oven roasted spareribs

[angrychef]

Since I have more time on my hands these days, I've been getting back into cooking. The new issue of Fine Cooking magazine has this article on dry-rubbed oven roasted ribs ----so I decided to give it a try. Wow.....they were really good. I tried the Chinese style spareribs. A dry rub of coriander, 5-spice powder, chili, fennel, salt and brown sugar is used; then the ribs are popped in a 300F oven for 2 hours. Oh, they were so tender and yummy.

Thumbs up on that recipe!

[Isa]

Sounds great! Would you mind sharing it?

[angrychef]

Here you go, Isa:

2 full(13 rib) racks pork spareribs
kosher salt for sprinkling

Chinese Spice rub:

2 T ground coriander
2 T hot chili powder
2 T dark brown sugar
1 T 5-spice powder
1 T ground fennel
1 T kosher salt
1 t dried chile flakes

Position a rack in center of oven and to 300F.
Sprinkle and press 1/4 cup rub on both sides of each rib rack.
Place ribs, meaty side up on a broiling pan or wire roasting rack set over a baking sheet.
Lightly season with salt and put them in oven.
After the first hour, rotate the pan every 30 minutes.
The ribs begin to become tender after about 2 hours in the oven.


I just halved the recipe and made 1 rack---took about 2 hours exactly. Enjoy.

[Suzanne]

I think it's important to add that Steve Johnson, the author, calls for "St. Louis-cut" ribs. These have the extra flap of meat and integument removed from the more bony side of the rack. That way they are of more even thickness, and cook more evenly. Think Chinese-restaurant spareribs and you'll know the cut. (Thanks to SJ for explaining: I never knew what St. Louis-cut meant, even though I've eaten them at Blue Smoke.)

BTW: this issue of Fine Cooking (Feb/March 2003) is super! Besides the rib recipes, it's got roasted beets, mashed potatoes from 3 different kinds of potatoes, 2 versions of chocolate-chip cookies, Asian noodle soups, AND a comparison of canned tomatoes. Oh, and 4 different chicken stews! And a discussion of what to look for in a slow cooker/Crockpot.

[Isa]

Thanks Angry, can't wait to try it out.

Suzanne,

Do you think butchers outside of St Louis are familiar with this cut?

[angrychef]

I bought the ribs at Safeway and asked the butcher for St. Louis cut----he said he never heard of it! So I bought pork spareribs and planned to do it myself, but lo and behold, when I opened the packaged ribs, they were St. Louis cut(just like the picture in the article).

[Isa]

Thanks Angry!

I'll have to get to the newstand just to see the picture of the St Louis cut...

[kokopuffs]

As mentioned in the article in Fine Cooking, attached to the ribs are part of the breastbone, namely the sternum, and intervening cartilage. To remove the breastbone and achieve the St. Louis cut, just take a chef's knife and slice thru the cartilage that separates the ribs from the sternum. Voila.

[Live_to_cook]

Here's an excellent page (with good, detailed photos) showing how to trim pork ribs down to St Louis cut.


http://virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect2.html#spareprep


Great website for barbecuers, too, by the way -- run by worshipful fans of the Weber Smoky Mountain Cooker.

http://virtualweberbullet.com/index.shtml

[kokopuffs]

I'm markin' that site!

[Pastachef]

Wow, thanks for the yummy recipe, Angry. I am doing it this weekend. It is sure to make the family Happy

[angrychef]

Thanks Live-to-cook, for the great site. Very helpful info.