Baby back ribs - cooking tips needed

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Hello all.

I have two racks of baby back pork ribs that I want to cook for dinner tonight and I was hoping for some tips as when I’ve cooked them before they often have disappointed. They are in some kind of marinade. I don’t have a slow cooker. The equipment at my disposal are an electric oven, electric hob and microwave.

How have they disappointed in the past? Well, two things - not quite as tender and fall-off-the-bone as I would have liked and often the glaze has slid off them. The glaze, I think I understand. It was either slightly too runny or applied too soon. But when it comes to roasting them, I’m never sure whether to add a bit of water to the roasting dish and half steam them under foil or to dry roast them. In recipes, either will be recommended. Temperature is also what I’m not sure of - high or low? Or even very low? I tried a variety of these things when roasting and it has never quite worked.

Has anybody got an pearls of wisdom for me? Thank you.

The chan chan man

Put them in a baking tray, throw in about 150-200ml orange juice.

Wrap the tray very tight with foil, then wrap again!

Fan oven 140 degrees for about 4-4.5 hours. Check then and let me know how amazing they are!

Brush on some bbq sauce and put back in oven to warm the sauce.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

The chan chan man wrote: »

Put them in a baking tray, throw in about 150-200ml orange juice.

Wrap the tray very tight with foil, then wrap again!

Fan oven 140 degrees for about 4-4.5 hours. Check then and let me know how amazing they are!

Brush on some bbq sauce and put back in oven to warm the sauce.

Do you have the ribs resting in the OJ?

Toto Wolfcastle

We did them recently and they were incredibly tender. Marinated them overnight in pineapple juice and some spices (just whatever I felt like throwing in) and then took them out of the marinade, wrapped them tightly in foil and put them in the oven at 135c for 3 hours. Opened the foil then and brushed on the sauce every 10 minutes for half an hour. For the sauce I mixed about half a cup of ketchup (low-sugar so it wasn’t as sweet as regular ketchup), 1 cup pineapple juice, 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 tablespoon hoisin, a third of a cup of bourbon, salt and pepper and then a little cider vinegar to taste. Unsurprisingly the hoisin didn’t make a blind bit of difference. :pac:

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Thanks guys! Low and slow, it is. Godspeed, little baby back ribs!

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Goddamn, they were good. I went with orange juice as it’s what I had. The low and slow method worked very well. I went 140°C for three and a half hours tightly covered, then basted and put the glaze on and left them uncovered and cranked it up to 180°C for 20 minutes and then 200°C for 10 more minutes. The meat was so soft and juicy. Thanks for the tips, you guys!

50HX

The chan chan man wrote: »

Put them in a baking tray, throw in about 150-200ml orange juice.

Wrap the tray very tight with foil, then wrap again!

Fan oven 140 degrees for about 4-4.5 hours. Check then and let me know how amazing they are!

Brush on some bbq sauce and put back in oven to warm the sauce.

Thank you for this

LOng long time since i had meat properly fall off the bone.they were stunning..

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

50HX wrote: »

Thank you for this

LOng long time since i had meat properly fall off the bone.they were stunning..

I know, I’m still rhapsodising about the ribs, nearly a week on. I could not believe how succulent they were and how easily the meat fell away from the bone, especially compared to my previous efforts. I too have not had meat that soft and tender in a long time. Thanks again to chan chan man and Toto.

McMurphy

**Odd, I could've sworn that I already posted this, but anyways**

Where are people buying baby back ribs from?

I see them in supermarkets, but only the prepared ones that expect you to take them home and whack them in the oven.

The only other ribs I ever see are bacon ribs, and believe me they're not the same thing taste wise as you'll no doubt be already aware.

So butchers keep them? I'm very, very keen to try this recipe over the weekend.

rubadub

McMurphy wrote: »

**Odd, I could've sworn that I already posted this, but anyways**

Where are people buying baby back ribs from?

I see James Whelans do them, no idea if they are any use.

https://www.jameswhelanbutchers.com/proddetail.php?prod=6415

I remember getting racks in tesco and there was a miserable amount of meat on them. A Chinese near me does a huge portion for about 6euro, and its cheaper than you would get the same meat for in tesco anyway.

I just use pork belly now, tastes very similar to me and you are not buying loads of bone for your weight. I would like to know where the Chinese get them from to be able to sell so cheap.

L1011

McMurphy wrote: »

So butchers keep them? I'm very, very keen to try this recipe over the weekend.

Pretty much any butcher will either have them or be able to get them in a day or two. May be too late to ask tomorrow but maybe not.

I mean an actual butcher, not a fancy shop that sells prepacked trays from somewhere else.

McMurphy

I will be passing Eurasia in Fonthill retail park tomorrow, and I reckon the butcher end of it may be able to help on this.

Zaph

We ordered some from The Whole Hoggs, along with a bunch of other stuff. It's free range pork and they deliver to Dublin, Meath and Louth, but you'd be too late now for this weekend. The highlights were the ribs and the pork shoulder that we made pulled pork with - both were incredibly good. The other stuff we got we weren't so keen on. The pork chops were quite tough and the rashers were so salty they were nearly inedible, but will definitely order more ribs and shoulders from them.

50HX

As above any real butcher will have them

Boiling or roasting ribs

Roasting ribs are for the above mentioned posts

Got 1kg of chuck beef a while back.....4 hours in a stew and yum yum yum

For 8 euro it easily fed 4 adults and 2 kids

L1011

McMurphy wrote: »

I will be passing Eurasia in Fonthill retail park tomorrow, and I reckon the butcher end of it may be able to help on this.

The butcher there is halal!

McMurphy

L1011 wrote: »

The butcher there is halal!

Doh!

Course they are, What was I thinking about lol. /Facepalm.

Although they may have the beef variety.

L1011

I think the beef ones require vastly more cooking.

Never actually tried that butcher, probably have more range of beef and lamb cuts than most I'd guess. I've no issue with it being halal, was just the unlikeliness of them having pork :pac:

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

McMurphy wrote: »

**Odd, I could've sworn that I already posted this, but anyways**

Where are people buying baby back ribs from?

I see them in supermarkets, but only the prepared ones that expect you to take them home and whack them in the oven.

The only other ribs I ever see are bacon ribs, and believe me they're not the same thing taste wise as you'll no doubt be already aware.

So butchers keep them? I'm very, very keen to try this recipe over the weekend.

I got mine from the butcher. I think they were prepared, as in I didn't have to remove the membrane from them. If that's what you mean. They were "whack in the oven" ready and there was a marinade on them. But most butchers will usually have them plain too.

I once bought bacon ribs by mistake from a butcher. In fairness, it was written on the label and it was just me being a dope. :pac: They were grand but definitely not the same thing.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Zaph wrote: »

We ordered some from The Whole Hoggs, along with a bunch of other stuff. It's free range pork and they deliver to Dublin, Meath and Louth, but you'd be too late now for this weekend. The highlights were the ribs and the pork shoulder that we made pulled pork with - both were incredibly good. The other stuff we got we weren't so keen on. The pork chops were quite tough and the rashers were so salty they were nearly inedible, but will definitely order more ribs and shoulders from them.

How did you cook the pork chops? I like pork chops but they can dry out or get tough so so easily, even if good quality. They need the lightest touch. The only way I like to do them is in a pan on the highest heat on my electric hob, 2-3 minutes each side. I don't like grilling or roasting them, except maybe a very hot oven for a very short cooking time.

Zaph

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

How did you cook the pork chops? I like pork chops but they can dry out or get tough so so easily, even if good quality. They need the lightest touch. The only way I like to do them is in a pan on the highest heat on my electric hob, 2-3 minutes each side. I don't like grilling or roasting them, except maybe a very hot oven for a very short cooking time.

Lightly oiled, seasoned, and then a few minutes either side on a screaming hot griddle pan. They weren't dried out, in fact they were lovely and juicy, but the meat was very tough for some reason.

the beer revolu

Zaph wrote: »

Lightly oiled, seasoned, and then a few minutes either side on a screaming hot griddle pan. They weren't dried out, in fact they were lovely and juicy, but the meat was very tough for some reason.

Half an hour in a 50 deg c oven can help a lot here, without over cooking them.
Pork chops can be very tricky.

Lemsiper

Making sure the chops are out of the fridge for a good half hour before cooking them so they can room up.

McMurphy

Zaph wrote: »

We ordered some from The Whole Hoggs, along with a bunch of other stuff. It's free range pork and they deliver to Dublin, Meath and Louth, but you'd be too late now for this weekend. The highlights were the ribs and the pork shoulder that we made pulled pork with - both were incredibly good. The other stuff we got we weren't so keen on. The pork chops were quite tough and the rashers were so salty they were nearly inedible, but will definitely order more ribs and shoulders from them.

Cheers Zaph, will be ordering for a home delivery towards mid next week (when the fair weather is apparently set to make a comeback).

Toto Wolfcastle

The chops that Zaph cooked were just bad chops. It wasn’t anything to do with the cooking. It was weird because as he said, the rest of the meat was fantastic apart from the weirdly salty rashers. Back to James Whelan pork chops!


I saw Gleesons butchers advertising that they have racks of ribs in-store so there might be a good chance of getting them elsewhere without having to order in advance. It seems that most places prefer to slap on a load of sauce though rather than keep them plain which is a pity.

the beer revolu

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

The chops that Zaph cooked were just bad chops. It wasn’t anything to do with the cooking.

Thats some insight into chops that you didn't see, cook or eat!

Free range pigs tend to be more active - therefore the muscles can develop more and be tougher. This isn't an issue with cuts destined for long, slow cooking but can be a problem for the likes of chops which people tend to like to cook quickly.
Cooking methods can help here.

Zaph

the beer revolu wrote: »

Thats some insight into chops that you didn't see, cook or eat!

Well considering Toto actually ordered the meat, it would have been a bit mean not to share it with her.

Toto Wolfcastle

the beer revolu wrote: »

Thats some insight into chops that you didn't see, cook or eat!

Just checked with Zaph (he’s in bed next to me) and while I didn’t cook them, he confirmed that I did see and eat them. And we buy free-range pork chops regularly. These were particularly bad ones.

the beer revolu

Woops, sorry, Toto.

th283

Lol after reading this thread I think I'm going to have to go get some ribs I've seen them in a local polish shop without the sauce, meat is Irish and processed by a butcher down in cork, got loin for about €4.50/kg, it was beautiful for pulled pork. Hopefully they'll have ribs in today

McMurphy

Toto Wolfcastle wrote: »

Just checked with Zaph (he’s in bed next to me) and while I didn’t cook them, he confirmed that I did see and eat them. And we buy free-range pork chops regularly. These were particularly bad ones.

At nearly midday?

Get up ourra that John and Yoko!
:pac:

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

Zaph wrote: »

Lightly oiled, seasoned, and then a few minutes either side on a screaming hot griddle pan. They weren't dried out, in fact they were lovely and juicy, but the meat was very tough for some reason.

Oh yeah, then that does just sound like crappy chops rather than cooking method! I haven’t bought organic meat much but toughness was a problem with some of it in the past. Is it because the animals move around more?

the beer revolu wrote: »

Free range pigs tend to be more active - therefore the muscles can develop more and be tougher. This isn't an issue with cuts destined for long, slow cooking but can be a problem for the likes of chops which people tend to like to cook quickly.
Cooking methods can help here.

Ah, then yes.