july 4th bbq recap

I was not feeling too great on Thursday! I caught a little bit of a summer cold. Colds in the summer time seem worse to me than colds in the winter. It’s like you’re expected to have a cold in the winter time, but in the summer? It’s all sunshine and warmth and happiness – how on earth did you get a cold?! Well, I’m not sure, but at least it’s only a “tiny” cold. I’m not bedridden or anything. I spent the evening playing Dead Rising 3 with Jake so I guess I wasn’t feeling too awful. 

I intended to post the recap of the Bacon Fest today but … yeah, that didn’t happen. Instead, let’s recap our BBQ from Fourth of July with my folks! Yay!

potato-salad

I made homemade potato salad and no one paid me over $40,000 dollars to do it. The internet is so stupid sometimes. 

My potato salad has all the delicious things I love in it, like lots of hard boiled eggs, fresh corn, green onions, dill and parsley and smoked paprika! And some other things, but more importantly NO PICKLES because that’s just gross. I found that the potato salad tasted a lot better after four days than after one day, so this is really a make ahead dish!  

smoked-ribs-and-beans

Dad fired up the smoker again and made two racks of smoked pork ribs and some baked beans. He used two different kinds of sauce for the ribs. 


One sauce was this:

rufus-teague-bbq-sauce

Rufus Teague! I actually bought this bottle when I was in Massachusetts because the label made me laugh. It’s Kansas City style and it’s on the sweeter side. I really liked it! The other sauce was some Guy Fieri Carolina-ish vinegar spicy sauce that I didn’t like as much but I don’t like vinegar based sauces anyway. 

plate-of-cut-ribs

The ribs cut up! You can see the tender pinkness of the ribs from all of the smoke. These were tender and moist and still had a bit of pull on the bone – perfect and yummy with tons of smokey flavor from the applewood my dad used for the ribs.

bbq-plate

We also had corn on the cob. I put butter, salt and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on my corn. 

ice-cream-cookie-sandwiches

And of course, we had those ice cream cookie sandwiches for dessert.

Hope everyone had a good Fourth of July! 


12 thoughts on “july 4th bbq recap

  1. I HEARD about that 40k potato salad. Jeez man. Your version looks delish. I’ve never thought about using fresh corn in a potato salad.

    Your dads ribs are beautiful. Did the bbq happen at your place? Question: do you use your charcoal bbq as a smoker as well? Or is the smoker a separate contraption? I love the meat color of the ribs. That’s how I like ribs prepared – pink and with a pull on the bone too!

    And your ice cream cookies – I just opened the link – dang it. I want to make those cookies sooo bad right now.

    1. Hi Faye – There was this little deli in San Marcos that I used to go to when I worked up north and I adored their potato salad, which had corn in it. That’s what inspired me to put corn in mine! Fresh off the cob, if you can swing it. It gives a little crunchiness to the potato salad that I love (though you could also achieve this with celery if you like celery).

      Yes, the BBQ was at our house. We have three grills… one gas, one for smoking and my dad got another “regular” one, haha. One grill is specifically set up just for smoking. We’re hardcore like that. But it’s just a regular grill. You can set the setup for smoking on this post: http://food.theplainjane.com/2013/06/21/recipe-smoked-pork-butt/ – if you’re interested 🙂

  2. getting sick in the summer always makes me mad! hehe. I was trying to take extra precautions this week because I spent the weekend with a friend who was sick. Glad it’s just a little cold!

    1. Hi Kirbie – I always take lots of Emergen-C at the brink of a cold so I think that helped a lot! Summertime sickness is always the worst! I am feeling better today though. Yay 🙂

  3. Wow good eating. That’s my fav way to eat, -outside on a lovely day with tons of yummy goodness, minus the bugs flying around of course. Now I am craving potato salad. Mmm corn! I’ve been eating a lot of corny lately too. Just can’t get enough of corn. Hope you are feeling better. And I hope they do come out with more pleasant scented Kleenex soon too! lol. They should join forces with Bath and Body works or something haha.

    1. Hi Miss Kim – It sure is nice outside today. I had lunch outdoors and it was beautiful out. I almost forgot I still have a touch of a cold, haha. I try to always eat a ton of corn in the summer since it tastes the best right now! I can only hope for pleasant scented tissues in the future hahah! (I’m still hoping for the cookie scented tissues)

  4. OMG, those ribs look fab!!! I like that bbq label too, I probably would have bought it as well!

    What, no pickle relish in your potato salads???? That’s the only pickled thing I’ll eat, relish, but only on hot dogs and in potato or mac salad.

    1. Hi CC – My dad makes some pretty damn tasty ribs! I’m totally a sucker for amusing labeling. Luckily the Rufus BBQ also tasted really good! I like my BBQ sauces on the sweeter side.

      Noooope, I don’t like pickles of any kind! I don’t like relish at all 🙁

  5. I’d want to try that Rufus Teague bbq sauce. I don’t think I’ve found my ‘sweet’ bbq sauce yet! I’ve got a favorite smokey with a little kick one though (recipe from a friend).

    Mmm ribs. I’d eat that all. I’m kinda liking tri tip recently though. Hubby is getting good at cooking them medium rare. Yum. I have to say I thought your melting ice cream sandwiches were pretty funny though! You couldn’t wait a little bit for the cookies to cool off!? I think I will try making them since I’ve got the coconut oil (currently in liquid form).

    1. Hi Lynn – I actually want to try making my own sweet BBQ sauce and experience a little more. I made that whiskey BBQ once not too long ago but don’t think it’s perfect yet. I did like the Rufus Teague though, it was sweet but not overbearing so I really enjoyed it.

      Haha, I had read some article about the “perfect” ice cream sandwich was to use warm cookies so that the ice cream melts a little while you’re eating it. And since I was gonna eat it immediately after the photo… well, you can see where that thought went. I should have used cold cookies for my photos and warm cookies for my belly 🙂

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