Pork Ribs

Fourteen restaurants from the area set up their grills Monday at Philadelphia Park in Bensalem for the first international rib cookoff, sponsored by Power 99 FM radio and Out on the Town Entertainment News magazine. There was a competition for best pork ribs and best beef ribs. A panel of judges sampled the entries before declaring winners.

When you call to reserve a table for the churrasco meat-athon at Chima in Center City, a phone rings in Brazil. It's an odd and unexpected transcontinental detour to Chima's corporate call center for that local number to travel. But it's comforting, I suppose, to know that this growing chain of upscale restaurants is so authentic, a reservationist somewhere in Minas Gerais is noting our arrival. But authenticity, it turns out, is the least of my issues with Chima, which mimics a traditional Brazilian steak-house formula - down to the cheesepuffs, vast salad bar, and tableside skewer-craft of its gaucho servers - popularized by other all-you-can-eat Brazilian steak-house chains like Fogo de Chão.

It is very often possible when purchasing meat to make considerable savings, and eat better in the bargain, if you try to make every cut that you buy "come to the table twice. " Let me give you an example. "Tis barbecue season right? And one of the favorite cuts for the barbecue grill is pork ribs. There are a number of different types from which to choose - back ribs, "baby back ribs," "country style ribs," even "boneless pork ribs" (that somehow seems a contradiction in terms to me - but anyway)

What a good, quick cook needs is friends who are good cooks. Good cooks who are friendly enough, in fact, to share the recipes they know how to fix quickly. Lucky for this quick cook, one good friend is not only a good cook, but one of the best. Here's proof: his recipe, which follows, called Todd's Garlic- Crusted Baby Back Rack. Todd Clark invented the crust of fennel-enhanced herbes de Provence and pureed garlic to blanket a pork loin roast big enough to serve seven other friends.

"We got people who come here regularly from Allentown and Trenton just for Mama Rosa's pig feet," says Walter "Doc" Ritter, also known as Papa Rosa. Ritter refers to his queen of soul food in the third person, perhaps in recognition of the institution she has become. I first came upon the inestimable cuisine of Mama Rosa in 1986 at a converted gas station on N. Broad Street. There I ate the most seamless fried chicken imaginable, first-rate ribs and, of course, those legendary pig feet.

Good barbecued ribs aren't easy, and great ones require a commitment akin to fanaticism. Cook them too quickly and you'll have a set of sticks strung together with rubber bands of cartilage and a web of charred meat. Allow the coals to flame uncontrolled and the rack's glorious glazed surface will hide ribbons of raw flesh. Turn your back, or forget to baste, and your dinner will be so much jerky-on-the-bone. Contrary to popular opinion, ribs cannot be grilled in the strict sense.

A recent lunch at the Philadelphia Industrial Corrections Center suggested new vistas in modern penology - prison cuisine as punishment. That's the conclusion based on a sampling of that day's fare - barbecued spare ribs, greens, ravioli in meat sauce, the ever-present white bread and lemonade. Shabby food is one of the reasons the city is privatizing its food service and building a massive food factory. The goal is better quality and reduced cost. Sensitive to the growing non-pork eating population in the prison system, the prison's culinary wizards offered inmates a choice between the ribs and the ravioli.

The good news is that the tastiest meat is frequently the cheapest. Anyone who has tackled a rack of ribs can attest to that. The bad news is that the flavor comes at a different price: tenderness. Ribs, like all tough cuts, must be tenderized to make them palatable. Contrary to popular opinion, ribs cannot be grilled, at least not in the strictest sense. Grilling is a quick, dry method of cooking that creates a crisped, brown surface in a matter of minutes, but it does little to soften tough fibers or cook through anything thicker than a sheet of vellum without scorching the surface.

Memorial Day Weekend is the official opening of grill season. That black box on wheels may have been sitting on the deck all winter, alone and all but forgotten, but now it beckons. And oh how it promises. . .to free you from the kitchen, to bring you outdoors, to ease you into casual entertaining, to make eating at home fun again. You say you're no grill wizard? Relax. You don't have to be as long as you know a few of what Ron Washington calls "tricks of the trade. " Washington has owned Ron's Ribs, 1627 South St., for 18 years and bottles and sells his own secret barbecue sauce ("Everyone's a barbecue expert when they put Ron's Ribs sauce on," he jokes)

South Street, even on the tamer blocks west of Sixth, won't ever be confused with the actual South. But for some reason - or possibly just blind coincidence - it has given rise to an uncommon number of barbecue joints, among them the estimable Bea Bea's Lawnside BBQ, now occupied by a lesser rib crib, and Phoebe's, also a shadow of its former self. Now the 800-pound gorilla of barbecue joints has moved in, near the corner of Ninth and South, the bright lights of the hulking Whole Foods Market a tobacco-spit away.

For years, Lou Cantolupo would coax magic from his backyard smoker for the barbecues he and his wife held for relatives and friends. Fortunate to be among the chosen gaggle, I'd park in front of his house and follow my nose across the lawn, hypnotized by the wafting scent of slow-smoked pork shoulder, brisket, sausage, and ribs. Of the glistening meats he'd pile onto platters, none so enraptured me as the racks of mahogany-hued spareribs. Before biting into one, I would regard it for a second or two, lost in reverie: This royal bone, this meat of majesty, this Pork Rib. And then I would tear into its juicy, smoky, tender flesh like a crazed dog. The best ribs are tender but not submissive.

South Street, even on the tamer blocks west of Sixth, won't ever be confused with the actual South. But for some reason - or possibly just blind coincidence - it has given rise to an uncommon number of barbecue joints, among them the estimable Bea Bea's Lawnside BBQ, now occupied by a lesser rib crib, and Phoebe's, also a shadow of its former self. Now the 800-pound gorilla of barbecue joints has moved in, near the corner of Ninth and South, the bright lights of the hulking Whole Foods Market a tobacco-spit away.

When you call to reserve a table for the churrasco meat-athon at Chima in Center City, a phone rings in Brazil. It's an odd and unexpected transcontinental detour to Chima's corporate call center for that local number to travel. But it's comforting, I suppose, to know that this growing chain of upscale restaurants is so authentic, a reservationist somewhere in Minas Gerais is noting our arrival. But authenticity, it turns out, is the least of my issues with Chima, which mimics a traditional Brazilian steak-house formula - down to the cheesepuffs, vast salad bar, and tableside skewer-craft of its gaucho servers - popularized by other all-you-can-eat Brazilian steak-house chains like Fogo de Chão.

Now that you've recovered from last weekend's nail-biter against Green Bay, it's time to start planning your NFC Championship Game party. The Eagles will take on Carolina Sunday at the Linc at 6:45 p.m. Couldn't get a ticket for the game? Yeah, we couldn't either. One of the most important components to any party is the food. And while Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme might make you too nervous to eat, there's bound to be someone at your shindig who's not worried that the Birds have to play without Brian Westbrook and Carlos Emmons.

When smoke rises in Jim Coleman and Candace Hagan's backyard in Moorestown, it's a signal that Jim has fired up his wide-bodied New Braunfels Smoker Co. grill and is fixing to turn ordinary beef brisket, baby back ribs, and chicken wings into something celestial. "Some people boil ribs. I hate that. I don't know why they even bother," said Coleman, the executive chef of the Rittenhouse Hotel, as he prepares to host his annual summer cookout for 100 guests, a mix of neighbors and fellow food professionals.

Memorial Day Weekend is the official opening of grill season. That black box on wheels may have been sitting on the deck all winter, alone and all but forgotten, but now it beckons. And oh how it promises. . .to free you from the kitchen, to bring you outdoors, to ease you into casual entertaining, to make eating at home fun again. You say you're no grill wizard? Relax. You don't have to be as long as you know a few of what Ron Washington calls "tricks of the trade. " Washington has owned Ron's Ribs, 1627 South St., for 18 years and bottles and sells his own secret barbecue sauce ("Everyone's a barbecue expert when they put Ron's Ribs sauce on," he jokes)

A recent lunch at the Philadelphia Industrial Corrections Center suggested new vistas in modern penology - prison cuisine as punishment. That's the conclusion based on a sampling of that day's fare - barbecued spare ribs, greens, ravioli in meat sauce, the ever-present white bread and lemonade. Shabby food is one of the reasons the city is privatizing its food service and building a massive food factory. The goal is better quality and reduced cost. Sensitive to the growing non-pork eating population in the prison system, the prison's culinary wizards offered inmates a choice between the ribs and the ravioli.

Good barbecued ribs aren't easy, and great ones require a commitment akin to fanaticism. Cook them too quickly and you'll have a set of sticks strung together with rubber bands of cartilage and a web of charred meat. Allow the coals to flame uncontrolled and the rack's glorious glazed surface will hide ribbons of raw flesh. Turn your back, or forget to baste, and your dinner will be so much jerky-on-the-bone. Contrary to popular opinion, ribs cannot be grilled in the strict sense.

What a good, quick cook needs is friends who are good cooks. Good cooks who are friendly enough, in fact, to share the recipes they know how to fix quickly. Lucky for this quick cook, one good friend is not only a good cook, but one of the best. Here's proof: his recipe, which follows, called Todd's Garlic- Crusted Baby Back Rack. Todd Clark invented the crust of fennel-enhanced herbes de Provence and pureed garlic to blanket a pork loin roast big enough to serve seven other friends.

Fourteen restaurants from the area set up their grills Monday at Philadelphia Park in Bensalem for the first international rib cookoff, sponsored by Power 99 FM radio and Out on the Town Entertainment News magazine. There was a competition for best pork ribs and best beef ribs. A panel of judges sampled the entries before declaring winners.