Fall Off The Bone Rib Perfection

There are people out there that say you can't make great ribs on a gas grill. I am here to now tell you differently. These ribs that I made today were every bit as good as those smoked on a charcoal grill, or dare I say a Big Green Egg (BGE). Only difference were that these ribs lacks some of the smokiness that you will find with those latter methods. These were prepared and cooked the same exact way as you would via charcoal, but instead was cooked over indirect heat on a gas grill.

I prepared these ribs by first removing the silver skin on the back and trimming away some of the excess fat. Once that was completed, I then rubbed down the pork ribs in a little honey mustard before applying the the dry rub to every inch of the rack. The honey mustard was an experiment, since I was out of regular mustard, and it proved to be a nice compliment to the spicy bite of the dry rub.

After a lot of tinkering with the heat on the grill I was able to get it set to just a little over 250 degrees. This was barely having on the flames on the 2 outer burners. I then places some soaked apple wood chips in the middle in hopes that I could get that flavor up to the ribs. I knew I wouldn't get the smoke that I normally would get with a charcoal grill, but that didn't matter as I got tons of flavor into the ribs as is. The smell from the ribs and the apple wood chips were amazing and this couldn't have worked out better. I also sprayed down the ribs every 30 min or so with a 50/50 combo of apple juice and apple cider vinegar.

Cooking time was pretty easy as well thanks to the heat being perfectly regulated. I let these go 2 hours on the top rack, 2 hours wrapped up in foil, and then one more hour back on the rack as I applied the sauce. Two applications of the sauce did the trick and these ribs were done.

As you can see by the pics these ribs were not only a thing of beauty but were also cooked to perfection. The meat fell right off the bones, was moist, and had flavor for days.

If you are one that has been afraid to try and cook ribs on a gas grill, I am here to tell you that it can be done and be done easily.

Slider Nirvana at Sammy Greens

This was my second visit to @SammyGreens, a locally owned slider restaurant near downtown in Savannah on Abercorn. I could swear that I posted about my initial visit where I ate the Chee Booger and the Danang. However, for whatever reason I can't find it on here...so we march forward with posting about the my second trip.

The process at Sammy Greens is very simple: Walk up to the counter, place your order, have a seat, and feast when your food is brought out to you. Everything is made fresh, but doesn't take long to prepare being that they are small in size. On this trip I ate the Windy City, a Hogzilla, and a Chee Booger (because it is that good).

The Windy City is a Chicago style slider that packs the best of the Chicago Dog into just a couple of bites. This split mini dog is topped with diced banana peppers, minced onion, diced tomato, pickled cucumbers, relish, lettuce, celery salt and mustard. This dog was messy, but oh so good. It was so good that I am tempted to just order a couple of these on the next trip and nothing else.

The Hogzilla is a slow roasted pork shoulder that has been pulled and then pressed together into a patty. Cole slaw, pickles, and their own BBQ sauce round out this pork slider. It was very good, but not one that will have me running back there to try again. I am much more of a fan of their brisket than the pork.

That leads me to the last slider, the Chee Booger. As I stated before, this slider is so good that it is almost a staple to have on your plate each and every visit. Slow roasted brisket, cooked to perfection, is the star of the show, but everything on this slider comes together perfectly. Topped with smothered onions, pickles, American cheese, mustard and Tschirky Sauce...every bit of this slider should be savored.

The menu at Sammy Greens features different sides each week, salads, and a host of other sliders on the pork, brisket, chicken, and hot dog scale. Size wise, 2-3 sliders will have you full and happy when you walk out the door. Also, at around $2.50 a slider...they won't kill your wallet.

Cruise Food Aboard The Disney Dream

This will probably be the longest post in the history of IJAT, but I decided it was best to do this in one massive post rather than a few daily posts.

Below is a collection of what I ate during our cruise May 8th-12th aboard the new Disney Dream. The first few pictures were the first meal we had aboard the ship at Flo's V-8 Cafe, which was located poolside. There you could get everything from pizza, burgers, fries and chicken fingers to sandwiches, wraps, salads, and fruit.

Our first dinner was located inside Animators Palate. This was a very cool dining room where the walls came to life with Crush, Nemo, Dori and the rest of the cast from Finding Nemo. This is pretty much a Pixar room and my son loved every second we were in there. During dinner Crush made his way, window to window, around the room and interacted with each table. He would pick someone out at a table and have a full conversation with them. The dinner itself was pretty good as I had the veal trio.

The next group show breakfast as we pulled into Nassau. Amazing view of the ocean and sunrise to have during breakfast.

Some other highlights through the rest of the pics:

The BBQ buffet at Castaway Cay for lunch was outstanding. Ribs, Mahi, Chicken...pretty much everything you could want was there.

The Watermelon & Honeydew cold soup was amazing! I had this after eating the spicy Conch Chowder. It was a very nice palate cleanser and was quite refreshing.

The desserts were pretty meh, except for the last ones. The Creme Brulee was one of the best I have ever had and the Grand Marnier Souffle was beyond anything I expected it to be.

During that same meal I had an amazing Rack of Lamb and a cold duck appetizer. The French Onion Soup though was not good at all. Hard to call it soup since all the liquid was pretty much soaked up into the bread. It was more like French Onion Bites, but far from the real French Onion Bites at The Stanton Social in NYC. One of these days I will try those for myself.

Enjoy the pics. I know it is a lot to go through, but it was a lot to eat as well.