Slow Pork Ribs

On a recent (6am!) visit to the Smithfield meat market I picked up 1.6kg of pork ribs for the tidy sum of £5. I'm a huge fan of the Waitrose's slow cooked ribs so I tried here replicate the soft, sweet and charred results they achieve.

Ingredients:

1.6kg Pork ribs

250g Pork or beef stock

Basting sauce:

3 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs honey or golden syrup

Pulp of 2 passion fruit (optional)

Juice and zest of 2 limes

2 tbs sesame oil

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tbs hot sauce or chili flakes

Baste the ribs

Combine all the ingredients and brush over the ribs. I cut the rib rack in half to put into a zip lock bag. Store overnight in the fridge.

Slow cook ribs

The trick to ribs is cooking the tough meat slowly so that they are meltingly tender but giving them a high temperature finish so that they get charred and crispy (inducing Maillard reactions that make charred meat so good). Pour the beef stock into the base of the pan and put the rib racks over this. Cover with tin foil. Bake at 80 degrees Celsius (180 F) over night or 110 degrees Celsius (230 F)  for 6 hours. Once cooled place in the same zip-lock bags you left them in and pour into these all the pan juices which will include the lovely beef stock. Marinade overnight or freeze for a quick rib dinner later.

Grill ribs to finish

20 before you're ready to serve the ribs, remove from the zip-lock bags place in a lareg roasting tray and grill on meduim-high temperature for 10 min on each side (or until charred). Even better, do this on a BBQ. 

Serve

I served these with a crisp green salad. Whilst ribs and chips are damn satisfying they are, I feel, too heavy to be a good combo. The crisp salad is light and sharp and complements the sweet and rich ribs

Crisp Salad 

Ingredients:

Crisp salad leaves (mix of Iceberg, Frisee & Radicchio)

Steamed green beans

Feta

Toasted sesame seeds

Dressing:

Juice of 1 lemon

4 tbs of olive oil (or to taste)

1 tbs Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to tattie.