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Balsamic Baby Back Ribs
I love it when cooking becomes a social, innovative, iterative process. There are few things in life more boring for me than looking over a recipe that’s just a bunch of steps – no pics, no descriptions, no exposition, no tips, no love. Yech.
Now this rib recipe has got some history to it. I first came across it as Balsamic Pork Bellyfrom She Cooks… He Cleans and it looked wonderful (and it comes with musical suggestions, gotta love that). They adapted it from Ian Knauer’s Sticky Balsamic Ribs over at FOOD52, also a tasty-looking recipe that Ian says, ”These ribs just might be the best thing I’ve ever come up with.” High praise indeed.
So I’ve got two terrific recipes for two different cuts of meat, using two very different cooking styles, but with the same marinade and glaze. Oh man, this is going to be fun!
The Marinade
2 racks baby back pork ribs, about 5 pounds
4 large garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sea or kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
1 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons packed raw or brown sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 cup water
Combine the garlic and salt in a blender or food processor and give it a whirl until the garlic is minced. Add the pepper, rosemary, sugar, vinegar, oil, cayenne, and water and pulse to combine.
Prep the ribs by removing the membrane on the bone side and trimming off any scrapes of meat or excess fat. Put the ribs into a zip-top bag. Pour the marinade over the ribs, turning to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and stash in the fridge overnight.
The Cook
Remove the ribs from the marinade. Lay them out on a sheet pan and dust with some sea or kosher salt and black pepper. Return to the fridge, uncovered, while you set up the grill.
Set up your grill for an indirect cook that will burn for at least 5 hours at between 225 to 250°F. On the Big Green Egg that meant filling the firebox with lump charcoal and using an inverted plate setter to diffuse the heat and a drip pan with a little water in it to catch the fat.
When the grill is up to temp, add your smoking wood (a chunk of apple in this case) and wait for the smoke to go from white (bad) to blue (good). Remove the ribs from the sheet pan and set on the grate bone side down and centered over the drip pan.
Close the lid and let the ribs cook for an hour. Flip bone side up and cook for another hour. After the ribs have been on for 2 hours, remove them from the heat, wrap them tightly in two layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil, and return them to the grill bone side up for an hour.
After an hour, carefully unwrap ribs, making sure not to lose any of the drippings that have collected in the foil. Return the ribs to the grill bone side down while you make the glaze.
The Glaze
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup raw or brown sugar
1/4 cup water
Reserved drippings from foil
Combine the vinegar, sugar, and water, and drippings in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture has reduced to a thick and syrupy glaze, about 5 minutes. Watch this like a hawk because the once it starts to thicken the glaze can easily burn. Set aside, but keep warm.
Return to the grill and check on the ribs. Ribs are done when the meat hits 165°F internal, but they aren’t tender enough to eat until they hit about 185°F and the surface cracks when you lift up on one end of the slab or the meat starts to tear apart when you pull on one of the bones. When the ribs get to that point it’s time to sauce.
Brush the glaze on both side of the ribs and let them cook for another 10 minutes. Glaze both sides again and cook another 10 minutes. Brush ribs one last time with more glaze, remove the from the grill, and serve remaining glaze on the side.
The Verdict:
To badly misquote Zaphod Beeblebrox from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “If I told you how good these ribs are, I wouldn’t have time to eat them.”
Yes, they were that good – sweet and tangy with good smoke and enough heat from the cayenne and porky goodness from the drippings to tie everything together. They reminded me of the Minimalist Ribs I did where there are so few ingredients that every one of them gets to shine.
The Nutrition:
A four bone serving is 600 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points.
Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce v2.0
The latest version of my home-made barbecue sauce. I switched to a little less honey, and a little more raw sugar (in place of the brown sugar I used to use), and used my General Purpose Rub v1.5 as the seasoning base.
The raw sugar makes a huge difference in the taste. The sauce had a kind of fruity/floral sweetness that rocks when balanced with the heat from the peppers.
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons Barbecue Seasoning Base
Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).
Bottle and store in the fridge. Makes about 2 cups.
Have Ribs, Will Travel
I recently had the opportunity to cook up a mess of barbecued baby back ribs for some friends. The only kicker was that we were to bring them over to their place. No problem.
The ribs need to be almost fully cooked, travel for 30 minutes, and finish cooking in our friend’s oven. Since I wanted to make sure there were leftovers for everyone, I figured on one rack of baby backs per adult, so 5 racks total.
The first thing I did was rub the racks heavily with my General Purpose Rub v1.5. Then I set the Big Green Egg up for an indirect cook at 250°F
When the Egg was up to temp, I added both a plate setter and a drip pan to diffuse the heat and keep the ends of the racks from burning. I added a little hickory wood for smoke and when it burned clean I loaded up the ribs.
This is more ribs than I’ve ever tried on the Egg, and an inverted roasting rack really came in handy to keep the ribs from crowding each other so they’d cook as evenly as possible.
I let the ribs cook for an hour and then flipped the racks end for end. I let them go another hour and then rotated the whole roasting rack 180°. I let them go an hour and a half undisturbed, then moved them out of the rack and onto the grate and sauced them.
Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce v2.0
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1/4 cup gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind concentrate or pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons General Purpose Rub v1.5
Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook until all the sugar has dissolved and the sauce starts to thicken a little bit (about five minutes).
I sauced the racks fairly heavily and let them cook for another 30 minutes. I then sauced them one more time and moved them to a large baking pan. I sealed the pan up with 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and we hit the road.
Once at our friend’s house, the ribs went into a 350°F oven for an hour.
The Verdict:
I have to say that I am really liking General Purpose Rub v1.5. It’s got a lot of flavor, a bit of heat, some herbiness, and it all works well together. The Honey Hog Barbecue Sauce v2.0is also a winner, with all the goodness of the rub plus a tangy, almost fruity, sweetness.
The ribs? They were tasty, but they were big baby backs (average 2 1/2 pounds per rack) and I overestimated how much they would cook in the foil while being transported. They ended up good, but chewier than I would have liked. On the plus side, a rack per adult was way too much food, so we all enjoyed leftovers.
The Nutrition
Ribs never will be diet food. A four bone serving is 600 calories and 10 Weight Watchers points with the rub and the sauce.
General Purpose Rub v1.5
This is the second version of what I hope will be a stock barbecue seasoning that I can use as the base for a variety of recipes. For the code geeks out there, this is a “dot release” with a few little tweaks, but no major changes. I increased the sugar and salt, dialed down the lemon zest, added some thyme and chili powder, and bumped up the allspice.
3 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
2 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon dried lemon or orange zest
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Combine everything in a shaker jar and stir to combine and break up any lumps. Makes about 2/3 cup.
The rub smells and tastes great, but the real test will be when it meets a rack of ribs. Soon, very soon…
Testing 1, 2, 3…
I’m trying out a new home-made barbecue rub. Yes, I still have more shelf space devoted to jars of commercially-made rubs than I care to admit to, but I’ve got some good reasons for venturing out on my own:
Availability – as much as I love the rubs by folks like Dizzy Pig, John Henry, and Tasty Licks, I always feel bad when I recommend a specific rub in a recipe because I know that not everyone has ready access to them. If somebody gave me a recipe that specifically called for Uncle Crunchy’s Pecan Butt Rub, and Uncle Crunchy wants $12 for a jar of rub plus $6 shipping, I wouldn’t be jumping up to make that recipe. My goal is to have a couple of stock rub and sauce recipes on this site, so folks can just make it themselves.
Experience – the more I learn, the less I know. Combining herbs and spices to create a specific flavor combination is a whole lot harder than it looks. Working out my own spice blends helps me learn more about how the individual ingredients work together.
Versatility – ultimately, I’d love to come up with a base rub that can be used on almost everything, and then create a half dozen variations that can be made with that base. Want a poultry rub? Take X amount of base and add these poultry-specific ingredients. Want an Asian barbecue sauce? Take that same base and add it to so much hoisin sauce. Stay tuned for more on this work in progress.
That said, here’s my General Purpose Rub 1.0 on some chicken thighs.
3-5 pounds chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
2 tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Combine everything but the chicken in a shaker jar. Stir to combine and break up any lumps. Makes about 1/2 cup.
At least 2 hours before cooking, dust the thighs heavily with the rub (1-2 tablespoons per pound of chicken), then lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan and let them sit uncovered in the fridge. This lets the seasoning work its way into the thighs and also helps to dry out the skin a bit to make it crispy.
Set the grill up for a raised indirect cook over medium-high (400°F) heat. On the Big Green Egg, I used the plate setter to diffuse the heat.
Put the thighs on the grill skin side down, close the lid, and let them cook for 20. Flip them and let them go another 20 minutes.
Check the thighs for doneness. Chicken is technically done when the juices run clear and the internal temperature hits 160°F, but I like my thighs cooked a little longer to at least 180°F.
So leave the thighs skin side up and continue to cook until they hit 180°F, then remove them to a warm plate and let sit 10 minutes before serving.
The Verdict:
The chicken turned out tasty and crispy, but the rub could use some more work. It had plenty of heat, but almost all of it was at the end, nothing up front. There were lots of individual flavors going on, but it needed a little more sugar and salt to unify them. So it’s a good rub, but not a great one, yet.
This is one of the first times I’ve used turbinado sugar (raw sugar crystallized from the initial pressing of the sugar cane), and I can highly recommend it. Raw sugar is a different beast than regular brown sugar (which is just highly processed white sugar that’s had some molasses added back into it). It has an almost floral aroma to it and a nice caramel flavor that’s more complex than the strong molasses flavor of brown sugar.
The Nutrition
Chicken thighs are 4 Weight Watchers point a piece (3 points without the skin, but who wants to live without crispy chicken skin)? As for the rub, even at 2 tablespoon of rub per pounds of chicken, there is so little raw sugar in it that it doesn’t even merit a point.
Pork
What makes for a good, all-around barbecue seasoning?
For me, it’s a mix of herbs and spices that gives you a layered, well rounded flavor with enough heat to make it interesting, and enough tangy sweetness to balance the rich flavor of the meat without overwhelming it.
I’ve had a lot of fun creating my own barbecue sauces. After playing with sweet chili sauce in my Thai Sweet Chili Spareribs recipe, I wanted to try a recipe that uses traditional barbecue spices but uses sweet chili sauce for the tang and sweetness.
2 pounds pork country-style ribs
1 tablespoon barbecue rub (Penzys Barbecue of the Americas, this time)
1 cup sweet chili sauce (Mae Ploy is good and ubiquitous, but The Ginger People’s Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce rocks if you can find it), divided
Combine the rub with a 1/4 cup of the chili sauce. Put the ribs in a zip-top bag. Pour the sauce over the ribs, turning to coat. Squeeze the air out of the bag, seal it, and stash in the fridge overnight.
Set your grill up for an indirect cook at 300°F. I used the inverted plate setter on the Big Green Egg and a drip pan filled with water to diffuse the heat. Add your smoking wood (apple, in this case) and when the grill reaches temp and the smoke has turned blue, arrange the ribs over the drip pan. Close the lid and let them cook, flipping every hour, until they reach 160°F internal (about 3 hours).
Lay down a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil and move the ribs to the center of the sheet. Pour 1/4 cup of the chili sauce over the ribs. Fold the foil over the ribs and crimp tightly. Move the foiled ribs back to the grill and cook for another hour.
After an hour, carefully pull back the foil and check to see if the ribs are done. Their internal temp should be around 190°F and the meat should fall apart when you poke at it with a fork. If they are done, remove the foiled pack of ribs from the grill and let them rest for 15 minutes before slicing. If they’re not done, reseal and return them to the grill until they are.
I thinly sliced the rib meat and served it over rice with the remainder of the chili sauce on the side.
The Verdict:
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