If you follow buzzyfoods on Facebook, this image will answer the BIG question from Sunday evening – yes, I did end up adding a bit of my barbecue sauce to these ribs before the last bit in the oven – but, they were pretty darned tasty before I did.
It all started with a marinade recipe calling for bourbon, brown sugar, garlic, and soy sauce. I liked the bourbon (leftover from whiskey dogs), garlic, and the brown sugar bits, but wasn’t feeling the love for the soy sauce. So I made a few changes…
INGREDIENTS
•Country style pork ribs (2 or 3 lb)
•2/3 cup bourbon
•3/4 cup ‘sup
•1/4 cup yellow mustard
•1/2 cup brown sugar
•5 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
•2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
•1/2 sweet onion, sliced
•1/2 red onion, sliced
•Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese 7 Spice)
•Salt and pepper
Note: if you don’t have, or can’t find the Japanese 7 Spice, try adding a bit of ginger, Cayenne, dried orange peel, pepper, and sesame seed.
Combine the bourbon with the brown sugar, mustard, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup (my spicy ‘sup is pretty darned tasty, and simple to make, just a thought) in a blender jar and process until the garlic is pureed and the mixture is well blended.
Place the ribs in a gallon sized zipper bag and pour the marinade over. Give the bag a few flips and squeezes to really coat the ribs in the marinade, then place on a rimmed plate (in case of leaks) and stash in the fridge for three or four hours, giving the bag another flip or three whenever you think to.
When ready to cook, bring the ribs out of the fridge and let rest on the counter to warm up for 30 minutes, and heat your oven to 325º.
Line a large baking pan with foil, then apply a light coating of cooking spray.
Remove the ribs from the marinade,shake off any excess, and arrange in the foil-lined baking pan. Discard the remaining marinade.
Top the ribs with the sweet and red onion slices, then season with salt, pepper, and the Seven Spice.
Cover with another sheet of foil and pop into the oven for 75 minutes, by which time the ribs will be cooked through and nicely tender.
Remove the top foil and now you have a few decisions to make:
Bake or broil to finish? I don’t like my standard issue gas stove bottom broiler, so I chose to bake mine, uncovered, for another fifteen minutes. If you choose to broil, about five minutes under the flames should do it.
To sauce or not? Truly, the marinade left these ribs with a pretty darned terrific flavor, and the slow baking left them nicely tender, so they did not need any sauce; but, I had a jar of mine open in the fridge, so…
I poured off most of the baking liquid before adding a bit of sauce, repositioning the onion slices, and returning, uncovered, to the oven for 15 minutes to give the ribs a bit of a crust.
Nice ribs.
Rich was on the road in Rhode Island, so I kept dinner simple, just a rib and a bit of rutabaga for a fine fall dinner.
What? You’ve never had rutabaga?!?
You are missing out! This root veggie – a cross between a cabbage and a white turnip – is surprisingly tasty, and wicked simple to make, if you just remember One. Simple. Rule. for tasty yellow turnip (another name for rutabaga).
ermmm, tomorrow…