Mouthwatering Pork Spare Ribs (Recipe)

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April 21, 2021

We usually eat pretty simply around here. More often than not, meat is seasoned with salt and pepper, stashed in a slow cooker, and left to its own devices all day. Or, with the same minimalist sprinkling of seasoning, is thrown on the grill, or in the frying pan, as the silverware is going on the table. But there are dishes, with actual recipes and requirements for planning, that we savor. And with this week’s beautiful sunny days giving life to the garden and hope to the heart, the cravings for summer favorites grow stronger. For a little scent of summer to come, this week we share with you our favorite recipe for pork spare ribs.

While it takes some planning ahead to make these ribs happen, you can leave most of the hard work to the oven. The long, slow cooking time makes these ribs fall-apart tender, and gives you time to enjoy a book and a beverage in the sun, or perhaps a little time puttering in the garden. The recipe is flexible and gives some options for alternate endings.

The ribs can be finished on the grill or under the broiler in the oven, which makes them perfect for when the weather dictates that we’re really only dreaming of summer barbecue. The ribs can marinate in the dry rub for just a few minutes, or overnight if you want to prepare them ahead. You can use the Barbecue Dry Rub or, if you’d prefer to let the delicious pork flavor play the leading role, simply rub with olive oil, salt and pepper. Any combination of these options will lead to a delicious bite!

A common question is, “how many pounds of ribs do I need per person.” The answer depends to some degree on the appetites of your guests and how many other dishes you are serving. However, we suggest 0.75-1 lb per person, so a 3 lb rack will feed about 3-4 people without many leftovers. If you’re unsure, make a bit more than you think you’ll need because the leftovers are delicious!

Click here for a printable one page PDF download of this recipe, including the Dry Rub and Barbecue Sauce.

Ingredients

2-4 lb St Louis Style Spare Ribs (one full side of ribs)

Dry Rub (recipe below or choose your own)

Barbecue sauce

For the Barbecue Dry Rub

2 ½ T chili powder

2 T cumin

2 T coriander

1 T salt

½ T smoked paprika

½ T brown sugar

1/2 tsp black pepper

For the Simple Rub alternative – brush with olive oil then rub with salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Initial Oven Roasting: Mix up the dry rub in a small bowl. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Rub a generous amount of Barbecue Dry Rub onto all surfaces of the ribs. Be lavish with the rub – the goal is for the spices to form a crust of deliciousness. Save leftover rub in a jar for future use. Let the seasoned ribs stand for half an hour or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Place in a roasting pan and cover tightly with foil. Roast for about 3 hours. You want them to be tender and starting to fall apart, but if you're going to finish them on the grill you want them still firm enough to manipulate with tongs. The ribs are tasty right out of the oven after this first step, but continuing with the finishing directions gives them an added burst of flavor.

Finishing: To finish, remove from oven and turn on the broiler or pre-heat the outdoor grill. Brush ribs with your favorite barbecue sauce (optional but recommended) and grill or broil to a nice caramelized finish, turning once to crisp up both sides. Allow to stand for a few minutes, then cut between each rib and serve. Make sure to provide lots of napkins. Enjoy!

Party Tips: There are two great ways to finish these ribs to make it easy to work with your party schedule or travel plans.

#1 For a completely ready-to-serve finished dish: Finish the ribs all the way by brushing with barbecue sauce and broiling in the oven. Let them cool, cut them into individual ribs, place them in the tray you want to serve them in, and then place in the fridge until you’re ready to party! These wonderful ribs don’t have to be hot to be delicious, but they’re best served warm or at least at room temperature, so plan just a couple minutes to pop them in a warm oven or microwave immediately before serving.

#2 For the dramatic flare and extra flavor boost of serving hot off the grill: Complete the ribs through the initial oven roasting stage. Take them out of the oven, allow them to cool, and refrigerate until party time. When the grill is hot, brush with barbecue sauce and grill to a beautiful caramelized finish.

Make sure to check out our favorite homemade barbecue sauce recipe! If you enjoy barbecue sauce but don’t like the typical preservative-filled ingredient list on bottled sauce, you’re going to love the simple ingredients and amazing flavor in our homemade version.

Top 3 Secrets for Great Kabobs (Recipe)

Have you grilled shish kabobs yet this summer? I have to say, they’re one of my favorites and something I look forward to making every year as soon as the sun starts to shine. Shish kabobs are simple, healthy and so perfectly suited to the fresh tastes of summer. Quick enough for a weeknight, they can also be prepped in advance for a sunny deck party. Their roots are in multiple culinary traditions. Sometimes they’re just called Skewers. In Greece they’re called Souvlaki, which is what I made this week for my family. So what are they? At the most basic level, shish kabobs are bits of meat and/or vegetables placed onto skewers and grilled. The combinations of ingredients and flavors are endless, so they easily suit dietary needs, flavor preferences, and whatever is fresh for the season. But there are a few ways kabobs can go wrong if you don’t have the right methods in place. To help you get it right and have the best eating experience, today I’m sharing my top 3 secrets for great kabobs. Follow these 3 top rules and I can nearly guarantee you’ll create a delicious outcome every time. 1. Remove any connective tissue from the meat before grilling. Skip this step and you’re going to be disappointed. Connective tissues, like the fascia and silver skin, add a nutritious element to stews - but are enemies to a quick cooking dish like kabobs. Leave them in the kabobs, and you’ll end up with a tough nightmare you can’t chew. So, depending on the cut you choose, make sure to carefully remove any connective tissue before cutting the meat into one inch cubes. Following this advice is especially imperative if choosing a more economical cut of beef, like London Broil, stew meat or Denver steaks. They are delicious and can make great kabobs, but the tradeoff is a bit of extra labor on your part. You don’t have to throw away the trimmed bits, either. Save them in the freezer to add extra flavor and nutrition to your next batch of bone broth. Or cut them up for your dog or cat – best friends for life! Now, don’t confuse undesirable connective tissue with intermuscular marbling. You can tell it’s connective tissue to be removed if the muscle pulls away on both sides (see photo). Marbling, on the other hand, is the thin white veins of fat that run through the muscle. Marbling is delicious and highly desirable in kabobs. Leave it in! For the easiest to prepare and most tender bite, choose a quality steak like the New York Strip, Rib Eye or Top Sirloin. These cuts have very little, if any, connective tissue, so you’ll save the trimming step. Plus the NY and Rib Eye especially have the perfect amount of marbling to make for a super tender bite. Since our steaks are cut at 1” thick, all you need to do is finish cutting them into 1” cubes. Click here to buy steak for kabobs now. If you’re looking for a pork options, pork chops and kabobs are your best bet. They’re both delicious, but make sure to follow the rule on removing connective tissue when opting for the kabob. 2. Place meat on separate skewers from the vegetables. This is important because the vegetables are going to take waaaayyy longer to cook than the meat. Put them on the same skewers like in the pretty magazine pictures and you’re either going to have shoe-leather meat or raw vegetables. Which leads to… 3. Don’t overcook the meat. Overcooked, dried out meat is tough meat. I probably sound like a broken record on this point, but it’s so easy to get this step wrong. And it's important because I want you to enjoy every bite of our premium grass-fed beef - every time. So first grill those vegetables (the ones you placed on separate skewers) until they’re lovely and crisp-tender. Set them aside and THEN throw on the meat skewers. Now, don’t blink. Definitely don’t walk away to fill your drink, set the table, or mediate a kid dispute… In a flash, those succulent meat skewers will reach an internal temperature of 140 degrees. You’ll just have time to turn them and get lovely grill marks on all sides. Take them off the heat and rest them on a plate for 5 minutes. The internal temp will raise another 5 degrees and the meat juices will reabsorb for the most tender, juicy bite. Use a medium (not high) flame, for best results. Bonus Tips Get the family into the action. Cut up all the vegetables, toss them in olive oil, and then let everyone make their own skewers with whatever ingredients they prefer. When we made kabobs this last week, the Farmhands each made their own skewers and had so much fun in the process. Farmhand Vera eschewed the mushrooms. For Farmhand Eli, no onion. Farmhand Grace put on everything because that’s most fun - especially the “vacchinnies” (translation: zucchini). And no one punctured their hand with the sharp skewers! At least after I showed them how to put the veggies on a cutting board instead of the palm of your hand :) Final flavor tip - Be sure to marinate the meat skewers for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. My absolute favorite marinade is from my Greek Souvlaki Recipe, because it complements both One Straw beef and pork without covering up the inherently luscious flavor. And don’t forget to make the tzatziki dressing from the same recipe. Drizzle it over the meat and vegetables on your plate. Then dust with parsley, salt and fresh ground pepper for the perfect finish. Are you hungry yet? I just finished up the last of our kabob leftovers for lunch and I’m wishing I’d made more… Click here to order beef or pork for kabobs now.