Posted by Lucy Baker, June 19, 2008 at 12:30 PM
I love everything about ribs: the smoldering aroma; the dripping sauce; gnawing the last, crispy bits of meat from the end of the bone. But I've always been a bit too intimidated to make them at home. For one thing, I don’t have an outdoor grill. For another, all the spice rubs, pastes, and condiments (soy sauce? ketchup? dry mustard?) were overwhelming, not to mention selecting the type of ribs themselves—babyback, short, or spare? Beef or pork? Whenever I craved a barbecue feast, I'd sooner hop on the subway to Dinosaur than roll up my sleeves in the kitchen.
But Martha Hall Foose, author of this week's Cook the Book selection, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea, has me inspired. Today she shares her simple, no-frills recipe for Slow, Low Oven Ribs. Not only is the ingredient list super-short (10 items, including salt and pepper!), but Martha also recommends using Country-style pork ribs, which are relatively inexpensive. Best of all, they can be prepared through the final steps up to a day ahead, then finished just before dinner.
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Posted by Sarah Wolf, June 11, 2008 at 6:15 PM
- serves 4 to 8 -
Adapted from Taming the Flame by Elizabeth Karmel.
Ingredients
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons black peppercorns, coarsely ground
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons celery salt
2 teaspoons red chile flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tablespoon fine sea salt
4 slabs back ribs, about 3 pounds each
Special equipment: disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan
Procedure
1. Make the rub: Combine all the spices in a small bowl. Divide the mixture in half. Put half of the rub in a spice (coffee) grinder or mortar and pestle and grind the spices to a medium consistency. Mix that with the reserved spice rub. (This will make a rub that is easily absorbed by the meat during "rubbing" and still has texture.) Set aside.
2. Make the mop: Mix 1 tablespoon of the dry rub with the apple juice, water, and salt until the salt is dissolved. Set aside.
3. Build a charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill, setting up the grill for indirect heat.
4. Remove the silver skin from the back of the ribs, if desired. Sprinkle the ribs liberally with the spice rub and let sit, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Place an aluminum pan on top of the cooking grate.
5. Arrange the ribs on a rib rack. Place the ribs in the aluminum pan on the center of the cooking grate over indirect medium-low heat. Pour 1 cup of the apple juice mop into the drip pan.
6. Grill covered (at about 325°F, if your grill has a thermometer) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until the meat is tender and has pulled back from the ends of the rib bones.
7. Leave ribs untended for the first 30 minutes—this means no peeking. Then, using the apple juice mixture, baste or "mop" the ribs every 20 minutes, adding a little more apple juice mop (about 1/4 cup) to the drip pan each time. You will do this twice. When the mop is gone and the juices have accumulated in the drip pan, baste the ribs with the drippings one more time. If the ribs start to burn on the edges, stack them on top of one another in the very center of the foil pan and lower the heat slightly.
8. About 10 minutes before the ribs are done, remove them from the pan and place them on the cooking grate over indirect heat to finish browning and crisp the surface crust. (If your ribs are already crispy and have a caramelized crust on the outside, this last step may not be necessary.)
9. Meanwhile, pour the pan drippings through a fine sieve or fine-mesh strainer into a saucepan and bring to a boil, adding any leftover apple juice mop. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
10. Remove the ribs from the grill and let them rest for 10 minutes before cutting into individual or 2 to 3 rib portions. Serve the ribs with warm drippings on the side.
Posted by Joshua Bousel, May 30, 2008 at 10:15 AM
I can barely control my excitement as I sit here and stare at my Fast Pass for the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, thinking about the enormous amounts of 'cue I'm destined to consume next weekend. The anticipation was a little too much for me handle the other day—I couldn't wait a second longer for some smoke-kissed meat, so I fired up the smoker and threw on a bunch of beautiful racks of spare ribs and was eating pretty five hours later.
I've been partial to Mike Mills's Apple City Ribs both at home and at the BABBP for years now, never finding a good reason to stray from perfection, but I decided to switch it up a bit and tried a recipe from Chris Lilly, pitmaster at Big Bob Gibson's (who makes the best pulled pork that will ever cross your lips). The recipe gave me pause for a second—with its smoke/braise/smoke formula, I questioned the authenticity of it being true 'cue, but then I figured it sounded too delicious to pass up and forged ahead. It ended up that this was a recipe for success—the ribs were succulent, retaining their smokiness while adding a layer of depth with the sweetness from the pineapple braise. The only problem is that they were gone so fast that I'm now left with no 'cue, and with my thoughts trained on the BABBP, I'm coming to the realization that one week is too long to live without more.
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Posted by Ed Levine, June 4, 2007 at 4:15 PM
The ribs made by Mike Mills's Apple City Barbecue team using this recipe won first place at Memphis in May, the "Super Bowl of Swine," in 1990 and 1992.
Although the instructions here may be a little beyond casual backyard cooking, I know more than a handful of Serious Eaters out there will want to try it. If you're lucky and have a summer Saturday or Sunday free, this World Championship Ribs recipe is just the thing to fill it.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, May 17, 2007 at 5:00 PM
We've done french fries, chicken salad, and braised carrots so far from Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen. Today, I thought we'd offer something a little more meaty. And since these thyme-glazed baby back ribs looked so good, I thought they'd do the trick.
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