Postmodern Barbecue

Do you think Kansas City has more fountains or barbecue joints?

Kansas City has many claims to fame (especially as of late), but good ol’ BBQ may be one of the most enduring.

(By the way, it’s fountains if you were wondering. Thanks, Google.)

Of course in any barbecue town (as if there were any others), locals have fierce opinions over their favorites. While I wouldn’t call my opinions fierce, here’s my list:

Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue

Bates City Bar-B-Que

Houston’s (ribs)

There’s something wrong with this list though. As of last week, I’d never been to Joe’s KC, which may be the current reigning king in Kansas City.

I smell a field trip.

So, I assembled the troops. Tipped off by Joy that the Nelson Atkins (another Kansas City gem) was running a special exhibit related to food, it was clear that barbecue and art would make the perfect pair (duh). 

So the day began. And a humid day it was. Maybe the most humid day ever. Joy, Robert, Dane, Jack, Damen, and I met for lunch at Joe’s KC where we waited for about an hour in a line that ran outside the length of the building.

But don’t feel bad for us. It doesn’t feel like an hour if A.) you’re with friends and B.) you get to eat this after.

Behold, the Z-Man.

Truly the best sandwich I’ve ever had. Excuse me while I amend my list.

Robert had burnt ends, another KC fav. 

We're all here, even if you can only see the top of Jack's head.

After launching ourselves into a food coma, Joy, Robert, Dane, and I stumbled our way into the Nelson.

Thank goodness they had these nifty camping chairs you could just haul around for whenever you need a good sit. 

There was a lot of sitting. And pondering.

I didn’t know what to expect in regards to the exhibit (it's called Ferran Adria’s Notes on Creativity), but I was both baffled and pleased by it. Prepare yourself. We’re about to philosophize.

The long of short of it is this: famed chef Ferran Adria has shut the doors to his equally famed restaurant elBulli and reopened it as aculinary foundation of sorts with the mission of inspiring creativity through the discovery of new recipes and cataloguing them for everyone’s use and further inspiration. When I say creativity, I mean this: the guy makes vanishing ravioli. Like the ravioli wrapper dissolves within seconds after it’s dipped in its special sauce. Eat quickly.

Vanishing ravioli, folks.

 The exhibit was his body of work from the restaurant—footage, notes, tools, more notes, drawings—his process of creating new dishes.

Here is Adria’s pyramid of creativity. “What do you see?”

At the end of the exhibit, I came to the conclusion that in my blog, I am a food curator. The text of the recipe is sometimes simply reproduced, sometimes layered upon with new text in the form of notes and pictures, and sometimes my recipes are original, though they of course are inspired by something I’ve made before.

That’s a lot of thinking for a food blog. Let’s cook.

(If you’re wondering, this recipe is in the 2^nd tier of the creativity pyramid . . . I think).

Faux Joe’s KC Barbecue Ribs  

Recipe for 2 large servings

1 Rack of St. Louis Style Spare Ribs (about 3 lbs)

Rub:

1 c. brown sugar

¼ c. dry mustard

1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 tsp smoked paprika

1.5 tsp garlic powder

1.5 tsp onion powder

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Sauce: 

Joe’s KC BBQ sauce (or your favorite BBQ sauce)

Follow the directions here for preparing the ribs and seasoning them with rub. You could use any rub you like. Removing the membrane was a bit slippery and challenging, but that is the most work you will have to do. At this point, you might want to cut your rack of ribs into smaller sections to make them more manageable.

Peeling back the membrane. Use a knife as needed.

I let my ribs sit with the rub all wrapped up in foil on a baking sheet in my fridge. I didn’t plan ahead too well, so mine only sat for 2 hours, but they were fine.

Let your ribs come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before cooking them, and preheat your oven to 350.

To prep your roasting pan, line it with foil and then insert a cooling rack if your roasting pan doesn’t have its own wire rack. I forgot to line my pan with foil; I’ll let you imagine how fun it was to clean that up afterwards. So fun.

Slather the ribs with BBQ sauce and place them meat side up in the pan. Cover the pan with foil and cook them for 3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. At the last 30 minutes of cooking time, take the foil off and baste the ribs with sauce.

Let the ribs rest 10 minutes before you dig in. This will be hard.

They came right apart.

Notes:  The Neely’s recipe, which I followed for the rub, instructed me to turn the ribs and baste them every 30 minutes, but I didn’t find this common in other oven rib recipes, so I stopped doing that about half way through the cooking time. I honestly don’t think the constant turning and basting did a whole lot because every time I turned the ribs, juices just fell to the bottom of the pan. To baste often or to not baste often--your call. If you are concerned about the ribs staying moist, I think you could make a case for 'frequent basting' being a wash, since each time you do, you're letting out all of the steam from your foil covered pan. 

Conclusion:  BBQ happened! It was delicious, but I’m no pro yet. The best ribs in KC are not in my kitchen, but this is pretty good fix in the meantime. In fact, writing this had made me hungry, and I’m about to go raid my fridge for leftovers.

Enjoy!

-Madison