Pork loin back ribs

Ribs with fresh Colorado corn and chard

I think I should clarify one thing about the smoked salmon I posted the other day. It’s nothing like lox or gravlax. If you imagine salmon which has been baked but has an intense smoky flavor, that’s what it’s like. The wok-smoker method results in what would be called “hot smoked” fish.

Now, on to something new. The Manager’s Special case at Safeway had a full rack of pork ribs (just a shade under 3 lbs.) for only $5. What a steal. Finding myself a little short of time I decided to try a different way of cooking them. There wasn’t time to wait for a dry rub to do its thing. I just salted and peppered them well and baked them for 2 hours. They were finished right after dinner and at this point I doused them with some spices, let them cool, and refrigerated them for 2 days until we were ready to eat them.

I was surprised at how interesting they were. Many recipes calling for a dry rub encourage you to reserve some spices and add them near the end of the cooking time. The way I did it kind of echoed that. In my book it was a success.

These ribs are more or less Memphis-style dry ribs. You certainly are welcome to brush them with some bbq sauce.

Pork back ribs
c. 3 lb. rack of pork ribs
salt and pepper
ground cumin
garlic powder
onion powder
pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika) or sweet paprika

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Remove the fell (membrane) from the concave side of the ribs. Rub generously with salt and pepper on both sides.

Line a baking sheet with enough foil to fold over the top of the ribs to seal them in. A whole rack is quite long, so I cut them into 2 sections. Place the ribs on the foil, meaty side down, add about ¼” of water and enclose them in the foil.

Bake for 2 – 2 ½ hours until the meat is completely tender. Open the foil packet and sprinkle the ribs all over (to taste) with the cumin, garlic and onion powders, and pimenton. At this point you can do the finishing cooking, although I preferred to let the ribs cool and absord the additional spices. You can refrigerate them for as much as a couple of days if you wish, re-covered with the foil.

When ready to finish them, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fold back the foil to expose the ribs and turn them meaty side up. Bake until heated through and somewhat browned, c. 30 minutes. Let them rest for 5 minutes, cut into individual pieces between the bones and serve.