My Best Recipe for Ribs Thus Far

You know that experienced cooks recommend that you write notes on cookbooks. I do this whenever I can, and yesterday, I found a rather funny note in one of my recipes.

As I was preparing to cook ribs for our dinner, I rummaged for the recipe I’d prepared once using my pressure cooker. It was in the little cookbook that came with the cooker. At the end of the recipe was this reminder, written by yours truly: “Probably better if marinated and fried”. I laughed so hard at this very diplomatic way of saying, “this recipe is no good”. And I wrote that to myself too!

Well, the recipe wasn’t that bad, else I would have written it as such. But I was encouraged to look for a different one anyway.

Here’s what I eventually did, as modified from the Fix It and Forget It Cookbook:

Just Peachy Ribs

2-3 lbs. pork ribs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. peach jam

1. Cut ribs into serving-size pieces and place in slow cooker.
2. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs. Spoon sauce over ribs as needed to coat the pieces.
3. Cover. Cook on slow cooker, on high setting for 4-5 hours.
4. Remove ribs from cooker and place in broiler pan. Place under low broiler flame for 5 minutes to brown.

The original recipe called for 15 oz can spiced cling peaches (cubed, with juice). But I didn’t have that, so I modified, as I often do. The ribs were also supposed to be browned in the broiler before slow cooking. But I prefer doing it after, to get a good crunchy surface to the meat. Besides it seems to impart the illusion of slow-roasting the dish. It was good enough to do without any sauce on the side.

You can use other sauces for making ribs. The simplest ones have bottled barbecue sauce enhanced with salt, pepper, a bit of onion and garlic. Slow cooking lets the flavor seep inside the meat, which is really the secret to great ribs. Afterwards, pop it in the broiler or grill to finish.

My husband gave me top stars for this one. And it gets raves from me for being such an easy dish.

Tags: ribs recipe, grilling, barbecue recipe, slow cooker recipe, slow cooking, housekeeping, homemaking