Korean Glazed County Style Ribs →

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021

When my son, Loren, and daughter-in-law, Eunhye Moon, visited from San Antonio, Texas, they brought us a big bag of some of their favorite Korean sauces, condiments, and treats. Among the sauces was a bottle of CJ Foods brand Korean Hot and Spicy BBQ Sauce/Marinade which provides the base for this complex spicy, fruity bbq sauce recipe that pairs perfectly with grilled pork. The sauce has a slow burn with plenty of fruity and gingery notes to complement the rich pork. Serve with sesame noodles or rice, and grilled squash or your vegetable/salad of choice. Enjoy! Mas-issge deuseyo!

Korean Glazed Country Style Ribs
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:

• 3 pounds meaty country-style pork ribs bone-in (sub Kansas style pork ribs if you prefer)

• 1 cup Korean Hot and Spicy BBQ Sauce/Marinade (If you don’t have Korean, any good quality BBQ sauce will do, but it won’t have quite the same flavor profile)

• ½ cup apple cider (sub apple juice if you don’t have cider)

• ½ cup peach-ginger preserve (or other peach or orange preserve)

• ½ cup of peach slices (fresh, frozen, or from a jar)

• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar (if using sweetened peach slices, use 3 tablespoons of vinegar.)

• extra hot sauce to taste (optional)

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325 F.

1. Marinate the pork in the BBQ sauce/marinade refrigerated for two or more hours.

2. Place the pork in a Pyrex baking dish or other oven-safe container. Add the cider to the dish and cover tightly with tin foil.

3. Bake for about 2 hours until the pork is very tender, but not falling apart.

4. Carefully remove the pork from the Pyrex dish and set aside covered with the tin foil.

5. Pour the cooking juices from the baking dish into a bowl and set aside until the fat separates from the juice. Spoon off the fat or use a fat separator and pour the remaining juices into a saucepan along with the fruit preserve, peach slices, and vinegar.

6. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.

7. Brush both sides of the pork ribs liberally with the glaze sauce. Reserve the remaining sauce with the peach slices.

8. Pre-heat your grill to hot. Oil the grates and grill the ribs for 1-2 minutes per side until the glaze begins to caramelize and char. Carefully remove the ribs from the grill and tent lightly with foil.

9. Pour the remaining sauce with peach slices into a blender and pulse a few times until you have a slightly chunky sauce. (Note: at this point, the sauce will have a mild-to-moderate slow burn. If you want more spicy-heat add a few teaspoons of peach hot sauce, or your favorite hot sauce to taste.)

10. Serve the ribs with the peach sauce on the side.

Photo: c. foodblogchef 2021

(Note: this recipe would work equally well with Kansas style pork ribs or grilled pork tenderloin)

Wine pairing: an off-dry white wine like a dry Riesling or Gewurztraminer pairs well with this rich spicy hot barbecue. A Viognier would also work.

Spicy-Sweet-and-Tangy Barbecue Ribs →

If you love grilled pork ribs, this is a must-try recipe! The mixture of Barbecue, Duck, and Hoisin sauces also works well on grilled chicken. All the flavoring ingredients keep well and will amplify your summer grilling experience. Serve the ribs with Saffron Yellow Rice and Black Beans.

Spicy-Sweet-and-Tangy Barbecue Ribs
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 slabs baby back ribs (about 2 ½ pounds each)

• Kansas City Dry Rub for Pork

• 1/2 cup Bourbon-Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce (recommended, but you can substitute your sauce of choice)

• 1/2 cup Chinese Style Duck Sauce (recommended, but you can use store-bought Duck Sauce)

• 1/2 cup Hoisin Sauce

• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne

• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 300°F.

1. Rinse the meat under cold water and dry. Using a paper towel, pull the membrane off the back of the ribs, and discard.

2. Sprinkle the ribs all over generously with the dry rub mix and rub the mix into the meat.

3. Place the ribs, meaty side up, on a broiler-safe wire rack set inside a large rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, and refrigerate for at least four hours. (preferably overnight)

4. Remove the ribs from the fridge an hour before placing in the preheated oven. Cover with tin foil and roast on the middle rack of the oven for about 2-2 ½ hours until tender but not falling apart. You can test how tender it is by piercing the meat with a fork.

5. While the ribs marinate, combine the ingredients for the sauce in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Leave the sauce in the saucepan to let the flavors meld until you glaze the ribs.

6. Preheat your grill or broiler (about 8 inches from the flame).

7. While the grill preheats to 400-450 F, baste the ribs generously all over with the reserved sauce.

8. Place the ribs meaty side down on the grate and grill until the meat just begins to char. (about 3 minutes) Turn over and baste again leaving on the grill for another 2-3 minutes until the ribs begin to char on the bottom side.

Transfer ribs to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes. Cut the ribs between bones to separate, and mound ribs on a serving platter. Garnish with sliced scallions or chopped cilantro. (optional) Serve with extra sauce mixture on the side. (optional)

Wine pairing: medium-bodied red wines like Cotes du Rhone, Zinfandel, non-leathery Rioja, or a lighter Grenache; fuller-bodied, non-minerally, fruit-forward white wines could include full-bodied Viognier, Riesling, or many white wines from the Rhone Valley.

Tuscan Ribs

This is my take on a recipe I collected from Food and Wine Magazine over 15 years ago. It is a classic Mediterranean style recipe that flavors the ribs with a paste or olive oil and herbs and then finishes the meat with a Balsamic glaze. I prefer to slow cook the ribs in the oven with fruit juice and then make a basting sauce by reducing the juices from the meat with the balsamic vinegar and finishing the meat for a few minutes on the grill. Either way I think you’ll enjoy this alternative to traditional American style tomato-molasses-vinegar barbecue ribs. Buon appetito!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves

• 1 ½ tablespoons kosher salt

• 1 ½ tablespoons fennel seeds

• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper (preferably freshly ground)

• 2 teaspoons chopped sage (or a rounded ½ teaspoon powdered sage)

• 2 teaspoons chopped thyme (½ rounded teaspoon dried thyme)

• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika

• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or ½ teaspoon for a milder rub)

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• ½ teaspoon ground allspice

• 3-4 pounds pork spareribs (tough membrane on the bone side removed)

• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• 1 cup fruit juice like Cranberry-Pomegranate or Apple cider/juice

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl or spice grinder, combine the dry ingredients (rosemary, kosher salt, fennel, black pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, crushed red pepper, coriander, and allspice) and grind to a coarse mixture. Add the olive oil to the spice mixture in a bowl mix until you have a thick paste. Rub the spice paste all over the spareribs, wrap in plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Arrange the ribs on a rack in a large, rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, meaty side up. Pour the juice into the pan, cover, and seal the roasting pan with tin foil. Roast the ribs for 2 hours, or until tender.

3. Remove the meat to a platter and tent. Skim off the extra fat and pour the accumulated juices into a saucepan with the balsamic vinegar, bring to a boil, and simmer until reduced to a light syrupy consistency. (about 1/3-1/2 cup)

4. Preheat the broiler. Brush the meaty side of the ribs with the balsamic-juice reduction and broil 6 inches from the heat until browned, about 2 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut between the ribs and serve.

5. Alternatively, brush the ribs with the balsamic-juice reduction, place the ribs meaty side down over a low- to medium-hot grill and grill for about two minutes until you have a nice crisp crust. Monitor carefully so you don’t burn the ribs.

Wine Pair: a slightly spicy medium-bodied red with low acidity or a lighter-bodied Sangiovese-based red like Chianti. Portuguese red wines from the Douro River region as well as the neighboring Spanish reds from the Rio Duero region, or non-leathery Riojas.

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/tuscan-style-spareribs-balsamic-glaze
Bruce Aidells' Complete Book of Pork