Richie's Kansas City ribs

We have a pretty good life, spending our days reading and writing about football, beer, food and tailgating.

 

But even we have our heroes. One of them is Peter Kaminsky. He's the fishing and outdoors columnist for The New York Times, a contributor to publications like Field & Stream, a food writer who has contributed to publications like Food & Wine AND he's the author of several food and fishing books. (He co-authored "John Madden's Ultimate Tailgating" in 1998.)

 

Our favorite book by him is called "Pig Perfect: Encounters with Remarkable Swine and Some Great Ways to Cook Them" (Hyperion, 2005). Needless to say, Kaminsky is a man after our own hearts and we just had to find out more.

 

The Chief Angry Troll had dinner with Kaminsky soon after the book came out. It was a meeting of a man and a troll united by their common love for fishing and pork. "Pig Perfect" is very entertaining travelogue and history that chronicles Kaminsky's global search for the perfect ham.

 

We asked if he had any recipes from the book we could use and he was more than happy to oblige. This is a rib recipe he first encountered in the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot before a Chiefs game.

 

Its creator, Richie, refused to share the recipe, but Kaminsky persisted with a year of letters and phone calls. Richie finally shared it with the author, who has since shared it with the pork-loving world. (It's found on page 209 of the hardcover edition of "Pig Perfect.") We've made them and can vouch for their porcine beauty.

 

Since parking lots don't always open early enough, we suggest you do the first four hours of smoking at home, and then conclude with the final two hours in the smoker before the game.

 

Stir bouillon in beer until completely dissolved (you may have to heat up the beer). Stir in remaining ingredients, adding mustard last.

 

Remove membrane from the back of the ribs (you can do this with a sharp knife or by gripping the membrane with a dry towel and pulling it off). Apply the mustard rub liberally to both sides of each slab, then rub with six-pepper blend. Smoke for 4 hours at 175 to 200 degrees.

 

Remove ribs from smoker and apply a coat of honey to the backside of the slab. Wrap ribs in plastic wrap, being careful not to puncture wrap. Be generous with the wrap because it requires an airtight seal. Place wrapped ribs back in the smoker for an additional two hours, increasing the temperature to 225 degrees.