Since Tom is at work most nights of the week, I look for ways to make him feel included in our evening meals. You know, little prep tasks he can accomplish during the day to facilitate dinner preparations to help him to feel involved. That might be a bit of b.s. - it may really be more a matter of my needing all the help I can get feeding these kids, especially on soccer practice nights. Last night's family meal was a rack of ribs which Tom had picked up this week, except for Quinn who is going through an incredibly annoying phase where he seems to only eat yogurt, wheat thins and peanut butter.I've been toying with various cooking methods for ribs for awhile and have tried low heat, indirect heat, slow cooking in the crock pot and broiling. I've heard that some folks boil their meat (keep it clean, folks) prior to grilling, but I wasn't interested in taking that route. I do believe, that yesterday's attempt was my (ok, our) best attempt yet, and here's what I (we) did:
Wrap the ribs in foil, place them on a baking sheet and put in the oven for about 2.5 hours @ 325F. Tom did this in the morning and then refrigerated the ribs until late afternoon. Fire up half of the grill (we actually have 3 burners, so it is more like 2/3 of the grill) to medium hot. Put ribs on the "off" side of the grill for about 40 minutes, turning once. Lower grill to low and baste with the sauce of your choice - I had some commercial bar-b-q sauce, probably loaded with corn syrup, that I mixed together with kecap manis. I generously brushed them with the sauce and cooked them for about 15-18 minutes, turning them 3 or 4 times. They were truly everything I want in a rib - tender, sweet, smoky, falling off the bone...yum. It took a tremendous effort on my part (way more effort than throwing some ribs in foil and abandoning them to the oven for a couple of hours), but I did manage to save one meaty one for the hubby. And that's the closest we get to family dinner mid-week.
Since you are using a gas grill, you can still add some real wood smoke if you so desire...by soaking chips for at least half an hour and then make a foil packet and punch some holes in it....won't get quite the same taste as you would with a charcoal grill and smoke...but it will add to the overall taste.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see you're sticking to your roots and using Kecap Manis!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd to drink there was...
ReplyDeleteI'm a big beer and ribs fan. But Champagne or some other sparkling wine are really nice at clearing all the rich fatty meat from the palate.
Or is there no drinking on a school night.
This was another great piece that made me laugh, think, and salivate. You have re-activated my interest in ribs. I'm going to try your method, soon. Do you have advice for what to look for when buying ribs? Would those big packages at Sam's Club be good enough or should I just break down and go to a butcher? We have Jack's Meats in New Paltz, which has quality products but is much more costly?
ReplyDeleteConfused in Gardiner
@llcwine - Thank you! We have some wood chips and I didn't know quite how to use them - perfect.
ReplyDelete@Dominick - Kecap Manis is my secret ingredient in most everything grilled. Maybe I'm a little Indo, too?
@Daniel - No drinking on school nights - except for Champagne on the Park, of course. I've been loving dry rose, Ramian is a fav.
@James - Thanks :) Our ribs were just grocery store items and I was pleased with them. We usually go to the butcher for lamb or more obscure beef cuts, but most of our meat is basic Price Chopper/Hannaford stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need to locate some of that kecap manis...sounds interesting.
ReplyDeletewhere can i pick up that kecap manis?
ReplyDeleteoh, that liz post is me, emily....rib fan for life.
ReplyDelete