Pork ribs, collards, and grits. Did I mention I'm from the South?
We start with the ribs.
First, set up your fire for indirect heat and put a drip pan under the area where the ribs will go. You can use whatever charcoal you want, but whether you use regular briquettes or lump charcoal you might want to use some smoking chips. We use applewood.
I'm a believer in keeping things simple. No matter how good the sauce or the rub, I still want to taste the pork. So nothing but salt and pepper for me on the ribs before they go on the grill. When the fire's ready, lay the ribs on the grill over the drip pan, bone side down, and put the cover on. Leave it alone as much as you can from this point forward. Let the smoke and heat do the work. Go put some music or a baseball game on the radio. Open a beer. As long as there is smoke coming out of the vents, things are fine. Ask your friends to tell you their life stories. Make them sing their High School fight songs.
After a while, once you've heard some great stories and laughed until you've cried over your friends' singing voices, you can start on the collards.
Wash the collards to make sure they aren't sandy. Cut out the thick stems and chop the leaves well. You'll need fat to give this real flavor. Some people use fatback--you can find this in the cheap meats section of your local grocery or ask your butcher for advice on what to use. I'm using some bacon we got at a farmer's market in Portsmouth, N.H. Cut the bacon into one inch dice and toss it in a pot over medium heat. Once the bacon has rendered most of its fat, stir in the collards until they're coated with the fat. Add a half teaspoon of baking soda to a couple cups of water or chicken stock and stir. Add the water or chicken stock and a little more if needed until the greens are covered. Add a teaspoon of crushed red chiles. Let it simmer for about half an hour, stirring once in a while. You can drain when you're ready to serve or serve in a small side bowl along with the juice, which is called pot liquor. Either way, I recommend serving with the juice, provide your guests some white vinegar to season the collards.
Go out and check on the ribs.
This is at about the twenty minute mark. The big chunks you see in the fire are applewood. Maybe I should have soaked them a bit more. Regardless, this looks fine. Cover and go back into the kitchen; open another beer.
Grits are really pretty simple. Use a four to one ratio: add cup of dry grits (and a big pinch of salt) to two cups of heavy cream and two cups of water. Reduce the heat to low. Stir. Cover. Wait five minutes. Stir. Cover. Wait five minutes. Turn off the heat and add a quarter stick of butter. Once the butter has melted, stir well and then grate about four ounces of a good, sharp cheddar--I used an Irish cheddar. Cover. Wait a couple minutes. Once the cheese has melted, stir well and you're ready to serve. They will need salt.
About ten or fifteen minutes before the ribs are ready, maybe this is at the forty-five minute mark, you can add the sauce. Now this is the contentious part: everyone has a different idea of what sauce or rub to use. If you're using this method, it's too late to use a rub. Rubs go on early. We're using a sauce and we're using a sauce we buy. Judge me, go ahead. It comes from Rocklands Barbeque here in the District. It rocks. Put some sauce on the ribs, cover for ten minutes or so and you're done. You can also cook these over even lower heat for a couple of hours to good effect. If you're using St. Louis style ribs (a different cut), you'll need to do this to get the same, falling-off-of-the-bone effect you get with baby back ribs.
Pull the ribs off the grill and let them sit under some foil for a few minutes while you're setting the table. Slice into pieces and serve. This is going to go well with beer--I think it's best with a rich amber or an IPA--but it also goes extremely well with a Zinfandel.
Enjoy.
