Tickling My Ribs

I've written a couple of times about finding approaches to hot-weather cooking. I'm guessing that most experts on the subject would not recommend running a 300F oven for three hours.

But that's what I did. Twice.

I've had a little bit of trouble, when I've looked, finding a stripped-down recipe for doing pork ribs in the oven. It seems like home cooks that do ribs all have their own rub recipes, their own sauce recipes and their own set of techniques. While this is fabulous, a beginner like me can have trouble disinterring a basic approach from the layers of details.

A couple of Fridays ago, I impulsively bought a pack of short-end pork ribs at the store. Once home, I looked at a couple of dozen recipes and finally found a recipe that worked for me. It was, in essence, as follows:

 

1. Sprinkle the ribs with your rub of choice. (I used a rub from Gates, a local restaurant.)
2. Douse the ribs in your sauce of choice. (The sauce was also from Gates.)
3. Seal the ribs in an aluminum foil packet and cook at 300F for three hours.

That’s what I call a recipe.

The first attempt was good. The ribs were very tender and it was no problem to separate them.  They were a little dry, but not so much that a modest amount of sauce didn’t completely fix the problem.

I live in Kansas City, which is the epicenter for one of the major styles of barbecue. There is a LOT of good barbecue here. The restaurant from which I’d gotten my rub and sauce is probably my favorite, but it’s in no way an easy choice. So, as I sampled my ribs, I discovered that I really expected the familiar smoke flavor, even though I knew it wouldn’t be there.

And, thinking about smokiness, I immediately thought of chipotles.

You’re probably familiar with chipotles, which are jalapenos that have been dried and smoked. They are most commonly sold reconstituted in a spicy sauce called adobo.  The plan that formed was to get a can or two of chipotles in adobo, puree them, and use that as my cooking sauce for my second batch.

However, my local marked was out of chipotles in adobo last Saturday. So I got a packet of dried chipotles and a jar of adobo concentrate. I toasted the chiles in a dry skillet then tore them into large pieces and soaked them in hot water. I then threw them into a food processor with the adobo and added some molasses for balance and enough water to make a thick sauce.  I then followed the recipe as above.

The second batch was really good. I was afraid it would be too hot, but it wasn’t too much for me. Again, sauce was needed, but I really enjoyed eating these ribs.

Neither batch was up to Kansas City standards, but I think it’s a fine approach for a weekend treat.