Ribs

Ribs can be tricky to cook, but good ribs are absolutely divine and rib lovers will search high and low for THE BEST RIBS -in every town they pass through. The Homesick Texan recently posted a recipe for Ribs with Sam Houston's BBQ Sauce (click here) which look fantastic. At our house, we make a simpler homemade BBQ Sauce (click here), that my husband learned to make from his mother. It's very quick to make and and we use it on all sorts of meats. My trick for cooking any ribs, is a long, slow, moist cooking of the meat before adding any sauce. Especially with lamb and goat ribs, if tenderness is desired, cooking several hours with moisture, before you add any glaze or sauce and crisp the ribs, is required. I know there are volumes written on the art of BBQ, and many loud arguments surrounding, the topic of THE BEST RIBS. I am not making any claims to making THE BEST RIBS (though these are all pretty darned good) but I'm simply offering my down and dirty, quick and easy, never fail method for tender BBQ ribs: Put ribs in a large pot on the stove, or a roasting pan in the oven, with several inches of water and cook for 2 hours. Remove ribs, saving the broth for another use. Turning and coating ribs with BBQ Sauce while they cook, broil or grill the cooked ribs to finger-lickin perfection. Or put cooked ribs in a baking dish and cover them with the following marinade.



Shepherdess Lamb Ribs
Adapted from The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis
For 2-3 lbs. cooked lamb or goat ribs to serve four, mix:
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. honey
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. rice vinegar
1/3 c. ketchup
1 T. minced candied ginger
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Leave to marinate for one hour, spooning the marinade over the ribs a few times while it sits -if you think of it.



Put the ribs in a 350-375 degree oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove and baste with a glaze of 1/4 c. each honey and soy sauce. Broil or grill 5 minutes, or just until the glaze begins to darken and the ribs crisp. DO NOT BURN!! This seems obvious, but I am easily distracted and burning them at this point is a real shame!



Chinese Pork Ribs
Adapted from The Pressure Cooker Gourmet by Victoria Wise
This is a recipe for cooking chicken wings, but I have found it works equally well with pork ribs.
Mix:
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. sweet-hot mustard
1/4 c. white wine (I used some homemade rhubarb wine), Chinese rice wine, or sake
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flakes
To serve 4, put 2-3 lbs. seperated pork spareribs in a glass dish, pour mix over ribs and leave to sit at least an hour or two. I have tried to marinate these directly in the pressure cooker to save washing a dish, but they seem to always burn a bit when I do.



Put ribs and marinade into a pressure cooker, and bring to high pressure over high heat. Immediately reduce to medium-low heat and cook 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pressure to drop. Remove ribs and all the sauce to a bowl, sprinkle with:
1/4 c. minced cilantro leaves
1/2 T. toasted sesame seeds