Hello Fellow Campers and Foodies!
Have you dusted off your grill yet for the start of what we hope will be a wonderful summer for y’all? Gourmet Girls Denise and Gail did just that at Sage Hill Campground (about a half hour from the sandy beaches of Santa Barbara) over the weekend where we demoed Neecie’s Pork Ribs, a recipe in The Gourmet Girls Go Camping Cookbook, for a crowd of 40 camping aficionados . . . mostly gay men who gathered at the invitation of Brian Miller who has been camping since he was five years old AND has been camping with many of these guys for over twenty years. That beats the Gourmet Girls at Large camping rendezvous. Wow! We need to up our game somehow.
Brian thanked us for the amazing ribs. “YUM!” sums it up. So here’s what we did to impress the discerning palates of the participants, our most welcomed guests.
- We chose St. Louis pork ribs (much meatier!)
- We started the fire with wood and then threw on hickory smoked barbecue coals (we kept “feeding in” coals to keep the fire hot)
- We double foiled the ribs to prevent leakage and let ’em cook until they were just about falling off the bone (about an hour and a half)
- We took them out of the foil and placed them directly on the grill for 5 or so minutes to render the fat (turned once)
- We sauced them with a hickory smoked sauce (yes, bottled!) for another few minutes per side
In our cookbook we suggest a hickory smoked barbecue sauce by Masterpiece, but we couldn’t find it anywhere so we substituted. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Use your favorite bottled sauce or make your own!
This was our first demo in a campsite (not counting the countless times we tested recipes at Ventana Campground in Big Sur and invited others) and we loved doing it! It was so much fun. The dinner was potluck, so we got to eat a variety of camp food, meet new friends, and converse over a great meal. The feeling of camaraderie was just as it should be when camping with friends in the great outdoors. Encore, please!
Before closing, We’d like to let you all know about an upcoming event we’ll be having at Buttonwood Farm and Winery in Solvang, CA, on Saturday, June 10th. The Gourmet Girls on Fire will be cooking up a storm for some lucky diners. We hope to see you there! It’s sure to be memorable plein-air luncheon. Think peaches (organic ones), which Buttonwood is so well-known for, and other fresh and delicious healthy ingredients.
Buy your ticket here: https://gourmetgirls.eventbrite.com
Cheers!
The Gourmet Girls on Fire
Gail, Denise, and Lindsey
#gourmetgirlsofire