The Best Darn Ribs Ever!

Dear Readers have you ever wondered what the secret is to getting those perfect melt in your mouth BBQ pork ribs that you order in a restaurant?  Well the answer is twofold.

The first secret is having the perfect sauce (and really sometimes that is a personal taste thing - but once you have the basis of a good sauce you can tweak it to suit you perfectly).  The second secret is "par cooking" the ribs before baking them.  I am now going to share with you a recipe that I think makes the best BBQ Pork ribs!

Barbecue Sauce


2 x 400g cans of diced tomatoes
1 tbs oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbs sea salt
125ml tomato sauce (ketchup)
60ml worcestershire sauce
2 tbs honey
185ml red wine vinegar
140g (3/4 cup) soft brown sugar
1 tbs paprika
2 tsp chili powder (optional)
freshly ground black pepper
125ml orange juice.

- Now here is the personal taste part

If you don't like the sauce too sweet, don't add as much sugar and honey.
The paprika can be either sweet hungarian, or smoky.
Leave out the chilli powder if you don't like it hot.
If you are an astute "foodie" and can lay your hands on some Liquid Smoke - this will add a lovely smoky flavour to the sauce.  You can find this more readily now in gourmet food shops and it is either called Hickory Smoke or Liquid smoke and it is great for adding to sauces like this.



Now to make the sauce....

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onion, garlic and sea salt.  Sweat over a low heat for 5 minutes until the onion is soft.  Add the tomatoes and all the remaining ingredients.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook gently for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, or until lovely and thick.  Allow it to cool slightly and then puree with a stick blender, or food processor.  This will give you about 500ml of sauce which if you don't use all of it, will last in the fridge for about 3 weeks.

Now to the other secret ......

You can either leave the ribs in "slabs", or you can cut them into individual ribs.  Either way is good - Last night I cut them into individual ribs - you get more sauce on them that way, and you don't have to continually clean up to cut them with a knife!!

Place the ribs in a large pan of salted water.  Poach them gently for 1 hour.  Make sure you scoop the "scum" from the top of the water frequently.  After an hour drain them well in a colander.

Ater they have cooled slather them in the sauce and allow them to marinate for at least an hour - the longer the better.

Bake in a moderate oven for approximately 1 hour - basting frequently with the sauce.

Finger Lickin Good!!!