TomHofstätter.com

Tinkering, cooking, and eating are three of my favourite downtime activities. So it will come as no surprise that I often go to great lengths to combine all three.

My latest obsession is perfect slow-cooked ribs. Crafted with smoke, fire, and care.

I have been to many dedicated BBQ restaurants, and always thought there must be some secret voodoo that produces the delicate mouthwatering flavour of real Barbeque.

Cooking with fire is perhaps the oldest cooking method, and for many, the most mysterious. Most are willing to pay a little more to dine out, never considering that they could do it themselves – It doesn’t have to be this way!

Like most things, the truth of real Barbeque is of course quite simple.

In my estimation the secret to great ribs is heat, smoke, and time.

With a little knowledge, practice, willingness to fail, and the right tools, anyone can produce ribs with tender fall-off-the-bone flavour, right in their own backyard.

In my limited experience I have learned that every dish requires an appropriate measure of three key elements:

1. The best ingredients you can get
2. Thoughtful preparation
3. Deliberate technique, equipment, and execution

When it comes to ribs, all three elements are vital. Each step contributes nothing but the building blocks of flavour that will penetrate literally to the bone.

For my purposes, I wanted a simple charcoal burning smoker that would allow for moderate cooking times (up to 6 hours) with little attending. There are plenty of commercially available smokers out there. Some cheap, some over the top expensive. You could wait for a sale and buy one, but what fun would that be?

With just a bit of searching I was able to find all the bits you see above for about $60.

What I used:

1. Galvanized Trash-can
2. Stainless Steel colander (to hold hardwood charcoal)
3. 6 x 2″ Stainless Steel bolts and nuts (3 each to support 2 shelves inside)
4. An empty can to hold hickory/mesquite wood-chips or pellets
5. A sheet of thin steel and magnets for a door
6. 2 x 14-16″ wire racks or perforated pizza pans

I even added at BBQ thermometer on the lid (I like to keep the heat below 240 or so).

As you can see I cut a hole in one side of the trash-can to control air ventilation and to be able to add charcoal as necessary (I have not needed to yet).

The colander is loaded with charcoal and placed at the bottom of the can. Allow the the coals to heat to ash, then place the can of  wood-chips/pellets right onto the coals. Cover the door and add the ribs, put the lid on the can and walk away.

Even with the door in place, there is not enough of seal on my smoker to snuff the fire – keep an eye on the temperature and open the door if your fire needs air.

As for a rib recipe, there are a million, and I urge you to make it a million and one.

For the record, here’s mine:

1. 4 x neatly trimmed pork side or back ribs, membrane removed
2. Dusted liberally with dried mustard powder, garlic powder, pepper, paprika, and cayenne powder
3. Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight
4. When the smoker is ready, add the ribs and spray lightly with a 50/50 mixture of apple juice and vinegar (I use a squirt bottle). Repeat every 45 minutes or so for about 4.5 – 5 hours

After a few hours you should have something like this:

If you like, during the last 15 minutes or so you can add your favourite sauce and heat through.

If you made it this far, why not give it a try yourself? It’s simple, and the results are astonishing.

Now, what else can I fit in there?

Bon Appétit!

Being a recovering musician I still get the urge to get together with friends and jam. There is a magic that happens when the mood is right, the personalities mesh, and the defenses are dropped. The music just flows. These days however, with kids and schedules, it’s not easy to find the time or place conducive to musical escapism. When it does happen, it inevitably ends up being a room full of guitars, endless tuning, plenty of strumming (lots of beer), and not much creating.

Recently, I was in just this scenario when something interesting happened. Like anyone with an acoustic guitar is wont to do,  I began using it as a drum – tapping out a beat on the back and sides. Almost immediately the mushy “watch my hands” chord changes tightened up, and we all felt a rush of excitement as we found a groove and started making music.

Having had the luxury of being the reckless lead guitarist for most of my life I had forgotten how important it is to have reliable rhythm to keep everything on track. I’ve played the drums for 20 years, but I’m no drummer. Still, I can at least appreciate good rhythm.

Maybe what my lazy Sunday afternoon guitar jams need is one less guitar?

Hmmm. Time for a project!

Deciding that  a small portable drum/percussion kit was what I needed, I began scouring the used-webs orphaned drum parts with a plan top build a mini franken-kit. My plan was to go with  just the basics: bass drum, snare drum, and some combination of hi-hat or cymbal. After looking at some very cool Cocktail Drum sets for inspiration, I discovered the Cajon.

One of the most basic percussion instruments you can imagine, the Cajon (literally Spanish for box or crate) is capable of a surprising variety of sounds. A Cajon is a simple wooden box with a hard wooden playing surface (the tapa) on the front, and a sound hole on the back or side. The resonance of the box itself is augmented by the addition of guitar strings or snare wires resting against the inside surface of the tapa. Depending on where the playing surface is struck, a variety of bass drum and snare like sounds can be achieved.

There are several commercial percussion instrument builders who seem to offer all manner of Cajon models and exotic wood combinations. A quick look online and it’s not hard to find lots of tutorials detailing every aspect of DIY Cajon building. I’m not a wood working expert, but this seemed to be within my reach.

Like any artisan crafted instrument, care ought to be taken to select a combination of woods that offer excellent physical structure and a variety of natural tones. Well, at least that is what someone who knows what they are doing would do. I had some 1″ thick  pine panels and thin, 1/4″  Finnish birch plywood. With a lot of glue, some 1″x1-1/2″ internal bracing, and a few screws I made a simple butt joined 4-piece box (top, bottom, and sides). To that I added a fixed flush mounted back panel from the birch plywood (by recessing the internal braces slightly). The front playing surface/tapa  is attached along the bottom and lower sides by many brass screws, about 2″ apart. The top half of the tapa is mounted only at the top centre, allowing more movement and ‘slapping’ at the corners.

Cajon - Front removed to show bracing and loose snares.

At first, the movement of the playing surface seemed restricted by having too much contact area around the perimeter. The combination of the 1″ thick pine body, and the 1″ braces seemed to mute the tapa. After routing away all of the brace and most of the side panel material, the playing surface seemed much more lively.

After some trial and error, I replaced the loose snares pictured above with a fixed 8″snare which bows outward slightly to contact the inside of the tapa. This setup seems to yield a nice mix of bass tones and snare snappiness.

Cajon - Front removed showing thinned front walls and fixed snare placement.

More tinkering with the position and tension of the snares has paid off and has resulted in what I can honestly call a musical instrument. The variety of sounds that can be achieved with a combination of bare hands and jazz brushes is pretty satisfying.

Cajon - Here the Cajon tech carefully adjusts the snare tension.

If you are at all curious about trying this project, go for it. With minimal materials and some basic hand tools you can do it too. I have not included any specific dimensions as used for this Cajon because I’m sure you will find some more specific, knowledgeable advice with little difficulty.

Next up I think I will try to engineer a bass drum pedal that throws the beater backwards to make a Cajon-Kick Drum hybrid.

Stay tuned.