Nashua couple Paula Norena and Jonathan Laureano opened Tostao’s Tapas – Bar (170 Main St., Nashua, 577-1111, tostaostapasbar.com), a downtown eatery offering authentic Spanish tapas and cocktails, in the spring of 2019. Natives of Colombia and Puerto Rico, respectively, Norena and Laureano took over the former WineNot Boutique space in late 2018, installing a brand new kitchen and creating a menu that borrows styles from Europe and across multiple Latin American nations. Popular items include the beef, chicken or cheese empanadas, the paella, the coconut shrimp, and arepas, a dish popular in Colombia and Venezuela that Norena described as similar in appearance to a pancake, but made of corn.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
The tongs.
What would you have for your last meal?
Bandeja paisa. It’s a traditional plate from Colombia with rice, beans, egg, pork belly, chorizo and corn cake. It has everything on one plate.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
Casey Magee’s [Irish Pub in Nashua]. Their chicken wings are great.
What celebrity would you like to see coming into Tostao’s Tapas – Bar?
I would say maybe Marc Anthony. I love his music, so that would be nice.
What is your favorite item on your menu?
I love steak, so my favorite thing would be the carne asada. I also love the ribs sancocho, which is a special that we throw on the menu in the wintertime. I can eat it every day.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
Right now, I see that empanadas are everywhere. We didn’t used to see them in every restaurant but now everybody seems to have them. … We have Colombian empanadas on our menu, which has a dough that is made of corn.
What is your favorite thing to cook at home?
Jonathan loves lasagna, so when I get to cook for my family, I like to do a homemade chicken lasagna.
Stuffed cheese arepas (corn cakes) From the kitchen of Paula Norena of Tostao’s Tapas – Bar in Nashua
2 cups pre-cooked white cornmeal 4 ounces part-skim mozzarella, cut into 8 cubes 2½ cups lukewarm water 1½ teaspoons kosher salt ¼ cup vegetable oil, or as needed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir water and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cornmeal into the water until a soft dough forms. Divide the dough into 8 golf ball-sized balls and pat each into a patty. Place a cube of mozzarella in the center of each patty. Fold the dough over the cheese to cover it. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat until simmering. Cook the corn patties until golden brown, about 5 minutes on each side. Bake the patties until their edges are crisp and golden, about 10 minutes.
Featured photo: Paula Norena of Tostao’s Tapas – Bar in Nashua
• Greekfest Express coming to Manchester: Volunteers and members of Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) are preparing to host a modified version of Greekfest, its popular two-day Greek food festival typically held in late August. Greekfest Express, a revised one-day drive-thru version of the festival, is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 28, according to information from the church’s most recent online newsletter. The menu will feature many of the same Greek dishes that have been staples at previously Greekfest events, as well as at the church’s drive-thru food festivals held at the church over the past year — attendees can expect pastichio, half-roasted chicken, Greek meatballs, gyro plates, and desserts like baklava and loukoumades (fried dough balls). More details are expected to be posted online soon. Visit foodfest.assumptionnh.org.
• Beer & Wine: There’s a new local spot to get your favorite craft beers, wines and meads. Beer & Wine Nation opened on June 12 in Merrimack’s 360 Shopping Plaza (360 Daniel Webster Hwy.), according to a press release. The store features one of the largest selections of beer, wine and cigars under one roof in the area, including more than 2,000 craft and domestic beers, and more than 1,300 wines from around the world. There are also more than 300 ready-to-drink canned cocktail varieties and canned natural and organic wines, plus a selection of regularly stocked beers, wines and meads from New Hampshire. According to the release, the owners of Beer & Wine Nation have also been operating the Quick Stop at the Crossroads Mall in Londonderry for the past decade. They plan to open a second Beer & Wine Nation store in North Conway and to offer delivery services out of the Merrimack store soon. Visit beerandwinenation.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram @bwnmerrimack to keep up with new product arrivals.
• Farm-fresh produce: Groh Farm (135 Temple Road, Wilton), a biodynamic farm in western Wilton, held the grand opening of its new farm store on June 20, where you’ll find a variety of greens, peas, turnips and other produce. According to executive farmer Julien Brooks, the store is open regularly on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The site was the first location for the Temple-Wilton Community Farm and is now under the direction of Matt Pearson, a biodynamic farmer with three decades of experience. “It’s been over a year of work, but now we’re finally producing enough to sell,” Brooks said in an email. Other produce that will be available seasonally will include French breakfast radishes, cucumbers, peppers, heirloom and mixed cherry tomatoes, summer squash, and various herbs and edible flowers. Additionally, Brooks said the farm is launching a food trailer called Homegrown, which will be sourcing foods from different parts of New Hampshire, serving hot meals and some deli-style options. The food trailer will be operating on Saturdays only. Groh Farm also joined the roster of the Milford and Peterborough Farmers Markets last week. Visit grohfarm.com.
Local experts discuss the delicious variations of this BBQ favorite
Nothing says summer barbecue quite like a plate of melt-in-your-mouth pork ribs, and while it may take another year before the return of Merrimack’s Great American Ribfest, there are still restaurants, food trucks and trailers all across the state serving up ribs in a variety of styles. The options become even more customizable if you’re grilling or smoking ribs at home.
“Ribs are what I think of when I think of barbecue. They’re one of the most well-liked foods and tend to be what’s going to lure people into the hobby,” said Jayna Todisco Coulon, a member of the Northeast Barbecue Society and founder of A Mazie Q, a New Hampshire-based barbecue competition team. “A rack of ribs has all the things you want. It’s a finger food that’s not going to give you any issues with dryness or anything if you cook it correctly.”
From the types of cuts available to the regional styles and cooking methods associated with ribs, local barbecue experts and butchers discuss this staple’s many variations and provide their own tips and tricks for how to cook them yourself.
Pork barbecue ribs from Georgia’s Northside in Concord. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.
Cuts and styles
When it comes to pork ribs, depending on where you go, you’ll encounter either baby backs or spare ribs — the difference between the two is where they are on the animal’s body, said Dan DeCourcey, an award-winning competitive barbecuer and the owner and pitmaster of Up In Your Grill, a food trailer and mobile caterer based in Merrimack.
“Spare ribs are going to be on the front, on the belly. They are going to be flatter and meatier, and they also tend to be fatter,” DeCourcey said. “The baby backs are near the loin area. They are smaller and more curved, and they tend to be leaner because they are not on the belly side. … The baby back ribs basically connect to the spine, and the spare ribs connect to the breast bone.”
You might come across the term “St. Louis-cut ribs” on restaurant menus too — DeCourcey said this refers to spare ribs that have the cartilage tissue connecting to the breast bone removed, resulting in a more uniform rectangle-shaped cut that can be easier to grill or smoke.
One rack of ribs will generally have around 12 individual bones, and some restaurants will give you the option to order them by the full rack or half rack, as well as third or quarter racks.
How the ribs are sauced and rubbed is going to vary depending on that regional style of barbecue. Kansas City style, for instance, is characterized by a much thicker and sweeter sauce, usually containing ingredients like molasses, brown sugar or honey, as well as sugar in its rubs. Memphis and Texas styles are more known for their dry rubs — the difference there being that Texas is much more narrow with their ingredients, while rubs in Memphis will be more complex.
“Down in Texas, they love salt and pepper and just keeping it really simple, whereas Memphis might have more paprika and cumin and all sorts of other stuff going on,” DeCourcey said.
Over at KC’s Rib Shack in Manchester, owner and co-founder Kevin Cornish said he considers his pork spare ribs to be more of a Memphis-style.
“There are certainly some places in Memphis that will sell their ribs sauced, but Memphis style is definitely known for a dry-rubbed, seasoned rib,” Cornish said. “We cook what we call untrimmed spare ribs, so we serve the whole rib together rather than a St. Louis cut.”
Smokeshow Barbeque in Concord, which is all about Texas style, according to owner Matt Gfroerer, offers smoked ribs cooked low and slow with sauces on the side.
“A lot of places will do a rib plate, but what we do is we weigh everything out as close as we can and you pay [for] exactly what you get,” Gfroerer said. “You’ll find that more in Texas as well.”
Georgia’s Northside, also in Concord, nearly always has pork ribs that can be ordered from of its “Meat & Three” menu, according to chef and owner Alan Natkiel. In Londonderry, Greg LaFontaine of the Smoke Shack Cafe said his pork ribs are seasoned St. Louis cuts that can be ordered as a half rack or full rack.
Simple spare ribs recipe Courtesy of Kevin Cornish of KC’s Rib Shack in Manchester
1 full rack of untrimmed spare ribs
For the dry rub: 3 Tablespoons brown or white sugar (or 1½ Tablespoons of each)
For the barbecue basting spritz: 3 cups apple juice 1 cup apple cider vinegar ½ cup barbecue sauce Season your ribs generously on both sides with rub, shaking off the excess. Cook in a preheated 250-degree smoker, or in the oven on a wire rack over a sheet pan. Cook for about two and a half hours. At two and a half hours, spritz the top, then spritz every half hour until ribs are done (about three and a half to four hours). Ribs are done by testing the tenderness of the meat — you can do this by twisting between the third and fourth largest bones. The meat should begin to release easily from the bones. Finish off on the grill for a few minutes, adding sauce if desired, or cut up and serve as they are with sauce on the side.
Picking your meat
If you want to cook your own ribs, local butcher shops and some livestock farms will sell them by the rack or the pound — and there are indicators you can look for before you buy.
“Like any meat, you want to try to find the right marbling. Big giant monster chunks of fat are going to be too much,” DeCourcey said. “It’s also nice if the bones of St. Louis ribs are straighter … because it makes it easier to cut.”
Todisco Coulon said one of the biggest things she looks out for in ribs are called shiners, or exposed bones as a result of the meat being trimmed down too much.
“You want a meatier rib,” she said, “because a bone sticking out is going to disintegrate when it cooks, and so you’re not going to get as much meat.”
All racks of ribs will start out with a thin membrane on their underside, and there are different schools of thought for either removing it or leaving it on before you cook the meat.
“I generally find that they have a better bite if you pull the membrane off,” DeCourcey said. “The easiest way to do it is you use a butter knife, get a little bit under a corner and then use a paper towel and peel it back. You get better at it over time. Sometimes they are difficult and other times they’ll just come right off at once and you feel like a pro.”
Cornish, on the other hand, said he now likes to leave the membrane on the rib.
“I totally am a firm believer that it helps the rib retain moisture. I think we were peeling it off and it was just another place for moisture within the meat to escape,” he said. “I find that, after it’s cooked for three and a half hours in the smoker, you really don’t notice it’s there.”
Some brands of Cryovaced ribs, like Chairman’s Reserve, are sold with the membrane already pulled off. The Prime Butcher, with separately owned locations in Windham and Hampstead, sells both baby back ribs and St. Louis-style ribs produced by this brand.
Butchers will also sometimes sell pre-marinated or pre-rubbed racks of ribs, or you can get your own customizable rub or marinade to save on prep time.
“If you can imagine it, we can do it,” said Billy Steeves, store manager of The Prime Butcher’s Hampstead location. “We also run a smoker here three days a week, usually on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so we’ll sell ready-to-eat smoked half racks and full racks.”
If you regularly buy pork, beef or chicken, you may have noticed a sharp price increase lately.
A wide-scale labor shortage in the meatpacking industry caused by the pandemic, along with high feed costs, are among the factors to blame, Steeves said.
“Ribs have really been climbing in the last six weeks to two months now,” he said. “We’re up probably 60 to 70 percent. It’s a big number, but ribs are still one of the cheaper things you can buy. … St. Louis [ribs] are usually pretty significantly cheaper than baby backs.”
Fire it up
Ribs from the Smoke Shack Cafe in Londonderry. Courtesy photo.
A good basic rub to use if you’re starting out with ribs, according to Cornish, is equal parts salt, pepper, paprika and either white or brown sugar, and about half the amount of garlic powder and onion powder.
“A lot of times I’ll tell people to take this wherever they want to go with it,” he said.
But you don’t need too many diverse ingredients for the rub to do its job — Todisco Coulon said it’s a good idea to taste-test it for sweetness. If it’s too sweet, it can burn too quickly and leave the ribs with a bitter taste, in which case you’d want to cook at a bit lower level heat.
“I would rub it down 20 minutes to an hour in advance,” she said. “It will look like the rib will have absorbed the rub. It will almost look wet to you, and that’s when you know you’re ready.”
You don’t need a smoker to produce great flavor and texture in your ribs, either.
“If you know your way around a gas grill, you can actually pull off some pretty darn good ribs, especially if you start to incorporate things like smoke tubes or smoke boxes,” DeCourcey said. “You can buy wood pellets, throw them in the smoke tube and then chuck them on the edge of the flame, and they’ll smoke. … Or you can even take tinfoil, throw some wood chips in there, wrap them up and poke holes in it.”
DeCourcey said an approach to ribs that’s geared toward beginners is known as the “3-2-1 method,” or cooking low and slow at around 220 to 225 degrees for a total of six hours.
“It’s three hours in the smoke chamber, then you wrap the ribs in foil and put them back in for two more hours,” he said. “Some people like to add some pats of butter, maybe a little honey or a few tablespoons of apple juice, and basically that creates a braising liquid inside the wrap.”
After the two hours wrapped in foil, the meat should start to pull back from the bone and be very tender. The final step of the 3-2-1 method involves applying a slather of barbecue sauce and cooking unwrapped again, this time for one final additional hour.
Other optional techniques you can apply to your ribs include what’s called a binding agent, or an ingredient like mustard that you can add to help your rub stick on to the meat. Adding a spritz of something like water, apple juice or apple cider vinegar periodically as the ribs are cooking can also help them to further retain more moisture, Gfroerer said.
“You can follow the 3-2-1, but then there’s a million variations thereof,” DeCourcey said. “It’s such a rough guide … and after a while you start to learn what to look out for.”
Are they done yet?
You can generally tell when ribs are ready when they gently pull away from the bone. If you use a thermometer, the internal temperature should be around 200 to 205 degrees.
“What I’m looking for is how they feel when I pick them up and how much the meat recedes from the bottom bone,” Todisco Coulon said. “Ribs that fall off the bone are overdone.”
Cornish said he’ll often twist between two of the larger bones on the rack as a test.
“If I feel that the meat is starting to kind of separate and pull apart, then I know it’s pretty close to done,” he said. “You want it to basically come clean off the bone when you take a bite.”
Then there’s the “bend test,” which involves either picking your rack of ribs up either on the end or in the middle, or taking a pair of tongs and lifting it from one side of the rack.
“You want it to bend nicely. If it doesn’t bend enough, it’s underdone,” DeCourcey said. “If the meat starts to crack a little bit, it’s probably just about right.”
But as DeCourcey has discovered, some of his customers prefer fall-off-the-bone ribs.
“Even with some of my regulars, I’ve learned that they like fall-off-the-bone, and if I know they’re coming, I’ll leave some on for them for a little longer,” he said.
Where to get pork ribs
This list includes local restaurants where you get a ready-to-eat plate of pork spare ribs or baby back ribs, as well as catering companies available for hire that offer ribs on their menu. For the at-home barbecuer, local butcher shops, farms and corner markets selling ribs by the rack or by the pound are included here as well. Do you know of another local business not on this list? Let us know at food@hippopress.com.
• 603 Smoke’n Que (603bbq.com) is a Merrimack-based barbecue catering company offering a variety of smoked meats, including St. Louis-cut ribs.
• The Alamo Texas Barbecue & Tequila Bar (99 Route 13, Brookline, 721-5500, alamobarbecue.com) offers half racks of baby back ribs that come with two sides and either traditional or candied jalapeno cornbread.
• Arnie’s Place (164 Loudon Road, Concord, 228-3225, arniesplace.com) offers dry-rubbed, slow-cooked St. Louis-cut spare ribs, available in quarter-rack, half-rack or full-rack sizes and served with cornbread and your choice of two additional sides.
• Backyard Brewery & Kitchen (1211 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-3545, backyardbrewerynh.com) offers baby back ribs in its house “bar-b-brew” sauce, served with fries and a pickle slaw.
• Big Kahunas Smokehouse (1158 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 935-7400, nhkahuna.com) offers smoked pork ribs, available in half-rack or full-rack sizes, with your choice of two sides and a signature sauce like spicy Caribbean barbecue, pineapple habanero or Bali sweet soy sauce.
• Boogalow’s Island BBQ (boogalowsbbq.com) is a Danville-based food truck and mobile catering service offering a variety of authentic Jamaican and backyard barbecue options, including dry-rubbed and slow-smoked pork ribs.
• Border Brewery & Barbecue (224 N. Broadway, Salem, 216-9134, borderbrewsupply.com) offers St. Louis-cut ribs over smoked bacon macaroni and cheese on its barbecue menu.
• Brookford Farm (250 West Road, Canterbury, 742-4084, brookfordfarm.com) offers pasture-raised pork spare ribs that can be purchased at the farm store or online.
• Brothers Butcher (8 Spit Brook Road, Nashua, 809-4180; 142 Lowell Road, Hudson, 577-1130; brothers-butcher.com) offers plain or chipotle barbecue baby back ribs that are priced by the pound.
• CJ’s Great West Grill (782 S. Willow St., Manchester, 627-8600, cjsgreatwestgrill.com) offers a one-pound rack of smoked barbecue ribs that’s served with fries, coleslaw and baked beans. The ribs can also be ordered as part of a barbecue combo sampler plate, along with your choice of smoked brisket, pulled pork, barbecue chicken or beef tips.
• Concord Beef & Seafood (75 S. Main St., Concord, 226-3474, find them on Facebook @concordbeefandseafood) offers marinated and unmarinated baby back ribs, sold by the rack.
• Derry Restaurant & Pizza (111 W. Broadway, Derry, 432-2107, derryrestaurantandpizza.com) offers half racks or full racks of barbecue baby back ribs. They can also be ordered as part of a combo plate with barbecue chicken breast.
• The Flying Butcher (124 Route 101A, Amherst, 598-6328, theflyingbutcher.com) has a wide selection of pork options available for purchase, including baby back ribs.
• Gauchos Churrascaria Brazilian Steakhouse & Butchery (62 Lowell St., Manchester, 669-9460, gauchosbraziliansteakhouse.com) offers a variety of meats, including full racks of baby back ribs, that can be ordered online. Orders placed before noon will be ready for pickup or local delivery that day beginning at 4 p.m.
• Georgia’s Northside (394 N. State St., Concord, 715-9189, georgiasnorthside.com) offers barbecue pork ribs served with three fresh market sides that change daily, as well as add-on sauce options like barbecue, smoked jalapeno mustard and Parmesan peppercorn ranch.
• Grill 603 (168 Elm St., Milford, 213-6764, grill603.com) offers St. Louis-cut ribs on its dinner menu, dry-rubbed with its signature spice blend, slow-smoked and served with house macaroni and cheese and fresh coleslaw.
• Heritage Corner Market (1380 1st New Hampshire Turnpike, Northwood, 942-9963, heritagecornermarket.com) has various cuts of pork available for sale, including marinated ribs.
• Hickory Stix BBQ (hickorystixbbq.rocks) is a Londonderry-based food trailer and mobile catering service offering multiple barbecue options, including half-rack or full-rack-sized St. Louis-cut ribs.
• J&B Butcher (259 E. Main St., E. Hampstead, 382-0999, jandbbutcher.com) offers several cuts of pork, including racks of baby back ribs that are sold by the pound.
• KC’s Rib Shack (837 Second St., Manchester, 627-7427, ribshack.net) offers third-rack or half-rack-sized pork spare ribs, available with cornbread and two additional sides of your choice. The ribs can also be ordered as part of a combo plate with pulled pork, barbecue sausage chunks, Texas beef brisket or bone-in chicken breast, as well as in bulk, by the half rack, third rack or full rack.
• Lemay & Sons (116 Daniel Plummer Road, Goffstown, 622-0022, lemayandsonsbeef-bbq.com) offers a variety of fresh meats, including ribs, out of its specialty store, The Steak Out.
• McKinnon’s Market & Super Butcher Shop (236 N. Broadway, Salem, 894-6328, mckinnonsmarkets.com) offers a wide selection of meats for sale, including baby back ribs.
• Messy Mike’s Barbecue & Catering Co. (messymikesbbq.com) is a Derry-based mobile food trailer and catering service offering multiple slow-cooked barbecue options, including St. Louis-cut ribs available in half-rack or full-rack sizes. Find them most Thursdays through Sundays, from 11 a.m. until they are sold out, in the parking lot of Rockingham Acres Greenhouse (161 Rockingham Road, Derry).
• Mike’s Meat Shoppe (1009 Upper City Road, Pittsfield, 435-0002, find them on Facebook) offers several cuts of meat available on any given day, including full racks of spare ribs and baby back ribs.
• Mr. Steer Meats (27 Buttrick Road, Londonderry, 434-1444, mrsteermeats.com) offers a variety of specialty meats for sale, including house marinated and baby back ribs
• Paradise Farm (468 Center Road, Lyndeborough, 345-0860, paradisefarmnh.com) offers a variety of pasture-raised pork products, including spare ribs. Find them at the Milford Farmers Market every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 300 Elm St.
• Parker’s Maple Barn (1349 Brookline Road, Mason, 878-2308, parkersmaplebarn.com) offers a half rack of maple baby back ribs that’s served with two eggs, home fries and toast.
• Porkside Farm (10 French Pond Road, Henniker, 748-3767, porksideathenniker@gmail.com) offers a variety of its own pork products, including spare ribs. Find them at the Concord Farmers Market every Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to noon near the Statehouse on Capitol Street. Phone or email orders are also accepted.
• The Prime Butcher (201 Route 111, Hampstead, 329-7355; 58 Range Road, Windham, 893-2750; primebutcher.com) offers multiple cuts of pork, including both baby back and St. Louis-cut spare ribs, sold by the pound either marinated or unmarinated.
• R & J Texas-Style BBQ on Wheels (183 Elm St., Milford, 518-0186, rjtexasbbqonwheels.com) offers a variety of barbecue options, including racks of ribs with your choice of sides.
• Ranger’s BBQ (rangers-bbq.com) is a Nashua-based food trailer and mobile catering service offering a variety of slow-cooked barbecue options, including dry-rubbed ribs that come in quarter-rack, half-rack or full-rack sizes, served with your choice of a side and homemade sauce. When they’re not catering for a private event, Ranger’s BBQ can be found on Daniel Webster Highway in Nashua, near the Tyngsboro, Mass., state line, on weekends.
• Smoke N’ Butts BBQ (smokenbuttsbbq.com) is a mobile food trailer and catering service specializing in smoked meats, including dry-rubbed pork spare ribs, available in quarter-rack, half-rack or full-rack sizes. Find them on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, outside of The Farmer’s Wife (20 Main St., Candia).
• Smokehaus Barbecue (278 Route 101, Amherst, 249-5734, smokehausbbq.com) offers half- or full-sized slabs of baby back ribs, that come with bread and your choice of two sizes, like collard greens, hush puppies, french fries and macaroni and cheese.
• Smoke Shack Cafe (226 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 404-2178, smokeshackcafe.com) offers St. Louis-cut pork ribs that are available in half-rack or full-rack sizes, each of which comes with your choice of two sides. The ribs can also be ordered as part of a combo plate with another meat, like brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken or Italian sausage.
• Smoke Shack Southern Barbecue & Ice Cream (146 King St., Boscawen, 796-2046, ss-bbq.com) offers quarter-rack, half-rack or full-rack-sized baby back rib plates that are served with cornbread and one or two additional sides. The Smoke Shack also operates concessions at New England Dragway (280 Exeter Road, Epping) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1122 Route 106 N, Loudon).
• Smokeshow Barbeque (89 Fort Eddy Road, Concord, 227-6399, smokeshowbbq.com) offers slow-smoked pork ribs, with three different sauces available on the side and additional sides available a la carte.
• Tim’s Drunken Sauces and Rubs (timsdrunkensauces@gmail.com, find them on Facebook) is a mobile food trailer offering a variety of barbecue options, including ribs. Find them at 244 Elm St. in Milford most Tuesdays through Sundays, as well as at a few local breweries.
• Up In Your Grill (upinyourgrill.com) is a Merrimack-based food trailer and mobile catering service specializing in a variety of meats, including slow-smoked Kansas City-style baby back ribs. When he’s not catering or prepping for a private event, Up In Your Grill owner and pitmaster Dan DeCourcey posts on social media where he’ll be vending roadside. Dates vary — follow him on Facebook @upinyourgrill for updates.
• Wicked Good Butchah (209 Route 101, Bedford, 488-5638, wickedgoodbutchahnh.com) offers a variety of specialty cuts of meat, including baby back ribs.
• The Wine’ing Butcher (16 Sheep Davis Road, Pembroke, 856-8855; 28 Weirs Road, Gilford, 293-4670; 81 Route 25, Meredith; wineingbutcher.com) offers a variety of specialty cuts of meat, including tender baby back ribs.
Featured photo: Ribs from the Up In Your Grill food trailer, based in Merrimack. Photo courtesy of Dan DeCourcey.
Last year, I bought a riding lawn mower. My wife said I could, so I did. I bought a used one because I’m thrifty.
First, the battery needed to be replaced. Then the mower deck wouldn’t stay level. Fast forward to this spring and it was leaking gas, which, you know, seems troublesome.
I took it to the mechanic and a few days later he called me and said, “You buy this used?” I answered in the affirmative. He said, “You know this engine isn’t even meant for this machine?” I did not know that but he fixed it as best he could and wrote in big capital letters on the receipt: “Not guaranteed for anything.” I’m feeling really good about the whole situation.
Right now, it’s sitting in the front lawn, where it currently won’t start, again.
What I’m trying to say is, this machine has made me drink a few beers recently. After our most recent fight, I grabbed an Export American Golden Ale by Shipyard Brewing Co. I needed something light that I didn’t need to think about in the moment.
I read “golden ale” and my first thought was that this is going to be just a light Pilsner, but this has a lot more malt character than I was expecting. It features a little sweetness and a touch of richness that gives this brew character. By the way, this is hardly a new brew; it’s Shipyard’s flagship brew, first introduced in 1992. This is definitely a good yard work beer, regardless of your lawn mowing situation.
Here are a few more beers that have recently helped me through these tough times.
Hoponius Union Hoppy Lager by Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers (Framingham, Mass.)
It’s not an IPA but it’s awfully similar. Unlike a traditional IPA, this is fermented cold and aged for extended periods. As the brewery says, this combines West Coast IPA hops and lager yeast fermentation. The result is a tremendous all-around beer that features huge citrus aroma, lots of tropical hop flavor and a clean, dry finish. This is a longtime favorite of mine.
Winni Ale by 603 Brewery (Londonderry)
The brewery says this one is still its top-selling beer, which is a testament to the brew considering today’s hop-crazed beer culture. This is a rich amber ale that features a little sweetness but finishes with a little burst of citrus hops. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of the Shipyard Export Golden Ale.
Pale Ale by Newburyport Brewing Co. (Newburyport, Mass.)
Call it what you want but to me this is just a toned down IPA and, man, sometimes that’s just perfect. It’s crisp, bright, refreshing and not too hoppy, but it still has plenty of citrusy hop character. When you’ve spent the day toiling in the yard with finicky small engines, this is a perfectly drinkable choice to help reward your efforts and patience. You’re going to want to have a few of these.
One to Try Not too many craft brewers are offering Belgian-style Tripels these days, instead focusing on expanding and experimenting with the IPA style. It’s all about consumer demand, we get it. There’s something about the style I’ve always enjoyed: flavorful, complex and approachable, despite loads of alcohol. With that in mind, it caught my eye to see Granite Roots Brewing in Troy offering its Face Plant Into Rock Belgian Tripel, which features a “clean malt flavor, slight bitterness and a touch of coriander to finish dry…,” according to the brewery. This is one I’ll be trying to track down.
What’s in My Fridge IPA by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington) This is one that I just keep coming back to. It’s bright and hoppy, boasting big dry hop flavor and aromas. There is something comforting about this just being labeled “IPA,” too. It is what it is, and what it is is a great, all-around IPA. Cheers!
Featured photo: Export Golden Ale by Shipyard Brewing Company. Courtesy photo.
Tara Collins of Derry is the owner of Collins Cupcakes (collinscupcakes.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @collinscupcakes603), a homestead business she started about four years ago that specializes in all kinds of flavors of made-to-order cupcakes for any occasion. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Collins has lived in New Hampshire for more than a decade. Baking cupcakes started as a hobby for her — she would share them with friends, family and co-workers before encouragement among them eventually inspired her to turn it into a business. Her mother, Deb, who taught her how to bake growing up, even helped her choose her company’s logo. Collins Cupcakes offers a variety of cake, filling and buttercream flavors to choose from when placing your cupcake order — popular flavors have included salted caramel apple, chocolate peanut butter, lemon blueberry and strawberry shortcake. A minimum of a dozen cupcakes is baked per order, with at least a 48-hour notice requested.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
My absolute must-have item is my mixer. It’s a really large KitchenAid commercial mixer. I can’t live without it.
What would you have for your last meal?
It would be a carne asada burrito with extra guacamole, from Filiberto’s in Phoenix, Arizona. It’s a small, family-owned place that is open 24 hours and grills carne asada all day long. It’s unbelievable.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
We are obsessed with Trio’s [Cafe & Cantina] in Salem. Their food is consistently good. The birria tacos are my all-time favorite, and I also love the Mexican street corn tenders and the churro fries.
What celebrity would you like to see ordering from Collins Cupcakes?
Stevie Nicks, hands down. I love her so much that getting to talk to her and eat cupcakes with her would be a dream come true.
What is your personal favorite cupcake flavor that you offer?
My favorite is the lemon blackberry, because it’s such a good flavor combination. It’s a vanilla cake base with a blackberry filling and a lemon buttercream.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
The way we get our food, whether it’s groceries or from restaurants, has changed so drastically over the last year. … The other thing we’re seeing is more ghost kitchens popping up too, which is such a cool concept.
What is your favorite thing to make at home?
I love to make fresh guacamole in the summertime, and in the fall I love making apple pie. Those would be my two favorites if I had to pick.
Basic buttercream recipe From the kitchen of Tara Collins of Collins Cupcakes in Derry
2 sticks of butter 1 tablespoon vanilla Pinch of salt 3 cups powdered sugar
Use your favorite mixer to cream the butter. Add in a pinch of salt and the vanilla. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Continue mixing until well blended. Frosts approximately 12 cupcakes, but is also great for any dessert that requires frosting.
A new ice cream shop now open in downtown Concord is inviting you to indulge your inner child, with treats that are infused with all kinds of sugary cereals, as well as dozens of candies, cookies, fruits and drizzles.
Sunday’s Scoops & Treats opened June 5 on North Main Street, but according to Sarah Thayer, who runs the shop with her partner, Cole Glaude, its concept has been roughly a year and a half in the making. The couple was inspired after visiting another ice cream shop that infuses sugary cereals in New York City, where they lived for about a year.
“We just thought it was a really cool concept that was different,” Thayer said. “You don’t really think about putting cereal in your ice cream, but … the flavors come together so well.”
Shortly after they moved to Concord late last year, Thayer said, she and Glaude ended up finding their current spot while on a walk and realized it was perfect for them.
The menu at Sunday’s is simple. Customers choose either vanilla or chocolate ice cream for their base (dairy-free vanilla and chocolate ice creams are also available), and also whether their ice cream is blended in a cup, on a cone or as a milkshake.
Then you choose your mix-ins and a drizzle — two mix-ins and one drizzle are included in the cost, and each additional topping is 50 cents more. Cereals include everything from Cap’n Crunch and Lucky Charms to Froot Loops, Fruity Pebbles and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
But even if you’d rather skip the cereal, you can completely customize your ice cream infusion with brownie bites, chocolate chips, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Kit Kat candies, crushed Oreo cookies, toasted marshmallows and more. Thayer said there are more than 40 toppings available, yielding hundreds of possible flavor combinations.
There are three self-cleaning machines in the shop — one of which is dedicated solely to dairy-free ice creams — that mix your ingredients together in seconds. While hard ice cream is used, Thayer said the machines change it into a soft-serve consistency.
Thayer and Glaude also created a menu of specialty swirls called “Hometown Heroes,” all of which are based on flavor combinations the couple has experimented with at home. One such option, called “The Wifey,” features vanilla ice cream blended with cookie dough, brownie bites and Cheerios.
“Cole and I were creating the business plan, and I told him a couple of things I wanted in the ice cream. He ended up putting it all together in a blender, and it was the best ice cream I’ve ever had, hands down,” Thayer said. “That was how ‘The Wifey’ came to fruition.” Sunday’s has about 30 seats inside, with an additional 16 out on Main Street during nice weather. Part of the shop’s opening preparations included the addition of a cereal box wall that customers can take pictures in front of and share on social media.
The shop also has its own mascot — a cartoon ice cream character named “Sunny.”
“Cole actually works as a graphic designer, and he designed Sunny,” Thayer said. “He’s just a happy-go-lucky character that wants to bring joy to people. We just thought that it would be cute to have, especially where we may have more of a kid-friendly culture here.”
Sunday’s Scoops & Treats Where: 138 N. Main St., Concord Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 1 to 9 p.m. (hours may be subject to change) Moreinfo: Visit sundaysscoops.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram @sundaysscoops or call 333-2111
Flight Coffee Co. introduces new flagship location in Bedford
When Claudia Barrett of Bedford started Flight Coffee Co. 12 years ago, she had a small commercial coffee roaster in her home garage. Since then, her company has expanded — now offering everything from specialty coffees and espresso drinks to bagels and pastries — and has experienced recognition at the national level, winning multiple coffee competition awards and being featured in the coffee industry trade magazine Roast several times.
Now, Barrett and her team are expanding even further, on track to open a new flagship space for Flight Coffee Co. on June 17 that will include a bakery, cafe and roasting facility all under one roof. The space takes up a portion of the former Harvest Market store on the corner of Wallace Road and Route 101 in Bedford, which closed last year.
Barrett, who launched a coffee roastery across town on Harvey Road in 2013, eventually turned an adjacent space into what she called a “satellite cafe.” Her last day at that location was May 29.
In 2016, prior to expanding her Bedford roastery, she also operated a cafe in Dover under the Flight Coffee Co. name for a short time before selling it to new local owners.
“Harvey Road was a great place to start because it was out of the way and we were really focused on roasting,” Barrett said. “We did outgrow it in many ways … and in my heart I knew it was time to bring a community coffeehouse to Bedford, just like I did in Dover.”
Flight Coffee Co.’s single-origin coffees are sourced from all over the Coffee Belt, and the new space will include a view into the roasting area. Opportunities will also be available for tasting “flights” of different coffees and learning about their variations and origins, in an environment not unlike how you might experience flights of beer or wine.
Last year Flight Coffee Co. introduced fresh baked bagels, cake doughnuts and stuffed pastries called “stuffies” that Barrett said have been hugely popular. All of those will be available out of the new space in a wide array of flavors, along with vegan and gluten-free doughnuts and some new savory items like bagel sandwiches and creative toasts.
“We’ve won a lot of people over with the doughnuts, which I never expected to happen,” she said. “I was so focused on coffee, but it’s a really great thing to pair with coffee, and it’s been a lot of fun because it’s kept people very excited through the pandemic.”
Other plans include coffee roasting classes and demonstrations, open mic nights, poetry slams, trivia and game nights, book clubs and other community events and gatherings.
“It’s going to be a very fun and engaging place,” Barrett said. “Coffee is a stairway to heaven. It’s our passion and something we want to share.”
Flight Coffee Co. An opening date of June 17 is expected. Visit their website or follow them on social media for updates. Where: 209 Route 101, Bedford Anticipated hours: Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (hours may be subject to change) More info: Visit flightcoffeeco.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram or call 836-6228
Feautred photo: The Residence at Salem Woods. Courtesy photo.
I work with clients who want to know about their family story, get details about their family tree or get something [about their family history] confirmed. I do the research for them [by] searching online records and sometimes contacting archives around the region or country to track down physical copies of records. Then, I write up a report and present it [to the client].
How long have you had this job?
I started about four years ago.
What led you to this career field and your current job?
It’s something I’ve always been really passionate about. … I first got into genealogy when I was in high school. One day, my family realized that we didn’t really know anything about our family tree, so we started looking into it, and I was hooked from there. … In college, I thought a lot about doing genealogy [as a career]. I wanted to be able to shed some light on other people’s family trees. After college, I started doing it and absolutely loved it. I’ve been doing it ever since.
What kind of education or training did you need?
A lot of it is self-taught. I did a lot of online webinars … and talked to other genealogists about how to go about certain things. … I also have a bachelor’s degree in international relations and have always been interested in history, so [genealogy] is a good way to tie that [education] in.
What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?
I usually do my correspondence with clients over email or over the phone, so I can dress casual.
How has your job changed over the last year?
It’s definitely been harder to get hard copies of records. A lot of the archives had to be shut down due to Covid, and they didn’t have staff because their job couldn’t really be done remotely, since they work with the physical records. I just had to hope that the records I needed were digitized and available to access online.
What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?
When I originally started, I had no idea that so many records weren’t digitized. There are a lot that I have to physically go to a historical society or library or archive to find.
What do you wish other people knew about your job?
People are surprised when they find out that I’m only in my 20s. Genealogy is often associated with an older crowd, but it’s really something that can be interesting and appealing to everybody.
What was the first job you ever had?
I was an umpire for my local baseball league as a teenager.
What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?
Everyone has a different starting point with their genealogy. Some people know a ton about their family history, and some people just don’t have a lot of information for various reasons. You have to understand where people are coming from and be able to work with them and the information they have to get the job done.
Pinot grigio, long the favorite of art gallery openings and summer garden parties, is an Italian wine made from a light, red-colored grape. This has long been the go-to wine for the summer. Typically bright and citric, it can vary depending upon its terroir — the soils upon which the vines are planted and the climate in which they flourish. But this wine can go beyond summer garden parties.
Known as pinot gris in the Alsace region of France, pinot grigio is widely grown in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. This region is northeast of Venice and the province of Veneto, bordering Austria and Slovenia, and includes the city of Trieste. The grape is also grown in San Joaquin, Sacramento and Monterey counties in California. The wines produced from these two distinctly different terroirs are incredibly different. California pinot gris wines are lighter-bodied with a crisp, refreshing taste, with perhaps a bit of pepper or arugula to the tongue. Pinot grigio from Italy is more often light and lean, crisp and acidic without that peppery note of arugula. But the prevalent colors and tastes go beyond that.
Our first wine is the Italian version of pinot grigio, coming from the Collio Goriziano hills of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The 2019 Attems Venezia Giulia Pinot Grigio Ramato (available at the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlets, reduced in price from $19.99 to $9.99) is a superb example of this Italian varietal. The color is the palest of pink, without becoming clear. While citric, it is not intense, in that it has an underlying sweetness, with floral nuances of citric blossoms. To the tongue it is balanced with the acute citric notes to the edges of the tongue, and a residual nuttiness as the finish recedes, long and with a very slight tannic sense of roasted hazelnuts. This is an excellent wine for an aperitif, or to pair with a rich salad, pasta, fish or chicken.
The Attems dynasty has produced wine as far back as 1106. The long-established family founded the Collio Wine Consortium in 1964. In 2000, the vineyard was passed on to the Frescobaldi family, another centuries-old Italian family. However, the farming and production has not been streamlined with time. The 120+ acres are farmed responsibly, with organic feeding of green crops turned back to the soil. The color and creaminess come from its short time in barrel aging.
Our next wine comes from a brand owned by the beverage giant and largest California wine exporter, E. & J. Gallo. The 2020 Dark Horse Pinot Grigio (available at the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlets, reduced in price from $10.99 to $8.99) is a great wine for a hot summer afternoon. It has a green cast that is almost clear in color. The nose is citric, almost grapefruit. To the tongue it is “clean and crisp” with strong citric notes. The winemaker, Beth Liston, sources the grapes for the wines she makes from over 400 vineyards across the Central Coast to create wines that outperform their price point. This is a wine that can be incorporated into a great white sangria, laced with sweet fruits, such as apricots, strawberries, and pineapple. This wine can hold its own against a chicken piccata, if your taste in wine is not along chardonnay lines. I had it with a plate of very cheesy macaroni and cheese, and it cut right through the richly dense mac and cheese.
This comparison is but another example of how the terroir, a region’s soil, topography and climate, can influence the product — the wine. To this we add another factor: the winemaker and how the wine is made. The California wine is produced in stainless steel vats, kept cool during maceration to ensure the wine remains crisp and citric. The Italian wine, while also made in a cool environment, spent a short time in oak barrels to impart a “creamy sweetness” and reinforce that slight pink color the juice has from spending a little time on the skins. It is more than interesting; it is just plain fun to see how a grape varietal can produce such divergent colors, scents and tastes.
With the approach of Midsummer’s Eve, my teenager has some thoughts about what we should be drinking.
Harvest: I’d like to briefly discuss Titania, the fairy queen of William Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer’s Night Dream.
She is strong-willed, powerful and, most of all, beautiful. In my opinion Titania is one of the only female characters that Shakespeare paints as equal to their male or masculine counterparts. He made her free-spirited; this is remarkable because women in Shakespeare’s work are often portrayed as subservient and weak. When Oberon, Titania’s jealous lover, decides to make her look like a fool, we see her true self. Titania, having been intoxicated by a mysterious purple flower by Oberon’s servant Robin (Puck), falls in love with a man cursed to have a donkey’s head. Instead of treating Bottom (the aforementioned donkey-man) as less than her, she treats him as her equal, showering him in luxuries and attending to his needs. This in my opinion shows who Titania is and why she is one of the best female characters the bard ever wrote.
This nonalcoholic cocktail is inspired by “Love-In-Idleness,” the purple flower in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. There is a mysterious, almost magical change that happens as the ingredients are mixed together.
Love-In-Idleness
Ingredients: 4-6 ice cubes 2 ounces butterfly syrup (see below) 6 ounces cold butterfly tea (see below) 2 ounces fresh-squeezed lemon juice 12 drops rose water
In a tall glass, combine the ice, syrup and tea. It will be a beautiful midnight blue. Add the lemon juice. It will change dramatically to a rich, violet color. Add the rose water and stir. Think magical thoughts while you drink this.
Normally, 12 drops of rose water would be about seven drops too many. Rose water is tricky stuff and you are always running the risk of making something taste like soap. In this case — given the backdrop of Midsummer’s Eve — too much is just about right. Making this blue cousin of lemonade extremely floral is what you wanted but didn’t know that you wanted. The sweetness of the butterfly syrup plays off the sharp, acid sourness of the lemon juice well, and you are left with an aftertaste of roses — a little like a mostly forgotten dream.
A father’s notes:
First of all — and let’s get this out of the way immediately — this drink is delicious as is, but would be arguably enhanced by the addition of two ounces of a floral gin, Hendrick’s for example.
Secondly, some observations on butterfly pea blossoms:
Butterfly peas (clitoria ternatea) (Yes, I know. Stop it.), or blue sweet peas, come from Asia and make a beautiful, subtly flavored tea. When exposed to acid, the deep blue color of the tea (and, in this case, the syrup) changes to a rather splendid purple color. The blossoms themselves (which I purchased via Amazon) have a very mild flavor and are really here for their color.
Butterfly tea – Combine 10 grams of dried butterfly pea blossoms with 4 cups of almost but not quite boiling water. (Boil the water, then take it off the heat for a minute, before adding it to the pea blossoms.) Let the blossoms steep for 3½ minutes, then strain and chill the tea.
Following up on the Midsummer Night’s Dream theme, this tea has a very background-flavory character. This is not a Titania or Oberon tea. This is a Philostrate tea — maybe a Background Fairy No. 2 tea. Imagine a jasmine tea, but not as floral; maybe jasmine tea’s personal assistant.
Butterfly syrup – Combine one cup of sugar with one cup of water, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let it boil for another 10 to 15 seconds, to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat, then add three grams of dried butterfly pea blossoms and let them steep for half an hour. Strain and bottle. Store in your refrigerator indefinitely.
Featured photo: Before (left) and after (right) the lemon juice is added. Photos by John Fladd.
