What’s with the “B'” deviled eggs? The “B” is for bacon which pairs with the flash-candied jalapeno for a lovely contrast.

12 Large eggs
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
1-2 red jalapenos sliced into rings
3 slices bacon cut into little bite-sized pieces
⅓ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Sriracha
2 tablespoons cream cheese
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

While hard boiling the eggs, in a separate saucepan boil water and sugar into a simple syrup. Once combined, pour the simple syrup over the jalapeno rings in a bowl and set aside.

Peel and slice eggs in half lengthwise and place yolks into a bowl. In yolk bowl, combine mayonnaise, Sriracha, cream cheese, and Dijon mustard. Stir in Balsamic vinegar until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pipe egg filling into egg shells in that fancy deviled egg plate you got twenty years ago and have only used a handful of times and can never find it when you actually need it. That one.

Place a jalapeno ring into each egg half and then add a bacon piece on the opposite side.

Chill for a half hour at least. Then make sure you eat one now because you’re making sure it hasn’t turned to poison in that half an hour. Also, you know you aren’t getting one later because they’ll be all gone and, damnit, you deserve to have that one!

Boring Name, I know. Would you prefer “Jordy’s Potato Salad OF MYSTERY”? Because… there’s no mystery. In fact, this is about as typical a potato salad as you can ask for – and that’s what I love about it. It’s that potato salad. It’s the one that looks all non-descript, but you keep going back for seconds, and thirds, and… just make the damn recipe. Yes, makes a lot. That’s a feature, not a bug.

5 pounds of potatoes (Yukon Gold if you want them to stay together, Russets if you just don’t care)
1 jar dill pickles
1 cup mayonnaise
¼ cup yellow mustard
4-5 stalks celery
1 bunch green onions
6 hard boiled eggs
celery seed
salt and pepper

Cut up potatoes into bite-sized cubes. Be careful, your girlfriend will tell you your bite sized cubes are too big to be a real bite size. She might be right… Boil until soft.

Dice celery, 4-5 dill pickles, green onions, and peeled hard boiled eggs and add to bowl. Combine with the mayonnaise, mustard, celery seed, salt, and pepper.

When potatoes are soft, drain and place in bowl. Pour about half the jar of pickle juice over the still-hot potatoes. and mix everything together – “mush all together” is the actual instruction I wrote down. Then add salt and pepper to taste because I guarantee you didn’t add enough the first time around.

Don’t ask about the name. Just accept the mystery.

1 Costco pack of three racks of ribs.
Rub:
4 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1 ½ tsp Whole peppercorns (for about 2 tsp ground pepper)
2 tsp Garlic powder
2 tsp Dried parsley
1 Tbsp Packed brown Sugar
1 tsp Whole cumin seed
1 tsp Whole fennel seed
1 tsp Whole coriander
1 Tbsp Chipotle chili Powder
1 Tbsp Cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp Onion powder
1 Tbsp Paprika
Braising:
Apple Juice

The night before, grind the spices together and lay the ribs out on a baking sheet. If you’re using a 22″ Weber and standard upright rib racks, I recommend cutting the last three ribs off of each rack. Then when assembling them on the rack the three trimmed racks fit nicely and the cut-offs fit well together in the front row.

Apply rub to all sides of the ribs, cover and refigerate overnight.

I don’t have a smoker. Instead I rely on my 22″ Weber kettle grill. To get a long, low smoke I use the “snake method.” There’s a million resources out there if you google “Weber snake method.” This is one of the first hits and it does a nice job of illustrating how it works. For my ribs I have two lines of briquettes, 24 briquettes long each and sprinkle the smoking wood of choice on top of the snakes along the whole length. In the middle I have a pie plate of hot water, and I light the head of my “snake” with a pair of Weber lighter cubes. They’re reliable and gone quickly enough that they don’t impart any off flavors.

With the head of the snake lit and hot water in the pie tin, I replace the grate and set the assembled rib rack. Now it’s time to cover them and let the neighbors get jealous.

I generally aim for keeping the ribs on the smoke for about five hours. The dual 24-briquette snake generally lasts about 6 hours, so there’s wiggle room there.

Once off the BBQ, place the ribs into a vessel and add apple juice into the vessel, about ¼ of an inch deep. Cover tightly with foil and place in a 350° oven for two hours.

After that, enjoy!