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The search for the perfect spareribs can be as elusive as the search for the Grail. Perfect ribs are tender and moist. The sauce accents the meat without being too sweet, too spicy or so overpowered with wood smoke flavor that you can’t taste the meat. The following recipe makes darn fine ribs.
Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Lay a full rack of pork spareribs in a baking dish and dust both sides generously with Pappy’s seasoning. Cook the rib rack, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and continue to cook uncovered for approximately 2 hours or until ribs are tender. Add water every half hour to keep the meat moist. This precooking can be done early in the day and the ribs finished on the grill at dinner.
Sue Kleber
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Barbeque Sauce (Makes about 3 cups)
1 medium yellow onion, finely minced (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 TB fresh garlic, finely minced
1 TB olive oil
2/3 cup dry red wine
1 bay leaf
3 – 4 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1 to 2 TB Tabasco chipotle-flavored pepper sauce
1 TB Frank’s hot sauce
In a medium sized heavy saucepot, sauté onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Remove onion and garlic mixture to a side bowl. Add wine, bay leaf and the thyme to the saucepot and bring to a boil. Off the heat, allow the herbs to steep in the wine for 15 minutes. Bring the wine and herb mixture to a rapid boil and reduce the wine by half. Pour the wine through a strainer into the onion mixture.
Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, orange juice, the onion and wine mixture and one tablespoon of each of the hot sauces in the pot. Cover and simmer over the lowest possible heat for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. Taste the sauce and add the second tablespoon of Tabasco, if desired.
Baste the precooked ribs with the sauce and broil or barbeque until they’re as brown as you like. Serve the extra sauce as a dipping sauce, if desired.
Potato Salad (Makes 2 quarts)
5 large Yukon gold potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
4 eggs, hardboiled and minced
1 cup diced celery
1/3 cup red onion, minced
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1/3 cup Italian parsley, minced
Make the marinade and the dressing and set aside. Simmer the unpeeled potatoes in heavily salted water until just tender. (I use a bamboo skewer to test for doneness) Remove potatoes and let cool until you can handle them without too much pain. A pair of insulated vinyl gloves works real well and saves the fingers. Peel potatoes and cut into cubes. While the potato cubes are still hot, pour the marinade over the potato cubes and let sit until cool. Add eggs, celery, onion, scallions, parsley and the dressing. Mix and chill.
Marinade
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp celery salt
1 TB water
1 TB cider vinegar
1 TB olive oil
Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 TB cider vinegar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 TB Dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp granulated sugar
Whisk all ingredients until smooth.
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