Spareribs

Spareribs appear to be better than back ribs, to be honest.

Key notes:

* Apply rib rub. Probably want to be less heavy with it, to be honest (be conservative)

* Cure overnight then wrap

* 250 degrees for about 3 hours

* BBQ sauce for 2-3 turns in oven

Amazing!

Lasagna

UPDATE: Best meat sauce so far was the spicy sausage take on Babish below, with addition of 1lb of veal and browning the meat pretty well. 50% ipsola tomatoes and 50% whole foods brand. Result was fantastic with the rigatoni. Did not require any additional salt.

I've done two different lasagnas now, currently in process on a third. Both of the ones to date were Babish:

https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/ziti-lasagna

https://www.bingingwithbabish.com/recipes/2017/8/22/lasagna

I actually did the Babish ziti first, and that was pretty good. The Babish lasagna 2nd time worked better, though; the ziti had me and Layla breaking out more with whiteheads, and wasn't as filling.

Ziti I did pretty much directly by the book, except with spicy sausage instead of sweet. The lasagna I actually did using the sauce from the Garfield episode but otherwise based on the Carmela one. Top layer of that was with the leftover Carmela sauce. Overall this was very filling and satisfying.

2nd lasagna was straight up Garfield recipe. This one was...bland? I wasn't a fan. I think the difference is in the sheer volume of tomatoes. I did reduce the Garfield sauce more than I planned to the 2nd time, but I do remember something similar going wrong with the first one so that's probably not why the second lasagna wasn't as good. The selection of ricotta may have played in here as well, hard to say.

Today's try is using Carmela's method for two different batches of sauce, one with mild sausage one with spicy. We'll do spicy for the top layer again and the others with mild, and experiment with sweet sausage next week. Due to space constraints in the dutch ovens, we decided not to add extra water (and buy another dutch oven). Only other difference is marmite.

It's pretty noticeable (to me) that Babish's Garfield approach has a full mirepoux mix as the base for the sauce, same as the Bon Appetit ragu recipe. I think this works for the ragu, but might be bringing too much to the party for the lasagna - simple ingredients may be better.

We also shredded some of the mozarella last time, vs. exclusively slicing the first time. This time I've put the mozarella logs in the freezer so we can slice thin and see if that helps.

A note on ingredients, by the way:

* Best tomatoes appear to be either Isola (Whole Foods) or the ones from Trader Joe's. Most of the others hold their firmness more than I'd like, though we'll see how that plays out. Isola are also a pull-tab to open which speeds things up a bit. Unfortunately, these are $3-4/28oz vs. $1.50 for store brand, but I'm relatively ok with this.

* Best ricotta appears to be the Basket brand. It's only a few dollars more than Whole Foods' store brand and the difference is pretty ridiculous. 

Pork Ragu

This is actually the second time I've made this one. First time I don't entirely remember the recipe, it was a hybrid of a duck ragu recipe and another one actually intended as pork.

Might have been this one:
https://www.spoonforkbacon.com/braised-pork-ragu-over-pappardelle


This time it's this one:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cavatelli-with-pork-ragu

This second one smells a little too spiced.

EDIT: Made a 2nd round and while the nutmeg blends nicely, I think we should halve the cloves.

I also did English Muffins using the Knight Flour recipe last week; left them to proof for a long time though, so this week I'll do Bruno Albouze's version.

Did Babish's baked rigatoni as well. This time around, doing his Lasagna.

The wet-cured bacon worked pretty well, still a little saltier than I wanted. We'll continue using the Costco pork loins for it and probably dry-cure at a lower %; the savings are pretty huge compared to Whole Foods.

Also been doing English Muffins. Tried the recipe from Knight Flour; I think I let it proof too long and they came out kind of sour, then pushed on them during the griddling process and wound up with a very tight crumb. 2nd time was from Bruno Albouze; this went better but I think I let the yeast proof for too long before adding into the liquid levain, leading to a suboptimal rise. I do like his idea of just using pastry rings and a 2nd pan on top to guide how they form, though.

His recipe also uses instant yeast, which (from...I think it's Knight Flour again?) apparently tends to lead to a greater rise than what you'll see with active dry.

Ribs - Take 1

Ribs update:
Try 2.5-3hrs at 200; just did one for a little over 4hrs and the meat was way too soft (bones wouldn't stay in) but it seems like 2.5hr would be a happy medium

Cut the cumin content and consider dropping the cayenne as well - possibly also up salt. So maybe 30g Salt 5g Cumin.

Had 1g-3g of mustard in this one as well, uncertain what impact it had.

---
This worked fairly well, but needs work. I can't find my old recipe for the rub or anything else, so this is a process of experimentation/development.

The result from this one was tasty but a bit dry/lacking on tenderness, and felt like it had too much rub. Layla suggested reducing the cumin; I think I'll start by just not doing the extra rub.
High broiler may have been too much, or 3 minutes per side may have been too much. Let's try high for 1 minute per side next time.
Probably best to do the broiler step rib-side up once and then flip - the sauce sticks to the pan.


Changes to be made:
* Don't do the uncovered cooking step or just do it for 15 minutes or something (ie 3 hours at 200)
* Cook at 200, instead of 225
* I think I used to baste the ribs with the liquid from the foil, too.
* Don't sprinkle on the extra rub
* Broil only 1min per side for the sauce
* First broil should be rib side up, then 2-3 rounds of rib side down
* Trim membrane off the bottom - I decided not to do it this time and suspect it's a good way to both reduce fat (which layla likes) and get more rub into the meat (which everyone likes).

Potential future revisions:
* Longer cooking step
* Change rub recipe
* Try low broiler instead of high

Ingredients (for 1 Costco-sized rack):
10g Paprika
10g Cumin
10g Garlic Powder
6g Chili Powder
2g Cayenne
2g White Pepper
15g Brown Sugar
22g Salt
~1g Black Pepper

1) Mix all spices together (can toast and grind from whole spices if desired) thoroughly
2) Rub heavily on all sides of ribs and leave uncovered in fridge overnight, on a wire rack above paper towels or a sheet pan to catch moisture
3) Preheat oven to 225
4) Wrap ribs tightly in foil (Costco heavy-duty seems great for this)
5) Place ribs in oven bone-side up and leave for 2 hours
6) Unwrap ribs, sprinkle both sides with any residual rub, and cook uncovered for another 1hr
7) Remove ribs from oven and place on a broiler pan, bone side down. Brush with desired bbq sauce and place under high broiler for 3 minutes. Flip, brush underside with sauce, and broil again for 3 minutes. Flip again, brush with sauce, and boil again for final 3 minutes.
8) Slice and serve

Bacon Extra!

Costco actually had pork loins today, so I snagged one as well as the ribs for the previous "entry." I have a strong suspicion that these will be less good than the ones from Whole Foods, but while Whole Foods are out...

Calculator again:
https://eatcuredmeat.com/how-much-curing-salt-per-pound-of-meat-dry-or-wet-curing-tool-calculator/

This time, given the sheer size, I'm going to go with the wet brining approach. Total mass of pork is 2838g, and we don't need to correct for salt loss. Thus to get our 2.5% it's (rounding from the calculator) 10g curing salt, 100g Kosher salt, and 1.14L of water.

I'll have to prep the salts and water separately, possibly bringing up to a simmer first.

Procedure I'm thinking:
* Wet cure for ~5 days
* Flip over and do 5 more days
* Soak for 1hr in fresh water and clean surface --> I may just wash it, to be honest; equilibrium brining
* Leave to dry, flipping daily, for 3-4 days

This has me flipping it next Wednesday, taking it out on the 30th, and starting to eat it a on that Wednesday/Thursday.


Note: The Book suggests 1 gallon of 60* Brine and 81g of Cure #1 for 5kg. I'll have to do some math on that.

*http://seafoodacademy.org/brining-activity.php

Ribs

Getting this formalized.

I keep trying to figure out what rub I want...there's the foodwishes one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz7WHAjxDxk
https://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2011/01/you-want-your-baby-back-ribs-sure-just.html

Chefsteps:
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/smokerless-smoked-ribs-incredible-barbecue-no-smoker-required
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/apartment-rib-rub
Both of which are probably targeting smokier than I want.

And various ones from serious eats (links go to the main pages, not the recipes themselves):
https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how-to-make-oven-bbq-barbecue-baked-ribs.html (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/06/oven-barbecue-bbq-ribs-recipe.html)
https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/09/the-food-lab-complete-guide-sous-vide-pork-ribs.html (https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/09/sous-vide-pork-ribs-recipe-food-lab.html)
https://www.seriouseats.com/2012/09/how-to-make-a-barbecue-rub.html

Bacon Note: Apparently connective tissue starts breaking down into gelatin starting about 130F; if long times at 132 don't negatively impact texture and fattiness, there may be a good case for a longer sous vide step to help weaken the connective tissue layer.

Trouble is I specifically remember that my favorite rub had cumin in it.
Here's one that does:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rib-dry-rub-recipe-1915626

For now I think I'll go with Kenji's

Found another one:
https://kristywicks.com/best-smoked-ribs-rib-rub-recipe/

Prehab/Rehab Notes

Based on all the stuff from PT.

NB: external rotation is rotation such that the main limb is rotating away from the body - hip external rotation has the front of the thigh moving outwards if you're in hip extension.
We hit a variety of exercises, so the list first:

Hips
* Sidesteps (with band)
* Monster Walks (with band around ankles)
* External Rotation mobe (lie on back with knees at 90, have one knee fall towards the floor without rotating your hips)
* Prone External Rotation (now with ankle weights)
* Clamshell with band
* "Squeeze Bridge" (this was with the "circle" thing orinally)
* Wall Ball Squats (single-leg squat with a med ball between a wall and your inactive thigh; start at about a quarter squat and keep all the weight on your heels)
* Single-leg bridges (inactive leg extended, don't let your hips rotate)

Neck
* Occipillow neck curl
* Occipillow rotation
* All-Fours Rotation
In all cases, trying to avoid recruiting the traps/pulling the head back

Shoulder
* IR/ER/45-degree --> IR and ER can be done with elbow at side, or as 90/90
* Standing CAR
* All-Fours CAR
* Wall Balls - front, side, taps (noon, 1:30, 3pm)
* Ys and Ts with light dumbbells
* Wall Walks (nowadays we're doing these with straight arms)
* Rows (banded, originally)
* "Scap Slides" or whatever on the wall (should do these throughout the day anyway)
* Banded Scap Slides

--

That's the "full" exercise list. There's also some diagnostic that needs to be done here.

Important notes:
* My shoulder/back issues are heavily due to my traps sitting too low, so Farmer Carries are also indicated here to help get the damn things to shorten up. This is another benefit to the scap slides.
* Hips are rotated a bit with the right one further forward and the left knee collapsing, meaning...
* Left side - missing external rotation range, plus issues keeping that knee "out"
* Right side - missing internal rotation range (potentially)
* Torso - some rotation towards the right side

Would be interesting to test what issues are actually coming up when I back step on the wall; you'd think the left hip being rotated "back" would actually help get my hips closer to the wall when turning that hip in, so maybe this is more a torso rotation problem.

The missing external rotation range on the left side is noticeable but may be a result of comparing against a right side in which the hip is already far forward. That being said, the inability to get into that same position on the left is a problem.

To be honest, I think that rolling out the area around the hips is the key there. That hip release trick from Starrett and Waterbury could also be a good thing to look at.

---

Proposed routine:

Rolling/Mobes
* Upper back Foam Roll
* Upper back Double-LAX
* Hip and Quad
* Open Book Stretch

Exercises (for now):
* Neck curls
* Neck rotations
* Band Clamshells
* Ball Circles
* Scap Slides
* Wall Walks
* Side Steps
* Monster Walks
* Ys and Ts
* ER/IR/45s

Question occurs whether it's worth splitting these up somewhat, e.g. having a stretching day or...something. Presumably the couch stretch and some hamstring stretching comes in here somewhere. The ideal here would be some full-body massage every so often...