My husband, Ken is the first ever ‘guest’ blogger… his fabulous, soon to be famous ribs, which was requested and ravenously eaten by our son (and gathered extended family, too) on the occasion of his 14th birthday, are today’s feature!
~Enjoy!
Ribs, post cook, pre-broil (It’s difficult to keep your fingers out of them while they rest)
This is a recipe based on Alton Brown’s recipe, with some significant changes in cooking time and temperature. The first, and frankly most important, ingredient is time. Start these the day before you actually want to enjoy the ribs.
Day One
Prepare the following rub – it is enough for two full racks of ribs:
8 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
½ teaspoon Thyme
I cut my ribs into half-rack portions. (editor’s note: photos are from a time he was only making two racks and left them whole)
Place each half-rack on a long sheet of aluminum foil, liberally coat ribs with rub,
and then fold into a pouch, securely closing one end, and creating a funnel-like opening on the other end and close, but not tightly (you will need to be able to open the one end to put in the braising liquid before cooking the ribs). Make sure the packets are essentially leak-proof.
Braising liquid:
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 tablespoons honey
2 cloves of garlic
Mix the liquid as thoroughly as you can, cover and park in the refrigerator overnight.
Day Two
Preheat oven to 215 degrees. Pour equal amounts of braising liquid into each packet of ribs – reseal foil as securely as possible. Place the packets on a cookie-sheet or some other such pan. Cook for six hours. The greatest danger here? Being at home while the cooking takes place – the smell at about hour 3 or 4 is devastatingly good and you will be greatly tempted to tear into them – but you must remain patient and resist said temptation. Open that next beer or pour yourself another glass of wine, get a good book, and wait. It will be worth it.
After six hours, remove the half-racks from their foil pouches and let them rest for anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. This is easily the hardest step. Why? Because they are just sitting there, beckoning you to ‘taste’ them. Odysseus had an easier job when sailing past the Sirens then you do at this moment. Employ your spouse or some passerby on the street to lash you to the mast, or the dishwasher, it all depends on what is handy. By this time your family or guests are ready to mount an ugly mutiny in the kitchen in order to get the ribs – smugly tell them they need to wait just a few moments longer (smugly, because you have either mastered the temptation, or given in completely all in the name of making sure that the ‘flavor profile is just right’). At this point, you can throw them either on the grill or under the broiler for a quick bit to give them a bit of a crust. Do not drown them in any kind of sauce, let your guests choose what they want on them.
The slow cooking and TLC you have lavished upon this choice bit of pig yields succulent ribs that are flavorful and tender. Clean-up is quite easy as the only thing left are the clean bones.
