For Barbeque And Beer

By Eliza Hallabeck

After graduating Newtown High School in 2003, working at Starbucks in Newtown for five years, and then attending college for an American studies degree, resident Nick Doniger has found what he wants to do for his career, and it involves barbequing and beer.

This week Mr Doniger explained it took a few weeks of planning before he posted his Sizzle Grove Barbecue Blog online in July.

“I had been barbequing so much with friends at home, and I had so many recipes,” he said.

Mr Doniger had also been freelancing at the time for the website www.WiseGeek.com, an article collection website designed to answer questions on topics, and knew some people get paid to blog.

At first, he updated his blog between five to seven times a week, but now, with “a strong base of recipes and tips and articles,” he plans to post something new four times a week, according to the blog.

As Mr Doniger wrote on Sizzle Grove Barbeque Blog, located at www.sizzlegrove.blogspot.com, “My interest in barbecue came about only a few years before writing up this blog. After watching various television shows about American barbecue and researching it online, I decided to purchase a small charcoal smoker. Having always been a fan of pork ribs in particular, my first adventure was with making spare ribs.”

While he dreams of moving to a larger smoker eventually, Mr Doniger said the trick is to get good at using the equipment at your disposal.

“I’ve sat outside cooking all day,” said Mr Doniger. “For some people cooking all day is a chore. For me, it’s a hobby.”

Most of the time, he said, he will sit outside with friends and family. Due to the smaller size of his smoker, he is limited to the number of people he can entertain with his cooking, but sometimes he will cook up larger servings of food to bring to parties.

Barbequing and beer are both passions of his, he said, adding he has been a fan of beer since he turned 21.

“Sizzle Grove was born out of my own necessity to archive my recipes and all the things I’ve learned from experts and from my own experimentation,” Mr Doniger wrote on the blog. “I also wanted to show that people from the North are beginning to catch on to the idea of authentic barbecue. Being from Connecticut, I’ve seen a few quality establishments around my own state, and I’ve met other folks around my area who love true ‘cue.”

Mr Doniger also serves plenty of side dishes with his meals, ranging from coleslaw and beans to salads. Vegetable recipes, he said, will be coming to the website shortly.

With the colder weather approaching, Mr Doniger said he will continue barbequing and writing recipes. He has plans to move to Brooklyn soon with his girlfriend, Lauryn Linley of Monroe. Ms Linley, and Mr Doniger’s parents, Paul and Nancy Doniger, have all been supporters of the blog since its inception, Mr Doniger said.

“It’s been fun developing all my own recipes and tips,” said Mr Doniger.

His favorite recipe so far was for Mustard Marinated Spare Ribs, which he blogged about on July 28. Mr Doniger suggests an India Pale Ale as the perfect compliment to this dish.

The blog was designed to have readers comment and add their own recipes to the site, and Mr Doniger said he hopes people will start doing that more often. He said his hopes are for Sizzle Grove Barbecue Blog to continue going for as long as possible, and to make a career from his two passions of beer and barbeque.

Nick Doniger’s Mustard Marinated Spare Ribs

(www. sizzlegrove.blogspot.com)

Here is one of our favorite ways to enjoy spare ribs. We caved for you guys and wrote down some approximate measurements, but be as liberal as you like.

Ribs

Two racks of trimmed spare ribs, cut into halves, with membranes removed

Marinade

In a small bowl, mix:

2 Tbs spicy mustard, such as Kosciusko’s

1 tsp cider vinegar

1 tsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp honey

1 clove crushed garlic

Then...

Mix the following spices in a jar:

2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp smoked paprika

½ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp onion powder or onion salt

2 tsp mustard powder or coarse ground mustard seeds

Pour half of this mixture into the marinade, and reserve the other half.

Rub spiced mustard marinade generously over spare ribs, and extra trimmed meat, store overnight.

Cooking

Fire up your smoker with a large batch of coals. Using a chimney starter will help you get your coals lit.

Place your favorite wood on the coals, after it has soaked in water for at least an hour. We at Sizzle Grove mostly use hickory wood.

Allow ribs to cook for about 3-4 hours, checking every hour or so. Temperature may start off hot, but should even out to 250–275 degrees F. Light a small batch of coals midway through if necessary.

For one final hour of cooking time, wrap ribs in foil. At this point, they have absorbed plenty of smoke, and will not absorb more in the foil.

After one hour is up, sprinkle reserved spices over the top of the ribs.

Allow meat to rest for about ten minutes. Cut up ribs and enjoy.

If your smoker still has some heat left and you still have some wood left, throw your extra trimmed marinated rib meat on the grill grate. After it cooks through, chop it up into small bits with a good knife, and you’ve got boneless spare ribs. If your smoker goes cold, these boneless ribs will still be tasty on a standard propane grill or fried up in a pan.