Food for thought: A little friendly ribbing
By Kyra Hoggan
There’s something about this amazing weather that turns every red-blooded Canadian’s mind to … that’s right … BARBECUE!
Ribs being the quintessential barbecue item, I spent many years longing for barbecue but unable to find gluten-free barbecue sauce we could eat. Oh, the horror.
Turns out, though, that ribs are easy and don’t even require a barbecue, if you haven’t got one – the trick is to slow cook them for several hours. You can do a dry rub, or a sauce, or even just chuck ’em in the oven as-is at 300 for roughly three hours (covered) , and they’ll be fall-off-the-bone tender.
Then brush them with barbecue sauce, and grill (or broil) until the sauce is nicely caramelized, get out the napkins and dig in! (I’m pretty sure this is where the term “pig out” came from!)
So – let’s talk sauces and rubs. First off, Worcestershire (say THAT three times really fast) is an ingredient you’ll find in virtually every recipe, which is fine, but you have to buy it Stateside. In Canada, we get the British/Canadian recipe, which includes malt vinegar (bad, bad, BAD!), but the American version uses white vinegar, so it’s okay.
Not heading to Spokane any time soon? No problem, here are some recipes you can use instead. As with all recipes, add more of your favourite stuff, less of that for which you don’t care much.
Remove silvery membrane from back (bone side) of ribs before cooking. I also usually cut the rack into two- or three-rib chunks.
Honey Mustard sauce:
1 rack baby back ribs
1 cup honey
1 cup yellow mustard (I use Dijon because it makes me feel special)
1 tbsp of dried thyme
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne (optional)
1 tsp salt
Whisk together, pour over ribs, bake for about 3 hours at 300. If you want to thicken sauce after, use a tbsp of cornstarch dissolved in water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
Dry rub version:
I got this from my friend Leanne and altered it a bit to suit our tastes. I can’t eat these without thinking fondly of her!
1 rack baby back or spare ribs
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Mix everything but the vinegar into a bowl. Rinse ribs, then coat with dry rub. Cook, tightly covered, at 300 for three hours or so. You can barbecue them after oven-cooking for a nice char, but you don’t have to. Reserve liquid at bottom of pan, add vinegar and a tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water, bring to a boil to thicken, that’s your sauce. So, so, so yummy!
Barbecue sauce:
You can just cook the ribs plain, if you like, then slather this over them on the grill.
2 cups ketchup
1 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (NOT malt vinegar)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tbsp ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp ground mustard
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (omit this if you can’t get US version)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp red chili flakes
Chuck it all in a pot (the fussy chefs say ‘saucepan’. I only have pots), bring to boil, then turn down and simmer for 20 minutes or so to let all the flavours mix.
Slap it all over your cooked ribs and throw the result on the barbecue. Delish!
Have a wonderful Sunday!
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