Tonight I'm having: Ribs

Scottland · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:03

Been to the butcher earlier and picked up a rack of spare ribs, so that's for tea tonight.

Sometimes I boil the ribs up first to help release the meat from the bone, especially if they're individual ribs from a supermarket. But these looked nice with a good amount of fat, so I got them started in a low oven with a dry rub to start.

Been in there for 90mins at 100°C, and now I've just made the sauce and put them back in. A little higher now at 150°C.

They'll be in for another 2 hours or so, 4 hours should be enough to get some nice tender meat that falls off the bone. Whilst the sauce looks runny there, it should reduce down nicely to give a sticky glaze.

Will post the finished pics, ingredients and what I did a little later.

Scottland · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:04

Dry Rub:

1tsp Sea salt
1tsp Ground black pepper
1tsp Sugar
½tsp Chili flakes
1tsp Cumin
½tsp Garlic powder
½tsp Mixed herbs

Mix together in a pestle and mortar until you have a nice even powder, rub into the rack of ribs/meat all over and really try to work it in.

Now coat the ribs in a drizzle of Olive oil and massage this in to help mix together all the flavours.

Put the ribs into a pot or baking tray and cover with foil/lid, and put into a lowish oven at 100°C.

After about 90mins start making your sauce

Sauce mix:

1 pint of beef stock
3tbsp Ketchup
1tbsp Tomato puree
½ tbsp Soy sauce
3tbsp Maple syrup, or honey
2tbsp Cider vinegar
1tbsp Lemon juice
1tbsp dried Chipotle chili flakes (or half a tbsp of normal if you haven't got Chipotle)
1tsp Cumin, ground
1 bay leaf
A sprig of thyme and a garlic clove

First off reduce down the stock, ketchup and puree a little in a pan. Then add each of the other ingredients 1 at a time, stirring in between. Don't forget to taste after each addition to get an idea of how it's tasting. Everyone's taste differs so you may prefer to alter the mix somewhat.

Once the mix has simmered for a few minutes and has reduced slightly, you can pour over the ribs. By this stage, it should still be quite runny.

*Before you do this, remove all the fat/juice from the ribs* Although you can if you want add a tablespoon to the sauce. It's quite strong, and will be full of fat as a lot of it will have rendered out of the meat.

Baste the ribs with a spoon/brush and ensure they have a nice coating.

Recover them and put back in the oven at 150ºC for a further 2 hours. Be sure to check them every 45mins or so, and baste them to make sure they don't go dry.

After the 2 hours, the sauce should have reduced to something thicker and sticky. Baste them one last time, and now put back into the oven uncovered and put the temperature right up. After 10 mins or so, the sauce should now be a sticky glaze you can baste them in before you serve.

GolfNovember90 · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:16

looks fantastic! making me want ribs now!

how much did that cost you from the butcher if you dont mind me asking?

Scottland · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:18

Can't remember exactly, but about £4

churchhawk · 16 Jul 2011 at 16:58

Whenever ive tried cooking ribs they have always been tuff and chewy.

These look good so cant wait to see the outcome

Scottland · 16 Jul 2011 at 18:44

The end result:

And the leftovers

Tonyator · 16 Jul 2011 at 19:13

OMG I want some NOW!

Damn you OP!!

j.col · 16 Jul 2011 at 19:35

Looks really nice, may try this myself

recipe for sauce/marinade please

Showboat · 16 Jul 2011 at 19:43

Lol at the leftovers, they looked well tasty.
A vulture would leave more meat!

Efour · 17 Jul 2011 at 13:14

Id eat the bones too :O

Glaucus · 17 Jul 2011 at 13:17

Great work, I bloody love ribs. Don't cook them often enough though.

Ace Modder · 18 Jul 2011 at 20:07

I want ribs now. To be honest I'm not at all hungry though but they looks good.

pspcpog · 21 Jul 2011 at 16:36

Love those short ribs. My secret is to slow cook them or pressure cook
it if in hurry. I sometimes marinade it overnight or two with some wine
or rum with soy sauce and honey.

J-FRO · 21 Jul 2011 at 17:22

Mmmm looks soooooo good!

bsoltan · 30 Jul 2011 at 13:28

My dad bought some ribs from Costco so I think we're going to try this recipe out. Looks tasty!

bsoltan · 31 Jul 2011 at 13:13

(Sorry about picture quality)

To start:

Here is my rub mix, might have to make up some more as that followed the quantities in the thread:

Next to rub it all up!

Edit: Ta-da!

Edit: stock, ketchup and puree reducing.

The remaining ingredients to be added to the sauce.

Edit: having added everything the sauce is a little sour I don't know if it is the red wine vinegar I used instead of cider, or the quantity I've made (double the original recipe).
I've added a tablespooon of soft brown sugar and I'll have to adjust to taste.

Ribs are now covered and in the oven at 100C for the 1.5 hours.

bsoltan · 31 Jul 2011 at 20:22

This was first basting after 30mins, that continued for the two hours.

The final result after 2 and a bit hours:

They were delicious. Fell right off the bone. The sauce was a little spicy (for other members of the family), so next time I'll probably leave the chili flakes out of the sauce.

Served with salad and some potato wedges.

And as per the OP, the final result.

Nom! Thanks for the recipe Scottland. Went down very well.

PlacidCasual · 31 Jul 2011 at 20:39

I use a HFW recipe boiling the ribs first to loosen them then marinading in a mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, soy, worcestershire sauce and chilli marinade before barbequing or grilling to finish.

I like the salt and pepper ribs at my local Chinese restaurant so fancy learning that sometime too.

edit: bsoltan, your ribs look great.

FNGsam · 1 Aug 2011 at 13:45

Doctor McNinja · 2 Aug 2011 at 01:44

I don't get why people boil ribs... you wouldn't boil a steak to tenderise it so why would you do it with ribs?

The ribs I cooked at the weekend were so tender I accidentally pulled one of the rib bones out while I was removing them from the oven, yet they still had a nice chew to them like good ribs should.