Smokin'

My future operating room

As the healthcare environment twists and turns along a mysterious course of regulation, struggling to achieve better outcomes, more satisfied patients, and lower costs-- more and more docs are starting to stand up and look for the exits. The administrative piece is becoming too onerous and sucking the life out of the profession.

I moved an inch or two closer to launching my new career over the past holiday. I still love what I do but always keep an eye to the future. As a surgeon I'm PDG but someday I may find the demands of the job are just too much. When that day comes I hope I can fall back on one of a couple other areas of expertise: One of my favorites is cooking.

This weekend I took another step toward gastronomic greatness. My wife loves barbecue ribs. I've done ribs a time or two and have read all kinds of recipes and heard all manner of suggestion as to cooking them up just right. The fact is-- say what you will-- the only way to do ribs is "low and slow," as the saying goes. Low heat over the course of several hours. Not boiled. Not in an oven. Not grilled over charcoal briquettes. Cooked in the low heat and bathed in the heavy smoke of a wood fire.

I was a regular pit boss out in the backyard Monday, splitting up pieces of wood, keeping a steady stream of smoke pouring from the little chimney. It took about 4 hours to do one rack of baby backs. I think it took 'til Wednesday to get the smoke residue out of my nose. But I think I'm just about there. Those ribs were absolute killer.

Just a couple more turns of the healthcare screw and I might just have to open my own rib joint. Wait a minute-- does the government regulates those as well?