Today we're having dinner with my brother's.
My contribution is red-cooked (or red-braised) spare ribs.
Red cooking is basically braising meats in a soy sauce based liquid. The soy sauce colors the meat which gives the meat it's "red" color.
Typical recipes call for fresh soy sauce (light soy sauce - not to be confused with the light, low sodium soy sauces) and aged soy sauce (dark soy sauce). The aged soy sauce is what provides a majority of the coloring.
This recipe is adapted from Fuchsia Dunlop's, "Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook."
What caught my eye with this recipe is the use of caramelized sugar instead of aged soy sauce.
Braising Liquid Ingredients
1 slab Pork Spare Ribs (about 2 to 3 lbs)
2 T Brown Sugar
2 T Oil
Ginger (about 5 to 6 quarter size slices)
1/4 t ground cinnamon (or 1 stick)
1 Star Anise
1 Green Onion
1 Clove Garlic
Water or Broth (enough to almost cover the ribs)
The rest is on YouTube.
Enjoy! :-)
Showing posts with label ribs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ribs. Show all posts
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Jul 26: Southern BBQ in Seattle?
PK clipped a coupon for a new barbeque place in North Seattle that advertises itself as "A taste of the South" and "We have a wide range of true Southern dishes to make your mouth beg for more."
The slow smoked rib supper plate - four ribs and two sides.
Ribs are definitely smoked and "falling off the bone".
There's always a debate with rib aficionados about whether the meat should "fall of the bones" or the meat still should have some "bite" or firmness. Personally, as long as the food is good, I don't care.
These ribs were nice. Just slightly smokey and a light-tasting dry rub.
Two sides - cole slaw and red beans and rice.
Barbeque sauce was requested on the side. To me, the sauce tasted mainly like catsup. I'll pass on the sauce.
Chicken - 10 piece supper plate. My two sides were greens and red beans and rice.
Chicken drumettes fried in Fish Fry (Paul asked). Fish fry is mainly a mixture of corn meal and corn flour (finely ground corn meal).
The slow smoked rib supper plate - four ribs and two sides.
Ribs are definitely smoked and "falling off the bone".
There's always a debate with rib aficionados about whether the meat should "fall of the bones" or the meat still should have some "bite" or firmness. Personally, as long as the food is good, I don't care.
These ribs were nice. Just slightly smokey and a light-tasting dry rub.
Two sides - cole slaw and red beans and rice.
Barbeque sauce was requested on the side. To me, the sauce tasted mainly like catsup. I'll pass on the sauce.
Chicken - 10 piece supper plate. My two sides were greens and red beans and rice.
Chicken drumettes fried in Fish Fry (Paul asked). Fish fry is mainly a mixture of corn meal and corn flour (finely ground corn meal).
Red beans and rice... Hmmm... I'm used to a different version where the red beans is more saucy and served over white rice.
Greens - with smoked meats and onions. No sugar! In the South, everyone has a way of cooking greens. Some people add sugar to their greens while others add vinegar. This one was straight forward. Greens and smoked meats.
Of course, you have to wash everything down with sweet tea.
When I lived in New Orleans and being a Yankee, sweet tea was something new to me. In fact, I remember one of my first lunches with coworkers and ordering iced tea. The tea I got was very sweet. I thought I was drinking out of someone else's cup. My coworkers set me straight about the sweet tea. In fact, it was difficult to find places that served unsweetened iced tea.
This version of sweet tea was actually only slightly sweet. Toned down for the Yankee locals?
Overall, I thought the food decent but toned down just like the sweet tea. For example, the greens weren't bad, but the liquor was on the plain side. Red beans and rice did not have the flavor of smoked ham that I was expecting.
I would go there again to sample more of their food.*
*Note: A couple reasons why I don't review restaurants.
*Note: A couple reasons why I don't review restaurants.
1. I usually don't have a camera to take pictures.
2. I seem to focus on the misses which would lead someone to think I hate the place.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Jun 8 Barbecued Spare Ribs
Cooking day!
Starting the charcoal
The Cowboy brand lump charcoal was purchased 3 years ago and is mainly small pieces of scrap wood, too small to really do much. However, I found they light pretty easily and are great in the bottom of the chimney starter.
With a few pieces of lump charcoal on the bottom, I fill the rest of the chimney starter with briquettes. Big bags purchased at Costco. Too bad I didn't buy stock in Costco, I've seem to mention Costco a lot and go there quite often.
While the coals are lighting, I prepared two hickory wood packets used to generate the smoke.
Many websites and food shows recommend soaking the wood before throwing them directly on the coals. I found this method generates too much smoke at once and supposedly creates more carcinogens.
A handful of hickory chips.
Wrap the chips in heavy duty foil and puncture the pouch with a toothpick. Wrapping the wood chips prevents the chips from burning, since you're depriving the oxygen, and the small hole allows the flavoring smoke to escape a little at a time. Besides, the wood chips will probably poke out at places in the pack creating more smoke, as in the bottom left of this pack.
Two slabs of ribs in a newly purchased rack. The rack allows more ribs to be cooked at once.
Once the coals are ready, I dumped them into the firebox and allowed the smoker to come up to 250F.
When the smoker is at 250F, the ribs were placed in the cooking compartment.
Ribs were basted and the rack rotated every 20 minutes.
I try to maintain a temperature between 200F and 250F. I found just placing two or three lit briquettes in the cooking compartment helps.
The wood chip packet placed on the coals.
Note the coals are to the side of the ribs in a separate compartment, indirect cooking.
After the first hour, the second hickory pack was used. The chips from the first pack have converted to charcoal so I just dumped those spent wood chips onto the coals.
I started kind of late and was cutting it close to the start of the party.
Ideally, the ribs would smoke/cook for 4 to 5 hours.
This is how the ribs looked at 2.5 hours into cooking.
Next, I gave the ribs a final baste and moved the ribs into a 325F oven for about 45 minutes.
The aroma was mouth watering. The smell of the hickory smoke and the seasonings were enticing.
The ribs out of the oven. Seeing the dark edges around the ribs, I was kind of worried that I dried out the ribs.
However, the ribs sliced very nicely and a quality control taste eased my concern about burnt, dry chewy ribs. The ribs had smoky, savory flavor.
Texture was nice - tender not mushy.
Note: The pink you see in the ribs is not raw meat. This is due to the smoking, known as a smoke ring.
Personally, I like to eat ribs dry (no sauce) especially when they have a lot of flavor. If I do use sauce, I lean towards a vinegary sauce. Most commercial brands just seem too sweet to me.
Recipes:
Basting Sauce - used while the ribs were smoking.
1 C Cider Vinegar
3/4 C Oil
1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
4 T Butter
3 Cloves
2 cloves Garlic, mashed
1/2 Onion, sliced
1T Mustard, Yellow Prepared
1 Lemon, sliced
Add everything to a sauce pan and let heat about 10 minutes.
Barbecue Sauce - a vinegary sauce used as a condiment.
1.5 Cups of Tomato Sauce (Sauce I made a few days ago)
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1/2 Onion, Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic
3 Cloves
1T Worcestershire Sauce
1 T Prepared Mustard
1/4 C Apple Juice
Heat and cook to reduce/thicken.
As I was tasting, I eventually add 1 T molasses, 1 T brown sugar and 1/2 t of sambal chili sauce.
Yesterday's Prep Work
Barbecue Links:
Garry's BBQ Pit - the basis of my basting sauce (mop) and my bbq sauce
Barbecue Institute - recipes and bbq cooking class which was fun and informative.
Virtual Weber Bullet - smoking tips and recipes
Starting the charcoal
The Cowboy brand lump charcoal was purchased 3 years ago and is mainly small pieces of scrap wood, too small to really do much. However, I found they light pretty easily and are great in the bottom of the chimney starter.
With a few pieces of lump charcoal on the bottom, I fill the rest of the chimney starter with briquettes. Big bags purchased at Costco. Too bad I didn't buy stock in Costco, I've seem to mention Costco a lot and go there quite often.
While the coals are lighting, I prepared two hickory wood packets used to generate the smoke.
Many websites and food shows recommend soaking the wood before throwing them directly on the coals. I found this method generates too much smoke at once and supposedly creates more carcinogens.
A handful of hickory chips.
Wrap the chips in heavy duty foil and puncture the pouch with a toothpick. Wrapping the wood chips prevents the chips from burning, since you're depriving the oxygen, and the small hole allows the flavoring smoke to escape a little at a time. Besides, the wood chips will probably poke out at places in the pack creating more smoke, as in the bottom left of this pack.
Two slabs of ribs in a newly purchased rack. The rack allows more ribs to be cooked at once.
Once the coals are ready, I dumped them into the firebox and allowed the smoker to come up to 250F.
When the smoker is at 250F, the ribs were placed in the cooking compartment.
Ribs were basted and the rack rotated every 20 minutes.
I try to maintain a temperature between 200F and 250F. I found just placing two or three lit briquettes in the cooking compartment helps.
The wood chip packet placed on the coals.
Note the coals are to the side of the ribs in a separate compartment, indirect cooking.
After the first hour, the second hickory pack was used. The chips from the first pack have converted to charcoal so I just dumped those spent wood chips onto the coals.
I started kind of late and was cutting it close to the start of the party.
Ideally, the ribs would smoke/cook for 4 to 5 hours.
This is how the ribs looked at 2.5 hours into cooking.
Next, I gave the ribs a final baste and moved the ribs into a 325F oven for about 45 minutes.
The aroma was mouth watering. The smell of the hickory smoke and the seasonings were enticing.
The ribs out of the oven. Seeing the dark edges around the ribs, I was kind of worried that I dried out the ribs.
However, the ribs sliced very nicely and a quality control taste eased my concern about burnt, dry chewy ribs. The ribs had smoky, savory flavor.
Texture was nice - tender not mushy.
Note: The pink you see in the ribs is not raw meat. This is due to the smoking, known as a smoke ring.
Personally, I like to eat ribs dry (no sauce) especially when they have a lot of flavor. If I do use sauce, I lean towards a vinegary sauce. Most commercial brands just seem too sweet to me.
Recipes:
Basting Sauce - used while the ribs were smoking.
1 C Cider Vinegar
3/4 C Oil
1/4 C Worcestershire Sauce
4 T Butter
3 Cloves
2 cloves Garlic, mashed
1/2 Onion, sliced
1T Mustard, Yellow Prepared
1 Lemon, sliced
Add everything to a sauce pan and let heat about 10 minutes.
Barbecue Sauce - a vinegary sauce used as a condiment.
1.5 Cups of Tomato Sauce (Sauce I made a few days ago)
1 Cup Cider Vinegar
1/2 Onion, Chopped
2 Cloves Garlic
3 Cloves
1T Worcestershire Sauce
1 T Prepared Mustard
1/4 C Apple Juice
Heat and cook to reduce/thicken.
As I was tasting, I eventually add 1 T molasses, 1 T brown sugar and 1/2 t of sambal chili sauce.
Yesterday's Prep Work
Barbecue Links:
Garry's BBQ Pit - the basis of my basting sauce (mop) and my bbq sauce
Barbecue Institute - recipes and bbq cooking class which was fun and informative.
Virtual Weber Bullet - smoking tips and recipes
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Jun 7 Barbecue Prep - Spare Ribs
A neighbor is having a going away party for an international student they are hosting.
Growing up in California, barbecue and grilling are used synonymously. Both use coals to cook food, right? However, as I learned in my adventures in meat cookery, they have two different meanings.
Barbecue uses the concept of cooking proteins "low and slow". Low indirect heat applied over a matters of hours. Indirect heat just means that coals are off to the side of the meat being cooked.
Grilling implies cooking with high direct heat. Cooking times are usually under an hour with the meat directly over the coals.
My contribution to the party is barbecued spare ribs. With all the rainy weather, I've been getting antsy to use my smoker/grill.
A slab of spare ribs.
Note the crease below the first 5 rib bones on the left side of the slab.
My intent is to trim the ribs St. Louis Style.
Below the crease is the sternum (mainly cartilage) that runs perpendicular to the ribs.
When you trim the ribs, you cut off the sternum cartilage, plus you try to square off the slab.
Cut and try to run parallel to the end of the ribs.
The next step is to remove the then membrane covering the ribs. You can slip the tip of the knife under the membrane to create an gap. Afterwards you use your finger to enlarge the opening and work to the end. Afterwards, you can use a paper towel (get get a good grip) and peel the membrane off the ribs. Trim off any large chunks of fat and membrane from the rest of the backside.
(Optional) Flipped the ribs over. The ribs are a uniform thickness. However, there's usually an extra portion of meat (on the left end of this photo). I usually don't trim it off, but for today I did.
The extra portion trimmed off. The fat and membrane was trimmed off the ribs.
The spare ribs trimmed St. Louis Style.
Note the clean line of of pork running diagonally about mid-slab.
This is a little flap of meat that some people trim. I left it on.
Also, note the right end of the rib was trimmed to square off the slab.
The ribs were seasoned an allowed to sit overnight.
A light coating of mustard.
A light coating of Susie-Q.
A light coating of Louisiana seasoning.
Note: When I used a chili based dry rub, I apply a much heavier coating. With Susie-Q, it contains msg and salt, so I go much lighter on the salt based seasonings. I'm not making salt pork... lol
Tomorrow - Cooking Day!
Growing up in California, barbecue and grilling are used synonymously. Both use coals to cook food, right? However, as I learned in my adventures in meat cookery, they have two different meanings.
Barbecue uses the concept of cooking proteins "low and slow". Low indirect heat applied over a matters of hours. Indirect heat just means that coals are off to the side of the meat being cooked.
Grilling implies cooking with high direct heat. Cooking times are usually under an hour with the meat directly over the coals.
My contribution to the party is barbecued spare ribs. With all the rainy weather, I've been getting antsy to use my smoker/grill.
A slab of spare ribs.
Note the crease below the first 5 rib bones on the left side of the slab.
My intent is to trim the ribs St. Louis Style.
Below the crease is the sternum (mainly cartilage) that runs perpendicular to the ribs.
When you trim the ribs, you cut off the sternum cartilage, plus you try to square off the slab.
Cut and try to run parallel to the end of the ribs.
The next step is to remove the then membrane covering the ribs. You can slip the tip of the knife under the membrane to create an gap. Afterwards you use your finger to enlarge the opening and work to the end. Afterwards, you can use a paper towel (get get a good grip) and peel the membrane off the ribs. Trim off any large chunks of fat and membrane from the rest of the backside.
(Optional) Flipped the ribs over. The ribs are a uniform thickness. However, there's usually an extra portion of meat (on the left end of this photo). I usually don't trim it off, but for today I did.
The extra portion trimmed off. The fat and membrane was trimmed off the ribs.
The spare ribs trimmed St. Louis Style.
Note the clean line of of pork running diagonally about mid-slab.
This is a little flap of meat that some people trim. I left it on.
Also, note the right end of the rib was trimmed to square off the slab.
The ribs were seasoned an allowed to sit overnight.
A light coating of mustard.
A light coating of Susie-Q.
A light coating of Louisiana seasoning.
Note: When I used a chili based dry rub, I apply a much heavier coating. With Susie-Q, it contains msg and salt, so I go much lighter on the salt based seasonings. I'm not making salt pork... lol
Tomorrow - Cooking Day!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Apr 8 - Ribs
Roasted the other half of the rack of spare ribs from the other day.
Really simple...
Sprinkle salt and black pepper on the ribs.
You can also use your favorite seasoning mix or dry rub.
Also, I had some about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of hard cider leftover... poured that into the baking dish.
Bake 350F for 2 hours starting with the meat side up.
After an hour flipped so bone side is up.
Last 30 minutes... gave the ribs a brush of bbq sauce and finished meat side up. I don't like sauce on my ribs so I gave it a very light coating.
The finished results
Cut down the bone.
Really simple...
Sprinkle salt and black pepper on the ribs.
You can also use your favorite seasoning mix or dry rub.
Also, I had some about 1/3 to 1/2 bottle of hard cider leftover... poured that into the baking dish.
Bake 350F for 2 hours starting with the meat side up.
After an hour flipped so bone side is up.
Last 30 minutes... gave the ribs a brush of bbq sauce and finished meat side up. I don't like sauce on my ribs so I gave it a very light coating.
The finished results
Cut down the bone.
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