Making ribs for dinner tonight! I've had some frozen pork ribs in the freezer for way too long.
Using this recipe
1. The first thing that I had to do was defrost the ribs since they'll spend the next 7 hours in the slow cooker. I didn't really have time for them to defrost in the fridge or on the counter (probably not healthy anyway). So here's what I'm doing:
That's just cold water pouring over 2 lbs of pork baby back ribs. I flipped them around a few times, but it only took about 15 minutes for them to full thaw.
2. Make the rub by blending together 1.5 Tbs Paprika, 1 Tbs light brown sugar (I packed mine), 1/8 Tsp of cayenne (I probably used 1/4 tsp or more. Mine is large pieces because they're dried peppers from my garden from summers past), salt and pepper to taste. I used about 1/2 tsp of each. Mix all of that together and you get a really attractive red rub (thanks Paprika!)
3. After patting the ribs dry with some paper towels, rub the dry mix all over them.
4. Then place them in a slow cooker with the meat side against the wall and the thicker side down. I couldn't tell which was the thicker side so I guessed. Pour 1 cup BBQ sauce over them and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
The Last Steps:
5. Prepare a baking pan by lining it with tinfoil, and putting a few cooling racks in it.
6. Carefully remove the ribs from the slow cooker. They're tender so watch out cause they can fall apart easily. Put them on the rack bone side up.
Evidence of the difficulty of moving them (see the fallen rib).
7. In the slow cooker, skim off any visible fat. Then pour the juices through a strainer into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and the reduce the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes. (I accidentally skipped the strainer step. Oops. I did skim the fat, but it's tricky. After a while I just said forget it and started the boiling to simmering).
8. Make sure that your oven has a shelf at the very bottom (original recipe says 10 inches from broiler, that's the bottom tier in my oven). Turn on the broiler and let it heat up.
9. Brush the ribs with the sauce you were just simmering and broil the ribs for 3-4 minutes. Take them out, flip them over (tongs are handy here... again, be careful so they don't fall apart). Brush the top side with the sauce and broil meat side up for about 3 minutes, remove and brush with sauce, broil for 3 more minutes, remove and brush with sauce, and then broil for 3 more minutes.
10. Serve remaining sauce with ribs.
As you can see - there were NO remaining ribs. *burp* The meat literally just fell off the bone, and the broiler at the end gave them that perfect bit of crustiness. This one is a winner!
Husband approved!
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