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Rib Orgy II

Tue, 12/08/2009 - 17:40 — Bryan Lambert

 

It was Rib Time again on Sunday. Back in February, as the first pig was running low, we decided to do all the ribs (two racks of spare, two racks of baby back) as a big Monday night party. We used the Alton Brown method of an overnight dry rub, followed by a slow braise in foil, then removing the braising liquid and reducing it to a glaze you brush on the ribs and broil for a minute or so, and a sauce you toss the ribs in once they're done.

It's a bit fussy, but it works like a charm, and so we decided to do something similar with Pig II's ribs, only for a much smaller crowd to limit sharing. We did Pig I's ribs three ways - standard Alton Brown recipe, plus a Mexican variant I developed, and an Indian variant Drew developed. The Indian ones came out the best, so this time we decided to do all the spare ribs with the Indian recipe, one rack of baby backs with the Mexican recipe, and one rack with a new recipe, where I'd try to adapt recipes for Chinese barbecue pork to the Alton Brown rib method.

Here are the three rubs. This is enough rub for two racks of ribs.

INDIAN RUB:

  • 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 1.5 tsp coriander
  • .5 tsp mango powder
  • .25 tsp turmeric
  • .25 tsp mustard
  • .5 tsp toasted cumin

This is Drew's recipe, and no, I don't know why it works, but it does.

MEXICAN RUB:
  • 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
  • .5 tsp chipotle powder
  • .5 tsp garlic powder
  • .5 tsp dried onion
  • .5 tsp oregano
  • .5 tsp Penzey's Bold Taco Seasoning
  • .5 tsp cumin
CHINESE RUB:
  • 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon five-spice powder
  • 1.5 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp powdered ginger

Basically, what  you do is apply the rub liberally to the racks of ribs, wrap them in foil, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, prepare the braising liquid:

INDIAN BRAISE:
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon tamarind paste
  • 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
  • 1 tablespoon grated ginger
MEXICAN BRAISE:
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1/2 cup lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon hot sauce
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 cloves crushed garlic
CHINESE BRAISE:
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoons red chili bean curd
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
A few notes on the braises. Make sure the tamarind paste is thoroughly dissolved and mixed in. By "hot sauce" I mean any standard Louisiana or Mexican vinegar-based hot sauce.
Red chili bean curd was what I came home with a jar of. Several Chinese barbecued pork recipes list a "red bean curd" or "wet red tofu", and when I asked at United Noodle, that was what they pointed me at. You'll want to work pretty hard to break the chunks up and mix them through - they won't dissolve per se.
Microwave each marinade for about a minute and shake them to make sure everything's combined. This is also two racks worth of braise, so add half to the foil packets around each rack of ribs, and cook in a 250 degree oven - 2.5 hours for the baby back ribs, or 4-4.5 hours for the spare ribs.
Once the ribs are done, drain the braising liquid into a pot, then reduce it by half over high heat. Pour the reduced liquid into a bowl, brush some of it onto the top of the ribs, then put the ribs under the broiler for about a minute, until the glaze bubbles and browns. Cut the ribs up and toss them in the remaining sauce.
Here are the Indian ribs:
And these are the Mexican and Chinese ribs:
We had some issues with the Indian sauce, hence my admonishment above regarding the dissolving of the tamarind paste. The Chinese ribs were pretty revelatory, and came out tasting surprisingly like BBQ pork.
We served them with some quickly stir-fried baby bok choy, and some potatoes pan-fried with onions and curry powder. It was a good, good meal.

 

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Turmeric-mustard

Tue, 12/08/2009 - 19:55 — Liz minus password at home (not verified)

In my wanderings into whole Indian spices, I've seen like seventeen things called "Cumin" that aren't, but never anything fancy with turmeric, and never anything beyond brown vs. yellow mustard seeds. Could turmeric-mustard possibly be dry yellow mustard, such as Colman's? (Off to website...)
 
Ah, damn - dry Colman's is just mustard (brown and white.) On a random note, some guy calling himself The Corinthian in Yahoo Answers almost gains redemption from calling himself The Corinthian in Yahoo Answers by knowing about Penzey's.
 
Apropos of nothing, if you ever want to use whole fenugreek, ajwain, or kala jeera, I have them. No whole turmeric, though - too lazy.

The Truth Revealed

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 09:10 — Bryan Lambert

The "turmeric-mustard" is apparently half turmeric, half mustard. Which means a quarter teaspoon of each. This borders on homeopathic cuisine, but Drew made his rub in quantity for future use, so there you go.
 

3 pounds butter-sugar-flour

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 09:59 — Liz minus password at work (not verified)

Hmm. Good to know. Were pixels in such short supply that separate lines for each ingredient couldn't be used? Or does Drew just keep that particular blend on hand to avoid measuring in quarter-teaspoons?
 
Mmmm, stereotypical pound cake.

Well, duh.

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 10:03 — Liz minus password at work (not verified)

I should learn to read entire 100-word paragraphs, where I would learn that indeed Drew does keep that blend on hand. My attention span has been limited by Twitter, and I don't even use it!

I'm way too into this.

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 10:24 — Liz minus password at work (not verified)

Still, if it were me, I'd call my turmeric-mustard blend something self-satisfiedly irritating, like turmerustard or musturmeric. Or maybe The Yellow Peril, or Sulfuric Surprise. I mean, if you're going to have to explain an ingredient anyway, especially to someone with whom you've shared two pigs, go crazy.
 
 

Actually...

Wed, 12/09/2009 - 11:56 — Bryan Lambert

...I have been unclear.

The rub is a basic ratio - six parts brown sugar, one part salt, one part primary seasoning, and one part made up of six secondary seasonings. What this works out to in the basic recipe is six tablespoons, one tablespoon, one tablespoon and six half-teaspoons. In the case of the Chinese rub, for example, three of those six half-teaspoons were garlic, and the other three were ginger.

In Drew's case, three of the six half teaspoons were coriander, one was cumin, one was mango powder, and in our collaboration notes, one was simply marked "turmeric-mustard". When I posted, I didn't know what he meant by that. It turns out that what he meant was 1/4 tsp turmeric and 1/4 tsp mustard. Which was an odd, tiny breakdown for the recipe at this scale.

But Drew didn't make the entire rub recipe at this scale, he made it at, if my quick mental math is correct, 12x scale, meaning that the 1/4 tsp of turmeric became a tablespoon, as did the mustard. By the time you see this, I will have edited the recipe post to fix what Drew actually meant.

 

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