Suzi's Blog
Best Ribs for Superbowl
Last year, I blogged these ribs as the best ever. Better than any I had sampled at restaurants — and I’ve spent a lot of time in Texas, folks — and better than any other from a cookbook. I know that “best” is an overused superlative. I know. But I do mean it. If you want to have ribs for your Super Sunday, then I cannot recommend anything better.
Ah, one minor complication. During the Super Bowl, many of us watch the game and the commercials. There is never, never time for a bio break, let alone time to go wash goo off your hands. So, if you are going to have these ribs in front of your TV, some paper towels and hand wipes are a necessity. Not a big necessity, because you will have been licking your fingers to enjoy every last drop of sauce.
You are, of course, free to add to or modify the ingredients, but here I actually suggest you follow the recipe. The rub and the sauce clearly reflect great experimentation to hone on superior flavor. In the case, the experiment is a success.
Mr. Piggy’s Revenge: Grilled Chipolte Baby Back Ribs
Yield: serves 4 to 6
For the rub:
- ¼ cup white cane sugar
- 2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- 1 tablespoon onion salt
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon celery salt
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons lemon pepper
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon ground chipotle chile
For the ribs:
- 2 slabs baby back ribs
For the sauce:
- ½ cup tomato-based barbecue sauce
- 1 ½ tablespoons orange marmalade
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
- ¼ cup water
Preparation:
Heat a cooker to medium to medium-high.
Combine all the ingredients for the rub n a small bowl and blend well. Season the ribs all over with rub.
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
Oil the grate and place the ribs on it bone side down over direct heat. Cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until pull-apart ender, turning every 5 to 7 minutes and glazing with the sauce during the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Transfer the ribs to a cutting board and let them rest, covered loosely with aluminum foil, for 10 to 15 minutes. While the ribs are resting, boil the remaining sauce for 1 to 2 minutes, if desired, before serving with the ribs
Source: America’s Best Ribs by Ardie Davis and Chef Paul Kirk
Sweet and Sour and Fiery Ribs
My favorite cuisine? Well sort of Mexican, Southwestern, Thai, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese. You know what I mean.
I like a lot things and the “most liked” can depend on the time of day, the smells on the street, how long since my last pasta gorge, or how long since I ate some great ribs.
Ribs. No matter what the “cuisine” I can do the ribs. It can be a Chinese restaurant with those red gems, or a Thai place with ribs floating in broth, or a barbecue place with smoke in the air. It’s always the ribs. Yes, the next morning, even after brushing my teeth, I’m still getting stands of meat from between my teeth. But, you know what? Those strands can still taste great.
This recipe for Sweet and Sour and Fiery Ribs comes from The Great Ribs Book by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandsion. It’s a universalist recipe that can be applied to ribs of any denomination: beef, pork, or even lamb. Beef is the meat of choice, though, for these.
Here you will find sweet flavor from honey, sour from vinegar, and heat from chipotle. Plus lots of overtones from tomato paste, cinnamon, and cilantro. There is flavor aplenty here.
When we make these, we don’t marinate for just the 15 minutes minimum. We go the whole hog [or whole cow] and let the sauce penetrate for hours and hours. I know there are discussions about how long you really need to marinate something. I am of the firm belief that you have to give all the flavor molecules equal opportunity to penetrate and offer up their tasty secrets.
I have to say that on a Sunday afternoon or early evening, when your football team is the race for playoff spot, you have a choice. You can be in the stadium, with the rain and snow, cheering your team on and then braving the 3-hours of snarled traffic to get home. Or you can be watching on your big screen, munching these ribs and having a beer or some sangria. What you do is up to you. I don’t drink and drive.
Sweet and Sour and Fiery Ribs
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 6 pounds beef ribs or ribs of your choice
- ½ cup honey
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup distilled white vinegar
- ½ cup chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup chopped cilantro sprigs
- 6 gloves garlic, finely minced
Preparation:
Remove the membrane from the underside of the ribs if it is still present. If you are not sure, talk to your butcher when you buy the ribs.
To make the sauce, come all the remaining ingredients in a food processor fitted with a metal bland and puree. Makes about 2 ½ cups.
Coat the ribs evenly on both sides with half the sauce. Marinate the ribs for at least 15 minutes and up to 8 hours. Reserve the remaining sauce to serve with the ribs [or you may be basting with it if you are oven roasting or grilling; if you are a sauce freak and paranoid, just double the recipe; you can use leftover sauce the next day on your sandwich instead of mayo].
Cook the ribs using the technique you prefer: grill, smoke, or roast. Since winter is upon us, the instructions for roasting [indoors!] are presented below.
Once cooked, serve by cutting each side of the ribs into single ribs or half or one third side slabs. Serve at once with the accompanying sauce.
How to Oven Roast Ribs
Preheat the oven to 350⁰F. If your oven has a convection setting, set the oven on “convection” at 325⁰. Place the ribs on a wire rack, meaty side up. Place the rack on a foil-lined baking sheet on the middle oven rack. Place a small pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven, and roast the ribs until the meat begins to shrink from the ends of the bone. Brush the meaty side with reserved marinade one or two times during the roasting. Do NOT turn the ribs over. Approximate roasting times: pork baby back ribs and country-style spareribs for 75 minutes, spareribs and beef ribs for 90 minutes, and lamb ribs for 40 minutes. Don’t overcook that lamb!
Source: The Great Ribs Book by Hugh Carpenter and Teri Sandsion.
