Tag Archives: meat

Ribs for Super Bowl weekend

rib service 2010

I don’t care about the Super Bowl but I care about ribs.

Ribs tend to be on sale now, so it’s a good time to pick them up. I found spare ribs (cut from the bottom portion of the ribs and breast bone) for less than $2 a pound the other day, but you had to buy two large, whole racks. OK, not really a problem for four people who might look for leftovers at night. I know baby backs (cut from the top of the ribs) are all the rage, but I prefer the more succulent spare ribs, with their layer of meat below where the bacon (belly) was removed.

This morning I found myself with two racks, each about 6 1/2 pounds, and decided to slow-roast them whole, mopped with a thin, Eastern Carolina-type sauce. I’m sure purists in that area would frown upon all the things I add to the cider vinegar, but I remain true to their “no tomato products” rule, at least. These ribs have a little zip but are mild. They’re good for people who don’t want the seasoning to overpower the taste of the pork. I also give you here my famous (at least in this house!) tamarind cabbage slaw. This slaw goes well with these ribs because it echoes a couple of the same ingredients. Note that it’s a dry slaw.

Spare Ribs with Piquant Seasoning
Makes two large racks
Make sauce the day before, if possible

For ribs:
2 whole racks spare ribs
Kosher salt

For the sauce:
Make extra if you want some to serve with the ribs
1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup water
Juice of 1 large orange + pulp
3 tbsp. tamarind concentrate or syrup (UNSWEETENED) (buy in Asian markets)
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. chocolate syrup
1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (buy in Asian markets, or use Tabasco)
1/2 tsp. instant coffee
3 tbsp. raw or light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground thyme
1/4 tsp. ground rosemary
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1). Make sauce by combining all sauce ingredients well in medium saucepan and boiling, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
2). Allow sauce to cool to room temperature. If made the day before, allow it to come to room temperature.
3). Prepare ribs. For each: dry off, remove the membrane from rib side, sprinkle with salt on both sides and set on foil-covered sheet pan. Let sit while you prep the oven.
4). Prepare the oven. Set your oven racks so one is two from the top and the other is two below that. You want to avoid the top slot as well as the bottom, if your slabs overlap the sheets pans. If they do, line the bottom oven rack with foil.
5). Taking 1/3 of the cooled sauce, mop it over both sides of the ribs, leaving the meaty side up.
6). Allow ribs to sit on counter until they come close to room temperature, but no more than 45 minutes.
7). Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. and put ribs in.
8). Mop both sides of ribs with sauce every 45 minutes or so. For the last mopping, move the ribs to racks set into your sheet pans (not a must, but the ribs will be dryer if you do this), making sure that the meaty side is up when you’re done. If you run out of sauce for the last mopping, use pan juices. My racks took a total of 3 hours, but your cooking time may vary. They’re done when the thickest part comes easily off the bones. Use good food safety practices here. I used a pastry brush and washed it with soap after each mopping.
9). Allow to rest for 15 minutes before serving. Cut individual ribs evenly between the bones, or create little racks.

Note: If you have the time and space, prep and mop ribs the night before with 1/3 of the sauce. Wrap tightly in layers of plastic and refrigerate overnight. Forgo the first mopping when you make the recipe; just let them sit for 45 minutes on the counter before you put them in the oven.

Tamarind Cabbage Slaw

2 pounds shredded cabbage (a little carrot in there is fine)
1/2 cup good mayonnaise
Just under 1/2 cup tamarind concentrate or syrup (UNSWEETENED) (buy in Asian markets)
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. Kosher salt

1). Whisk all except cabbage in large bowl.
2). Fold cabbage in with spatula.
3). Leave on counter for 30 minutes, mixing every 10 mins. or so. It will seem really, really dry until the cabbage gives off some liquid and deflates.
4). Cover and move to fridge until ready to serve, and mix right before serving.

If your ribs overlap your pans, set this up

Rack of spare ribs set up on sheet pan

Ribs done and fully rested

Tamarind cabbage slaw when first put together

Tamarind cabbage slaw 30 minutes later

Ribs and slaw serving suggestion

Berry bored waiting for something to happen with the ribs

Pork loin & bacon fat-sauteed cabbage sammies

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Bacon Slaw and Pork Sammie

I have some leftover mustard-encrusted pork loin roast from the day before last, and I just saw 3/4 of a head 0f cabbage in my vegetable crisper, which makes me happy I saved the bacon fat from the BLTs we had a couple of weeks ago. I know I have one bagel, one piece of naan and one sub roll, as well as fixings for mustard aioli – if I scrape out the large jar of Best Foods I bought for the holiday season, that is – so that, my friends, means there will be a dinner for three tonight, and I’ll let the boys fight over the bread and take the one that’s left. Something tells me it’ll be the naan.

Cabbage Sauteed in Bacon Fat

1 Small head green cabbage
1/4 cup rendered bacon fat
1 tablespoon whole mustard seeds
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
Salt & pepper

1). Cut cabbage in half and remove core by making v-cuts into each half as it sits cut side down on board
2). Shred cabbage (medium to large shred)
3). Wash and spin-dry shredded cabbage
4). Add bacon fat to wok or other deep vessel on medium flame (I often use my trusty Wolfgang Puck electric wok for this)
5). When oil melts, add mustard seeds
6). When mustard seeds begin to pop, add cabbage, bay leaves, turmeric and a little salt & pepper (amount of salt depends upon salt content in bacon fat used)
7). Turn flame to high and stir fry for a few moments
8). Cover and cook, over medium flame, stirring now and then, until cabbage is at desired consistency. About 7 minutes is usually good in terms of leaving a little texture intact

This is good served with a non-clashing pork roast, i.e., one that has been rubbed with a paste of Dijon mustard, ground thyme, a little oil and some salt and pepper. If you serve it on a pork sandwich, make mustard aioli to serve on the side.

Mustard Aioli

1/4 cup of good mayonnaise, like Hellman’s/Best Foods
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon black (or white) pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk everything together, adding more salt and/or pepper, if you like, and allow to sit in fridge for a couple hours to meld.

Savory oatmeal

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This may not be the most attractive dish to photograph, but it’s tasty.

While I love hot breakfast cereals, I am not always fond of having them sweet, so I came up with this savory version a few years ago just to have some variety. I know it may seem a little odd to some, but try to think of it like congee (aka jook), the Asian rice porridge cooked with everything from pork meatballs to tripe.

I make this in a Wolfgang Puck electric wok I bought from HSN. I kid you not – this thing is great when you need constant heat that travels the whole way up the sides of a sloped vessel and a non-stick surface that allows you to work smoothly with a heat-proof spatula. Normally I shun non-stick, but this is an exception because it prevents major oatmeal stickage.

What I give you here is my basic recipe, but you can fool around with it. This will make enough for 5 or 6 people, give or take.

Ham & Cheese Oatmeal

4 cups thick-cut oatmeal (not instant – the slowest cooking kind you can get)
1 quart chicken stock
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 cups finely cubed cooked ham
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 – 2 cups aged (or extra sharp) white Cheddar cheese in small cubes
1/2 tsp. white pepper

1) Add oatmeal and all liquids to heavy guage dutch oven or similar vessel and stir to combine
2) Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer
3) Cover and cook to desired consistency, stirring often, especially when the mass starts to thicken (I cook for 20 minutes when using the really thick oats)
4) Stir in pepper, ham and butter and allow to cook for another 30 seconds
5) Remove from heat and stir in cheese, but do not mix it in too much because you want to wind up with pockets of melted cheese
6) Cover and allow to sit for a couple of minutes
7) Serve in deep bowls under a couple of over-easy eggs, if you want to be fancy about it

Eisbein

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A panorama of Eisbein

Being no stranger to all edible parts of an animal and coming from German farm stock via my maternal grandmother, I like to make Eisbein (pork hocks) once every couple of years.

There are many recipes for this traditional German dish – called Schweinehaxe in Bavaria, BTW. I’ve had them braised (which is how my family does it), roasted, and first boiled and then roasted. If you roast them you’ll get a crispy skin, which yields a more visually-pleasing result, but I don’t care much about that. I only care about what I want to have on that day – what kind of texture I crave. Speaking of texture, Eisbein is not for everyone because you are dealing with lots of skin, fat and connective tissue. Saturated fat content aside, if you never developed an affinity for these textures, then stay away. If you are the kind of person who cuts every tiny piece of fat and gristle off a steak, stay away. If your squeamishness is limited to wobbly skin, then find a good recipe that involves roasting. On the flip-side, if you love Shanghai-style dishes that involve pork belly, you should like this dish, though it has a more limited flavor profile. If you like oxtails, then no problem.

Family-style Eisbein

8 1-lb fresh pork hocks (these can come in sizes from small to humongous; clearly you’ll need to decide how many you need, but they make great leftovers, and I like to use a heavy-guage dutch oven, so I use enough hocks to prevent them from swimming in too much liquid )
1 gallon cold water (approximately – you need to cover the hocks to brine them)
3 T. kosher salt
1 t. black pepper
2 T. white vinegar
2 bay leaves
Water to cover

1) Place the 1 gallon of water in a tall plastic container with 2 T. of the salt to create a brine; add hocks and cover
2) Place in refrigerator and allow to brine overnight
3) Drain hocks and place in dutch oven with remaining salt, pepper, vinegar and bay leaves
4) Add water so that hocks are 4/5 covered
5) Bring to boil and them simmer for about two hours – checking every now and then to see how they are doing, and to turn them over, if needed, without losing the skin, which may stick to the pot! If you have 1-lb hocks, they should be done. Pierce with a sharp knife; you’ll want them nice and tender but not mushy. Large hocks will need to continue to simmer.
6) Remove (carefully) with tongs and serve

Traditionally, this is served with boiled potatoes and sauerkraut*, but I had red cabbage on hand the day I made the ones in the photo, and this works well, too.

*Sauerkraut cannot be served right out of the can or jar! If you want to make it the traditional way, then you need to rinse it well several times and cook it down with some peeled, grated potatoes. Grate them right into the sauerkraut — you want the potato water, as well. Use one average-sized potato for each quart of kraut and about a cup of water. Cook it down until it’s a little gummy (which means the potatoes have cooked and released their starch). Note that “real” sauerkraut is fermented using salt, and is the one German cooks still use. Vinegar, used to quick-brine most commercially-produced sauerkraut in the US, results in an undesirable flavor and must be gotten rid of to the extent possible.

Final note: If you wish to be frugal, mix unused cooking juices with a little white vinegar, pour into a plastic container over diced hock leftovers mixed with chopped pickles (you can even add some diced egg), via a cheese cloth-lined strainer, cool, cover and then place in fridge. Next day, peel off the fat and you’ll have some nice headcheese. This is why I don’t want an overabundance of cooking liquid, which would dilute the gelatin from the hocks.

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Tag Archives: meat

Ribs for Super Bowl weekend

Pork loin & bacon fat-sauteed cabbage sammies

Savory oatmeal

Eisbein

Jon and bacon