This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Weave Made Media® and Farmland/Smithfield, but all my opinions are my own. #weavemade #ReadySetRibs http://my-disclosur.es/RgFrEH
It seemed like an ordinary day at work. I stepped away from the cube farm for lunch, which was your typical brown bag of chips and a turkey sandwich. I even had that fancy Dijon mustard just to spice things up a bit. But here’s the thing, my coworker likes to treat the lunch hour like it is an episode of Iron Chef. In any other world, my turkey sandwich would be great. In this little lunch room, however, my brown bag lunch looked like amateur hour compared to the culinary masterpiece that was cooking in the company toaster oven.
I should correct that. My coworker takes lunch so seriously that he brought his own toaster oven into work. I have to admire his dedication. The guy cleans out the fridge, restocks a supply of wax paper (so all can use the toaster oven without making a mess), and has never once settled for an ordinary brown bag lunch. Today’s culinary delight was a pulled pork sandwich made from meat that he had smoked at home. I tried to keep my envy in check. But as the weekend rolled around, I found myself wandering the aisles of Walmart and leaving with a new smoker, a supply of lump charcoal, hickory chips, and several slabs of Farmland all natural pork ribs.
I often use my grill at home, but this was my first attempt at smoking ribs. I was worried that I might end up with dried out ribs if I used the grill, and I needed an excuse to buy a smoker, so I bought a basic set up and spent about 30 min assembling the thing at home.
The weather couldn’t have been any better for a day outdoors. When we first moved to Portland, someone remarked, “are you enjoying the weather?” As a California native, I was confused by her comment. After a decade of living in the pacific northwest, I now understand why the weather is such a big deal. When the sun comes out, it is the most glorious, blissful three months of the year. New smoker or not, you can’t squander a day like that by staying indoors.
If you believe everything that you read on the internet (and why shouldn’t you?), you would think that it takes a complex recipe, precise temperatures, and special cooking methods to produce quality ribs. I’m sure that all of those over the top approaches make quality results. For this amateur cook, I found that applying a store bought rub to the Farmland all natural ribs was sufficient enough to give the meat great flavor. The hours in the smoker didn’t hurt things either.
When you cook on the grill, you’re outdoors for maybe a half hour while you flip the burgers or whatever. With the smoker, our family set up a few chairs outside, had some cold drinks, and had fun while dinner cooked. It was really nice to just spend time chatting with my wife and son. We tossed a tennis ball around for the dogs. We checked on the vegetable garden. We talked about our upcoming move to Seattle. And all the while, I would periodically check the temperature of the smoker, add water or whatever as needed, and then kick back in my chair for a while longer.
When the time came to pull the ribs from the smoker, it was an amazing sight. The ribs had great color and smelled amazing. By smoking them, the meat stayed juicy and tender and they took on all of that hickory smoke flavor. It was fantastic.
I didn’t do a whole lot of kitchen magic to create the meal, so a lot of the credit goes to the quality of the meat. Farmland’s all natural pork is raised in the USA and is free from artificial ingredients and preservatives. The package says the ribs are “extra tender” and they aren’t kidding. These turned out to be some of the best ribs we’ve had.
You can find Farmland’s all natural ribs at Walmart and you can save $1.00 by downloading a coupon. My cooking style was basic, and the ribs turned out great. But if you want to turn things up a notch, you can read tips from the BBQ Pitmasters who know their craft. I’d bet a dollar that my coworker is already reading the site so he can one up my leftovers at lunch tomorrow.
Are you enjoying the weather? Get outside, cook some ribs, and have a fantastic weekend. There are few things better than sitting in the sun with a cold drink in hand, knowing that you will have a delicious meal ready in a few hours. What are you waiting for? Go get some Farmland all natural ribs now!
