Sometimes pictures of food do not do justice and can look grotesque. But I have a habit of photographing stuff as it bakes when I get the sense things are working out well. Somewhere in a shoebox I have a photo of a cheese soufflé I made ten years ago, all puffed up in the oven.
What you are looking at is a couple of kilograms of Cubano Mojito Oven-Roasted Baby Back Ribs from the Dinosaur BBQ book. This was good. Took two days to make. You first marinade the ribs overnight in a mojito sauce which is orange juice with lime juice, green onions, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and cilantro. Then you make the "mutha sauce" - a basic BBQ sauce with twenty ingredients. Then you go to a wedding party and wake up at 1 pm the next afternoon. Then you take the ribs out of the marinade and roast them for 4 hours at 250° F. Nice smells fill house and head beings to clear as sangria and napping fill the hazy headed afternoon. At three hours you take the mutha sauce, add crushed pineapple, cilantro, ginger, lemon, lime and as hot a selection of peppers as you enjoy. I could not find guava paste but I can assure you that it is plenty tasty without the guava paste. There were no habaneros so I went with the jalapenos. Once the ribs are all fall off the bone, slather on the sauce and let it soak in for another half hour. Dandy.
Buy Dinosaur Bar B Que: An American Roadhouse by John Stage. It is a primer on BBQ and, if the other dishes work out as well as this one did, it should make any reader a better cook.
Comments
Alan - July 25, 2004 2:13 PM
Again with the ribs:<p><img src="images/2004b/ribs.JPG" hspace="20" vspace="20"><p>This time, I marinaded side pork ribs (cheaper than back ribs) in the sauce I used last time at the end minus the pineapple and with more lemon lime sauce. I will once again slow roast them at 250° F for four hours after which I will give them a few turns under the broiler and then coat with straight mutha sauce.<p>Next weekend, my big grillin' brother-in-law-in-law is stopping by and on Saturday I have to put on a BBQ display. The pressure to put on a meaty display is intense. Last night I practiced with some rib-eye steaks under the broiler. I have become very fond of rib-eye lately and, in fact, meat generally. For years I have been a once a month or less meat eating kind of guy. I have switched 180° all of a sudden as a result of my toe being dipped into the world of low carbs as part of the getting into soccer shape effort.<p><img src="images/2004b/ribs2.JPG" hspace="20" vspace="20"><br><i>Out of the oven, coated with mutha sauce</i><p><img src="images/2004b/ribs3.JPG" hspace="20" vspace="20"><br><i>After being rested for a few minutes, chopped into chunks.</i><p>I think that the side rib is very much the junior partner to the back rib. The meat is located in sheets layered with fat. Another hour's cooking may have rendered out more fat but the effect would be the same. I noticed at the Hind Quarter that the price for back ribs was twice that of sides. That being said, the well fattened sides are lush. A mixture of the two might be good, too. Grand thing, these experimentations.
Alan - August 1, 2004 7:36 PM
No photos this weekend but I bought my baby back ribs from the Hind Quarter as opposed to last week's A+P side ribs and the week before's baby backs from Loblaws. A little more expensive but a lot more meat. The butcher left a generous "cap" or layer of meat on top of the ribs. All praised Lord Rib.
Alan - August 10, 2004 6:24 PM
It is only Tuesday and I want ribs already. I have to make this just a Saturday thing or I will find myself governed by pork meat products.
Alan - August 15, 2004 5:40 PM
August 14th, 2004:<p><img src="images/2004b/ribs4.JPG" hspace="20" vspace="20"><p>All good. Back to the Hind Quarter for Baby Backs and the Dinosaur BBQ's pineapple based recipe.