BARBECUE FLAVOR PORK RIBS RECIPE
I admit I’m not a big fan of American cuisine, I’m not used to going to fast food for a Hamburger like many do, there are a few “recipes” from overseas that I’d save: definitely the COOKIES, those I would eat by the ton and one of my favorite meat main courses is the GLAZED PORK RIBS!
What I love about BBQ RIBS is that they are super flavorful, they have melt-in-your-mouth meat that falls off the bone, they are glossy and juicy, to be eaten strictly with your hands accompanied by a good glass of beer and then licking your fingers!!!!
Sure, the ideal would be to prepare the GRILLED RIBS, maybe in a nice garden on a sunny day, but what do you do if you live in the city, don’t have a garden or even a balcony, and the sun’s not out???
No worries, I have a recipe that will allow you to prepare succulent and irresistible PORK RIBS right at home without the need to play with fire!
Preparing the BARBECUE PORK RIBS recipe at home is easier than you might think and is based on two simple tricks: a slow and low-temperature cooking method (“Low & Slow” as Americans call it) and a special dry spice mix (Dry Rub) essential for giving that unmistakable flavor and promoting the formation of a crispy crust.
A tasty and flavorful meat main course perfect for sharing with friends on evenings, conveniently prepared in the home oven, simple and with guaranteed results.
The secret of this recipe lies in the marinade made with various aromas that you can change to your liking and in the long cooking times, believe me when I say this recipe will make you feel like taking a leap into summer with barbecue smells and flavors but without a garden and without fire! I forgot … if by chance you own a SLOW COOKER you will have soft ribs with the advantage of not having to watch them and consuming less (you can find the recipe HERE)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Energy 618.21 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 34.59 (g) of which sugars 30.73 (g)
- Proteins 50.16 (g)
- Fat 30.34 (g) of which saturated 6.04 (g)of which unsaturated 9.56 (g)
- Fibers 1.23 (g)
- Sodium 1,281.42 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 250 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
INGREDIENTS FOR PREPARING BBQ RIBS
In this article, I wanted to include ingredients and the procedure to prepare the BARBECUE SAUCE at home, but if you don’t have time or don’t want to, you can still cook the RIBS in the oven with BARBECUE SAUCE at home. To do this, you just need to prepare the dry spice mix, proceed with the marination, and then sprinkle the pork meat with a few tablespoons of ready-made BBQ SAUCE that you find at the supermarket. It won’t be the same, but they will still be delicious.
- 2.2 lbs pork ribs (in one piece)
- 1 tsp sweet paprika (or smoked)
- chili powder (1 tsp)
- garlic powder (1 tsp)
- yellow mustard powder (1 tsp)
- cumin powder (1 tsp)
- fine salt (1 tsp)
- 1 cup g ketchup
- 1/2 golden onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tsp oz brown sugar
- sweet paprika (1 tsp)
- spicy paprika (1 tsp)
- 2 tsps apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup oz maple syrup
- 1 tsp mustard
- 2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp black pepper (ground)
- 1 pinch fine salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
Tools
- Bowl
- Baking paper
- Aluminum foil
- Pan
HOW TO PREPARE BBQ PORK RIBS AT HOME
PREMISE: As already stated above in the ingredients, in this article I wanted to include ingredients and the procedure to prepare the BARBECUE SAUCE at home, but if you don’t have time or don’t want to, you can still cook the RIBS in the oven with BARBECUE SAUCE at home. To do this, you just need to prepare the dry spice mix, proceed with the marinade, and then sprinkle the pork meat with a few tablespoons of ready-made BBQ SAUCE that you find at the supermarket. It won’t be the same, but they will still be delicious. In this case, you will obviously skip the steps related to How to prepare the barbecue-flavored sauce at home.
First, prepare the spice mix for marinating the meat. Put in a bowl: the sweet paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, yellow mustard powder, and fine salt. Mix with a spoon to combine the powders. Take the pork ribs (leave the piece whole), distribute half of the spice mix on one side and massage the meat thoroughly to aid absorption. Do the same on the other side using the remaining spice mix. Wrap the pork ribs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (the longer, the better).
To prepare the BBQ sauce at home, first clean the onion and chop it finely, do the same with the garlic. Put a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, add the chopped onion and garlic, and let them brown. Add the brown sugar and mix, then both types of paprika (sweet and spicy) and mix again. At this point, pour in the Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and mustard, continuing to stir. Then follow with the ground black pepper, maple syrup, and finally the ketchup sauce. Taste and, if necessary, adjust the salt. Cook the homemade barbecue sauce for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until it thickens. Once ready, remove it from the heat and make it creamy by blending the sauce with an immersion blender.
At this point, line a baking tray with parchment paper, then place 2 sheets of overlapping aluminum foil on top, which will be used to wrap the ribs like a packet. Take the meat out of the fridge, remove the plastic wrap, and brush the ribs on both sides with the Barbecue sauce. Place the meat in the tray and close the aluminum sheets forming a packet. Bake the Pork Ribs in static mode at 356°F for about 2 hours (depending on the size of the pork piece). After the time has elapsed, take them out of the oven, remove the aluminum, and continue cooking for another 20-25 minutes to allow the liquids to dry slightly.
At this point, all you have to do is glaze the pork ribs, and the process is very simple: just raise the oven temperature to 392°F, set the grill mode, and put the ribs back in the oven after brushing them again with BBQ sauce. It will take just 5 minutes, and you will have oven-cooked PORK RIBS that are soft and juicy with a delicious external glaze. Serve immediately while still hot with a bit of sauce if you have any left.
STORAGE
To have a pork ribs recipe that even an “American” would approve of, the longer the meat stays in the marinade, the better it is, so I recommend preparing them a day in advance and leaving them in the fridge for 24 hours. Then, once cooked, it would be better to consume the BBQ sauce ribs immediately. If you have any left-over barbecue sauce, it can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
TIPS FOR PREPARING PORK RIBS
PORK RIBS: “Rosticciana” or simply pork ribs or pork chops – how to choose them to get perfect roasted pork ribs? Mature pork has meat with a more intense flavor, important structure, and thickness, and a good amount of infiltrated fat. The defects of this meat could be the toughness of the fibers and the amount of surface fat, but both will be resolved during preparation and cooking. In fact, the long cooking times will make the pork meat extremely tender, melt-in-your-mouth, and the fat will melt and can be easily removed at the end of cooking.
SPICE MIX – DRY RUB: The spices indicated in the recipe are those usually used for marinating pork meat. Depending on your taste, you can play with the doses of the various ingredients or even exclude some rather than others; however, I recommend including them all if possible for an optimal result.
MARINATION: Marination is a fundamental phase to allow the meat to absorb all the aromas: the longer it lasts, the better it is, so if you have the chance to get ahead with preparation, you can leave the ribs in the refrigerator to marinate overnight.
WHAT PERFECT PORK RIBS SHOULD BE LIKE
Whether you’re lucky enough to have a garden and grill them or choose, for practicality or necessity, to prepare them in the home oven, what the PORK RIBS must have to be perfect are three characteristics.
JUICY: Everyone knows that pork cannot be served rare but must necessarily be cooked in every part. But for this reason, we must not end up with dry ribs or give up succulence and flavor. To overcome this problem, slow, prolonged cooking in the oven with an aluminum foil packet preserves all the juices of the meat and prevents it from becoming dry and stringy.
TENDER: The pork cut for making RIBS is a tough cut, difficult to tenderize. To aim for a perfect result, tender but firm, with meat that falls off the bone effortlessly but at the same time retains enough structure, just follow a few simple tricks. What we are interested in is making the collagen, the connective tissue in meat that makes ribs tough, dissolve. To achieve this effect, we need moisture. Again, wrapping the meat in a tightly sealed double layer of aluminum foil allows a cloud of condensation to form inside during cooking, and in no time, our ribs will become very tender.
SMOKINESS: The true smoky flavor can obviously only be achieved if we grill the ribs on a barbecue, the classic charcoal aroma, but to have a similar texture even at home and have ribs with a fragrant and flavorful crust, we will use homemade BBQ SAUCE or already purchased ready-made, which with the oven’s heat and then the grill phase will make our ribs as similar as possible to those cooked on the grill.
