Last weekend we thought we would venture out on a creative limb and try cooking our own baby back ribs. (It was a cool-ish day, and we abandoned our plans to never ever cook if we didn’t need to in the summer – because it’s not really summer yet, is it? This is a temporary aberration. Next week it is back to tomatoes and watermelon and corn cooked on the grill…) By the time Saturday night rolled around we were ready for a nice meal, but didn’t want to get into the car again. It had been a long day with multiple trips to the hardware store and tiresome chores around the house. And having not reading the recipe closely the first time, we thought we would have a little leisure time; that cooking ribs was a hands-off kind of cooking exercise. It was a labor intensive meal, but rather time consuming. Plan ahead!
Warning – after you schmear the ribs with the dry rub they need to go in the fridge for an hour. We missed that detail initially. And they bake for 2 ½ hours, and then there is another half hour of waiting for the sauce to reduce, before dripping it over the ribs. And then the rapid fire glazing, much like decorating a precious raku pot. This is the perfect meal to prepare if you would like to take a nap, and then a shower, and watch a couple of episodes of the new Arrested Development before dining. Needless to say, instead of our usual 7:30-ish dinner time, we were quite continental, and were schlurping the barbecue sauce off our fingers at 9:00. Candlelight is more romantic once the sun has gone down, though.
We found this recipe on the Food52 website, which is my go-to site for cooking ideas, in case you hadn’t noticed. This recipe was a contest winner, and justifiably so. Thanks Amanda and Merrill, once again.
https://food52.com/recipes/296-seriously-delicious-ribs
Seriously Delicious Ribs
For the Dry Rub (italicized comments are mine)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (We didn’t have espresso powder. Oh, well.)
• 1/4 teaspoon all spice (We are cat sitting for the neighbors, and had to rummage in their spice cabinet for allspice. Shhh!)
• 1 teaspoon chiptole powder – optional (We skipped this, too and tossed in some cayenne.)
• 2 slabs pork baby back ribs -3 to 3 1/2 lbs total
For the Braising Liquid/BBQ Glaze
• 1 cup sparkling white wine -like Prosecco) (Luckily for us, Saturday is Prosecco night!)
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey (Also had to borrow from the cats.)
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Add all the dry rub ingredients to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until ingredients are combined, about two or three 1-second pulses. Rub mixture evenly all over each rack of ribs, making sure to coat top and bottom. Place ribs, single layer, on a rimmed baking sheet or in a roasting pan and let sit, covered, in the refrigerator for one hour. (This is the part we missed during the initial reading of the recipe. Use this time to go take a nap.)
3. Meanwhile, place liquid ingredients in a small pot and cook over medium heat until just hot. Alternately, you can add them to a microwave-safe bowl and cook on high for 1 minute.
4. Remove ribs from the refrigerator. Pour braising liquid over ribs, wrap tightly with heavy-duty foil and place in oven, side by side if possible. Cook for 2 ½ hours. Alternate pans halfway through if cooking on separate racks in oven. (Cue Netflix and catch up on things. I am halfway through Season 3 of “The Wire”. Amazing!)
5. Remove pans from oven, discard foil and pour or spoon the braising liquid into a medium saucepot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a vigorous simmer and let cook until liquid reduces by half and becomes a thick, syrupy consistency, 20 to 30 minutes. (One of you can be setting the table and starting a small, romantic conflagration with candles.)
6. Preheat broiler. Brush the glaze on top of each rack of ribs. Place ribs under the broiler until the glaze begins to caramelize, one to two minutes.
We cooked our famous Hash Blacks for a starchy side dish and had a green salad. A cheeky Chardonnay was poured. And we had more raspberries and cream for dessert, served over a slice of lemon pound cake. Yumsters.
The folks at Bon Appétit have thoughts of their own about the barbecue sauce. We felt pretty smug about boiling up our own and not using store bought, but we had tolerance born from a nice nap after a vigorous day of chores. This might be the recipe to follow if you wanted to shave some minutes off the prep time.
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2012/07/best-ever-barbecued-ribs
And the gents at GQ also seem to think they have cornered the market with their recipe, which alas, also calls for bottled sauce.
https://www.gq.com/how-to/eat-and-drink/200608/bbq-spareribs
“All barbecue experts are self-proclaimed.”
-Calvin Trillin
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