cooking spare ribs
Cooking Spare Ribs
Spare ribs are less tender and meatier than other meat cuts. Excellent methods for cooking spare ribs are oven roasting, barbecuing, or braising in a slow cooker. This article gives a few recipes which will give you the best results in every cooking style.
Spare ribs, also called spareribs, are basically pork or beef cuts taken from the lower portion of the ribs and breastbone. In food stores, you can find these with 11 - 13 long bones. When it comes to preparing them, they are first prepared by cutting into 3 - 5 inch smaller pieces and then cooked by steaming, grilling, braising, or frying.
Preparation Tips
Sold as the most inexpensive part, spare ribs are prepared and enjoyed in different ways. While buying these long cuts, choose pink meat with whitish fats. Before cooking the ribs, prepare them by removing the thin tough membrane that lines their lower side.
Cooking in an Oven
Ingredients
- Pork spareribs, 3 - 4 pounds
- Onion, 2 (medium-sized, sliced)
- Ketchup, ¾ cup
- Water, ¾ cup
- Worcestershire sauce, 2 teaspoons
- Vinegar, 2 teaspoons
- Paprika, 1 teaspoon
- Chili powder, 1 teaspoon
- Salt, 1 teaspoon
- Black pepper, ½ teaspoon
- Red pepper, ½ teaspoon
- Considering that you have selected meaty spare ribs, remove the membrane layer and cut the ribs into serving sized pieces. Or else, you can leave them uncut.
- Place them into a platter and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides. Rub with your fingers so that the spices are evenly coated over the meat cuts.
- Transfer the seasoned spare ribs into a roasting pan and it keep aside. By this time, preheat the oven at 350°F.
- In a mixing bowl, combine ketchup, water, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, paprika, chili powder, and the remaining pepper and salt.
- Pour this mixture into the roasting pan and then, put on the lid and bake the spareribs in the oven for about 1½ hours.
- In between, turn and baste them occasionally.
- When the cooking time completes 1 hour 15 minutes, remove the lid and allow the ribs to brown well. If preferred, separate the individual ribs and serve with barbecue sauce.
- Spareribs, 3 pounds
- Paprika, 4 tablespoons
- Brown sugar, 2 tablespoons
- Chili powder, 2 tablespoons
- Cumin, 1 tablespoon
- Barbecue sauce
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Instant-read thermometer (if available)
- Rinse the spare ribs under cold running water and pat them dry.
- Take a small bowl and mix brown sugar, chili powder, paprika, cumin, pepper, and salt. With your fingers, rub the spice mixture over the spare ribs.
- In a metal pan, stack the ribs one above the other. After you place all the ribs, cover the pan with aluminum foil.
- Now, start the gas grill and preheat only one element at a high temperature setting. After 3 - 4 minutes, reduce the heat to medium low.
- Put the metal pan with the spare ribs in the grill, opposite to the heat source. Close the gas grill and cook the meat for 45 minutes.
- After this, open the foil and rearrange the ribs, in such a way that the top are brought to the bottom and vice versa.
- Continue rearranging them after every 45 minutes for approximately 4 hours.
- Now, with the thermometer, you can check the temperature inside the meat. If it reads 175° F, the ribs are cooked well.
- Remove them from the grill and serve hot with your favorite sauce.
- Pork spareribs, 2 pounds
- Tomato soup, 1 can (condensed)
- Onion, 1 (chopped)
- Garlic, 3 cloves (minced)
- Soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
- Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon
- Brown sugar, 1 tablespoon
- In a stock pot, place the prepared spare ribs and pour enough water to cover them. Bring it to a boil and leave it like that for 15 minutes.
- In a bowl, mix the ingredients - soup, onion, garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Take out the ribs from the stock pot and transfer them into a slow cooker. Add the sauce mixture, cover it with the lid and cook for 6 - 8 hours, or until the ribs turn tender.
- Garnish with fresh herbs, and serve hot.