I was feeling a bit adventurous on Labor Day and decided to experiment a bit with a typical meal that I make.

THE MENU

• Baby Back Ribs
• Corn on the Cob
• Sweet Potatoes
• Corn Bread
• Pecan Pie

Corn on the Cob:

I picked up some fresh California Sweet Corn from the local Albertsons and let the corn soak in some water for about 10mins before putting on the grill husk and all. About an hour later I pulled the corn off the grill and took the husks off.

Now, normally this is where I would dip the corn in melted butter and put salt and pepper on it, but this time I did something a little different. I took a small can of chipotle chilies in adobe sauce and put them in a blender along with about 1/4 cup of butter and a tablespoon or two of sugar. I blended this all together to make chipotle butter. I then heated it up in the microwave and then spread/poured it over the corn. To top it off I crumpled Cotija cheese on top of the corn.

I was unsure how this experiment would turn out, but after my first bite I new it was a success! The chipotle chiles definitely made the corn a bit spicy, but I loved the combination of the sweet corn and the spicy chipotle butter and the Cotija cheese gave it a nice bit of extra flavor.

Sweet Potatoes
Usually I get the micro bake sweet potatoes that are wrapped in plastic and you just pop in the microwave. They come out perfect every time. Unfortunitly there were none at the store, but they did have some fresh Yams and Sweet Potatoes. I went with the Sweet Potatoes.

I stabbed them a couple times with a fork and put them in the microwave for about 5mins. Then I mixed butter and brown sugar in a bowl and melted it in the microwave. I then rubbed the sweet potoates with the brown sugar butter and wrapped them in foil before putting them on the grill for about an hour. When the potatoes were done I split them open and added more of the melted brown sugar butter along with some chopped pecans.

The chopped pecans was something I’ve never done before, but had some on hand for the Pecan Pie. The interesting thing about these sweet potatoes were that they were white on the inside as opposed to orange which is what I was expecting. They still tasted like the orange kind to me though. The pecans added a nice flavor to the sweet potoates and I will definitely add them again if I have them on hand.

Ribs
THE RUB
1/2 cup sugar in the raw
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

THE SAUCE
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup Jack Daniel’s Whiskey
3 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons mustard
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons for water

Add it all into a saucepan and whisk to mix. Let the sauce simmer 10-15 minutes to thicken. Taste for seasoning.

As always I removed the membrane from the back of the ribs and then applied about 4 teaspoons of the rub on each side of the ribs. I smoked the ribs with cherry wood on my Trager Grill for 4 hours and then took them out and mopped some of the sauce on the ribs and wrapped them in foil. I let them smoke another hour before taking them out of the foil at which point the meat was almost falling off the bone. I let them cook another 30mins or so before taking them out to eat.

The rub was good and I made enough to last a few more times. It gave a nice flavor to the meat. The sauce was thick and sweet, but also had quite a bit of spice to it. I could have made it spicier by adding more of the cayenne pepper. Actually it was too spicy for the wife. I’m not sure if I will make this sauce again. It was a little to much on the vinegar side for my tastes.

The ribs turned out perfect! The meat cleanly came off the bone when biting into them and were full of smoky good flavor. I look forward to making ribs again!

This was a fun experiment and I encourage all of you to try to mix things up every now and then and add new ingredients to your recipes and see how they turn out.