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RIBS

BARBECUE PORK RIBS

Stephen La Rosa
A day in the sun by the barbecue or a rainy day indoors- either way, this recipe’s got you covered. The beauty of these ribs is that you cook them low and slow until you have pull-apart perfection. This can be achieved in either a domestic oven or off the centre of your grill. Once cooled down you can keep these in your fridge for up to 3 days before you’re ready to cook or simply cook them immediately. When you’re ready to eat just glaze with BBQ sauce and brown them under the high heat of an oven or grill.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine American
Servings 2 full racks

INGREDIENTS
  

Rib Cure

  • 100 g light brown sugar
  • 75 g salt
  • 5 g MSG, optional

METHOD
 

  • Remove the membrane from the back of the bones of the ribs by grabbing the corner with a piece of paper towel and gently peeling backwards.
    2 Racks of ribs
    Peeling membrane from the back of sribs
  • Combine the sugar, salt and MSG to create your curing mixture.
    100 g light brown sugar, 75 g salt, 5 g MSG
  • Weigh the pork and season with 3% of its weight in the cure. My ribs weighed 2000g which meant I needed to weigh out 60g of curing mixture and seasoned the ribs evenly with it.
  • Allow this to sit on the ribs for 2 hours or begin cooking immediately.
  • When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 150C.
  • Layout a large rectangle of foil and arrange a smaller rectangle of baking paper on top of it. The baking paper needs to be big enough to completely wrap the ribs.
  • Place each rack or half rack of ribs onto the centre of each piece of baking paper.
    Ribs ready for the oven
  • Season liberally with the spice rub on both sides and envelope the baking paper around them. Fold the bottom half of the baking paper over the ribs, fold in each of the left and right sides and finish by folding the top of the baking paper over the ribs.
    BBQ Rub
  • Fold over the foil and crimp shut to seal the ribs.
  • Place onto an oven rack, crimped foil side up, in the centre of the oven and roast for 3 hours.
  • Once cooked, carefully puncture an opening into the bottom of the packet of ribs. Do this over a bowl and collect the cooking liquid that comes out. Reserve the cooking liquid for additional use.

TO FINISH

  • You can finish cooking the ribs immediately or allow them to cool down, wrap them up and place them in the fridge. Cook them within the next 3 days.
  • Preheat an oven (or grill with a lid) to 220C.
  • Lay the ribs onto a lined baking tray and brush liberally on both sides with barbecue sauce.
    BBQ sauce
  • Cook in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until nicely browned. For an extra sticky exterior, you may apply multiple coatings of barbecue glaze every few minutes.
  • Once cooked, chop into individual ribs and serve immediately.

PRO TIPS

If you prefer chewier ribs with more bite that won’t fall off the bone as easily,, reduce the cooking time by 1 hour and taste to see if it is more to your liking.
By measuring the exact amount of seasoning that the pork needs you can guarantee consistent results each time. By applying this cure in advance you are seasoning the meat thoroughly as well as concentrating the flavour inside of the pork by pulling out excess moisture.
Ribs are high in fat and connective tissue. This sort of meat requires low and slow cooking to become fully tender.
If you haven’t made your barbecue sauce yet, you can use the reserved rib liquid instead of water in that recipe. Alternatively, freeze it and throw it into your next soup or stew. There’s plenty of fat here too that will float to the surface and its great for roast potatoes.
Keyword barbecue, pork, ribs