Baby Back Ribs
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Baby Back Ribs are my specialty. There are many, many recepies (Google sez 349,000) including this one from Alton Brown which looks pretty good. A barbeque purist may scoff at a recipe that puts the ribs in water but these are really very tasty. They are fall-off-the bone ribs and full of flavor. If you make these, please don't rush the process.
I use a large enamel roasting pan. The pan is 12" x 16" x 5" and has a lid with the same dimensions. Both the pan and lid have handles that are easy to grip while wearing mits. This particular pan has been in my family for at least 65 years and belonged to my mother. It works well for all kinds of roasting from a 20-pound turkey to a large standing rib.
I get my ribs from COSTCO. The ribs come in packages of three racks. They are well trimmed and have a good amount of meat on them. I usually buy three packages no matter how many people there are going to be. The cooked ribs freeze well and the cooking process is just about as long for 9 slabs as it is for 1 slab.
First in the pan are veggies. In this batch I used one onion, three carrots and a half a bell pepper. But really, you can chop up anything in the vegetable bin that is not moldy and toss it all in. That's what I usually do after I chop an onion. An onion is the only thing I consider essential. Feel free to be creative.
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Next are spices and sauces. We want flavors to get into the meat as it cooks. For this batch I used 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, 1/2 cup oyster flavor sauce and 2 corner-to-corner squirts of sriracha. I added a quart of water and stirred it up. This water makes it thin enough to flow all around the ribs as they cook.
Open the ribs and wash each rack. Cut each rack exactly in half and place them in the pan standing on end. A half rack just fits the width and depth of the roaster. The rectangular shape makes it possible to put as many as 9 pieces in, although 6 pieces takes less handling to have them cook evenly.
After the pieces are stacked in the pan and filled with hot water, set the pan so that a large burner is under the middle of the pan. The first part is to bring the water to a simmer. I crank the heat up to 'eleven' and use a *GENTLE* wave motion (moving ribs, not the pan) to circulate the water and mix the spices.
Cover the pan with heavy duty foil. I take the foil off about once a half hour until I am certain I have a simmer going steadily. After a couple of batches you will know the proper setting if you write it down now. While the foil is off I pull the center pieces out and moving them to the end. Some will need to be turned over because they not under water.
As the cooking progresses, the meat will shrink and the water will circulate better. In the third hour they become quite fragile so don't handle them very much at all. When the meat has pulled back so bone is exposed, turn off the heat and let the pan sit covered for at least two hours until the liquid is cool enough to work with.
Right now the meat is very fragile. I use very long tongs, holding as much of the half-slab as possible with them and my hand for the rest. I take the ribs from one pan out onto a flat pan and dump out the liquid. I put the ribs from the second pan in the first then pile on the ribs from the first. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
About 4 hours before serving we begin saucing. After the night in the refrigerator the ribs have firmed up and are easy to handle. Cut the ribs into 1 or 2-rib portions, dip in sauce and place on a cookie sheet. The sauce should be thinned with 1/3 water and/or vinegar. I use 1 cup BBQ sauce, 1 cup oyster sauce and 1 cup rice wine vinegar.
Broil the sauced ribs until they start to get charred. The broiling has two functions. First, I get a fake BBQ look. Second, the temperature of each portion is raised so that the pan will be evenly heated for serving. I alternate two cookie sheets for the broiling, piling them tightly in the other roaster as they come out of the broiler.
All that is left is to finish the warming. Put about a cup of water in the bottom of the roaster and cover with foil. If you have oven space available, great! I usually don't so I put the pan back on the stovetop on the lowest possible heat. Allow at least an hour, two is better. Remove the foil an serve from this pan.
