Pork Rib

These irresistible ribs are an import from China that have been adopted—and adapted—by Japanese cooks. I like to prepare them with classic Chinese five-spice seasoning, because I love the rich fragrance and flavors of this mixture of cinnamon, anise seed, star anise, cloves, and ginger. But many cooks in Japan prefer to make the spareribs with simply sansho pepper or freshly ground black pepper and salt (use 1 teaspoon of either pepper with 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt). Try these different spice combinations to see which ones you like best!

Coca-Cola is to Atlanta as Guinness is to Dublin. Friends and family liked my Coca-Cola–Glazed Wings (page 24) so much that I decided to try a similar combination on pork. Pork has a natural affinity for sweet, rich caramel flavors. These “nouveau” Southern ribs are by no means traditional, but they are lip-smacking good. Scotch bonnet peppers are intensely hot, but their fire is tempered by the sweetness of the sugar and Coke. To tone down the heat, substitute jalapeños instead.

I first ate Korean ribs years ago in San Francisco’s Bay Area, where there are many fine Korean restaurants. Although Korean ribs are usually barbecued, this slow-cooked version is a good approximation of the real deal, and the result is mouthwatering.

The most difficult part of making these ribs is waiting for them to be ready. And the best part is that they practically make themselves. It is said that ribs should be cooked low and slow, and this recipe does just that. Cumin, oregano, and chipotle chiles slowly infuse into the meat of these ribs for 3 hours before they are glazed with honey and adobo. A winning combination!

My favorite rib to cook and eat is the baby back, because I learned competitive cooking at MIM contests and that’s their rib of choice. I just developed a real love for them. They’re fun to cook and fun to eat, and they almost always earn me money. Even I can’t ask for more than that!

St. Louis–style ribs do very well in KCBS contests, and because they’re larger they tend to be a little bit easier to handle. A lot of folks favor them because they’re surrounded by more fat to flavor the meat, and when they’re cooked right, they’re tender and bursting with real hog flavor. I cook four racks of ribs at competition, so that’s what these recipes call for; that should serve a nice-size group of people, depending on appetites and on what else is on your menu. If you’re going to cook fewer ribs, you’ll still need to make the rub, marinade, and glaze. You can either cut those recipes in half or you can save the leftovers and use them on other meats (the rib rub, for example, would be great on a pork loin roast), and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what you can do with leftover glaze (I like mine on burgers, though). Regardless of how many racks you’re cooking, the cook time stays the same.

When it comes to pork ribs, for my money I prefer St. Louis ribs to baby back. They’re long and thin with a good amount of meat, not to mention less expensive. Grilling the ribs to crisp them up after they have slow-roasted for a couple of hours may require a little extra effort, but believe me, you’ll reap the rewards with insanely tasty ribs that will have everyone licking their fingers. A creamy cool slaw and sweet-rich barbecue sauce round out this comfort-food meal.

Because of their varying sizes and meat types, cook times on country-style ribs are a little difficult to pinpoint. True country-style ribs are very thick and can take up to an extra hour of cook time compared to the ones labeled “shoulder-cut country-style ribs.” If your ribs have a large cross-section of loin meat (light pink color), your cook time should be less or the lean loin meat will dry out. Your best gauge of doneness is a simple squeeze with your fingertips. If the meat feels rubbery, it needs more cooking. The meat from a perfectly cooked rib can be easily pinched from the bone. Over the years I have found that country-style ribs are an extremely versatile cut. They can be grilled hot or barbecued low and slow, and they partner well with dry rubs or marinades, sweet or savory. This recipe utilizes both a dry rub and a sweet sauce to highlight the flavor of the tender meat achieved by low-heat indirect cooking. One more word of advice: Don’t be bashful when applying the sauce. Slop it on!

In 2001, I made my first national television appearance on Food Network’s Cooking Live with Sara Moulton. I received the invitation after doing a morning radio show with Sara at the Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest. Her only stipulation was that my recipes needed to be cooked in an indoor oven. I have always maintained that any recipe written for the kitchen can be duplicated outdoors with more flavor; here my challenge was to prove the opposite holds true as well. I developed a four-stage rib recipe that layers flavors to make up for the extra punch you can only get from cooking with burning coals. It was pretty successful, but changing the recipe back to the outdoor cooker gives these ribs the best of both worlds.

When a full-size slab of spare ribs is trimmed into a St. Louis–cut spare rib, you are left with rib tips. They are found on the lower portion of the spare ribs close to the pork belly. These cut-away portions of spare ribs have small pieces of cartilage where you would expect to find bones. Rib tips are usually six inches long and one inch thick. These long strips are considered an economy cut but are surprisingly meaty. Sometimes it seems that the best-loved barbecue specialties came into being as a way to use discarded cuts of meat, prepared with common, on-hand ingredients that are “left over.” This recipe was inspired by the many hours I have stood looking into the cupboard wondering what I could make to eat. Most everyone has a cabinet full of unused spices and a refrigerator stocked with half-empty jelly jars. Fire up that old weathered bag of charcoal and enjoy!

Back ribs are sometimes referred to as loin back ribs but are most commonly called baby back ribs. The baby back rib is cut from the upper section of the rib cage below the spine and the loin muscle of the pig. A slab of baby back ribs can have as many as 15 bones (the number of bones in a pig’s rib cage). This long thin cut of pork has many defining characteristics. The bones are no thicker than a finger and are slightly curved. Because of the small bones there is generally more meat between each bone than on spare ribs. Baby back ribs are the leanest pork rib type, with a less pronounced pork flavor and a finer and denser texture. Pineapple Sweet Ribs utilize a sweet rub and a fruity liquid seasoning, followed by a sweet glaze. The key to a multi-step rib is to layer the flavors, creating complex tastes without overpowering the pork flavor. This strategy worked at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in 2004, when the judges declared this rib recipe the winner of this world championship event.

Though the introduction of ribs to Big Bob Gibson’s menu was enthusiastically embraced by the locals, the recipe itself was, well, pretty bare-bones—simply a full-size sparerib seasoned with salt and pepper and slow-smoked. In 1979, Don McLemore offered a bonus to any employee who could improve on Big Bob’s ribs. During the next week the rib usage went up tenfold but profits took a nosedive, as the extremely well-fed pit workers experimented with different preparations. When the smoke cleared two weeks later, Steve Bullard earned a dime raise with this recipe.

Over the years the rib recipe at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q has changed many times, running the gamut from full-size spare ribs to today’s meaty St. Louis–cut spare ribs. The seasoning and the sauce have evolved as well, moving from salt and pepper to a complex seasoning blend and a finishing touch of our own championship red sauce. Spare ribs are cut from the lower portion of the rib cage below the back ribs, including a portion of the breast bone. The bones of the spare rib vary in size and length, ranging from short and round to long and flat, and they have less curvature than baby back ribs. The meat contains a high percentage of fat and thus yields a tender finished product. The term “St. Louis cut” is used when the breast bone and cartilage are cut from a spare rib, leaving a slab of ribs with a more uniform size and shape. The breast bone can be used for stock, and the leftover meat and cartilage can be seasoned and cooked for rib tips. A full-size spare rib can be trimmed easily at home, or your local butcher can trim the rib and give you the bonus cuttings. The recipe that follows is as close to what we use at the restaurant as I can give without being disowned by the family. I think you will recognize the similarities—and perhaps even like it better!

It is impossible to discuss Memphis barbecue without talking about ribs. Where in most places the rib-loving factions are divided between those who prefer baby backs to spareribs (or vice versa), in Memphis the two different camps are partisans of either dry or wet preparations. Wet ribs are daubed with sauce before serving. Dry ribs can have either a dry rub added prior to cooking or a seasoning blend applied after cooking. Either way, no tomato-based sauce touches a dry rib from Memphis.

Pat: One of the first lessons we learned in the restaurant business was to waste nothing. Gina: Use it or lose it. That’s the Neely motto. Pat: Take the brisket bone, or rib tip, for example. It’s normally discarded from the spare rib. At Neely’s, however, it has become another distinctive menu item. We call rib tips the “rich man’s neck bone,” because the gristle and fat make this cut of meat rich and flavorful. We cook ours slowly and gently—it keeps them moist and tender. Once cooked, rib tips can be chopped into bite-sized pieces and are often served as an appetizer. They can be found on restaurant menus all over the country, but they are particularly popular in Chicago, where they are served atop a basket of fries. These bite-sized chunks of tender meat can also be served as an entrée. I have been known to bring home a pound or two to eat with any leftover vegetable that Gina may have prepared the night before. Gina: Do you see why I married this man??? The things he can do with a rib tip!

Pat: Beef ribs are not nearly as common in Memphis as pork ribs, but they are still loved by many and always worth a slab. Because of their massive size—beef rib bones are twice the size of pork ribs—beef ribs are often referred to as the “Fred Flintstone bone.” This size scares a lot of novice grillers, but there’s no need to worry. Beef ribs have more bone than meat, so they will actually take less time to cook and prepare. As with other ribs, they must be slow-cooked at a low temperature for the tenderest results. Cooked for less than 3 hours over indirect heat, these ribs will add real Texas flavor to your backyard cookout.