Bbq'd country-style pork ribs

Peter bought a few pounds worth of country-style pork ribs on Friday. As I start this post (Sunday, late morning) they are marinating in a bbq sauce that is a composite of at least 3 sources.

Last night we watched an episode of “Jamie (Oliver) at Home” on the Cooking Channel. He was doing absolute magic with bbq on the grill. I don’t grill any more but loved a lot of the ingredients he included in the sauce/marinade. I was missing a couple of his inclusions, but just put together a bunch of stuff and, when it was all mixed together, it tasted great. I guess everybody has favorite flavors. For bbq I gravitate toward cumin, plenty of pepper (red and black) and liquid smoke.

So here’s what I did this morning:

Stevie’s bbq sauce (for pork, chicken or beef)
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tbsp fennel seed
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp garlic powder, or to taste
1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika (or more if using Hungarian)
½ cup orange juice
lemon zest (1 lemon, peeled off with a sharp paring knife)
1 cup of your favorite ketchup
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp liquid smoke

Grind the cumin, fennel and rosemary in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle (in which case a couple pinches of salt help).

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, pour over ribs and refrigerate them for several hours (or even overnight).

That’s what I did this morning. When I resume this post tomorrow I’ll bring the whole thing together.

Monday morning now…wow, those ribs were good! I hadn’t done this in quite a while and couldn’t remember just how long it would take for them to tenderize. Here’s the plan:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put the ribs on a baking rack (I needed to use two) on a baking pan. Reserve leftover marinade. Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock or water. Cover tightly with foil and put into the oven.

After 30 minutes reduce oven temp to 275 degrees. I do the slightly higher temp at the beginning just to jump start the cooking. Continue baking for a total of 2 ½ hours. Nuke the leftover marinade and brush it onto the ribs when you take them out of the oven.

That’s it. Now, eat!

BBQ pork ribs

It’s not exactly kosher to post a recipe for which I made no precise measurements; nor did I stick to a consistent oven temperature, or even remember exactly how long the fruits of my labor were in the oven. Now that I think of it, it's not exactly kosher to say kosher when speaking of a pork product. Oh well, too late for that now.

But there’s a life-lesson here: it’s not necessary to follow a recipe all the time. I guess it’s ironic of me to say that and then go ahead and post, what else, a recipe!

Everything below is approximate. However, no precision is required. Brine a bit longer or shorter, set the oven temp a little higher of lower, reduce cooking time (after all, what matters in the end is that the meat is falling off the bones), etc.

A word about the type of ribs: they were merely labeled “pork ribs,” definitely not spare ribs, perhaps closer to St. Louis-style ribs. This recipe would work for any of these and as well for “country” pork ribs.

BBQ pork ribs
2 ¾ pounds pork ribs
Chicken stock as needed

Brine: (well-dissolved)
4 cups water
4 tbsp kosher salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Dry rub:
2 tbsp cumin
2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
black pepper to taste

Wet rub:
1 cup catsup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp liquid smoke
1 tbsp soy sauce (dark if you have it)

Brine the ribs for 2-6 hours in the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 300°.

Rinse and dry thoroughly.

Apply dry rub all over ribs.

Place on baking rack in a baking pan with at least 1” sides. Add some chicken stock to the pan (1/2 cup or so).

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 ½ - 3 hours, checking each hour and adding stock if it has evaporated.

Reduce oven to 250°.

Remove foil from the ribs and slather them with the wet rub all over. Return ribs, uncovered, to the oven to ½ to 1 hour. Recover with foil and let the ribs rest for 10 minutes. Cut between the bones and serve.

Boneless pork ribs

Country-style ribs are hugely meaty as compared with spare ribs. For some reason our Safeway sells the country-style without the bones. I wouldn't have bought them except for the fact that they were in the specials bin and cost only $3.

They are extremely lean and I was concerned about them coming out dry. So I brined them. I also made a sauce with which I basted them every 30 minutes after the first hour of cooking.

The picture to the left ("borrowed") from someone's web site is of ribs with bones. However, despite that, the similiarity to the look of mine is quite remarkable.

Boneless pork ribs

4 boneless country-style pork ribs (about 1 3/4 pounds)

2 cups water

2 tbsp kosher salt

2 tbsp sugar

10 peppercorns

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup catsup

1/8 cup pomegranate juice

1/8 cup pomegranate molasses (regular molasses)

black pepper

Stir the salt and sugar into the water until dissolved. Place the liquid, the peppercorns, and the ribs into a gallon-size freezer bag, squeeze out the air, seal, and refrigerate for an hour (2 hours if you can).

Remove the ribs from the fridge and dry them with paper towels. Don't rinse them.

Mix the cumin, paprika and cayenne together and liberally dust the ribs with the mix. Use all of it. Again refrigerate the ribs uncovered on a plate for at least an hour (or more) if you have the time. Remove from the fridge 1 hour before you begin cooking.

Preheat the oven to 275°.

Place the ribs on a rack on a shallow roasting pan. Add 1 cup chicken or beef stock to the pan, cover tightly with foil, and roast for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, mix together the catsup, pomegranate juice and molasses. Reduce the oven to 250° and start generously basting the ribs every 30 minutes. Turning them each time you do so. Keep them covered.

Total roasting time will be 2 1/2-3 hours. Let the ribs rest, still covered, for 10 minutes before serving.

For a free excerpt of my book, “A Year of Food,” in which I opine, report, cook, muse and philosophize about everything that passed my lips for an entire year, write to me at: scrout1944@msn.com.