Baby Backs

I've got a couple pounds of "pork loin baby back cut for riblets" here. Look like regular old baby back ribs, maybe kinda meaty, and already cut apart.

I've been reading up on baby back rib recipes, like:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/baked-bar ... ipe-101634
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/memb ... bs-1241297
https://food52.com/recipes/81511-baby-b ... rub-recipe

These are for whole racks, of course.

I think I can treat the riblets just like a rack - apply a dry rub, line 'em up, wrap in foil - just a bit less time. So, maybe, 250*F for 1.5 hours? I'm still deciding whether to finish them wet (in bbq sauce) or just crisp the top with pan juices and serve them dry.

I'd appreciate any guidance from your experience.

[Jenise]

They'll have a lot of their own fat, so why wrap in foil vs. coat them with a rub (Chinese Five Spice powder and garlic salt is a fine option, also) and open bake? I do ribs (usually connected, but same difference) this way--low and slow. About 250 but for 2+ hours as a rule to get to the point where they're crispy and the meat pulls away from the bone but is still a bit chewy. I am not a fan of "fall off the bone tender" which is usually a euphemism for hideously overcooked (usually boiled or steamed).

One of my books on barbecue says that one of the secrets to winning barbecue competitions is to use baby backs instead of spareribs. I use baby backs whenever I do real Southern-style barbecue.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, babybacks are certainly meatier so I get what you're saying, and not to make this about me but just to throw in a different point of view, to be honest I prefer the St. Louis cut. I like the evenness of meat from one end to the other. And as a dedicated bone-chewer, the surplus of meat on the baby backs isn't necessarily a bonus.

We have ribs quite frequently.

I've developed some preferences in terms of cooking.

I developed my own dry rub (there is a jar labelled 'Big Willie's Rib Rub" in the cupboard).

My flawed character lacks the patience to slowly cook ribs at a low heat so we usually BBQ a rack - the result is all the taste but half the tenderness of a slow cook method

I have never met a sweet gooey sauce I liked, and we never use any. All the flavour comes from the spice/sugar rub we use.

Things I've been meaning to try - use some dry spice mixes from North Africa - ras el hanout, Dukkah, berbere etc. to see how they work with the pork.

[Jenise]

Bill, I do love a good BBQ sauce but none of the commercial brands. I make my own which always has a bourbon element as well as quite a bit of cayenne and vinegar. IOW, the mild sweetness is very balanced with a lot of offsets. I understand your palate and think you'd like it. Btw, I usually drizzle afterward but don't coat because I don't want to bury the dry rub.

I probably would like your method.

I hate the ones where the cook basically produces a sweet meat lollipop. Some of them seem to think that they are making dessert! Didn't that go out along with sticking maraschino cherries in the middle or pineapple rings on hams?

Reporting back: I basically did it the way described in Epicurious, above, though adjusting the dry rub ingredients a bit. I went with the foil wrap in order to trap the fats/juices so I had something with which to baste later. I mixed a few spoons of that with some leftover blood orange sauce (last week's duck breast glaze).

Textures were perfect, though maybe a tad soft. The top caramelized and crisped up fairly well; I might give it a blast under the broiler next time, too.

Definitely doing this again... takes forever but it's pretty easy. However, I'm not too happy with the dry rub. The oregano bite is good but the paprika-chili powder is just boring. If I lived with a different kind of zucca d'amore my next blend would include sesame oil and Szechuan peppercorns. But, as it is, I think the next blend is going to be Jenise's base: Five-Spice (plus garlic, s+p). And maybe a spoon of nigellum seeds, just to complicate it a bit.

[Jenise]

I hate the ones where the cook basically produces a sweet meat lollipop. Some of them seem to think that they are making dessert! Didn't that go out along with sticking maraschino cherries in the middle or pineapple rings on hams?

It didn't, but it should have! Somewhere in this world is a popular recipe where the ribs are braised in Coca Cola. Ai yi yi.

I hate the ones where the cook basically produces a sweet meat lollipop. Some of them seem to think that they are making dessert!

Sweet sells. So much American processed food has sugar in it.

Didn't that go out along with sticking maraschino cherries in the middle or pineapple rings on hams?

Unfair! If you've got a really salty cut of ham then just a little snappy-sweet pineapple goes really well with it.

--
Maraschino cherries... reminds me of a story my dad told. He and his brother, as teenagers, had summer jobs in the Catskills as waiters. Dad often got the Children's Dining Room, which was a Purgatory on earth, but Uncle Jerry often got the Adult's Dining Room. Of course, they both got a measly salary but it was expected that the guests would tip. Dad made out OK; I guess people recognized that he was an ersatz baby-sitter and rewarded accordingly. Jerry, of course, had the usual assortment of generous and skinflint types.

Woe betide the skinflints who stiff my Uncle Jerry: he replaced the maraschino cherry on the grapefruit half with a similar-looking cherry pepper. That must have been a shock to complacent 1950s palates!

It didn't, but it should have! Somewhere in this world is a popular recipe where the ribs are braised in Coca Cola. Ai yi yi.

Heh. I wonder whether the author was also hoping for some tenderizing coming from the carbonic acid?

Jeff, maraschino cherries (which look to me like glowing remnants of an reactor break down) were a big deal for former generations. My grandmother used to make a ham with both red and green cherries (wonder what the dyes were and if they were carcinogenic) as a special Christmas celebratory dish.

Of course she also used to make a moulded green Jello salad for some sort of fruit assortment in it for family gatherings. I don't think anyone ever ate any of it, but we learned to take a spoon to it to suggest that someone had eaten some so as not to hurt her feelings (I usually discarded the spooned out piece behind some greenery).

Jenise - you know what Coca Cola is really good for? Rust removal.
https://www.businessinsider.com/things- ... oke-2015-5

I've seen Southern recipes for Coca-Cola ham.

Being a Scovie-Award judge for a quarter century, I get lots of free bbq sauces, some of which are really good. Others, not so much. I'm fond of Simmie-J's out of California and some others from around the world.

Jeff, maraschino cherries (which look to me like glowing remnants of an reactor break down) were a big deal for former generations. My grandmother used to make a ham with both red and green cherries (wonder what the dyes were and if they were carcinogenic) as a special Christmas celebratory dish.

Maraschino cherries are the ne plus ultra of manipulated food: the color is washed out of them and then they are stained with food-grade dyes in an array of colors.

Of course, maraschino -- the liqueur -- hasn't been used on them in years. Even the very fancy ones I have in my fridge, made by Toschi (ditto for Fabbri and for Luxardo (who actually makes maraschino!)), are just cherries in syrup. The Toschi and Fabbri are amarena cherries while the Luxardo are marasca.

And if you really want to read a wild story that involves maraschino cherries, try The Maraschino Mogul: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018 ... ecret-life

Jenise - you know what Coca Cola is really good for? Rust removal.
https://www.businessinsider.com/things- ... oke-2015-5

Yeah, that's the acid component at work.

It didn't, but it should have! Somewhere in this world is a popular recipe where the ribs are braised in Coca Cola. Ai yi yi.

Heh. I wonder whether the author was also hoping for some tenderizing coming from the carbonic acid?

Coca-Cola contains a significant amount of phosphoric acid. That's why it's useful as a rust remover and why it works as a meat tenderizer. It also dissolves teeth and bones. I remember the thought that came to mind when I first saw Coke Zero. No sugar, no caffeine--what's the point? I was reminded of a fake ad I heard for a product called "decoffinated caffeine"--that great caffeine hit without that awful coffee flavor.

My go-to barbecue sauce is a recipe I found on Food52. It's for South Carolina-style, mustard-based barbecue sauce. Otherwise I usually go North Carolina-style with a simple vinegar and chiles concoction. Of the bottled barbecue sauces I prefer Stubb's Original.

-Paul W.

Coca-Cola contains a significant amount of phosphoric acid. That's why it's useful as a rust remover and why it works as a meat tenderizer. It also dissolves teeth and bones. I remember the thought that came to mind when I first saw Coke Zero. No sugar, no caffeine--what's the point? I was reminded of a fake ad I heard for a product called "decoffinated caffeine"--that great caffeine hit without that awful coffee flavor.

My go-to barbecue sauce is a recipe I found on Food52. It's for South Carolina-style, mustard-based barbecue sauce. Otherwise I usually go North Carolina-style with a simple vinegar and chiles concoction. Of the bottled barbecue sauces I prefer Stubb's Original.

-Paul W.

That's why I gargle with bleach. It not only kills Covid-19, it neutralizes the phosphoric acid in Coke and then some.

As a kid, though, I'd order lime phosphates at the soda fountain.

FWIW, I like Stubbs, too.

My tried and true technique for ribs is to create a dry rub from various spices (often using Penzeys Arizona Dream as the base) and slow roasting uncovered in the oven at 200 for 2 hours then finishing on the charcoal grill with indirect heat. The alternate is the dry rub with a 4 hour smoke (225F) on the Big Green Egg. With the smoked version I will serve Trader Joe’s Organic Sriracha BBQ sauce on the side. It’s not to sweet and has a nice kick that doesn’t overpower the flavor.

[Jenise]

But, as it is, I think the next blend is going to be Jenise's base: Five-Spice (plus garlic, s+p). And maybe a spoon of nigellum seeds, just to complicate it a bit.

When I do five spice, I also add white pepper and an equal amount of salt and sugar. Tastes more Asian.

But, as it is, I think the next blend is going to be Jenise's base: Five-Spice (plus garlic, s+p). And maybe a spoon of nigellum seeds, just to complicate it a bit.

When I do five spice, I also add white pepper and an equal amount of salt and sugar. Tastes more Asian.

And an hour later you are hungry again.....?

When I do five spice, I also add white pepper and an equal amount of salt and sugar. Tastes more Asian.

And an hour later you are hungry again.....?

And... in 150 years, our descendents will look back on Bill Spohn in horror.

And... in 150 years, our descendents will look back on Bill Spohn in horror.

I was hoping for a better reaction time than that.....

And... in 150 years, our descendents will look back on Bill Spohn in horror.

I was hoping for a better reaction time than that.....

You might be able to get 'dread' sooner. HTH.

And an hour later you are hungry again.....?

I ate at a German-Chinese restaurant last night, and an hour later I was hungry for power.

Cute Larry. Has it come to this?

What is the favourite dish at the Mexican/German restaurant? Beaner-Schnitzel

And I leave you with the script of Trump's next speech: "We are at the brink of an abyss and we have taken a giant step forward!"