BBQ pork ribs
At family dinner this week, I cooked BBQ pork ribs. Everyone loved them so much, that they asked for the recipe to be posted. It's kind of a standard marinade for me, mostly random things that I have in the fridge. But repeat performers, so I guess less by chance and more by design. One of the things you can do to short circuit the looong marinade time is making up batches of marinade/ribs and freezing them. That way when you take out a batch to defrost, it's already spent the requisite time.
Marinade for ribs (4 hours+)
2 T Fish sauce
1/4 C Fruit juice
1/4 C Hoisin sauce
1/4 C Oyster sauce
1/4 C sake/rice wine
2 cloves garlic crushed
1 C cilantro (leaves and stems) finely chopped
2 T ground ginger
1 fruit optional (macerated) use for school nite method
Grind all the ingredients and check. Should be salty but not overpoweringly so, adjust if necessary with more fruit juice to taste. Allow ribs to marinade for at least 4 hours.
Overnite- 24 hours is better.
Memphis Spice Rub for BBQ baby back ribs
2 1/2 T hot chili powder (medium heat)
2 T ground cumin
1 T ground coriander
1 T brown sugar (optional)
1/2 T paprika
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
3/4 t oregano
Dust onto ribs.
The Low Slow method- if you have 4+ hours. everyone kept exclaiming on how tender and tasty the meat was. Like other roasting projects, indirect heat makes the difference for tender, succulent and juicy meat. You can do this with a smoker too, but our neighbor's environmental allergies makes it tough to smoke for extended periods. Mostly I do this in the oven and finish on the grill.
Heat the oven to 275 degrees. I don't bother to remove the membrane- it hold the ribs together as they tenderize. Lay the slabs membrane side down and roast for 4 hours. The result is fall-off-the-bone meat. Different thicknesses of ribs cook at varying rates, so keep an eye out and start testing about 3 1/2 hours, some can go over 4 hours depending. Ribs should be flexible but meat will still hold together if lifted with tongs. Competition cut is two ribs with meat on either side of the bone. You should be able to pull them apart but still have a densely toothsome quality.
School nite method- if you have 2 hours.
Add ground fruit (apple or pear are my most favorite options) to the marinade. The enzymes help tenderize the proteins. Higher heat makes for a less tender quality but still flavorful and fun to eat.
Heat oven or grill to 350, and roast for approximately 2 hours. Start checking for doneness around 1 hr 45mins. I found that wrapping in foil (see High priestess of crackling) leads to gray limp soulless meat. So unless you need to use the meat juices for something else, there is no point for that.
If you have less than 2 hours, you should be cooking something else besides ribs!