Posted on 05/29/2011 5:10:22 PM PDT by beebuster2000
After countless hours in the “lab” I have captured both the crunch and tang of the dry rib, and the flavor of the sauce ribs.
Before I go through it, one key ingredient will be somewhat hard to get. Some time back, a wild swarm of bees showed up in the back yard. I caught them in a box, and then moved them to a hive I got. Since then they have yielded gallons of exquisite wild swarm honey. That is the key ingredient. And no, it doesn’t taste sweet. Here is the recipe:
Go get as many slabs as you want of tasty pork ribs, cut them up individually Get a jug of apple cider vinegar, a jug of molasses. Then go the fridge. Grab what you have: mustard, some ketchup, maybe even a left over bottle of barbeque sauce, left over red wine is good, you get the idea, forage for it. Pepper, some salt.
Mix up the vinegar, molasses (a bunch) and the other ingredients in a big stainless pot or bowl. Dump the marinade and the ribs in a plastic bag and put them in the fridge for at least a day. The key ingredient here is the vinegar, don’t skimp on that.
Now to cook. The key here is low, low heat for a long time. If you can get your grill down to 200 degrees, that’s best. Sure throw in some wood chips or whatever if you want.
This part is important: don’t put the ribs on the grill, put them on a rack, and put aluminum foil under them so there are no flare ups. Indirect heat for a long time is key. If you must, do a little basting but you really don’t need to.
Cook until the meat shrinks back from the bone, that could be an hour or it could be two depending on the grill and the ribs. Tip a few while this is going on. It won’t help the recipe but you will feel better.
Now the honey part. Take the ribs off the grill and pull out the aluminum foil. Put the foil where the dog wont get it, you will regret it if he does. Put the ribs in big bowl and drizzle the honey on each rib till they are coated.
Turn the heat up to high in the grill. Quickly put the ribs directly on the grill. This part should take maybe a minute or two. Keep turning the ribs until the honey caramelizes, you don’t want any un-caramelized honey left or the ribs will taste too sweet. You will have to play with this to be able to see when they are done, but you have to stay on it, turning them.
Take the ribs off and go to town. The outside of the ribs will be crunchy, not sweet, and the inside will fall off the bone and be tangy. The combination of the two is amazing.
Perfect ribs are that easy!!
Salivating as I read ...
That sounds like the tricky part.
Gotta say, I've never seen that in a recipe before...
Sounds good. Vinegar is used in marinating because it will blend the spices; etc.
I smoked a couple of Boston Butts last weekend, and made a hog finishing sauce that was just amazing.
I make my own mustard, and always have Honey-Dijon on hand. I use a fair amount of local clover honey and Chardonnay to dijon fresh mustard seeds; and white wine vinegar to finish....it’s nice stuff! I took the last pint of it and made the sauce...
1 pint Honey Dijon Mustard
1 C White Wine Vinegar
1 C Brown Sugar
Salt and Pepper tt
Combine everything in a pan and bring to a simmer, allow to reduce then cool.
I smoked 2 9 pound butts to 150 degrees internal, pulled and rested the meat, then dressed it and chopped it coarsely in the food processor. I used all of the sauce to dress the meat and served it.
I could have easily used twice as much sauce and it would not have been over-stated. The mustard sauce is just incredible, the honey aroma and flavor comes through. and it is completely different from tomato-based hog sauces...a nice change-up...
I also use a simple but tasty hog mop...
1 Quart Apple Cider Vinegar
1 T good quality hot sauce
2 large dried Ancho Chili peppers
The ancho chilis add some incredible flavor to the mop sauce. I make it several days ahead to let the peppers re-hydrate, and they turn the sauce a nice dark brown.
I use hardwood briquettes to start hardwood mesquite charcoal in my smoker, and use pieces of hickory for additional smoke. 18 pounds of pig needed 5 hours on the smoker at 250 or so to get the internal temperature I wanted...it depends on your smoker, of course.
And yes, I did make more mustard this week....
...just my $0.02 ;-)
How long do I need to stay in town before I come back and eat?
Do you think honey it would work with a Big Green Egg? Just kidding...of course it would! I smoked a delicious brisket today. I think I’ll have to do the ribs with honey next. Honestly, it seems fascinating especially about caramelizing the ribs. Thanks....this is certainly going on my grill next. BTW...one of my favorite restaurants (Cuban) serves great ribs that includes guava in the BBQ sauce.
I was bbq-ing chicken tonight in Ga and when I opened the top of the weber, a grandaddy long legs fell on the grill right between the chicken. I almost passed out. Hubby had to hurry to get the poor bug out before the chicken had that fresh spider taste. I had to take to the bed for a few minutes I was so grossed out. (shudders)
You lost me at the vinegar part. No vinegar on ribs, never.
“wild swarm honey”
Information, please. What is “wild swarm” honey?
Honey bees of my acquaintance ranged far and wide to gather flower blossom nectar, at times mostly alfalfa and/or clover, no doubt, but generally of uncertain provenance. In certain localized situations (southwest Wisconsin, for example) beekepers are able to label their product “basswood” honey, being fairly certain that the blossoms of the basswood trees common to that region were nearly the sole source of nectar.
bm
Nice post.
Concur with the cooking temperature and time. 200 degrees for an hour seems right. I cook pork loin, as far as I’m concerned the best meat on the planet, 250 for an hour, indirect heat. At 3 something a pound, the best deal out there. Add whatever ahead for crust flavor. I’ve had good luck with salt, pepper and cinnamon or chocolate powder.
MMMMMmmmmmmm. Sounds delicious.
wow thats an awesome recipe. have to try that. sounds like pulled pork kinda
“wild swarm”
means the bees are wild and you catch the swarm. commercial bees, and most beekeepers buy package bees that are usually italian but sometimes russian. so they probably have different genetics than the wild. i noticed my wild swarm seemed a lot more robust than my neighbors package bees.
sadly, the hive died next year from sudden colony collapse.
Sounds yummy...
Me too. Found some pizza in the fridge. Not quite as good, though.
LOL!
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