Christmas Ribs

Yesterday (and today) I celebrated with my favorite meal - RIBS. With a side of baked beans.

And not even cooked in a BBQ pit or on a grill. For the second time in 2019 I bought Kingsford fully-cooked ribs right off the shelf of the grocery store. They are delicious.

I was attracted to the brand because of their charcoal. Kingsford was my choice when I used a Weber kettle back in Illinois. The kettle didn't fit in the car when I moved from Woodstock to Columbia, S.C. in 2014, and it found a new home there.

I highly recommend these ribs. Ripping open the packaging is a lot faster than skinning a slab of ribs and then nursing them over a bed of coals and slapping on the sauce generously while they are cooking.

There were instructions somewhere on the packaging for heating them in the oven, but this year I couldn't wait, so I enjoyed them cold.

We Philpott kids were required to "shine the bone", before we could have the next one. And I do that to this day. It looks pretty strange to others at the table, especially in a restaurant, when I sit there, sleeves rolled up, bib on, and scrape my teeth on the bone until it is c-l-e-a-n.

Dad had a three-sided brick pit, and he'd start the fire hours ahead of time, so that the wood could burn down to a bed of coals. Then he'd cook the ribs slowly for 3-4 hours, dabbing on Mom's special BBQ sauce. There was no such thing as a basting brush. I don't remember how he made it, but it was something like strips of cloth tied to a short round handle.

Every once in a while a side of ribs would get away from him, when he was flipping it over. Dad would just brush off the dirt, throw the ribs back on the grill, and brush on more sauce. No one ever knew the difference.

I doubt I'll ever return to cooking ribs over an open fire. These Kingsford ribs are just too good. And easy.