Saturday, May 25, 2013

Baby Back Ribs

As I said earlier today, tonight was going to be baby back rib night. And so it was.

My rib recipe is very simple. Take baby back ribs at room temperature and sprinkle them liberally, top and bottom, with the barbecue rub recipe posted earlier today. Bake them slowly in a 250 degree oven for about two and a half hours.
On the grill...

Near the end of the oven baking time, preheat the grill 400 degrees. When done in the oven, slather the ribs top and bottom with a sweet barbecue sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's original recipe). The sweetness of the barbecue sauce is the perfect complement to the spiciness and mild heat of the dry rub. Start the ribs meaty side down for about 5 minutes, then flip to the bone side down for another 5 to 7 minutes, re-slathering the meaty side as necessary. The ribs are fully cooked at this point, and the only thing you are looking to do by putting the ribs on the grill with the barbecue sauce is to caramelize the sauce a little bit over a medium high heat. At the end of about 10-12 minutes total cooking time on a pretty hot grill, remove the ribs to a platter and let them rest for another 5 or 10 minutes. I like to slice them down and serve them on a platter as individual ribs (as shown below).
The finished product

Preferred accompaniments are corn on the cob and homemade spicy slaw. My favorite recipe for cole slaw is from Emeril Lagasse's first book, which I will write about soon. Tonight we slummed it a bit and went with store bought, but with good ribs I am not sure anybody noticed...

Barbecue Dry Rub

Tonight will be baby back ribs for the holiday weekend. The barbecue dry rub that I use for this (and for sprinkling on all sorts of other grilled stuff as well) is as follows. I make this in batches and keep it in the pantry for general purpose use. Well sealed it lasts quite a while since all ingredients are dry.

  • 1/2 cup roughly equal mix of chipotle chili powder, ancho chili powder and paprika (preferably smoked)
  • 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dry mustard
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

This recipe follows Rick Bayless' Hickory House dry rub recipe (p. 80) in the June/July 2004 issue (#76) of Saveur magazine fairly closely, changing a few proportions slightly and adding some mustard powder.

Prudhomme's Tomato Cream Chicken

Paul Prudhomme's Tomato Cream Chicken (from page 182 of his Fiery Foods That I Love) is my family's signature "special occasion" chicken dish. It is a somewhat involved recipe, not difficult necessarily, but one that takes some time and a lot of ingredients.

The base of the sauce is a seasoning paste made out of a whole bunch of stuff run through a blender with some chicken stock. It includes onions, peppers, raisins, pine nuts, garlic and a bunch of spices. This is then cooked down in a skillet for a half hour or so while the rest of the dish is worked on.
Seasoning paste at start
Seasoning paste after simmering 30 minutes

The chicken is boneless skinless breasts chunked into pieces, rubbed with a spice mix, browned (and cooked mostly through) and then removed from the pot. Lots of chopped onion is added to the pot drippings and softened. To this is then added more spice, diced tomatoes and the reduced seasoning paste. After this has cooked for a few minutes, lots of stock and heavy cream are added (yes, it's not the healthiest chicken dish in the world...).
Paste with onions, tomatoes and stock

Once this is back to a low boil, the chicken and accumulated juices are added back into the pot and simmered for another 10 to 15 minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked but not overcooked.
Sauce with stock, cream and chicken

The end result is is a richly flavored and complex sauce that has a little heat, but not too much, despite being in a "fiery foods" cookbook.
Tomato Cream Chicken

We always make a double batch for leftovers, and the recipe makes a lot of great sauce, so it is the perfect dish to serve with rice.