Fatherʼs Day is here. Sunday is the big day, and let me speak for most dads here in my column. We really donʼt want much. What we do want is the opportunity to grill some great meat on the grill. Waygu beef? Yes! Thick filets? Sure. It doesnʼt even have to be our own grill! I myself will be grilling some fillets on my brother-in-lawʼs grill. So have someone prepare some great sides, buy a growler or two from your local brewery for us, and allow us dads to do what we love. In my case, let me work the grill.

Speaking of doing what we love, I want to follow up on last weekʼs column. I wrote about how to make the perfect ribs. If you did not read it, check it out on our app. There were some great tips in there. I was given the opportunity to actually practice what I preached last Friday.

Michael Reynolds, our sales director, came to me earlier in the week and said “letʼs reward our great team for selling out our Wadsworth Blue Tip special section and setting a new sales record by cooking ribs for the whole company. Can you do that?” I of course said yes, and then asked some of our partners for some help.

We are a local newspaper, so we have no budget for frivolous things like rib cookouts for the whole company! I asked Joe Quinn at The Place in Medina if I could borrow their demo Gateway Drum Smoker, because I knew it could hang 12 slabs of ribs. He said yes and dropped it off.

I then asked Pat Boesel of Mackʼs Food Center in Lodi if she could donate the 12 slabs of ribs. She said yes. By the way, while I was there, I was amazed at the beautiful cuts of meat in their display. She showed me the hanging beef and let me know they happily cut custom orders. This is a great local butcher and very close to home, only 15 minutes from Medina. So we had some great local partners donate the ribs and the Gateway Drum Smoker.

Now we just needed the sides, which Sandridge Corporation gladly donated. Fifteen pounds of Grandmaʼs Potato Salad, Chicken Salad and Angel Cut Cole Slaw. Thank you to all.

So, there was just one tiny problem: my column was on how to cook the perfect slab of ribs. I committed to cooking 12 slabs of ribs! What was I thinking. Well, with the ability to hang 12 slabs in the Drum Smoker, the task was easy. Stacking 12 slabs of foiled ribs for part two was a bit harder, but worked out well.

With the help of my resident chef and middle school son Jake, who turned out to be a great assistant, it went much smoother than I thought it would. Twelve slabs cooked to perfection in three hours total. All in all, the event was a smashing success and I believe those were truly the best ribs I have ever cooked.

When you start with great meat from a local butcher like Mackʼs, and use great technique, rubs, and sauces like Paul Grant at The Place laid out for us in his cooking demo, you end up with great results. Plus, after writing a “Cookinʼ with Karl” column for two years, it is nice to be able to have a little pressure to see if I really can cook.

OK, back to Fatherʼs Day. As my readers know, I have written a lot lately about barbecue and grills. I wrote about ribs, about brisket, about the Traegger Pellet Grills, ceramic grills like the Primo and the Big Green Egg and about some new things like the Gateway Drum Smoker and the ultimate gas grills. The whole idea is to get you thinking about stepping up your barbecue game with some new equipment and some great recipes.

One reader, Jon, sent me in a great smoked meatloaf recipe that he makes on his grill. He even dropped off a smoked meat loaf for me to try. Jon, thank you! It was delicious. That recipe will be featured in a column sometime in July.

So to all the dads out there, I hope on Fatherʼs Day you get to do what you love. For me, that is spending time with my amazing and wonderful family, working the grill and eating some filet mignon! Happy Fatherʼs Day!