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Ribs

Food - Grill

Saturday, 17 September 2011 10:03 | Author: Anton

Kansas City Rib Rub
(from here, enough for 2 racks of ribs):

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup paprika
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne

Kansas City Barbecue Sauce
(from here, enough for 4 racks of ribs):

2 cups tomato sauce or ketchup
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp paprika
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp chipotle powder (optional)
4 finely chopped garlic cloves
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Cayenne to taste

In a small pot:
1) Heat up the butter, fry up the onion until brown, add garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.
2) Add everything else, simmer for at least half an hour, the longer the better.

Ribs

I'm assuming a standard Weber grill.

1) Start the coals. I usually start a fire and then place a chimney of coals over it. It's possible to start the coals without the fire.
2) While the coals heat up, pat the ribs dry, slash the back side thoroughly with a knife (you're supposed to take "film" off, but I never manage), and cover both sides with the rub. Ideally, marinade in the fridge overnight.
3) Spread the coals out in the grill, just on the right side of it, and add some wood.
4) Place a loaf pan full of water over the coals, on the right side of the grill. This will keep the the coals cool.

5) Place the ribs on the left side of the grill, in a rib rack if you have one.
6) Close the grill, leaving the vent on top and the vent on the bottom just barely open.
7) Grill for 2 hours, then wrap the ribs in foil and grill for two more hours.
8) Uncover the ribs and smother them in bbq sauce. Grill for another hour.

One chimney of coals is enough for the full 5 hours, as long as you keep the temperature low. Don't open the grill unless you need to, but make sure there's a stream of smoke&steam coming out the top. Add water to the pan as necessary.

Boston Cream Cake

Food - Desserts

Sunday, 17 October 2010 12:47 | Author: Anton

The recipe is a bit complicated, but worth the trouble. Taken from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Batter
Ingredients
6 Tbsp butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 c milk

Cooking
1) Preheat oven to 350F, butter and lightly flour two 8-inch round pans.
2) Microwave butter on low until a little soft, then beat (cream).
3) Slowly add the sugar, beating until light.
4) Add yolks and vanilla, beat to blend well.
5) Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl, mix together.
6) Alternate blending dry ingredients and milk in, in 3 stages. Beat until smooth.
7) Separately, beat the egg whites until stiff. Stir 1/3 in, fold the rest in gently.
8) Bake 30-35 minutes, then cool.

Filling
Ingredients
1 c milk
1/2 c sugar
3 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cooking
1) Assemble the ingredients.
2) Heat milk in a pan until very hot, stirring constantly.
3) Add sugar, flour, salt very quickly.
4) Cook until very thick (~5 minutes), stirring constantly.
5) Add the egg yolks, cook another ~5 minutes, stirring constantly.
6) Remove from heat, add vanilla, and cool, stirring occasionally.
7) Cover and refrigerate.

Combining
Ingredients
4 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate (Ghirardelli is good)
3 Tbsp butter

Assembly
1) Spread filling between the two pieces of cake.
2) Microwave chocolate and butter together in the microwave on low until butter melts.
3) Blend the chocolate/butter mixture and cover the cake with it.
4) Refrigerate.

Warning - Driver Problems

Et Cetera Res - RoboCam

Wednesday, 20 January 2010 20:46 | Author: Anton

The drivers all disappeared again - USB, sound, wifi, ethernet... luckily, not video or input. This time, I was able to system-restore to save the Windows 7 (Pro, 32bit) installation. Restoring to before a Windows patch (2 days ago) didn't do anything. However, restoring to before I installed the above software did fix the drivers. So I'm worried the AVR-related software is at fault. There's a chance the problem lies with a wireless mouse I started using today, so I'll avoid it and see if the issues reappear.

Microcontroller Connection - Software

Et Cetera Res - RoboCam

Sunday, 17 January 2010 20:28 | Author: Anton

Messing with drivers killed my Windows 7 install about a week ago. I accidentally deleted a bunch of drivers, and restoring them from the recycling bin didn't restore my internet, sound, or USB drivers... so I'm starting over with the software installation, and keeping track of the things I install.

For AVR programming you'll need:

Last Updated ( Sunday, 17 January 2010 21:46 )

RoboCam-Starting

Et Cetera Res - RoboCam

Friday, 15 January 2010 22:31 | Author: Anton

I started a fun project over the break - a mix of basic robotics, networking, and microcontroller programming.

Here's the idea: say you're talking to someone on Skype, the camera is looking right at them, but then they move, or someone else comes into the room. You want to change your view, but you can't: you're stuck looking at the same spot. What I want to do is to be able to move the other person's camera from my couch in Illinois: I press a button, and their camera in Maryland swivels.

Sounds simple, but there are a lot of issues:

Last Updated ( Friday, 15 January 2010 23:17 )