My first job out of college was that of a designer at a medical school in Boston.
For lunch, there was a cafeteria, as well as tons of very good local dives, specializing in Greek and middle eastern foods.
There was also this Jamaican barbecue food truck that put out this incredible beef rib sammich on sweet bread.
I have never come across another like it; and the success of my Korean-Style ribs spurred
me to try to replicate the sweet heat of my food truck fave, and I think I may very well have come wicked close.
Is it authentic Jamaican barbecue?
Heck no! But it is wicked tasty, so come along and let’s make a batch.
INGREDIENTS
•Beef short ribs
•Shredded carots
Sauce:
•1/2 cup Barbecue Sauce
•1/2 cup pineapple juice, divided
•2 tbsp lime juice (I used Key lime)
•3 or 4 cloves roasted garlic
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1 tsp ginger
•1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
•1/4 tsp allspice
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Note: for this batch o’ ribs, I used the more usual sliced beef short ribs instead of flanken-style, but either would work a treat.
Combine the barbecue sauce with 1/4 cup of the pineapple juice and remaining ingredients (I used my immersion blender) until smooth.
Set your Multi/Instant Pot to “Brown” and add the ribs and shredded carrots – do this in stages, if need be, so you don’t crowd the pot.
Brown the ribs for two minutes per side – since these were thicker and sliced with the bone, I did all four sides of each rib piece. If you use longer, thinner flanken ribs, brown for five minutes on each side.
Remove the browned ribs and carrots to a platter and repeat with any remaining ribs and shredded carrots.
Turn the Multi/Instant Pot off and wipe out to remove any excess fat.
Pour the sauce into the pot, then add the ribs and carrots, stirring to coat evenly.
Lock the lid in place and set the pot to “High” pressure for 25 minutes.
When the pressure cycle has finished, quick release the pressure (remember, a clean kitchen towel loosely wrapped around the valve will help to keep the steam from burning you or damaging cabinets.
Using a slotted spoon, remove ribs and carrots from sauce, set pot to “Sauté” and reduce the remaining barbecue sauce for ten minutes, stirring often.
Give it a taste.
Pretty good, but I chose to stir in 1/4 cup additional pineapple juice and sautéed for another seven to ten minutes.
Toss the ribs and carrots in the now nicely thickened sauce and serve.
We didn’t have any sweet Jamaican bread, so instead we enjoyed ours first with garlic smashed potatoes.
Leftovers, as it turns out, were really nice as tacos over shredded cabbage with chopped onion and tomato, and a horseradish and sweet chili sauce (I am still working on this recipe, details to come).