Things from scratch just taste so much better. Be it is hand picked blueberries in a pie or rolling your own pasta. Well, the following is a very simple recipe for some dynamite ribs that can be eaten right off the cutting board. enjoy!





Rib Rub:
4 tablespoon paprika
4 tablespoon smoked paprika
8 tablespoons of Steak Seasoning
4 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon tomato powder
2 tablespoon red chili powder
2 table spoon dry thyme

Ribs:

Two racks of large pork ribs. the meatier the better. Do not substitute baby back ribs.

Rub the racks liberally with the dry rub and rap the racks in alumni foil separately. Place the ribs (in foil) on a sheet pan and cook in the oven at 325 degrees F for 1 hour. Carefully remove from the oven and let cool for about ten min before removing from the foil. Save the juice that has accumulated on the sheet pan for your sauce.

Sauce:
all of the reserved pan juice
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup root beer
4 tablespoons sauce American (look it up)
4 tablespoons maple syrup

Bring all the ingredients to a boil and reduce until thick.

Bring it all home:

Grill the ribs on a med/high grill while continually basting with the sauce. I usually do about three flips with the cook time being about 3 min on each side. After about 15/20 min they are ready for the cutting board. umm

CENTRAL and the 72 hour shortrib

Greetings. After a long week at work I made a reservation at the newest instalment of one Michel Richard, CENTRAL. Billed as a semi-casual semi-bistro with all the greatest hits of Michel's fine food i was looking forward to my experience. I even did my homework and actually read up the most recent review.
Interesting little spot stuck in across from the old post office downtown. Not at all what i expected when i walked in. To me the place seemed a bit to stand-up-ish. What is that you may ask.? It was to bright and with these tall ceilings you find yourself looking around at nothing. Not let me get this straight. The place is beautiful. Good clean lines, not one but two impressive wine rooms, whimsical stacks of plates and tea cups and who can forget the larger than life pop are of Michele smiling and looking over his room. It's just that all that blond wood and light colors remind me more of a hotel multi-purpose restaurant than what i was expecting to fine at CENTRAL.
Now for the delicious part. Bombay Sapphire and house made pepper and lime soda was a hit. So cool and refreshing that I sucked it down like it was pop. Not too peppery or to much lime, great fizz on the homemade soda. First course was a duo of carpacciao with tuna and salmon. The fish was delicious. The fish was, however sliced so thin that the defining color of the fish was masked with the condiments making it hard t0o distinguish which fish you were about to eat until it was inches away for your mouth. Flavor and presentation was spot on an all an all the duo was very well received. Second starter was a mixed charcuterie plate called Michele's Platter. Wonderful prosciutto, salami, faux gras (chicken liver mouse?) cornichions and toasted bread.
I have only had one such plate recently that was a bit better, In of all places Ocean City, MD there is a spot called Liquid Assets Wine & Martini Bar. Their plate has the addition of oil cured olives, a variety of flatbreads and toast points and grilled cipollini onions. CENTRAL's was a very close second but we are talking the all time list here.
Second course, a true french classic and one of my personal fav's. Frisse with Lardons and a Poached Egg. Great salad, but i like it more when the egg is actually warm or hot and wilts the greens as you eat. The cool egg gave the salad a strange-stringy consistency. (number one frisse and lardon salad with egg......Petite Louis in Roland Park, Baltimore. Go Cindy.)
Now for the main courses... drum roll please. Skake and the 72 hour short rib. What? a piece of meat that has been cooked for 72 hours? this must be so tender and flavorful that you don't actually have to chew but rather close your mouth around it and absorb it. Tender , yes. Flavorful, yes. The be all, end all when it comes to short ribs, nope. I was so looking forward to this meal and was largely underwhelmed. I totally understand that this was not Citronelle nor should i have expected that type of cuisine. But help me out a bit. There was nothing overwhelming with this meal......in fact all the food reminded my of other places that i had eat that i preferred there version better. How dare i actually speak those words. Will i go back? Yes, and maybe i will try one of the burgers (lobster looked good, but people only see,m to eat the "patty" and the fries.)
Again, sorry to report that my meal was very under-whelming. Oh, and you might ask about the skate. Well, actually, Mon Ami Gabbie has a better one. Ouch.

The tomato scare of 2008 is officially over for me, game on.
DRS

Lexington Market and the Baseball Sized Crab Cake

First things first... Baltimore is know for many things. The O's, Fells Point, the Inner Harbor and of course Crab. So it was only fitting that on Saturday that i headed to the one place on this earth that can make a authentic crab cake the size of my fist. For all of you that are not local, .. we are talking about Faidley's in Lexington Market.

You start off at the beer and oyster counter and proceed to pound down about 4 dozen large oysters and a dozen beers or so..( wife, 7 week old daughter and Twig) The traditional way, crackers, hot sauce, plastic forks and ice cold coors light. There are no stools so you are only as good as the beer buzzed legs you have beneath you so pace yourself. There are about five people working the counter (shucking, pouring beer, talking shit, laughing) and everyone of them is as old as dirt.

After a 20 min stop filling up on beer and oysters it was time to move up to the big game. Three crab cake platters, 1# steamed shrimp, a plate of deviled eggs and cans of Natty Boh. ( you know you are eating good in Bmore when they simply remove one can from the six pack ring and hand you the remaining five beers. That's how it is done "hon". ) Giant jumbo lump crab cakes with nuggets of crab falling out. (mustard is the local condiment but keep that crap away from my plate.)

The market is packed with people picking up supplies for the week and grabbing a hot Saturday lunch. Your choices are many but my advice is the only reason to stop there is for a pregame or lazy Saturday feeding.

We actually did not event cook dinner that night we were still so full. Check it out.

www.faidleyscrabcakes.com

www.nationalbohemian.com

Welcome to the kitchen.

Welcome to the first posting for my new blog, "All that's fit to eat."

I will be covering a wide array of food related topics, events, concepts from the lame to the extreme. Together we will explore all the food gems that we run into during our lives and find plan our next great adventure.

There are many people that will be swept up in this blog along the way either with direct involvement or as an accessory. My goal it to convey my experiences and those of the people around me as we explore our world thru our hands and forks.

welcome and let us begin..

DRS