The Ribs

Many years ago we were planning our annual outing to Mammoth Lakes, CA for the Fourth of July celebrations. Bruce put in a request with me for some baby back pork ribs for the feast. He wanted something smokey and spicy with perhaps a dried chile sauce.

At the time my selection of barbecue cookbooks was dreadful. I spent some time digging around in books and on the internet. But then, in a strange place I found the great rib recipe. It's a Mark Miller recipe which was published in a book titled: Cooking with Patrick Clark. Patrick Clark was a chef who passed away suddenly and left a wife and children. The book was put together as a fundraiser for the family. It's filled with Patrick's recipes as well as all the top chefs from the early 1990's.

I always tell Bruce that it takes three days to make these ribs. But the truth is, we made 12 racks of ribs for a party two weeks ago and I didn't put them in the marinade until the night before and I made the sauce on the morning of the party. Easy Peasy. I suppose the other two days are spent gathering all the ingredients, there are lots of them and in large quantities. Don't skimp, this is powerful good stuff!

Glazed Prok Ribs with Black Coffee Guajillo Barbcue Sauce

Based on Mark Miller recipe

Marinade and Sauce for up to 6 racks of ribs

Marinade
4 Tablespoons ground coriander
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
6 Tablespoons honey mustard
2 Tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon salt
3 Tablespoons ground chile molido (pure chile powder)
1 1/2 Cups apple cider vinegar
1 Cup balsamic vinegar
1 Cup honey
1/4 Cub liquid smoke

Combined all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl. Stir well. Rinse the ribs in cold water and place in a non reactive container. Pour the marinade over the ribs. Let them marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

To Prepare the Ribs
Remove the ribs from the marinade and place in a single layer on large baking dishes. Cover them tightly with foil. Bake at 225F for at least 2 hours. At two hours check the ribs to see if they are tender to your liking. For more tender ribs, bake longer.


The Sauce
1 Cub chopped white onion
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 Cup sherry vinegar
1 1/4 Cup tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 Cup crushed dired quajillo chiles
1 Cup strong, freshly brewed black coffee
1/3 Cup molasses

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and add the butter. Sweat the onion and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes until very tender. Deglaze the pan with the sherry vinegar and add all the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes until the chiles are very tender. Puree until smooth and strain if desired.


Heat a grill to medium heat and char the ribs on both sides for 2-3 minutes per side.
Slather the sauce onto the ribs as they come off the grill.

Enjoy!

Evolution of a Dinner Menu

Steinbeck was so right, about the "best laid plans" thing. So we had dinner for 5 adults it turns out. The menu turned out like this instead of the post from yesterday:

Braised Beef Short Ribs with Spring Garlic, Red Wine and Porcini Mushrooms
Roasted Root Vegetables with coarsely ground Cardamom - carrots, parsnips and potatoes
Apple and Blueberry Crisp with almonds and oatmeal

The meal was good. I didn't have time to deal with a starter at all. It was actually a double dinner party night. I made pork ribs, fried potatoes and broccoli for my two boys and two others BEFORE our adult dinner guests even arrived. I'd do the crisp again, but use lots more topping and very thinly slice the apples as the Pink Lady apples were quite firm.

I'm most proud of the short ribs. No recipe, just winging it and they were awesome. Here's what I did:

Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs

Serves 5-6

Ingredients

3 lbs Beef Short Ribs cut into 3" pieces (ask your butcher)

2 Tablespoons Flour

Salt and fresh ground pepper

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 heads green/spring garlic

3 whole carrots

3 stalks of celery

1 large onion

500 ml (3/4 bottle) red wine - something good, but not fancy

1 15oz can Beef Broth

1 oz. package dried porcini mushrooms

1 Cup boiling water

bouquet garni of fresh herbs - 3 sprigs parsley, 2 sprigs rosemary, 3 sprigs thyme, tied into a bundle of cheesecloth

Method

In a large dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Open up your meat package, rinse the meat and pat dry with paper towels. Salt and pepper the meat. Sprinkle with the flour. In small batches, fry the beef ribs in the oil making sure to brown on all sides. This takes time, but it's worth doing a good job. As the beef finishes, remove to another dish and set aside.

Chop the onion, garlic, celery and carrot into large dice (3/4" - 1"). Make sure to remove any fibrous outer layers of the garlic heads.

When the beef is all browned, pour out all but 2 Tblsp. of the oil. Add all the diced vegetables and lower the heat to medium. Stir well coating the vegetables with the hot oil. Cook for about 5 minutes while you prepare the bouquet garni and boil water for the mushrooms.

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl. Add 1 C boiling water. Let sit 10 minutes. Taste the soaking water. If it tastes good, not musty, not dirty, but like mushroom tea, use the water in the dish. If the water tastes terrible, don't use it, just strain the mushrooms, use them and a cup of water instead.

Salt and pepper the vegetables in the pan. Return the beef ribs to the pan. Tuck the bouquet garni into the mix. Pour in the wine and beef broth. Now add the mushroom water. Bring to a boil. Put on a tight fitting lid.

Put in a medium low oven (325F) for about 3 hours until the meat is falling off the bone. Pull out the meat and put on a platter. Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables to another bowl. If you'd like, de-fat the juice and return to the pan. Reduce, the juice for a few minutes and taste for seasoning.

Enjoy!