- Tonight on WPBS Weekly.

Inside the stories, we're back in Johnny Spezzano's kitchen.

He teams up with Pond pit Barbecue, co-owner Chris Harvey to grill up some ribs.

Perfect for your next cookout.

Also, Laura Tiberiu is back her review of the book, "Carrie Soto is Back" by Taylor Jenkins Reed.

Might just convinced you it is your next must read.

Your story is your region coming up right now on WPBS Weekly.

Inside the stories - WPBS Weekly inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

A Carthage Walk-in clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing Close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country.

We're protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong, at claxtonhepburn.org.

Today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide Community Regrant program, a REGRANT program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly Inside the Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

It is officially summer and people are uncovering their grills for a good old summer cookout To ring in the warmer months.

Johnny Spezzano invites Chris Harvey of Pond Pit Barbecue in Sandy Creek to grill up their famous barbecue ribs with a side of beans and broccoli salad.

It's a recipe you'll want to include at your next party.

Hey, come on!

- Hello my friends.

And welcome.

Welcome to my kitchen time for another episode of Johnny On Fire.

With me today I got Chris Harvey from Pond Pit Barbecue, my man.

- How are you buddy?

Thank - You so much.

One of my favorite all time restaurants is Pond Pit Barbecue on Route three.

If you haven't been there yet, you gotta try it.

And today, what are we making - Ribs, my man.

Ribs.

- Ribs.

And you guys are making ribs there every day.

- Every day?

Yes.

- Okay.

We're also going to make Jen's broccoli salad.

Which is your better half.

- Oh, better.

Better half.

- Yes.

And we're gonna also maybe throw in some of your beans that are from the restaurant - As well.

Absolutely.

For - Sure.

Okay, let's break in.

What are we gonna do first?

- All right, well, we're gonna make our rub.

- All right.

First thing I want to ask you, is there anything you, you guys do to prep the, rub the ribs ahead of time?

The - Only thing we do is trim 'em up a little bit if there's a lot of fat on 'em.

Yeah.

And silver skin, as far as I'm concerned, that's a myth for everybody.

- Okay.

- We don't rip 'em off.

We just cut by the bone.

Both sides leave the silver skin on.

Cook's better for us and the meat stays on the bone.

- And one of the things he's talking is basically like a membrane around there.

Some people remove it.

- Absolutely.

- And you don't need to.

- Yeah, you don't need to all, it's just something, like I said, we just trim up a little bit and move on.

- All right.

What are our dry rub ingredients?

It's a big mystery.

We don't even know.

- So we got onion powdered.

- Okay.

- And garlic powder.

- Okay.

- Cumin.

- Okay.

- Cayenne chili powder, black pepper salt, brown sugar mustard powder.

- All right.

So we're gonna combine all these ingredients to make up our dry raw.

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- I mean, these sound like they're gonna give it that zest.

- They do.

- So when you bite in and it falls off the bone, which it does, trust me, - It has a little zip to it, but it's not bad.

- Yeah.

- We don't sauce our ribs.

We only dry rub them.

So all of our sauces are out at our counter for everybody to actually do themselves whatever they like.

You don't need it.

But - I love this.

Now, one of the things they have on the menu is something called pig wings.

Am I right about this?

Pig pig wings.

What are pig wings?

- Our pig wings are actually our cut ribs and then we deep fry 'em.

- So basically a rib cut.

- Yes.

- And then dropped in the fryer.

- Dropped in the fryer.

- Yep.

And then you can dunk 'em in buffalo chicken wing sauce.

- Yeah.

Whatever sauce you want.

Whether it's our barbecue sauce or any of our chicken wing sauces that we have at the restaurant.

I - Can vouch for 'em.

I can vouch from there.

I get 'em every time.

So they'll be really good.

So he's just combining all of these ingredients.

You'll be able to get the recipe wpbstv.org.

We got all the recipes from all the episodes of Johnny on fire right there together.

This is brown sugar?

Yes.

Okay.

Light brown sugar.

You putting that in there too?

Yeah.

It all goes.

So.

All right.

Woo.

Look at all that pepper.

I hope we got a big enough bowl, Chris.

- Yeah, we're good.

- And and salt - For you.

The salt.

- You guys are open six days a week, - Seven days a week.

- Seven days a - Week.

In the summer we're open seven days a week.

Winter time it's a little scarce around our place.

So we, we do a limited menu Tuesdays and Wednesdays usually.

- So Great.

Right there in Sandy Pond.

New York.

Sandy Creek.

- That's - Right.

Right outside of Sandy Pond.

So you're mixing everything together.

- Yep.

- And I know what you're gonna do next.

You're gonna rub that right into this.

Beautiful.

- We're going to, after we trim that silver skin a little bit on the back.

- Oh, you are gonna trim the silver.

- Well, we, we just cut through it.

- Okay.

- So each side of the bone, - I wanna try.

- There you go.

- All right.

I gotta find the bone.

- Yep.

- And then just make a slice.

Hope I'm doing this right.

- Absolutely.

- Okay.

Hope I don't lose a finger.

Okay.

Chris is putting together all these gray herbs and spices.

So I see what you're saying.

This would be the silver skin that's often removed by people.

Yes.

You just make that slit.

- We make the slit on each side.

Then it holds to the bone while it's cooking.

It holds a little better.

And then, like I said, for our, our holding purposes to keep them warm after the five hours of cooking, we put throw 'em in our proofer to keep 'em warm and it actually keeps it on the bone instead of falling off immediately.

So anyways, we're done with that.

So, okay.

We'll just turn around and season our ribs a little bit.

- Look at that.

It now it is okay to freestyle if you want, if you want to add another ingredient or two.

- Yeah.

What whatever ingredient you like to add is, is perfectly fine.

Okay.

I mean, whatever you feel is good for your taste buds or whatever, once you get it done.

- And the whole idea behind this is it, it kind of crusts on and then when the fat renders, it kind of soaks it all up - And Yep.

Gets all moist and - Yeah.

- Goes right into the meat - And gives you that crunchiness when you bite into it.

- Absolutely.

Then it's puts a bark on it, - Put the bark on it.

- Love it.

That's all.

- And you guys are doing real wood now.

Do you pack it in or anything?

- Nope.

I don't do anything.

'cause what we do is, we'll, we'll cook it for two and a half hours, three hours, depending on what it is.

Okay.

Then we do our wrap Okay.

With our aluminum foil.

And then we put it back - In.

So you smoke it first?

- Yeah, smoke it for two and a half hours.

- Alright, we're gonna wrap it in the foil right now.

- Right.

- All right.

And then we're gonna throw in and grab the foil.

Okay.

And show me how we're gonna, how, how you'd wrap it up here.

- We just put 'em in.

- Alright.

And this you do every morning.

- Every morning.

Yep.

- So half awake, sometimes always half awake.

Always half awake.

5:00 AM I can imagine, brother.

They just wrap them up, - Pull them over, - And they're ready to go.

All right.

We're gonna stick this in the wood fire.

And while they cook, we're gonna do some other things.

We're gonna mix up some of the famous, one of the famous side dishes that they feature at Pond Pet Barbecue.

Jen's famous broccoli?

Or is it bacon - Salad?

No, it's bacon.

Broccoli salad.

- Bacon and broccoli.

All right, here we go.

In the oven.

We go.

All right.

So we're with Chris Harvey.

Chris and his wife Jen.

Own pot pit barbecues on Route three down Sandy Pond.

We wanted Jen to make the salad, but you're in charge today, so thank God you're gonna have to do it.

So this is a side that is served at the restaurant.

It's one I I like.

I always get it.

It's a broccoli salad.

Yes.

- Right.

Absolutely.

Okay.

- What are our ingredients for this?

- So our ingredients, obviously our broccoli.

We got mayonnaise, red wine vinegar, cheddar cheese, bacon and golden raisins and a little sugar.

- Okay.

All right.

Just to make it good.

- Yeah.

- All right.

What do we need to do - First?

That's, that's the, that's the big facade on all this.

Everybody thinks broccoli sale, it's good for you, but if you had as much sugar in it as what we put in it, - Right.

Sugar and bacon.

Yeah, exactly.

Every time.

And cheese.

Every time.

- So we just get started by actually cutting up our broccoli florets.

- Right.

You got, they've gotta be bite-sized.

- Yeah.

You can't, I mean, everybody loves 'em big, but I mean, you don't want it that way.

- So were you guys in the restaurant business before you got into pond pit barbecue?

- Absolutely not.

No.

Actually I built houses and cut concrete for 25 years.

- That's amazing.

- And my wife was a travel agent for 17, so, - So you guys are just like, you know what, let's start an awesome barbecue.

I like too, the way you guys have it, you don't necessarily have any servers there.

- Nope.

No wait staff, no nothing.

You order at the window, pick up at the window, go to the bar for your alcohol.

It's just easier for people that way because you know what, now you're waiting on yourself.

- I know.

- You know, you're not waiting for somebody to come over and get something for you or ask you if you, you need anything else.

If you need anything else, just jump up and grab it.

- I was gonna tell you the first time I went, I was a little confused.

But now every time I go, I love it.

'cause you're right, you don't have to wait for the server to come over.

Exactly.

You know, you just kind of get, you're like, get up, I'm gonna take this, this and this.

You give a little buzzer.

Yeah.

And the buzzer rings and you bring your food back to the table and it's usually done pretty quick - Too.

Absolutely.

We try to get it out as quick as we possibly can.

- One thing I want to tell you, first time I went, I got something called the piggy platter.

- Pigpen.

- Pigpen.

- Yeah.

- What's that?

- That is kind of like a garbage plate from Rochester.

Yeah.

Four and a half, five pounds.

Every little bit of food you can get at our restaurant.

Right.

Other than our ribs In one plate.

In one plate.

- Yeah.

So it's like a scoop of macaroni salad, a scoop of baked beans, a scoop of potato salad.

A bunch of delicious Turkey pulled pork.

Is there ribs on it?

- Nope.

No ribs.

That's the, the only thing we don't put on is our ribs.

- You don't wanna get a bone in there to confuse - People.

Right.

And then it's chicken on it.

Our Turkey, we do differently.

- Yeah.

- But yeah.

French fries.

- Yeah.

And then sauces, - Then our sauce.

- What about your sauces?

So your barbecue sauces?

- Our barbecue sauces are all homemade also every day.

Pond pit, barbecue, baby.

- All right.

We did pretty good.

Yeah.

Now what are we got Now we gotta mix a little more into this.

I can tell - Already.

Right?

We can do cheddar cheese in here.

- Okay.

- Then your bacon.

I mean, who doesn't love bacon?

Come - On.

We love bacon.

- Golden raisins.

- What kind of smokers do you guys use?

Just like big, - We actually have two Myron mixing H2O smokers.

Well, 1 72 inch one and 1 48 inch one.

- Like I know what those are, - Right?

They're, they're a, a steam smoker.

So the 72 inch one has 16 gallons of water in the bottom of it.

Okay.

Fire underneath it smokes and steams at the same time.

So it keeps everything, everything nice and moist.

- I love that.

- So anyways, we got the mayonnaise here.

- Okay.

- And - Now Jen wanted me to tell everybody that you can do your own variation at home.

I love the golden raisins, by the way.

Those are so beautiful.

Yeah.

- It, it definitely adds to it.

People like it.

Once again, like you were saying, you can do a variation on it however you want.

- Yeah.

- Sunflower seeds.

There's numerous - Red - Onions.

Yeah.

Red onions, whatever.

Yeah.

Numerous amounts of things you can put in there.

So anyways, our mayonnaise.

- Okay.

- Our red wine vinegar, - We'll get that ready - And our sugar for everybody to - Heck yeah.

- Wants to have a little sweetness in their life.

Yeah.

O - That smells good.

I'll let you do All right.

Do the work on that.

So this is super easy.

You could make this at home.

Our ribs are in there cooking Now how long does it take ribs to cook at the restaurant?

- We are five hours.

Right around there.

Yeah.

So, like I said, smoke 'em for two and a half hours.

We wrap 'em in aluminum foil, put 'em back in for another two and a half hours.

- I can't wait to see what we come up with.

Alright.

So you're mixing our sauce together, which is our, our apple cider vinegar and our mayo.

- Yep.

And our sugar.

The red wine - Vinegar.

I'm sorry, red wine - Vinegar.

That's right.

Then we just pour it over the top of it, let it sit for about a half an hour.

Go back through, make sure that it's moist as it can be for what it needs to be.

And then, I mean, obviously going through the process, you gotta taste it, you know?

- Yeah.

- The better it gets, the more it sits.

- Five years you guys have been open down there.

- We've been open for five years.

Yep.

You - Opened during COVID, - We bought the restaurant during COVID.

Yes.

Kind of one of those things that everybody looked at us like we had nine heads.

A lot of banks looked at us and said, no, we're good.

We're we, we don't need to headache.

But, you know, it's kind of one of those things.

You, you, you go do something and you prove people wrong and it's good.

- Well, you do your a a beloved restaurant.

- Well - Down in, - We appreciate it for - Sure.

Down in Sandy Creek.

All right, - So, - So here, that's it.

Here is this is it right here.

This is it.

And like you said, let it sit in the fridge for a half hour.

Just make sure you taste that.

I mean it tastes good right now.

Alright, so, well, we gotta keep an eye on our ribs.

They're gonna take a little while.

So what do you say?

We just sit back and relax.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

We can do that.

All right.

And here they are.

How many of these do you make - At the restaurant a day or during the, during the summer.

A week.

We're doing 275 racks of ribs.

Oh God.

So, - Oh my gosh.

You pull that right down in there.

Those are beautiful.

Okay.

Apart fall.

Fall apart ribs.

Woo.

Look at that.

I want that off the Oh.

Mm.

Oh, Chris.

- Absolutely.

- Of course these are available every day.

If you ever get down to Sandy Creek and you should, - They just fall apart now.

- And again, you guys don't do the barbecue sauce.

It's just the rub.

Just the rub.

People can add one of your homemade sauces.

- Absolutely.

- Alright, let's, let's plate.

All - Right.

- Put a couple on there.

Wow.

- Yeah.

Woo.

A little fall apart - There.

Wow.

And then some beans.

I'll hold it for you if you want.

- All right.

- I mean, I want to keep it close.

Yeah.

Oh great.

And then some broccoli salad.

Broccoli.

What a meal.

Okay.

And some for you.

- Well, that'll be one thing you'll never see me eat.

What?

Broccoli.

Broccoli salad.

- That's not your thing.

Huh?

That's, - That's why - You stick with the ribs.

Oh - Yeah, the ribs, the brisket.

- Okay.

My friends, we got some fall off the bone, ribs, pond pit style.

We've got their famous baked beans and the salad.

Chris won't eat.

I'm just gonna just pick, 'cause it's fall off the bone right here.

Mm hmm.

Amazing guys.

Try it yourself at home and you know, visit Pond Pit.

Make sure you check out the recipes wpbstv.org for all the Johnny on Fire shows, including this one.

And of course you can listen to me on the border 1 0 6 7.

Check out the dinner at Johnny's podcast and make sure you visit Chris and Jen and the crew at Pond Pit Barbecue.

Absolutely.

Thanks so much for coming in today.

Oh, thanks for having us.

It was great.

Amazing.

So smoky.

You gotta, Hmm.

You're not gonna eat your broccoli?

No, no, it's all yours, man.

I'm not gonna eat off your plate.

I do that to other people, but I won't do that to you.

Hmm.

- If you're looking for more great fire grilled recipes from Johnny, just visit wpbstv.org and scroll through our library.

Also, if you'd like to be a guest on the segment, all you need to do is send us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org with your name and fire grilled recipe idea.

Well, Laura Tiberiu is back with another must read tonight.

She looks at "Carrie Soto is Back" by Taylor Jenkins Reed, an epic adventure that tells the tale of a female athlete passed her prime, brought back to the tennis court for one last Grand slam.

Here's Laura with more.

- A few years ago I read Carrie Soto is back by Taylor Jenkins Reed, and I was absolutely blown from a story about tennis, but it's so, so much more than that.

Carrie Soto is back, is actually the inspiring and incredible story of a woman reclaiming her legacy.

She was a pro tennis champion, left the sport for a while, and then decides to come back.

And as you can tell by the title, Carrie Soto is that woman.

And this book is all about her journey and that story.

Now, before you get all worried this, you really don't need to be a tennis pro or know anything about tennis really going into this, I surely didn't know that much about the sport.

And then I fell in love with it because of this book and got very invested in the sport.

And if that doesn't happen to you, that's okay.

It's still an incredible book.

The characters, specifically, Carrie, is so well fleshed out.

You adore her.

You hate her because she makes some decisions which make you question how good of a person she is.

But you also understand because her whole life has been fueled by ambition and the desire to be the absolute best.

So you need to obviously make some tough choices when you're in that position.

She also has a very interesting relationship with her father because he has also been her coach for a majority of her career.

And that can get really sticky.

And then she kind of feels like she doesn't necessarily have a safe space with her father to go to because it has to be tennis first.

At least in her mind.

That is, and throughout the book you're reading about Carrie navigating her return, how the media is reacting.

There were some really, really cool chapters where you were actually reading from news outlets, so it wasn't in her point of view or third person, it was reading what the media was saying about her.

And then it would flip back to another chapter and we'd return to her story and her point of view.

This book also sends a really inspiring message about female friendships and specifically in the world of sport.

And I think more so fame, things can get really competitive and jealousy and comparing ourselves to different women come out a lot.

Obviously I'm not in the pro leagues of sport, I'm not playing at any Australian Open, but you can still relate to that feeling that women have always been pinned against each other in society and it really doesn't make sense.

I don't understand why that happens, but it's so easy to fall into that trap.

And you do read about that in this book.

And also how maybe at some point Carrie tries to break out of that trap and it is such a beautiful ending.

I will say there is a match at the end of this book and it felt like I was on the edge of my seat on the TV or in a tennis match watching two great champions compete, but instead you were just flipping paper, which is so funny to think of, but that is how well written it is.

That is how incredibly immersive this book is.

You really feel like you are watching a tennis match the whole time.

Also, how all of tennis is a back and forth.

It's like a relationship between one player and the other.

That's very much how this book felt.

Everything was calculated and, and would ping pong.

The dialogue was very direct, which I loved.

Carrie would say something, the other character and they would go back and forth rather than these long monologues.

So it was really, really entertaining and you could just flip through and wanna keep reading for hours and hours on end until you reach the end of the book.

And as a woman in her twenties, this was incredibly inspiring to just read about a woman navigating the media, romantic relationships, platonic relationships, familial relationships, and all of the headache that comes along with being a woman and being successful and returning to something that you once left.

It was so beautiful, so emotional, and so, so, so, and inspiring and I just can't recommend it enough.

- After a year long hiatus the Akwesasne children's Pow Wow made a triumphant return held at Generations Park.

This vibrant event celebrates talented young dancers from their community, showcasing their incredible skill and cultural pride.

Take a look.

- The children's powwow returned after one year absence in 2023.

The event was hosted by the native North American traveling college.

The Powwow was previously hosted at the former IGA building, but has since moved to Generations Park.

- We didn't have one last year, but we really wanted to host one to get the children together and for them to develop their skills, not only in the leadership, but also we want to reward them for coming out here.

- The singing, the dancing is so good, the food is good.

We get to dance for the creator and get to dance for our grandmas, our grandpas, our moms, our dads, everybody else that related to us - This.

This is awesome.

This is perfect, perfect for all the people to come, come together and see.

See our crafts.

All of it is so beautiful.

It's the people, everybody positive and enjoying the the time here.

The dancing and the Children.

Oh, young people.

Young people with their language.

Wow, it's beautiful.

- I absolutely am enjoying the children dancing.

I think it's, you know, if you, if you didn't see that you're missing something because they are super cute, they're going to be our future leaders and let's watch them grow.

It's important because we all, we are social people, you know, social animals.

We all need to be able to see old faces, see new faces, to just see us build as a community because that's a very important thing within this community, that we come together at gatherings and, and we greet each other and we say, thank you for being here.

- The Akwesasne children's pow wow.

We return in 2025.

- That does it for this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories Avoiding a backyard tragedy.

Watertown Fire chief Matt Timmerman offers some tips on how to safely light fireworks this season.

And just when you thought you knew everything about the upcoming holiday will quiz you with things you didn't know.

Also, the Kingston Grand Theater has started their 20 25, 26 season.

Discover the wide array of performances taking place in this space.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we'd love to learn more.

All you need to do is send us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, let's share it with the region.

That's it for tonight.

Everyone.

On behalf of everyone working behind the scenes here at WPBS, thanks for watching.

I'm Michael Riecke.

Have a great night.

- WPBS Weekly Inside the stories is brought to you by - When you're unable to see your primary care provider.

The Carthage Walk-in Clinic is here for you, located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and Healing Close to home when you need it most - North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- We are the north country where protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country Strong, at claxtonhepburn.org.

Today.

- Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the statewide Community re-grant program, a re-grant program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

With the support of the office of the Governor and the New York state legislator administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- We get to dance for the creator and get to dance for our grandmas, our grandpas, our moms, our dads, everybody else that related to us.