(One of my brothers has suggested that I blog about our annual family picnic, and I've been kicking it around in my head for a while. This is my first shot at 'blogging on demand', so please bear with me.)
In 2003, my brother Mike decided to try a little experiment. He's always been a big fan of smoked meats, like the rest of us, and he thought it would be fun to make his own smoker. With the help of my brother Jim, he took a wooden folding table, cut 2 holes in the top, and inserted a pair of big clay flowerpots, with holes also cut in them for heating elements. The elements sat near the bottom, and you could put wood chips on top of them to burn for smoke. Add a rack near the top and a cover and ...Voila! Homemade smoker! At least that's the way I remember it - I'm sure I'll be offered no end of detail corrections.
Anyway, what do you do when you create a tour de force like this? You share it, of course. So Ribfest was born. The first couple of years we had it at my brother Jim's house on Pecatonica Road south of Route 20. It was mostly family to begin with, and mostly the Tarbert family to boot, my mom's side. It's pretty much taken the place of a Tarbert family reunion ever since. Of course, it's evolved a lot as well. We started inviting friends, mixing margaritas, and adding different kinds of food, like baked beans and salmon and pork shoulders and game birds and lamb....ummm, lamb!
Where was I? Oh, yes, we've also added music, and moved the venue to a forest preserve south of town, on Best Road. We have also, sadly, put the original flowerpot smokers out to pasture, and bought (mostly my brother Joe bought) a big shiny meat smoker from Peoria Custom Cookers. It's called the 'Meat Monster', and it's our pride and joy. Go to www.peoriacookers.com/testamonials, and you'll see a bunch of stocky meat-lovers that may look familiar.
We always have our get-together on the Saturday in June that's closest to the summer solstice. My brother Matt claims it's because we're pagans, but I assure you that I (at least) am thinking about taking advantage of the longest days of the year, not honoring our pre-Christian ancestors. We have meetings throughout the spring about how many people will come, how much food we should cook, what kind of game birds my cousin Owen has in his freezer, whose turn it is to buy a round, and all kinds of other details. The Friday before the big event, we spend some time at Joe and Nancy's place stripping the back of the rib slabs, and possibly drinking a little beer, I don't really remember. Then, on Saturday, we're up bright and early to get to the forest preserve at 6:30 or 7:00AM, right as it opens. We set up the meat monster and the smaller auxiliary smoker for the game and the lamb, get things going, put the meat on the racks, eat a big greasy breakfast, and then....take a nap.
No, really, we're working all the time getting the beans ready, spraying for flies, and all the other stuff we have to do. Last year, the 10th annual Ribfest served 160 people, so there are a lot of small touches that need attention. We always plan to eat around 4:00PM and always seem to run a little later than that, but the well-oiled crowd doesn't seem to mind, as long as a few ribs show up early as hors d'oeuvres (I could have said 'appetizers', but where's the fun in that?). The party goes on long into the evening, like all good parties should.
Here's a small cast of characters that you might find useful:
Head Porkmeister: Joe Eaton
Historian and Rub Wizard: Mike Eaton
Chief Shepherd of Lambs: Matt Eaton
Game Warden: Owen Eaton
Breakfast Chef, also known as the 'Baconator': Jeff Eaton
Porkmeister-in-Training: Eric Boehm
Maintenance and Repair: Jim Eaton
Gopher: Shawn Eaton
I could go on for a long time, but I'm sure you get the idea. I look forward to Ribfest every year, because it gives us a chance to see all our family at once, including the newest members. If you're ever in western Winnebago County on a certain Saturday in June, and you hear music jamming from the forest preserve on top of the hill, stop in for a rib or two.
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