Which way to bake ribs?

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Hello Friends,

Thank you all for your replies to this topic, I wanted to make a couple of comments before I get to the ribs.


Some people had mentioned smoking/grilling the ribs here. I do not own a grill and wanted opinions on oven cooking. I have plenty of recipes on finishing ribs on the grill after the oven or vice versa but I thank you for the additional insight.

Also, I noticed some people talking about baby back ribs here. I used a full size slab of untrimmed pork spareribs, much larger and harder to work with. Baby backs probably don't need to be marinaded as they are tender enough, but I think the full size ribs can use it as they are less tender.

For those who wanted to know about the ribs:


The ribs did indeed come out tender, fall-off-the-bone using #2 method. Howver, the cola flavor, while tangy and unique, clashed on my palette with the taste of the pork. (your mileage may vary). With fall fast approaching the northeast, I'm considering using apple cider as my next marinade :)


Here is the way I went about it:

4-5lb. side of pork spareribs.
1x2liter+2x12oz. can of Coca-Cola<the real thing, not store brand>.

Placed them in a container large enough to hold them, covered them with the cola and let them sit in the fridge for about 24 hours. I pulled them out, reserved 2 cups of the marinade for the braising liquid and discarded the rest. I patted them dry and then put a dry rub on them consisting of the following:

salt
sugar
black pepper
paprika
nutmeg
sage
cayenne pepper
crushed red pepper

This is a blend I bought from Penzey's Spice called Galena St. Chicken and Rib Rub. As I am not always content with using stuff "straight out of the box(or bag in this case)" and like to tweak things a bit, I added the following:

a little brown sugar.
some onion powder.
some garlic salt.
(amounts vary according to the chef's personal whims):)

Rubbed both sides generously, massaging it into the meat(I think that is important IMHO) and wrapped in plastic wrap. Put in the fridge for another 12-16 hours to season. Took them out and put them in a large roasting pan with the following braising liquid:

2 cups reserved cola.
1/4 cup red wine vinegar.
2 Tbls. soy sauce.
2 Tbls. worcestershire sauce.
1 Tbls. honey.
4 cloves garlic, smashed.
2 lg. onions, sliced.
juice of 2 lemons.

I laid some of the onions in the roasting pan first the give the ribs a little "lift" while cooking. I also put 1 of the cut lemons in as well after squeezing the juice from it. Covered tightly with foil and baked for 3-3 and 1/2 hours at 250 degrees. When the meat starts to shrink from the bones and expose the tips, you'll know they're done. Pulled them out of the roasting pan and laid them on a foil covered baking sheet to cool slightly so I could handle them. Sprinkled them with some more rub and placed them under the broiler till they started to sizzle.

At this point, I was too tired to make a homemade bbq sauce (I can hear the purists gasping now :rolleyes: ) and used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ sauce which imparted a nice, sweet and tangy flavor that was unfortunaly subdued at times by the cola flavor. I basted both sides a couple of times till they started getting carmelized and sticky from the browning. Pulled them out and let them rest for about 15 mins. I cut them up and served them with southern style green beans, cornbread and smashed red bliss potatoes.

A few of my observations:

I won't use cola again as a marinade due to the flavor clash.

The ribs are by no means hot and spicy, I may "kick it up a notch" next time to lessen the sweetness factor.

Make sure I have some long handled tongs or a couple of smaller ones to handle the meat without pulling the bones out after cooking in the braising liquid. I popped a couple of them out while trying to use 1 set of short tongs.

Make a homemade BBQ sauce next time :)


I hope you all enjoyed my story. Any comments, questions or general insight is always appreciated.:chef:


Chris DeMille
 
Chris, I love your detailed report! :) Now I am craving ribs! Have you thought about doing somehting similar w/ beef ribs. I have a friend who bakes beef ribs and they are fall off the bone wonderful. Every time I've tried it though, mine are never fall off the bone. :neutral:
 
Hi htc,


Have you marinaded the beef ribs before cooking? They have tougher membrane than pork ribs do and you might need to tenderize them up a bit in order to help the meat fall off the bone. Also, did you cook them low and slow..they need the same type of delicate handling as the pork ribs.

As a side note, I've cooked them in a slow cooker without marinade before, on low heat for 7-8 hours and they were fall-off-the-bone tender.


Chris
 
Just a note, marinating does not actually tenderize meat unless it's a dairy product, like yogurt (which would be :sick: with pork ribs, IMO).

Shirley explains nicely here
 
Chris, I think my temp wasn't low enough and I didn't cook them long enough. I think I only cooked for like 1.5 hours @ 350. I'll try again soon. Thanks!
 
Chris1967 said:
As a side note, I've cooked them in a slow cooker without marinade before, on low heat for 7-8 hours and they were fall-off-the-bone tender.Chris

Hi Chris. I don't have a grill either. Having made them in the slow cooker, I may never (I should never say Never) make them any other way. I mentioned they were fall-off-the-bone good, but forgot to mention they were juicy as well. I didn't brown them first though, that might be why there was some grease/fat. (I had a defatting cup somewhere.) Wish I could find my recipe, but wanted to say I've put coffee in there too. I think of it as my magic pot. I keep adding things and wind up with something different each time. Next time, maybe a pineapple or orange juice concoction with some green peppers & onions (maybe pineapple chunks near the end).

Mish:)

P.S. I sooo want ribs NOW.
 
jennyema said:
Just a note, marinating does not actually tenderize meat unless it's a dairy product, like yogurt (which would be :sick: with pork ribs, IMO).

Shirley explains nicely here

I would think an acidic marinade (such as the cola I used), achieves the desired result of breaking down the tougher, fibrous membranes that holds the ribs together. Perhaps not tenderizing in the strictest sense, but definitely breaking down the proteins so that you're not biting into fatty, tough tissue..the bane of all rib lovers:chef:

Chris
 
Nothing wrong with using a bottled sauce, there are plenty of good ones out there.


I would suggest trimming the membrane off the back, also I would try them without marinating them. That way the sauce shouldn't clash. You really want the smoke flavor(from the wood) and the fat rendering from the ribs.
 
Chris1967 said:
I would think an acidic marinade (such as the cola I used), achieves the desired result of breaking down the tougher, fibrous membranes that holds the ribs together. Perhaps not tenderizing in the strictest sense, but definitely breaking down the proteins so that you're not biting into fatty, tough tissue..the bane of all rib lovers:chef:

Chris

As the article points out, acid does denature the protein but that makes it tougher if the meat is left in the acidic marinade for a long time.

Cooking low and slow is what makes rib meat (and other tough meat) tender.

As Shirley says "There is a commonly held belief that soaking a tough cut of meat in a marinade will make it tender. Sadly, this just isn't true much of the time. While some marinades are very successful at adding flavor to meat, chicken, and fish, they are, with one exception, a disaster at tenderizing."
 
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One of our members here on DC used to be on FN when they operated a similar forum. At that time, he did some clinical experimentation with marinades, measuring the depth of penetration, the resultant effect of the marinade per unit time, and a few other parameters. In a nutshell, this is what happened. First, when exposed to an acidic environment, protien molecular strands curl and knot together, much like ahir when you pull a single strand through pinched finers. These strands form a strong, almost impenetrable barrier against further penetration. Of course, the protien on the outer meat surface is affected first as it's the first layer to contact the acid. This barrier then prevents the marinade from penetrating further into the meat.

It was found that acidic marinades penetrate no more than a 16th of an inch or so, no matter how long the meat is marinated. And no tenderizing action is observed. I believe that the meat was left in a maximum of three days or so. But my memory isn't the best so that's an educated guess.

On the other hand, brines, or salt solutions, continue to pepetrate meat tissue (cells) until there is equal osmotic pressure between the saline solution, and the internal fluid of the cells. Other non-acidic flavors follow the same pattern and will be equally distributed through the meat over time.

Enzymatic tenderizing agents such as pappain (found in papaya, guava, kiwi, and Adolph's Meat Tenderizer), and bromolain (found in pineapple and McCormic's Meat Tenderizer) break down the proteins, and if overused, will result in a mushy, almost pasty texture. Used prperly, they do work well.

Massaging, pounding, and piercing tear large meat fibers into smaller, more easily masticated fibers (makes 'em easier to chew).

Heat intially toughens meat, just as acids do. But over time, long-slow heat will break down connecting tissue, cartilage, collagen, and protien, resulting in more tender meat. Cooking slow and moist makes sure that the meat isn't dried out. The result is good stuff to eat.

Hope this makes things a bit more clear.

Seeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
 
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