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Some Very Important People I Need to Thank
My Team: Editors, Writers, Reviewers, And Consultants
All the articles, recipes, and tips on technique, on AmazingRibs.com are written by Meathead but I stand on the shoulders of some very helpful people, listen alphabetically.
Brigit Binns
Brigit Binns ia the author of more than 2 dozen cookbooks (many for Williams-Sonoma). She is my culinary consultant, occasional editor, advisor, and confidant. She has taught me much, corrected my stupidities, and sent me recipes to test for her books that always bowl me over. Follow her at Roadfoodie.com.
Dr. Greg Blonder
Dr. Greg Blonder, is a physicist, entrepreneur, former Chief Technical Advisor at AT&T's legendary Bell Labs, food lover, and the AmazingRibs.com science advisor and mythbuster.
Norma Goldwyn
One of the fringe benefits of having a retired schoolteacher for a Mom is she will gladly copy edit my work and underline all the spelling and grammar errors.
Gordon Hubbell (a.k.a. Hub)
Hub, as he is known on the BBQ forums, is an active writer of barbecue articles. He has been published in the KCBS BullSheet and on Ray Basso's Forum pages among others. He hits most of the larger contests in the southeast as a judge and occasionally wanders west to judge the Invitational at the American Royal. He helps write product reviews.
Allen Kelson
Kelson, an occasional editor of these pages, now mostly retired, was publisher, editor-in-chief, and head food critic at Chicago Magazine for many years. He is a part time consultant for Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants. He really knows food, cooking, grammar, spelling, writing, and makes me sound like a better writer than I am.
Dr. Antonio Mata, a.k.a. The Meat Geek
Dr. Antonio Mata, PhD, is a meat scientist known as The Meat Geek. He is a Consulting Technical Coordinator to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and is the genius who discovered the petite filet steak and participated in the development of the flatiron steak. He answers my meat questions.
Scot Murphy
After modifying his first El Cheapo Brinkmann to produce a decent pulled pork, luck and graciousness of a friend got him the bargain of his life: A $20 used Weber Smokey Mountain. There's been no looking back.
Indulging in two of his favorite pastimes - the internet and food - brought him to the SmokeRing mailing list where he met Meathead virtually. The two met face to face in 2007 at a ribs cookoff at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, IN, where Meathead served as Chief Judge and Murphy helped keep the event running on track. Currently he is pretty well-rooted back in South Bend, but daydreams about California. He helps write product reviews.
Marietta Sims
Marietta is my Sous Chef and Assistant. She graduated from the University of Iowa where she studied writing in their famous Writers Workshop. She then graduated second in her class from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY in 1984. Since then she has worked for prominent caterers, hotels, and private companies. She is the mother of two, and beaming grandmother of one.
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I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of nice folks who have taught me and helped me on this trial by fire, especially all you readers who have questioned, commented, and criticized. As my Daddy said, "Praise is cheap, but criticism is priceless."
My wife, the saucy Lou, Ph.D., a microbiologist and food safety expert who hates it when I use her kitchen, forcing me outdoors, and now fearlessly eats my cooking (well, most of it), offers honest feedback on my recipes (brutally honest), and has patience with me (most of the time).
My Mom and Dad, Norma and Jerry Goldwyn, and my sister Ann. Some of my first food memories are meals at Mom & Dad's short-lived restaurant in Sarasota, Florida. When they bought the place, it had the romantic name of a local flowering bush, the Oleander. When they found out Oleanders are poisonous, it became Jerry's restaurant. The food was good, especially the ice cream sundaes, and the paintings from the local artists that they hung were inspirational. They let me be a jerk when I was 13. A soda jerk that is. What a great start to a career in food, drink, and art. Click here to read my Dad's WWII Memoir.
Jaden Hair of SteamyKitchen.com and Babette Papaj of BakeSpace.com, talented food bloggers who've introduced me to many cool people and ideas.
The three Sterling fellows in my life: Sterling Ball of BigPoppaSmokers.com who turned me on to Hasty Bake, MAK, and Memphis grills, Colin Sterling, my editor at Huffington Post for giving me prime realestate and freedom to write what I want in his august food section, and Sterling Pratt of Schaefer's Wines & Spirits in Skokie, IL, my favorite wine, beer, and cheese store.
Garry Howard, who runs the SmokeRing List, a free email mailing list about barbecue and cooking to which I subscribe. The talented cooks who hang out with there offer merciless feedback and are an amazing fount of information. Many have tested my recipes and corrected them, and more than a few have dug up typos and other errors. Among them, in alphabetic order: Sandra Aylor, Lucy Baker, Kevin Cleek, Bruce Cook, Erv Crain, John R. Crowley, Gerry Curry, Buzz Dean, John Douglas, Dave Frary, Dan Gill, Ed Hood, Greg Hunter & Nancee Gell, Rodney Leist, Stan Marks, Bill Martin, Scot Murphy, Merrill Powers, Mark Stevens, Jack Waiboer, Candy Weaver, Joe Wells, "Big Jim" Whitten, and Jack Wimberly. I am sure I have missed several for which I am very sorry.
Carolyn Wells at the Kansas City Barbecue Society, my personal goddess.
Ardie Davis, a.k.a. Remus Powers, Master of Barbecue, who has been generous with his time and advice.
Paul Kirk, Kansas City's Baron of BBQ, who somehow found time to comment on several of my articles, and always improved them.
Gary Wiviott, Chicago's undisputed barbecue king. When I grow up I want to be like Gary.
Frank Boyer, cook and photographer, for taking the picture that is now my official portrait.
Gail Bellamy, my editor, advisor, and confidant at Restaurant Hospitality Magazine. A fine poet, too.
Phyllis Richman, my editor at the Washington Post.
Marlene Atkins, formerly of the Cooking & Hospitality Institute of Chicago (CHIC). She hired me to teach there and mentored me. CHIC is the local branch of the French culinary bastion, Le Cordon Bleu. That’s where I met Chefs Tim Bucci, Mark Stanley, Tom Beckman, and so many others who answered my stupid questions as I started this project.
Keith and Renee Miller, my friends, neighbors, dogsitters, and candid critics. I can always count on Keith for an honest opinion and, as a captain in the Pleasantview Fire Department, he brought me feedback from the firemen who survived my experiments. Also, thanks to their son Keith Miller III, a.k.a. "Lieutenant Lawnboy" who cut my lawn for many years, helped me move things and pitched in on household projects. He is now a cadet at West Point. You go guy.
Lake High of the South Carolina Barbeque Association who made me feel important and taught me more than I bargained for every time I asked him a question.
Bronson "Bronnie" Smith, also of the South Carolina Barbeque Association, my guide to the joints of South Carolina. He matched me bite for bite all week long. He also took me to Jackie Hite's Bar-B-Que. And now I can die.
Natalie Longo, my wife's niece and talented songbird, whose warbling you can hear on my theme song "You Can't Hurry Ribs".
Cayley Armstrong of Cookshack who helped me understand electric barbecues.
Amy Mills Tunicliffe, author of "Peace, Love, & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue " and her dad, Mike "The Legend" Mills of the 17th Street Bar & Grill in Murphysboro, IL, who give feedback freely.
Barry Sorkin of Smoque BBQ in Chicago, the best pitstop for miles around, for sharing insights, tips, lunches, and road trips with me.
Hermann Zanoni, now deceased, and my butcher of many years in Broadview, IL. He taught me a lot about meat, and made sure I got the freshest, meatiest ribs with which to practice.
Dennis Morini, formerly my butcher at the now shutterred Morini's Meat Market in LaGrange Park, IL, and reluctant hand model.
Tom Marszelewski, my former neighbor, whose trash talkin' and challenge to a cookoff in 2003 got my competitive juices flowing, and started me researching ribs. This site is all his fault.
The helpful librarians I have met, especially Barbara Cline and Elizabeth Hansen at the LBJ Library and Museum in Austin, Flo Turcotte, Mil Willis, Richard Phillips, James Cusick, and Paul Losch at the University of Florida Library (Go Gators!), the librarians at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago, the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, the Library of Congress in DC, the University of South Carolina's Caroliniana Collection in Columbia, the Florida State Library in Tallahassee, University of Memphis, and John Struble of the George Eastman House in Rochester, NY.
Nancie McDermott, whose articles in the Chicago Tribune during Black History Month 2006 opened a path of research.
Myron Mixon, Chris Lilly, and the many other patient barbecue chefs I've met and quizzed at their restaurants and competitions across the nation.
Lynn and Tom Kimble of Leader Dogs for the Blind. They have been instrumental in helping us with our other great love, training dogs. Sport, Wags, Layla, Jazz, and Sunshine are now dragging blind people around, and they added so much to our lives when they lived with us.
Peter Parts, and industrialist and philanthropist, and amazing leader, who got me involved with Camp Good Days, an incredible summer camp for kids with cancer.
Jerry N. Uelsmann and John Paul Caponigro, my muses and guides to the world of art and creativity, and Kevin O'Connor who taught me the basics of food photography.
Julia Child, who, through the TV screen, told me in the '60s that I could cook. I remember watching her in black and white when I was in college and trying her recipes on my roommates. I was honored to be a guest in her house for a dinner in 1995, and she was everything you think and more. In her last television interview, with Sarah Moulton on the Food Network, in the summer of 2004, she said "I think food is important and if you don’t know how to cook, it’s tragic." Amen.
Barry Sorkin of Smoque in Chicago where they make some of the best brisket anywhere for reviewing my article on the subject.
Catherine Lambrecht of the Culinary Historians of Chicago whose seminars have informed and entertained me.
Etienne Merle. Proprietor and chef of the late lamented L'Auberge du Cochon Rouge, a magnificent French restaurant in Ithaca, NY, who allowed me apprentice in his kitchen for a while, until he decided it was time to kill me. With good reason. I learned soooo much in such a short time. I have never met a more talented chef.
Steve Jobs and Alton Brown who have been role models.
To the advertisers and donors who have supported this labor of love with money and enabled me to make this website my full time job.
And the gods of grape, grain, and fire who have looked over me so far.
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Read this before posting a comment please:
1) If you are looking for info, please use the table of contents or the search box, at the top of every page.
2) Don't ask me any questions that involve temp or time unless you tell me that you are using a digital thermometer! Bi-metal dial thermometers are often off by as much as 50°F! If you are not using a good digital you have no idea what the temp really is so I can't help you. If you are still using a dial thermometer, please read this article about thermometers, then buy a good digital, and then, if the problem persists (chances are it won't), hit me with your questions. Then, please tell me everything I need to know to answer your question. Like the type of cooker you are using. Remember, I am not a mind reader.
3) Please don't ask me "What grill (or smoker) should I buy?" Read my Buyer's Guides and the buying checklists and follow the links. I've shared just about everything I know. Pay attention to the awards I have given my faves. I cannot pick the right cooker for you any more than I could pick the right car or spouse for you.
4) If you have problems posting with Internet Explorer, please read this. If problems persist, send me a note.
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Important Info About This Website
 AmazingRibs.com is all about the Zen of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and techniques: Barbecue baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, steak, burgers, chicken, smoked turkey, lamb, barbecue sauces, burgers, steaks, rubs, and side dishes, with the world's best buying guide to barbecue smokers and grills. It is written, photographed, illustrated, and coded solely by Meathead.
AmazingRibs.com is published by AmazingRibs, Inc., a Florida Corporation.
Our philosophy about food is simple. First of all it must taste great. It must be easy to make and emphasize fresh seasonal products with a minimum of processed ingredients. We think that people need to know why as well as how, so we spend a lot of time explaining things, and we believe that there are no rules in the bedroom or dining room.
 About Product Reviews and Best in BBQ Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals are highly recommended products. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when we recommend a product, it is really because we like it, not because someone has paid us to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. We purchase most products we review although occasionally suppliers send us samples. We have always been transparent about when we are reviewing a product sample, even before the Federal Trade Commission Required it in 2009.
About links on this site. Other than clearly marked ads, links and recommendations on this site are all products, services, and websites we truly admire, and are never paid endorsements. Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like us to link to your website, click here to read our links policy first.
Advertising on this site. AmazingRibs.com is one of the 100 most popular food websites in the US according to comScore, Alexa, and Quantcast. It is by far the most popular barbecue website in the world and pageviews double every year. Advertising on AmazingRibs.com is a great way to build your brand or make direct sales. I keep a strict wall between editorial and advertising, so, for current pricing and availability of prime space, contact my agency, Federated Media, by clicking the logo at right. Click here for analytics, stats, demographics, and advertising options.
Our Privacy Promise. AmazingRibs, Inc. promises to never sell or distribute any info about you individually without your express permission, and we promise not to, ahem, pepper you with email or make you eat spam. Click here for more details of my privacy promise.
Disclaimer. The information on this website is for educational purposes only. All material within comes without warranties of any kind. The authors are human and capable of mistakes, omissions, or errors, so we make no guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or safety of the information. Under no circumstances are we liable for any damages that result from use of the site (so you can't sue us if you don't like a recipe or if you burn your tongue on hot ribs, OK?).
Copyright © 2011 by AmazingRibs, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, all text, recipes, photos, and code are owned by AmazingRibs, Inc and fully protected by US copyright law. This means you need written permission to republish or distribute anything on this website. But we're easy. To get reprint rights, click here. Note: Some photos of commercial products such as grills were provided by the manufacturers and under their copyright.
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Save this link to
keep this site free!
http://tinyurl.com/3usxwaj
This link takes you to Amazon and tags anything you buy with a code so I get a referral fee. It works on anything from grills to diapers and it has zero impact on the price you pay. The best reasons to buy from Amazon are low prices, fast often free delivery, fair return policies, and often there is no sales tax. But clicking on that link before you shop helps me devote more time and money to you. Thanks!
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AmazingRibs.com Best in BBQ Gold Medal Winners
Here are three great products that have earned The AmazingRibs.com Best in BBQ Gold Medals. These are not ads!
GrillGrates Take You To The Infrared Zone
GrillGrates are the best new product I have tested in years and the best thing to happen to beef since salt and pepper. The base superheats, eliminates hot spots, and blocks flareups. This is the concept behind the expensive new infrared grills. A must for gas grills. Click here for more about GrillGrates.
The Smokenator: A Necessity For Weber Kettles
If you have a Weber Kettle, you need the amazing Smokenator and Hovergrill. The Smokenator turns your grill into a first class smoker, and the Hovergrill can add capacity or be used to create steakhouse steaks. Click here to read more.
ThermoWorks Pocket Thermometer - No More Guessing
A good thermometer is why I never serve overcooked or undercooked food. This one has a very thin tip with a tiny thermocouple so it gives an accurate reading in just six seconds. I cannot recommend it more highly. It will improve your cooking overnight and pay for itself in a hurry. And it is inexpensive. Click here for more about thermometers.
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