Pork Rib

Pat: Our first taste of national recognition came in 1997, when our pork ribs were voted "the best ribs in Memphis" by the local media. After the votes were cast, the Today show came calling. Tony and I wound up being featured on a segment with Al Roker. Al's enthusiasm for our cooking made others take notice—it was a big moment. It's important to note that we did not become rib masters overnight. It took time to learn the appropriate techniques. Tender, slow-cooked spare ribs require a certain amount of skill and experience. We got ours, and now we are going to give you yours. Gina: All I can say about ribs is: Girl, get yourself a man that can grill and let him light it up!

Good for Slathering: Pork; beef; duck; ribs My students make this barbecue sauce every month in my Southern-barbecue classes. It is the only red sauce that we make in the class, and we always double the recipe because the class slathers it on everything! This sauce has been printed in many places and thousands of students have the recipe, but I couldn't write a sauce chapter and not include it here. The Dr. Pepper gives this sauce an edge over most basic sweet barbecue sauces.

Brother David is my brother David, the one whose backyard I am always borrowing. He loves to grill and we all love it when he does! Hey, the sauce is my recipe, though, so don't give him credit for that.

This bottomless bowl of meat sauce is the stuff of dreams—the American Dream, in particular. In Italy, ragù would have been flavored with a small piece of pork, but because meat was so readily available in the United States, immigrants included beef braciole, meatballs, sweet and hot sausage, and pork shoulder and ribs. This dish requires hours on the stovetop to make the meat tender and juicy and the sauce thick and intense, but it's well worth waiting for.

The recipe and introductory text below are reprinted with permission from Gameday Gourmet by Pableaux Johnson.

Like the classic steak preparation for which they are named, these crisp panko-crusted ribs cook fast, but they're surprisingly tender on the inside.

This festive main offers something for everyone—baby back ribs, chicken breasts, and smoked sausages. Be sure to start the dish a few hours ahead. The ribs are slow-cooked for an hour and a half, then are finished on the grill with the chicken and the sausages.

You'll want to have plenty of white rice on hand to soak up the incredibly complex sweet-and-sour sauce that adorns these ribs.

Editor's note: The recipe below is adapted from Elizabeth Karmel's Web site, girlsatthegrill.com .

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are from The Barbecue! Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, by Steven Raichlen. To read more about Raichlen and barbecue, go to our feature The Best Barbecue in the U.S.A. It never fails to amaze me how one simple idea can give birth to so many great regional variations. Consider ribs. The pork rib is one of the most perfect morsels ever to occupy a grill. The meat is generously marbled, which keeps it moist during prolonged cooking. As the fat melts, it crisps the meat fibers and bastes the meat naturally. The bones impart a rich meaty flavor (meat next to the bone always tastes best), while literally providing a physical support—a gnawable rack on which to cook the meat. Yet depending on whether you eat ribs in Birmingham or Kansas City, or Bangkok or Paris for that matter, you'll get a completely different preparation. I've always been partial to Memphis-style ribs. Memphians don't mess around with a lot of sugary sauces. Instead, they favor dry rubs—full-flavored mixtures of paprika, black pepper, and cayenne, with just a touch of brown sugar for sweetness. The rub is massaged into the meat the night before grilling, and additional rub is sprinkled on the ribs at the end of cooking. This double application of spices creates incredible character and depth of flavor, while at the same time preserving the natural taste of the pork. Sometimes a vinegar and mustard based sauce—aptly called a mop sauce—is swabbed over the ribs (with said mop) during cooking; I've included one here, for you to use if you like. You can choose any type of rib for this recipe: baby back ribs, long ends, short ends, rib tips—you name it. Cooking times are approximate. The ribs are done when the ends of the bones protrude and the meat is tender enough to pull apart with your fingers. I like my ribs served dry, in the style of Memphis's legendary barbecue haunt, the Rendezvous. If you want to serve them with a sauce, you'll find a number to choose from in this chapter.

You'll need a slow cooker for this recipe (a necessity for any busy cook).

Set out all of the components of this fun and delicious dish and allow guests to add their own toppings. Because the chili is meatless, the vegetarians in the crowd can also enjoy this meal by simply omitting the crispy cubed-pork topping.

Though traditionalists may insist that making cassoulet is an all-day affair, this hearty version-cooked with country-style spareribs, the meaty ones located closest to the pork shoulder-can be made in under 3 hours.

It may sound like the kind of bogus claim made on late-night infomercials, but trust us when we say it's true: You really can have juicy ribs ready in an hour! Finishing the ribs under the broiler is the secret to getting a perfectly crisp-moist texture.

This hearty Mexican stew is made with pork in a red chile broth that’s studded with hominy. Build the base by toasting two kinds of dried chiles, then purée into a paste that gets sautéed in oil.

Ketchup might seem odd in this dish, but some say it's Chinese in origin (from ke-tsiap, a pickled condiment). Serve the ribs as an appetizer or as part of a dinner.

Sheila Jacobs and Lynn Kramer of Abreu, Cabrera, Dominican Republic, write: "We're both from the U.S., but we have lived in the Dominican Republic for about 25 years. We're friends, business partners, and neighbors, so we entertain together often. Cooking the local dishes has made us feel a part of the country."

Sweet and tangy, these ribs are a one-dish masterpiece that is surprisingly mild despite all the added Tabasco.

Linda Kuipers of Traverse City, Michigan, writes: "A labor of love, this compilation of barbecue recipes accommodates a little of each of my family members' taste." Smooth, salty, tangy, and sweet — this sauce and ribs are a perfect dinner duet.