EZ Glazed Ribs The Quickie Version
I promised an EZ version of something few people ever try at home, Memphis-style glazed ribs. I know purists will squawk that these are not traditional Memphis ribs. They'd be right. To train a Memphis rib cook, you must start with his grandfather.
We don't have that kind of time.
In fact, we will forget traditional methods completely. I'll show you a simplified process that leaves little chance for error. I actually came up with this method when my son invited himself over for a rib dinner.
I was stuck.
I had to reduce a 9 to 11-hour process down to 3. Still, I couldn't sacrifice the quality of "Dad's F!cking Amazing Ribs."
That's a cleaned up direct quote.
There are advantages to having a formal culinary education. One of them is knowing that there are many ways to do just about anything.
Come to think of it, that doesn't only apply to cooking.
Choosing the Ribs
We are talking about pork ribs here. You can substitute beef ribs. Cooking time will likely be slightly shorter. Check for doneness sooner and more often. I would also choose a less sweet sauce.
Ribs are usually available in three varieties and two variations. The varieties are, baby back , spare and tips.
The "spare ribs" you will find in grocery stores are usually tips. They are full of cartilage. Still, they will work if you don't mind spitting out chunks of cartilage every now and then.
Real spare ribs are a good 25 centimeters (8") long and taper down to about 10 centimeters (3").
One slab feeds two hungry people or my son. Slabs are also known as racks. So saying, "Nice rack!" is not offensive while cooking ribs. We'll call them slabs to avoid confusion with "racks" as in oven racks.
Baby backs are a cleaner cut with little or no cartilage to bug you. They are easy to find, so I assume that is what you will be using. Use one slab per person. My wife sticks with half a slab.
The other versions, shown as #'s 2 and 3 are best if you can find them. My preference is for the St. Louis cut since it doesn't include the tips. Don't bust your chops. They are hard to find.
There's a sausage manufacturing place here in Montreal. Sometimes, they get their pork loins bone-on. For them, it's an accident. They sell them off dirt cheap.
For me, it makes me dance my happy dance. This stuff freezes well, and I have no problem loading up my freezers with St. Louis cut ribs!
Preparing the ribs
Ribs have a membrane on them that does not cook down. It’s not digestible, either. Sad to say, many restaurants don’t bother removing it. It’s easy to do. Here’s a video showing how. Use a wadded up piece of paper towel to help grip the membrane. It’s a slippery sucker.
Getting ready
You will need some sort of roasting pan that fits in either your oven or half your grill. It’s okay if the rib slabs overlap a little.
You will also need a big piece of aluminum foil. It needs to be big enough to cover the pan bottom and fold up to loosely cover the ribs.
If your roll of foil isn’t big enough, use several pieces. Just fold their edges together to form a single sheet.
It’s better to have that foil too big rather than too small. Don’t squish up the edges, let them sit loose.
Maybe I should explain why.
The normal technique calls to slow cook or smoke the ribs for many hours. Then, we slather them with barbeque sauce and return them to high heat to glaze.
We don’t have that kind of time.
Here, we will cook them nearly through at medium heat. Then, we will use a hybrid technique to glaze and finish them.
For the first stage of cooking, the foil needs to be just sitting there out of the way. During the second stage, it needs to cover the ribs without actually touching them.
Better use too much foil than not enough.
Now your roasting pan or cookie sheet is ready. Put the ribs on it and make the rub.
Rub a Dub Time
We'll start with a dry rub. I've read a lot of esoteric nonsense about what to do with a rub. Just dump it on and massage it in.
Think back-rub and you'll do fine.
This rub recipe is a nice all-purpose one. It also doubles as a good barbeque spice if you like it sweet. It's formulated for ribs but does just fine on chicken or pork chops. Adding extra crushed pepper also makes it good for steak.
Make a lot of it. It keeps for ages.
All measures are in grams. Divide by 30 (28.37 actually) to get ounces. Better yet, set your kitchen scale to grams and don't worry about it.
Ingredients (good for ~4 racks)
- 220g Dark Brown sugar
- 200g Sugar
- 68g dried minced garlic, or 40g garlic powder (not garlic salt)
- 40g onion powder
- 32g celery salt
- 168g Paprika (sweet or hot, your choice. I use sweet)
- 32g Chili powder
- 24g Dried Sage
- 16g Allspice
- 68g Salt
Method for Rub
Just dump it all in a mixing bowl and whisk to mix well. If the brown sugar is clumpy, try rubbing it between your palms. You don’t need to bring it down to a powder, but anything larger than a grain of rice is too big.
If rubbing doesn’t work, use a food processor.
Make more than you need. It keeps. If you do make extra, don't keep reaching into the main quantity while using it. That’s a food-safety no-no. Pour some into another bowl. Keep meat juices out of the main stash.
Assembling the Ribs
Dump some rub on the ribs and massage it in. Rub the rub (that sounds funny) on both sides.
If you have the time, let them sit, covered, in the fridge overnight. If not, let them sit covered on the counter while you preheat the oven or grill. Preheat to ~300F/135C.
Bake them uncovered for about 2 hours or until you can poke through with a fork. You should feel some resistance.
If you are using your grill, only fire up one side and place the pan on the other side. That will make the grill work like an oven. Grills are notoriously bad at maintaining a steady heat. Watch it like a hawk.
Ordinarily, this is when you would start making the barbeque sauce or glaze. We aren’t going to do that for two reasons.
- One, it isn’t at all easy to make a good barbeque rib sauce.
- Two, why bother? Store-bought will do the trick and make your life easier.
Is it sacrilegious to say that? I don’t think so. Not when it’s true.
Here, in Canada, Kraft makes a great sauce called “Maple and Brown Sugar.” That’s what I use for my quickie ribs. Get one bottle for each two racks.
You can use any bottled sauce that mentions chicken, ribs, or both. It should be on the sweet side to glaze well. Taste it. If you find it too tart, add sugar or brown sugar.
I know a chef who is famous for his barbeque sauce. His recipe is a closely-guarded secret. It’s just a mix of Heinz ketchup, HP sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onions, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar.
Don’t go nuts.
Maybe I’ll write a post on how to make your own easy sauce. If you want me to, just say so in the comments.
Glazing time
After about two hours, the ribs are just about cooked through, it’s time to glaze them.
We will not be glazing them at all in the culinary sense of the word. We will be applying variations of two other techniques: braising and en papillote.
Braising is slow cooking in liquid. We will be fast cooking in barbeque sauce. Close enough.
En papilotte is cooking in a parchment envelope so food steams in its own juices. We will be cooking in a foil envelope to protect the sauce. Also close enough.
Foodies might want to crucify me. Sorry, I can’t think of any other way to describe this.
"Glazing" Method
Remove the ribs from the oven or grill. Raise the heat to ~350/160C.
Slather the ribs with barbeque sauce. Don’t be shy about it. Lay it on thick.
Fold the foil up over the ribs without letting it touch them. Now you know why we used so much foil.
Fold to seal it. You want the steam to stay inside.
Return the ribs to the heat, even if it hasn’t reached the new temperature yet.
In an hour, you will have super tender glazed ribs that fall off the bone. Just be careful opening the foil pouch. That steam will be hot.
Optional Extra Step
If you like your ribs sticky, tear open the pouch and broil them 3 or four inches below the element for about 3 minutes or so. The barbeque sauce will darken making a delicious sticky mess.
Alternately, I've been known to use a torch on them. LOL
This is where I put my rather pricey culinary eductaion to, at least, some use.
It's a lot of fun for me. Hoefully, you enjoy it as well.
Cheers
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Comments
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #5
Any sauce will work. The main idea is to have enough to cover liberally. I read that recipe and added it to my collection. Sounds pretty good.
Dean Owen
7 years ago #4
The great thing about Shanghai is I can order Tony Romas or TGIFs baby back ribs online and they would be delivered piping hot in less than 30 minutes!
Kevin Pashuk
7 years ago #3
Paul "Pablo" Croubalian
7 years ago #2
Yup, I have at least 50 ribs recipes. The sauce is always the toughest part to pull off. That's why I elected to use store-bought here. Makes it much easier.
Dean Owen
7 years ago #1