com/Blakes-Restaurant )makes the best turkey dinner in the bay, hands down. If we were inclined to go out this year, we would have gone to Blakes.
Friends invited us to spend the day with them, and honestly, we do love our friends here, but somehow, this year, Kevin and I just needed to be home, as a tiny little family of 2, wondering how we ever thought Thanksgiving in the Tropics could be better than spending the day with our kids and families up north. Don't get me wrong, we love it here, but living in Paradise does come with a price.
Anyway, this morning, as we do every Sunday, we were having coffee on our rooftop, enjoying the gentle morning sunshine while we read back issues of Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines, deciding how to appease our appetites this week. It truly is our favourite time of the week.
Yesterdays trip to our favourite meat market (that's Carniceria, if you want to sound like a local) did not net us a turkey, but we did find some wonderful looking beef short ribs. My project this morning was to figure out what I was going to do with them.
After checking a few magazines, I decided to streamline my search and just go to epicurious.com a website, which has never let me down.
TA DA! It jumped out at me almost immediately..."Simple Smoked Beef Short Ribs", by Ardie A Davis and Chef Paul Kirk. It sounded kind of funky, with a "Mustard Slather" that included a whole cup of prepared mustard (which I have taken to mean French's), AND a rub which included 2 tablespoons of sea salt, but the cooking method was irresistible. A total of 3 hours of cooking using indirect heat in a charcoal grill???? We were hooked.
This was our opportunity to see just what our new Weber BBQ can do, and the first thing we discovered is that what we had come to deem as a "normal amount" of charcoal is way too much. So, the starting grill temp registered 350 instead of 250F. We put them on anyway, hoping the grill temp would drop sooner instead of later.
I tweaked the recipe just a bit, having only 1 kilo of short ribs, I cut the recipe for the "slather" in half and put only two- thirds of that on the ribs to start and used the rest for basting during the cooking process. I actually could have done with a full batch as it helps keep the meat moist.
I also cut the recipe for the rub in half and increased the sugar by 2 teaspoons. Based on others reviews, that said this was way too salty, I cut the salt back by half and "sprinkled" only about 1/4 of the rub over the already slathered ribs. Honestly, at this point, I was not sure about our little experiment but there was, literally nothing to do but sit back and wait. For 3 hours.
Our cats have no difficulty whatsoever playing the waiting game, as Dulce was keen to demonstrate this afternoon.
My addiction to Pinterest and all its charming ideas is well known in this household so fortunately, I was able to fill the time "constructively" while Kevin wasted his time doing odd jobs around the house and watching the bbq temp.
Eventually, the short ribs finally reached their properly cooked internal temperature of 185F. We let them rest while we grilled some bread and heated the corn on the cob we so happily brought home from Sams the other day. I was so busy on Pinterest, I didn't have time to make the salad that should have gone with our lovely repast, which I regretted, because some lettuce and tomatoes would have really balanced this meal.
Because of the learning curve with the grill, this was the most difficult meal we have put together in a very long time. Was it worth it? Oh, yes! You all should put this recipe on your list of things you MUST make. Heed my warning about the salt in the rub, but that mustard "slather"? Use it ALL, it is pure genius.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/simple-smoked-beef-short-ribs-395251
Whatever you are eating this weekend, and whoever you are spending it with, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from Casa Madera!
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