Baby back ribs

Ribs

 It's quite strange when you consider how much of a carnivore (this blog is making me realise) I am, that I have never bought or prepared pork back ribs before. I must admit they would probably be the last thing I would order in a restaurant, usually coming with a gloopy, overly sweet sauce and sticky fingers. In a Chinese restaurant, however, it's a different matter. 

Spareribs, as they were called at my local Chinese takeaway were one of the best things on the menu. The sauce was a glossy, deep mahogany red from Hoisin and soy sauces with enough sweetness to make you lick your fingers until every inch of sauce was gone. The meat was charred and slightly crispy round the edges and the succulence and tenderness of the meat inside was good enough to make you forgive the fact that there is hardly any meat at all on these little beauties. 

I like barbecued anything to have a char grilled, almost black exterior, not for me, the chicken wing with a floppy, soft skin, I don't care how good the sauce is. So, cooking these for 2 hours in a low oven (250oF) and then grilling them with the glaze until charred proved to be a good alternative to barbecuing. Neil actually commented that these could have fed four people. I pointed out that in a restaurant you would probably get one rack per person, not the rack between 2 as we had, so to feed four was just silly. Maybe he didn't actually like them.

One rack of ribs. 1 tsp salt. Place the ribs on a sheet of foil and sprinkle with salt. Tent loosely with the foil and seal the edges. Bake at 250oF for 2 hours. Remove from oven and pour away the juices. Mix 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tsp each of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. Add a little paprika, chili powder and sugar to taste and season with a little salt and pepper. Brush half over one side of ribs and grill (broil) until crispy. Turn over and add the rest of the glaze and grill again until crispy.