Ribs are a series of slender bones that extend out from the spine to the sternum creating a cavity. When slow cooked, pork ribs are delicious.
Pork ribs can be divided into two main parts: the section that connects to the backbone near the loin are loin-back ribs, or baby-back ribs, while the half with the stern attached are known as spareribs. Baby-back ribs are meatier and more popular than spareribs.
St Louis Style Ribs are spareribs where the breastbone section has been trimmed off.
A delicious cut of pork, spareribs are fatty and benefit from long, slow cooking over charcoal, in an oven or smoker. Plan on 1 pound for each serving. The preferred temperature for cooking spareribs is less than 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Excellent results can be obtained with medium heat, between 350 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook spareribs over a charcoal grill, which is around 250 degrees, for about 3 hours.
Notable American Chef James Beard created a recipe for spareribs that are roasted at 325 degrees for an hour, until well browned and crisp. Serious Eats has a Barbecue St Louis Style Ribs recipe from Daniel Gritzer that bakes in an oven at about 250 degrees for about 3.5 hours.
Other recipes call for simmering the meat in seasoned water for 35 minutes, which can then be stored in the refrigerator and broiled later. Remember, boiling meat will allow some of the flavor to leach into the water. Cooking spareribs in a smoker, at about 230 degrees Fahrenheit, and finishing it in an oven takes about 6 hours.
Ribs can be roasted in a oven either uncovered or covered with tin foil until about half way through or as late as the last 10 to 30 minutes cooking. Add Barbecue sauce during the last 10 to 20 minutes of roasting. Barbecue sauce has a high sugar content which can burn or dry out if added too early. If the ribs are tender, but not browned enough, run the rack under an oven broiler for about five minutes.
Chef James Beard's recipe for spareribs includes seasoning with salt, pepper and rosemary and roasting at 325 degrees for an hour.
Many recipes call for a dry rub, a mix of salt, sugar and a variety of seasonings such as chili powder, oregano and thyme and dried aromatics like garlic and onion, then slow roasting at 250 degrees for 4 hours.
Persillade is a fresh herbal rub made from parsley chopped together with garlic and such herbs as basil, thyme and oregano. Although sage is a traditional seasoning when making pork sausage, we have not seen it in many rib recipes.
Pork ribs taste great with a little smoke from such fruit woods as apple or cherry, or better still, a hardwood such as hickory, but avoid mesquite.
Probably the best pork ribs are Memphis style: where the meat is seasoned with a dry rub, slow roasted over a charcoal fire with smoking hickory chips and mopped with a sweet and tangy Barbecue sauce in the last half hour of cooking. - AsNotedIn
| Food Attribute | Barbecue, BBQ | |
| Food Type | Meat | |
| Food Attribute | Wood Smoked Food |
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