Inexpensive and full of flavour, spare ribs can be grilled, barbecued, roasted or slow-cooked.
They are usually sold as a whole rack, or cut into individual trimmed ribs, which you can chop up and add to stocks and stews to ramp up their body and flavour.
There are several cuts of ribs available so it's a good idea to know what you are looking for. In your butchers or supermarket you'll find back ribs or spare ribs. Back ribs, also called Canadian or baby back ribs, are from the loin portion or back. Spare ribs, from which St Louis-style ribs are cut, are from the rib section of the pig. St Louis ribs are the most popular rib cut. These are the kind typically found in restaurants - long and thin with a good amount of meat - and the ones I recommend. They are easier to work with than other kinds and you get more meat per bone, but you can use whatever ribs you like.
Glazed barbecue pork ribs with endive and apple salad
Serves 4
Barbecue sauce
120g tomato ketchup
1tsp black treacle
1tsp Worcestershire sauce
Half tsp sweet smoked paprika
Half tsp hot smoked paprika
Half a lime, juiced
Half an orange, juiced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Place all the ingredients together in a large bowl, whisk and set aside.
Pork ribs
25g fresh ginger
Half tsp coriander seeds
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1tbsp peppercorns
Salt
Pepper
1 shallot
2 garlic cloves
1tsp caster sugar
250ml water
800ml apple juice
16 pork short ribs or 2 whole racks of baby pork ribs
For the ribs, place the spices, shallot, garlic, sugar, water and apple juice in a pan and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
Add the ribs to the stock, cover with a lid and simmer over a low heat until the meat is tender (approximately 2 hours). When the ribs are tender, remove them from the stock and set aside. Pass the stock through a fine sieve, discard the flavourings then bring the stock to the boil and reduce to the consistency of syrup. Set the oven to 190C.
Add the reduced stock to the sauce then coat the ribs with the sauce and place them in a large roasting tray. Place the tray in the oven and roast for 20 minutes or until the ribs are nicely glazed and the sauce has thickened to a sticky glaze. Transfer the ribs to a serving dish.
Endive and apple salad
1 endive
1 Granny Smith apple
50ml olive oil
Quarter tsp Dijon mustard
1tbsp white wine vinegar
A pinch of caster sugar
Salt and pepper
30g raisins
Cut the endive in half then cut each half in half again, keeping the shape of the leaves. Finely slice the apple.
Make a vinaigrette by whisking together the olive oil, mustard, vinegar and sugar and season with salt and pepper. Dress the endive with the vinaigrette, add the raisins and apple and mix well. Serve immediately with the ribs.
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