The move is done. After two days getting the kitchen and lots more unpacked, I finally got a chance to forage in the field and returned with wild garlic and mint, of which there is a ton, plus other treats for later. Two big slabs of ribs didn’t stay frozen during the trip up, so they went on the grill, with the customary secret spicy espresso rub, and got a good slather with the BBQ sauce from before, augmented with more of the same. I usually let the rub get a good char on it, then move the meat off the heat and start basting with sauce. Once moved off the coals, I added a bit of hardwood to give it some smoke, and threw on some bell pepper, onion, and tomato, which were all cut up from earlier meals.
Using the wild garlic, I made some mashed new potatoes, and blanched some bok choy, then tossed it in oil, cider vinegar, and sesame oil. Garnished the meat with a chiffonade of the wild mint and ate it with a 2000 Domaine de la Terre Rouge Ascent Syrah which is still young, but decanted and with meat softened up into a real Rhône Ranger; I think I have another one in VT and I’m excited to try it in five more years. It lacks a certain leathery, herbaceous quality, but damn if this isn’t in the same league as some top Châteauneuf.
Note the size of the ribs in relation to Milo. (He loved them.) One of the best things about the new place is being able to use the kitchen table I grew up with again; it had been relegated to the role of lowly studio work table in Brooklyn. Continuity, even of furniture, is a good thing in families.
* Warning: these ribs are powerful and should not be undertaken by those with a limited tolerance for ecstasy.