Meals on Wheels pork-loin dinner approaching
Jun. 9—GREENSBURG — Greensburg Meals on Wheels's drive-thru pork dinner is scheduled for 4 to 6 p.m. today, at Greensburg Community Church, 1427 W. Vandalia Road. The meal is $12 and includes Dave Ricke's famous grilled pork chops, twice baked potatoes, green beans, cole slaw and dessert.
One can't live in the Southeastern Indiana region without appreciating the delicacy of a well-cooked pork chop, and one local man has the fine art of preparing pork chops down to a science.
"I've always enjoyed cooking for large groups," Agricultural Consultant David Ricke said. "Actually, I just enjoy cooking."
To record the story of how Ricke's famous pork chops came to be, one has only to ask him a few questions. He's delighted to tell about his smoker and how he researched the design to build one to his own specs. And he enjoys talking about all the places he's traveled to in the name of cooking a good pork chop.
One could say it's been one of his lifetime achievements, and his inspiration was completely local.
"I went with some friends out to Power of the Past and I noticed how dirty and sweaty all the people got while showing their steam engines. When you're like that you can't go anywhere, so I had a captive audience," he said.
He took corn on the cob and a few of the vendors helped him boil it with a steam engine.
"That was fine, but I needed a grill," he said.
How he put together his smoker is a big part of the story.
As a farming consultant for most of his career, traveling the Midwest extensively, Ricke saw a few smoker designs he liked but none were a perfect fit. While visiting Tulare, California for a yearly farm show, he noticed that the church groups at the show all had grills with grids that could be raised and lowered; they were perfect for cooing with a wood fire.
"I completely forgot about the show," he said. "I would push through the crowd just to take pictures of the grills they were cooking on."
So, finding just the right design for a grid that could be raised and lowered, adequate grilling space for chops for a small army and an attached water tank for burns or spills and clean-up, with a large reservoir for the hardwood fire, he had a local business build it.
With his grill complete, he was almost ready. Now, the sauce!
"That comes from an outfit in Oklahoma," he said.
Then comes another story.
The owner of "Head Country," the brand of barbecue sauce he prefers, was a cook in the navy. That barbecue, the best-selling barbecue sauce in Illinois, is the only sauce Ricke uses.
"I buy it in bulk," he said. "It's a sweet barbecue, and that's what I like."
He then adds a secret seasoning to make it his own.
"It's like Lowry seasoning on steroids," he tells those who ask.
So with church groups, sororities, clubs, etc. all asking for Dave's pork chops, what does he charge?
Usually he answers questions directly, but waits a second to reply, thinking for just the right words: "Let's just say this, if you ask to pay me I won't do it!"
Tickets for the Meals on Wheels drive-thru pork-chop dinner fundraiser are available at Denim and Honey, 217 N. Broadway Street, or by calling 812-663-6099.
Contact Bill Rethlake at 812-651-0876 or email bill.rethlake@greensburgdailynews.com
