Serves
6-8
Ready In:
(48 hrs cure then 2 hours cooking)
Good For:
Lunch, supper, dinner. party, BBQ
Ingredients
- 2 x (1.2 -1.5) kg pork spare ribs
- 3tsp curing salt (see my cured porchetta recipe)
- 3 carrots-peeled and cut into quarters
- 3 onions- peeled and cut into quarters
- 4 sticks of celery- cut into large chunks
- 3tblsp smoked paprika
- 40ml white vinegar
- 40ml BBQ sauce OR plum sauce
- 40ml tomato ketchup
- 50g brown sugar
- 1tsp dried chilli
- 1 reg tin pureed or chopped tomatoes
- 2tsp chicken stock powder
- 1 x 330ml can beer
- water
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1
This recipe is quite easy to cook and has a useful video to help you master the dish. The meat will fall off the bone and be packed with flavour. It’s incredible how these cuts are premium purchases now with prices normally quite high. Pork belly, lamb shanks and spare ribs are so popular though. I love them all.
Be mindful that the ribs need curing for 48 hours before. If you don’t have time, just season with salt, pepper and aromatics.
In this recipe there aren’t a lot of critical steps, rather one; baste. When braising it’s important to baste the food with cooking juices towards the later stages to get maximum flavour and tenderness.
Apart from that, you’ll find this dish easy to cook.
Step 2
To start give the ribs a good wash in cold water, pat dry and sprinkle curing salt all over the ribs. Cover them with glad wrap and refrigerate for 48 hours.
During cooking, don’t season with salt as the pork is already cured.
Step 3
Preheat the oven to 175°C.
Use 2 deep dishes/trays to fit a rib into each, and place the cured ribs into each. Sprinkle the roughly cut vegetables over, separating them between the two trays.
Pour vinegar over the ribs, then the following ingredients; BBQ sauce, tomato ketchup, brown sugar, chilli, tinned tomatoes, chicken stock powder, more paprika should you like (I did), and a good brand of beer. Mix well with a spoon or hands. We are cooking the ribs for over 90 mins so don’t worry about food safety.
In the video, I mix all these ingredients in one tray before separating them between the 2 trays. This method can be messy so I would avoid it. I have a big kitchen to work in so my options are different.
Step 4
Pour water into each dish up to halfway covering the ribs. Place a piece of greaseproof over and then tin foil to cover the tray.
Bake for 1 hour at 175°C, remove from the oven carefully and adjust the temperature to 190°C.
Remove the foil from each tray, pull the paper back to allow you to baste the meat using a big spoon, and pour the cooking juices over the meat several times.
Leave the paper over the meat but not the foil. Place back into the hot oven using the upper shelves if possible.
Step 5
During the next 30-40 mins you’ll be basting the meat as the cooking juices reduce and concentrate. I will do this between 5-6 times to maximise taste.
I swapped the trays after 20 minutes as the upper shelves would cook faster.
Step 6
Once the sauce has reduced by half and is slightly thicker in consistency it’s ready.
The next thing is resting the meat before eating. It’s crucial when slow-cooking to allow the juices to seep back into the meat.
Watch how the meat absorbs the juices over the next 20 minutes. Rest the meat for at least 20 minutes if possible.
Step 7
In the linked video we eat one rib on the first night and chill the other to serve as a dry method the following day. If you want to do this, continue cooking one of the trays for another 30 minutes and then follow my recipe for Spare Ribs-Dry Style from ‘Step 6’.
Step 8
The ribs are now ready to eat after resting. The juice should be lightly thick, the meat glossy and super tender that you could break it apart using a fork.
This dish can be served in many ways which I’ll help you with but I served ours with egg fried rice & egg foo young.
Step 9
Other serving suggestions could be in wraps, burritos, stews, salads, breakfast eggs, omelettes, ramen, laksa soups, dumplings, noodles, rice dishes and many more.
If you make up this dish we would love to see your creations. Hashtag #familykitchenwithmark and post your delicious dish.
For the love of good food.
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