Year of the Pig

I am feeling lucky!

The #1 hit returned from a quick Googlin’ of “GREAT SPARE RIBS” was http://mcraigweaver.com/ribs.htm. I took a look at this site by Craig McWeaver, a man who has many hobbies (see HERE) and obviously a great love of ribs.

A man after my own heart! I read his recipe for what Google says are the greatest spare ribs on the Internet. Simple and basic. The summary of Craig’s ribs recipe is:

Cover raw ribs with sauce.
Use rib-rack to cook ribs standing up.
Cook in smoker or oven at 225°F for 4½ to 5 hours
Add more sauce just before serving.

I thought, maybe Google (and Mr. McWeaver) is right. Seems like most of the recipes I have tried so far have been “fast” cooking recipes, so it’s about time to do the right thing, and cook some ribs nice and slow at 200+ degrees.

So, the next question was, what ribs? I remember my housemate Kelcey had told me about a good butcher shop in Jersey City, up by the Courthouse. I drove up there, and on a block full of great old store fronts, many advertising bail bonds, I found Maloney’s “For Meats” Market.

I immediately liked the look of the place, and it has obviously been there for many years. Inside, it was bustling with meat shoppers, most of whom were regulars who the butchers knew by name, trading jibes back and forth. One customer did not appreciate being hailed as “Pauli,” which I guess was not his name. I asked for half a rack of spare ribs, $2.19/lb. The butcher took out a rack and quickly started cleaving them into individual ribs out of habit, but gave me a nice intact rack when I clarified what I wanted. I thought it was a little odd that you had to pay for the meat at a little plexiglass booth in the back, pushing your money through little hole like a late night gas station purchase. The woman working in the both was not overly friendly and she stamped my paper receipt with an official looking ink-stamp, marking it “PAID.” I wondered if there were ever a time when the cashier actually needed that plexiglass protection from meat shoppers. That seems unlikely, especially in a room full of hefty butchers wielding cleavers.

Next I drove off to the local supermarked and picked up a additional half rack of the standard supermarket ribs, $3.19/lb, for the sake of comparison.

I brought the ribs home and slapped both racks on the cutting board to compare the cuts.

The Shoprite ribs had the skirt/diaphram attached but had the most of the brisket bone and cartilage cut out with a small stip of rib meat from the other side of the brisket still attached at the top of the rack. I cut the strip and the skirt off.

The Maloney’s ribs were less trimmed, containing all of the brisket, but no skirt. Following some of the tips from my previous post about trimming ribs, I also cut off some of the bottom of “california” from both racks, and tried my best to pull off most of the membrane on the bone side of both racks, and some of the bigger chunks of fat. Getting all of that skin off will take a little practice.

Then I coated the both racks with left over sauce from this recipe (http://pig.spacebarcowboy.com/2007/02/20/maybe-that-sauce-is-pretty-good/) and popped them in the oven on a rack in my crappy roasting pan, using a thermometer to monitor the oven temperature, making sure it stayed under 225.

After that it was pretty hands off. They sat cooking in the oven for about 3 hours and then I flipped them over and re-coated them with sauce. I let them cook that way for 45 min or an hour and the turned them back over and coated them with sauce again. At about 5 hours I took a look, cut one rack in half, and decided they should cook a little more, and I turned them over and put them back in the oven. All and all I let them cook for about 5 3/4 hours.

So, the big question: Are these the greatest spare ribs on the Internet? They sure look good!

I took the ribs up to Kelcey and Mike’s place–she had made some kale and cornbread and salad to go with the ribs. I was ready for some chow! I enjoyed these ribs very much. The were very flavorful, however the sauce may have been on a little thick, but it was still good. I thought the Maloney ribs, which were thicker and meatier, were cooked a little better than the Shoprite ribs, which were a little drier. Nevertheless, I think I preferred the cut of the Shoprite ribs, call me a wimp. On both of them, I think it would have made a difference to have done a better job removing the bone-side skin.

As for if these are the best ribs on the internet…they were enitirely respectable, but I don’t think so. Sorry Google. At least, it’s not that easy. These ribs were respectable as they were, but this is a method that is quite general in its commendable simplicity. It definitely has room to benefit from some experimentation and adjustment according to your personal taste, and that is a fine thing. I think this method will be revisited, as it is a simple, reputable method…long and slow. This method is definitely a good proving ground for sauces. I also think that the trimming of the ribs is essential, and something to keep learning. Anyway, again, I very much enjoyed these ribs, enough to put away six and a half of them. I believe that adds up to a delicious 37 ribs in the Year of the Pig. I thank you Pigs, sincerely.

Comments(3)

I hate to disappoint people, especially my loyal reader(s). After I read Squidocto’s comment yesterday morning, I realized that my plans for the day had changed. I needed to cook some ribs. I was on Staten Island, driving back to Jersey City from Mandolin Brothers, when I realized this, and I thought, “Well, I am on Staten Island. I outta look for a butcher!” I started scanning the store fronts as I drove and a couple traffic lights later, I spotted Bruno’s Pork Store on Forest Avenue. That seemed like good luck so I swung left through oncoming traffic and parked in front of the store. The place was filled with Italian grocery staples, prepared foods and deli items, and of course, a meat counter. The guy behind the counter seemed friendly enough, chatting up a crane operator with a super NY/NJ accent who was getting some lunch. I waited and when the butcher asked me if he could help me, I replied, “Whatcha got in the way of Ribs?” He looked confused and said “What?” to which I clearly replied, “What Kind Of Ribs Do You Have?” That, he understood, and he pulled out a rack of spare ribs, which looked impressively huge.

The ribs were $3.39/lb, and the rack was about 4 lbs. He wrapped them up and I drove them home.

I had a recipe in mind, from the 60′s Time Life “American Cooking: New England,” called Maple Barbecue Spareribs.

I looked at the giant slab of ribs and thought of my inspiration for cooking them, and so I called up Squidocto, inviting to come over and sample them with me.

A few hours later, the Ribs were cut up, and coated with mustard.

I put them in the broiler for 5 minutes on each side. Squido knocked on the window and I let him in. After a very formal handshake, we followed the recipe, coating the ribs with the Maple Syrup sauce and putting them in the oven at 350 and basting them every 15 min or so.

After an hour, they needed a little more time to brown up and we gave them another 20 minutes or so, finishing them for a couple of minutes in the broiler again. By this time we were both starving. But that is good timing.

I excitedly bit into the first big ass rib. I liked the sauce pretty well, although it lacked a certian “umph.” It was sweet and tangy, and I thought it has a nice unexplained citrusy flavor (that Matt did not detect). I thought the crispy parts of the rib were delicious, but overall we were both very disappointed. We blamed the ribs themselves, thinking that they were just overly fatty. I was hungry and proceeded to plow through 5 big ribs, liberally discarding the fattier parts.

A little later Kat got home and we reheated a couple ribs for her to try. I made her nervous, watching as she gnawed a couple ribs. I anxiously awaited her opinion, which was that the sauce was fine, but that the cooking method was bad. She thought that a slower and lower temperature would have benefited them, breaking down the fat and making them more tender. I think that is a good possibilty, but its hard to know whether it was the cooking method or the ribs themselves that were responsible for the disappointing ribs. The ribs were huge and they did seem to have a lot more fat and gristle than a lot of the other ribs I have tried. I think that I need to learn more about selecting ribs and the way they are trimmed and cut.

One way or another I was disappointed. The ribs were unsatisfying despite that fact that I ate 5 of them. They just didn’t sit well and that is sad for such a nice looking rack of ribs. Anyway, that makes for 23 1/2 ribs, and I still thank the Piggy. Sorry we did not do justice to your ribs!

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Ravi invited us over to his place in Hoboken cause he wanted to watch the Univeristy of Virginia play in the ACC Tournament. I was more interested in Ribs than basketball, so I agreed to come over and cook while the game was on. I looked for a Rib recipe that I wanted to try and picked this one from Kat’s “Silver Spoon Cookbook.” Here it is:


I went over to Hoboken and went to a local butcher at Park and 10th Street called Truglios. That was a great place. I walked in and the Butcher dude greeted me pleasantly and asked if it was warming up outside. I said it was cold, but hey, it’s winter. I asked about Spare Ribs, and he pulled out a nice slab, big and meaty. He cleaved it into hefty 2 rib segments on a well worn block and wrapped it up. For $2.99/lb these Ribs were far superior to the supermarket selection. I was excited.

At Ravi’s, I unpacked the ribs, and admired them.

Diverging from the recipe, I used about 3 lbs of Ribs, and 3 chopped cloves of garlic. I browned the onions and added the Ribs and wine. I let this simmer and the Ribs took on a great purple color.

I let them simmer on what I thought was a very low setting, but I have never really braised ribs like this before. I simmered them for probably 45 min and the wine was not really evaporating like the recipe said, so I went ahead and added the rest of the ingredients. I simmered for another hour. By this time the game was over (Virginia, unfortunately lost) and the ribs were cooked. OVER cooked.

The sauce was delicious, but the ribs were shrunken and tough–I guess I cooked them on too high of a heat. I was not happy about ruining such gorgeous ribs, but was prepared to write this mistake off to the Year of the Pig until Ravi had the brilliant idea of whipping out the pressure cooker. And so he did!

We gave the ribs and all the sauce about 25 minutes in the Pressure Cooker and Rav showed me how it worked, as I have never used one. The good news is that the trick worked like a charm and averted disaster. The ribs turned out falling off the bone and delicious, just like I have hoped for.

The bones were even tender. You could bite the end right off and suck the marrow right out. I thank Ravi for his most excellent save, even if his team lost. We dished them up and I enjoyed them thoroughly.

Here are some pictures of the master rib saver in action. Thanks a ton Ravi, and great job.

PS–It was late. We skipped the Polenta, but for future reference, that would have been great with the sauce.

Comments(1)

After that last post I got to thinking about Pigs and Fat. In fact, I googled it…and I found <this recipe> for Fruit and Pig Fat Roses. I do not see myself trying this recipe, but I hope to God someone else does.

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Ok, I have to admit I had my doubts about Daryl’s Ribs, but they were completely unfounded! Flouting many of the conventional rules of rib cooking, Daryl’s Ribs are quick, easy, and came out absolutely delicious.

I trimmed the ribs and saved all the bits to put in some collard greens, and then I made the marinade according to Daryl’s recipe that I previously posted here, except that I used more garlic, and added a some chopped ginger. Sorry, but I just cannot follow a recipe exactly. I did make sure to give them some vicious fork-poking all over. I let them sit in the fridge for several hours, and then put them on an oiled broiler pan…

I gave them about 10+ minutes on each side under the broiler, til they were blackening up:

Then I cooked them in the oven about 20 minutes, maybe just a little more, at 350. After that, I took them out and let them sit for 30 minutes or so while my yams and parsnips finished cooking, and then heated them back up for a few minutes before serving. Dished it up with some collards and yams and parsnips, and I was ready to eat!

The ribs were sticky with caramelized sugar, and the ginger was very present. The fat and sugar combo was really really pleasing, melting in the mouth, and I enjoyed sucking the flavor out of my mustache hairs. Sorry for the detail about that. I was really surprised at how tender and succulant these turned out, especially in light of the fact that everybody always says that the key to cooking ribs is slow cooking at low temperatures. This is definitely a keeper recipe, and especially great for how quick it is. Daryl, you deserve some props for this satisfying and very tasty meal. Thanks!

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This just in from a loyal Year of the Pig reader who will remain anonymous, ie, Matthew John Schickele. I will have to try this recipe soon, certainly a nice quickie. Thanks so much for the suggestion, whoever you are!

Daryl’s Ribs

1 rack of (spare)ribs
1/2 C soy sauce
1/4 C sugar
1 tsp hoisin sauce
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
4 cloves garlic

Mix soy sauce, sugar, hoisin sauce and spices.
Mash & peel garlic, chop finely and add to sauce.
Pierce ribs with a fork all over.
Manually rub in sauce.
Marinate for an hour or two, turning ribs and rubbing in sauce again
occasionally.
Broil, not too close to the flame, 10-15 minutes a side, until just
beginning to blacken.
Bake uncovered at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

-some finely grated orange peel can be used in the sauce as well

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So tonight, while I was taking sweet comfort in my Ribs, my culinary-adept friend Kat joined me and sampled a rib with me. She agreed that the Ribs could be improved, but I think she was more impressed with the sauce and the ribs than I was. On second thought, the sauce is pretty good, for those who would like the recipe, here it is:

1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/2 cup Crappy BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup of tomato paste
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, quartered
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
5 tablespoons red pepper sauce (I used Cholula, Tabasco is fine)
1 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper

Add ingredients to a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes to a million years.

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