Barbecue

Barbecue pork ribs Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes, plus marinating time. Servings: 6 3 pounds pork ribs, spare ribs or baby backs 2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1/4 cup rice wine 1/2 to ¾ cup Chinese spare rib sauce, preferably Lee Kum Kee brand 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey 1. In a large baking dish, rub the ribs with the sugar, salt, black pepper and rice...

  The term "Rosso Toscano" usually indicates an inexpensive wine made for everyday drinking. But in this case, the wine is essentially a Super Tuscan, made from a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Not a drop of Sangiovese, but it's unmistakably Tuscan - intense and concentrated, with a seductive tonal palate and enough body and tannic grip to age and evolve. And hard to resist now. This is a great red for barbecue season, with the stuff to stand up to smoke and char.

Regarding Birmingham, Ala. ["Moving Ever Forward," by Alice Short, April 14]: How can she not include Dreamland, a legendary Alabama barbecue? Chris Erskine would have mentioned this pork palace in his opening paragraph! Otherwise, a very fine article on this historic city. David Grimes Pasadena Cuba's reality? Regarding "Cuba Covertly? Weigh the Risks," by Catharine Hamm [On the Spot, March 31]: Cuba is not a "fabulous destination. " I don't understand this thinking.

Outdoor enthusiasts headed for British Columbia this summer can get a 20% discount if they sign up with Sunwolf for midweek rafting and family adventure outings on the Elaho and Cheakamus rivers near Squamish.  Called the "Elaho River Experience” and the “Family Scenic Float,” these midweek deals include a rafting trip, one night's accommodation in a riverside cabin and a barbecue. With the discount, the packages start at $264 for two. Sunwolf is in the heart of British Columbia's Coast Mountains at the confluence of the Cheakamus and Cheekye rivers, 45 minutes from downtown Vancouver and 30 minutes from the Whistler resort.

  Hickory-smoked brisket with Southwestern barbecue sauce Total time: 2 hours, plus 5 to 6 hours smoking time Servings: 6 to 8 Note: This recipe calls for hickory chips and the use of a smoker, or a charcoal grill converted to a smoker. Hickory chips are available at many well-stocked markets as well as at barbecue supply stores. The barbecue sauce makes about 6 cups, more than is needed for this recipe. Any remaining sauce will keep up to 1 week, refrigerated.

Re "He's delving into history to find gold," May 27 Here is a perfect example of the rich being out of touch. David Badner, a venture capitalist, brags about his Miami condo, sports cars and boats. He buys a defunct gold mine near the quiet community of Jamestown, Colo., and hopes to win over the locals by throwing a barbecue and bringing in "a band, face painters, a clown. " "I'll pay for it - I won't be handing out the paper plates," he says. Really? How typical of the rich and insensitive - buy off the potential hindrance to your endeavors with food and trinkets.

The Torrance farmers market is in full bloom: pluots mottled with patches of red and green, bottles of fresh-pressed pomegranate juice, eggplants as thick as tree trunks. Weekenders huddle under canopies clutching pupusas and plates of pad Thai, the electric hum of a blues man's guitar and the distant patter of steel drums colliding in the air above. The market's meat seekers, however, are unfazed by the clamor, eyes affixed to the brisket being carved at Bigmista's Barbecue. Pounds of that blackened brisket — beef massaged with a spice rub and then smoked into submission for about 12 hours — are dispensed until there's nothing but scraps left.

I'm reading your article "A Tamer Game Feed" (Sept. 14), and it has me steamed. As I understand, hunters donated meat for an animal barbecue. Various people donated a fee to attend and the proceeds were donated to charity. What's the problem? Sounds like both the Fish and Game Department and the district attorney's office don't have enough to do. LARRY SLAGLE Anaheim

The smell of barbecue has hit La Brea Boulevard. The highly anticipated Bludso's on La Brea is set to open this month, bringing Kevin Bludso's Texas-by-way-of-Compton barbecue to Hollywood. "Presently we are shooting for an opening next week," says co-owner Jason Bernstein. "Might not be Monday but pretty locked into the week of the 11th. "  Bernstein and James Starr, owners of the Golden State on Fairfax, have teamed with Bludso and transformed the former Tar Pit space to accommodate barbecue-eaters and beer-drinkers.

My family and I were quite disappointed with the Autry BBQ Championship and Festival [Weekend Forecast, "Fire Up the Barbecue," April 12]. The biggest problem was that there were some 20 or 30 expert barbecue teams at this event, and I could not taste one bite of their food. Instead, I was left having to stand in line for sub-par barbecue that ran out early. It would be like going to an art museum but all I could look at was the mural on the parking garage. It would have been better if you had stated that attendees would not be able to sample the food.

Regarding Birmingham, Ala. ["Moving Ever Forward," by Alice Short, April 14]: How can she not include Dreamland, a legendary Alabama barbecue? Chris Erskine would have mentioned this pork palace in his opening paragraph! Otherwise, a very fine article on this historic city. David Grimes Pasadena Cuba's reality? Regarding "Cuba Covertly? Weigh the Risks," by Catharine Hamm [On the Spot, March 31]: Cuba is not a "fabulous destination. " I don't understand this thinking.

If you go THE BEST WAY TO MOLOKAI FROM LAX, United and Hawaiian offer connecting service (change of plane to Island Air, Pacific Wings or Mokulele) to Molokai. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $781. Alamo Rent-a-Car has a desk at the airport. WHERE TO STAY Hotel Molokai, 1300 Kamehameha V Highway, Kaunakakai; (808) 553-5347, http://www.hotelmolokai.com . Retro A-framed cottages with kitchenettes and large lanais, landscaped gardens, complimentary continental breakfast, on-site restaurant (which is being renovated)

Everyone has their own iconic food -- not just a food they really like, or even really love, but a food around which the world turns. For me, it's barbecue. And not just any barbecue, but Texas barbecue. Credit my passion to a sentimental education received at the pit of C.B. Stubblefield when I was still at a very impressionable age (not that his barbecue wouldn't have made an impression on someone of any vintage). Stubb is famous now - or at least his name is. His line of barbecue products can be found on supermarket shelves across the country.

The smell of barbecue has hit La Brea Boulevard. The highly anticipated Bludso's on La Brea is set to open this month, bringing Kevin Bludso's Texas-by-way-of-Compton barbecue to Hollywood. "Presently we are shooting for an opening next week," says co-owner Jason Bernstein. "Might not be Monday but pretty locked into the week of the 11th. "  Bernstein and James Starr, owners of the Golden State on Fairfax, have teamed with Bludso and transformed the former Tar Pit space to accommodate barbecue-eaters and beer-drinkers.

Attica Locke's latest thriller , " The Cutting Season," explores a murder mystery and the tangled history of a Louisiana plantation-turned-event venue, managed by a descendant of its slave population. The book, which hits bookstores Sept. 18, follows her debut novel, "Black Water Rising," set in Locke's native Houston, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. She lives in Los Angeles with her public defender husband and daughter. Is there a story behind your first name?

Whether you're a bona fide pit master or just a weekend warrior, there's nothing more important than maintaining the proper heat in the grill. Cook too hot, and you'll turn those baby back ribs into jerky on the bone. Cook too low, and, well, you may be smoking hours longer than you intended. A simple grill thermometer makes easy work of regulating the heat of the smoker, barbecue or grill. A grill thermometer looks like a common instant-read thermometer, except it has a really big dial for easy reading with a short, thick stem.

Two summers ago I was invited to Alaska by the Seafood Marketing Institute to look at fish. The great outdoors is not my style, so it was with misgiving that I spent a whole day sitting in a small boat. But the salmon bit on schedule and soon I, too, was hooked. We baited crab pots in the wilderness as the sun went down, and I managed to land a 20-pound halibut--good sport as well as excellent eating. This menu is a souvenir of all I enjoyed on that memorable trip.

A 7-year-old Palmdale boy was in fair condition Sunday from burns suffered after someone poured paint thinner on a hot barbecue and the child was engulfed by flames. The boy, whom officials declined to identify, is being treated at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks for second- and third-degree burns over 20% of his body, Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatcher Art Murrujo said. A burn center spokesman said the boy was burned around 11 p.m.

Atop his chocolate mare JJ, Rene Herrera follows a dirt path from Gabrielino Equestrian Park on the eastern end of Hansen Dam Recreation Area to a nearby creek shaded by cottonwoods. Families with coolers and bags of food have beaten Herrera and two other horse riders there, seeking refuge in the wooded waterside from temperatures in the 90s. While a dozen children splash around in a swimming hole, the adults kick back in hammocks and camp chairs, eating grilled chicken and shooting the breeze.

Tony's I-75 Restaurant in Birch Run, Mich., is proud home of what might well be the nation's largest BLT. Each sandwich contains a pound of bacon - about 25 to 30 deep-fried strips - stacked about 8 inches high between two slabs of white bread. On a recent visit there, Todd Fisher, host of the new series "United States of Food," was invited to sample one. "I'm not gonna lie, I was scared," he says. "I took two bites and was like, OK, I'm good. " "United States of Food" premiered Sunday on Destination America, the latest member of the Discovery Communications stable of networks.