this year.

I’ve finally been to my first ribfest. It’s hard to think of anything more American than people lining up for hours to drop $20 on a full rack of pork ribs dripping in special and secret blends of BBQ sause. How do I know? Well, becuase I lined up for an hour. I didn’t mean to. Honestly. But after 20min I was commited, and was convinced these must be the best ribs I will ever taste, becuase how could a line of 100 people be wrong? Sure, I could have gone to one of the other ribbers, with shorter lines, but instinct tells me the longest line must equal the best ribs. Sadly I was hugly disapointed.

The ribs I tried from Billy Bones were anything but fantastic. The sauce was acceptable, but the actual rib was a complete, and utter let down. The meat was stringy, and required much to much work to remove it fro the bone. In my humble opinion the meat should almost fall off the bone. Not such that it literally falls off the bone, and is soft and stringly, but it should be removed, in its entirety with minimal effort,and maximum enjoyment.

I was under the impression that these ribs would represent the be all, and end all of ribs. That these ribs would show me how to cook ribs. That I would leave, never wanting to eat inferior ribs again. The reality was that I dropped $40 on ribs. Yes $40. After my medicore induction into a ribfest I decided to go for round 2. There were 6 ribbers at the ribfest, so perhaps my long line = best ribs observation was incorrect. I decided to go on my second obsrevation. The ribber with the tallest and most elaborate display must equal the best ribs. I planned ahead on this 2nd day of the ribfest, by going to said ribber and negiating a line cut during the dinner hour (as I was working the event, and did not have 1h to wait in line). These ribs had one last year, and ‘They were back to win it again’. Verdict? Average. The rib was heaps better then the previous day. It was meaty, it was tender, and it came off the bone with minimal effort. But the sauce. Gasp. The sauce was uber sweet. Now, I like sweet, but this was ridiculous. A smoked, BBQ grilled rib should be BBQ flavoured with some spice. Another let down.

The thing is I might do it again. I’m convinced some ribber must have ‘the best ribs I have ever tasted’. I think next time I’ll opt out of $20 full rack, and go for the $9 1/3 rack. That said, the ribs I do at home are still the best ribs I’ve ever had, and the ribs we made once back at school, with a homemade BBQ sauce, may have been the best combination of ribs and sauce ever.