When I was growing up BBQ meant cooking kalbi or strips of beef teriyaki on a hibachi. Charcoal was made locally from keawe trees. We didn’t know about lump coal. We only knew that it was great to cook over keawe. Sitting at a beach park with family and friends, enjoying an afternoon, watching the sun go down. There may be something primal about fire, smoke and meat, but all the experiences that come with it are pretty basic and satisfying too.

Did up some ribs the other day.

I usually plan for a seven hour cook, so in order to have the ribs on the counter resting at 5:00 I need to have the ribs in the cooker by 10:00. Makes for a leisurely set up. Fire started in a chimney by 9:00, cooker was ready by 10:00. There were some other things to prepare but that was all pretty easy. No 3:30am wake up like with briskets.

Ribs turned out ok. Forgot to buy apple juice so had to scramble to find a substitute. For the mop I used some left over riesling and for the glaze I used fresh squeezed orange juice. I remembered the original glaze recipe called for orange juice so I thought it would be okay to used that. I switched from orange juice to apple juice because of the citric acid. I think the juice made the over all flavor at bit bitter. Got to remember the apple juice next time. Always forgetting something.

This time prepared only ribs. No cornbread. No salad. No beans. Just ribs. Did make some gohan. And at the last minute saute’d some zucchini. That was it for greens. I was feeling kind of lackadaisical. Okay, that’s not a word I use often. But it pretty much describes bbq day.

I’ve changed how I fill the fire box. Now I place chunks of wood in the basket surround with coals, then place hot coals on top. With a full basket, there’s about two to two and a half hours for free time. Free time to vacuum or start the laundry.

Here's what it looks like

All in all a good day.

Here's some photos.