A Hit and a Miss

It happens to all of us. You decide to try out a new recipe, and for some reason you decide to do it when you are having company. You figure the recipe looks pretty good, and you've never BBQ'd ribs before, but it can't be that hard right? So you go and pick up all the ingredients, and it seems like they're going to make an awesome marinade and sauce. Beer, sugar, molasses, dates...

And so you follow the recipe, exactly as it describes, and even when it's cooking and you think it might be on too long, you keep following the recipe. You make the sauce, and boy does it smell good simmering on the stove top. Adding the super sugary, smoky sauce to the ribs is going to be so great.

And here's where it all goes wrong...

We realized soon after brushing the sauce on both sides, turning the heat to medium-high and cooking 15 minutes (as directed) that there was something wrong. See, they burned. And they burned bad. Like pretty much inedible bad.

Our friends were good sports, and we all actually ate them (well, what was left of them). At least we had a salad.

But there was a redeeming factor to the night. I had taken the time that afternoon to make a strawberry-rhubarb lattice pie. And I'd made some vanilla ice cream to go with it. So while eating the warm pie with ice cream, and having a great time catching up with friends, I realized that sometimes it does all balance out.

Lessons learned:

First, even though I've heard this a million times, read your recipes closely! And think about how things cook and react to temperature and other factors. I've heard somewhere that cookbooks and recipes have a 10% margin of error. It could be a typo. And if you ever doubt a recipe, don't doubt yourself. Try it your way; it can't be worse than burning the ribs to a crisp!

Secondly, sometimes it's not a good idea to try a new recipe out with guests, if it's something you've never done before (ie. BBQ ribs). We're going to try that recipe again, but this time we're going to add the sauce to the ribs after they come off the BBQ!