We had these rather uniquely textured and seasoned rack of pork ribs in Milwaukee over Thanksgiving. My niece prepared them expertly. For New Years dinner, I got out her recipe (which came from Bon Appetit) and did them. Braising the ribs (Bon Appetit wrongly called it roasting) lends a tenderness to the rack that cannot be done on the grill without charring them to a dry death. The original recipe called for grilling the racks of ribs after two hours of braising to reheat them and to impart a glaze to the barbecue sauce. Try it if you like, but the braised ribs are already falling off the bone and moving the racks to the grill without breaking them will prove very difficult. It’s not worth it. Instead, finish the racks uncovered for the last half hour to dry them out a bit and make them table sauce receptive.
Here is my version and complete rewrite of the recipe:
Braised Racks of Pork Ribs
See Abbreviations, if needed
Ribs: (General
Rule: Allow five ribs per person)
2 racks of baby back pork ribs
Dry Rub:
1T salt
2T brown sugar
2t dry mustard
2t thyme
1t ginger, fresh grated or dry ground
½ t cinnamon, fresh grated or dry ground
½ t cayenne
Pan Roasting Mixture:
1 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick, broken
1T ginger, freshly grated
2C+ apple cider (not apple cider vinegar)
Barbecue Sauce:
½ C brown sugar
1 oz butter, melted
¼ C bourbon
¼ C rice wine or white wine vinegar
2T Dijon mustard
1. Remove silver skin from back of ribs, trim off excess fat and set aside
2. Prepare dry rub by mixing all ingredients together in a
small bowl
3. Hand rub the ribs with the dry rub, cover and chill for
a couple hours
4. Spray or rub sheet pan or roasting pan surface with EVOO
5. Place roasting pan mixture (less apple cider) in pan
6. Lay ribs in pan meat side down, then add apple cider to cover pan bottom by a quarter inch
7. Cover pan with foil and place in preheated 325F oven
(FYI: covered is braising–uncovered is roasting)
8. Place sauce ingredients in a pan and heat gently to simmer
and set aside
9. Braise until ribs are very tender and meat is pulling away from the ribs (about 2 to 2.5 hours). Remove cover for the last half hour
10. Remove pan from oven, uncover and let stand until grill is hot (1 hour max)
11. Carefully remove rack of ribs from roasting pan onto serving platter
12. Cut racks with a sharp serrated knife into one or two bone servings
13. Reheat barbecue sauce and serve as a side.
