Food52’s Genius Recipe collection continues to be a wellspring of inspiration for easily adaptable recipes, particularly for the summer season. We’ve previously feature our takes on their Pork Carnitas (for tacos) and Cauliflower Soup, to name just a couple. This recipe, by chef Ian Knauer, first appeared in Gourmet Magazine (black armbands, still) back in 2009, and it holds up as well as the ribs themselves. In the same vein as our Dry Rubbed Chicken with Mustard Sauce, this is a barbecue-friendly recipe that eschews more traditional bbq sauce and offers a less cumbersome homemade glaze that is sticky, sweet and just spicy enough to warrant a nice cold drink. Synchronicity at its finest.
This recipe has the added advantage of being scalable, so while this provides the amounts and measurements for a 4 pound rack of ribs, you can easily double, triple, or even quadruple it according to the size of your soirée. We’ll await our e-vite…
The pork ribs are marinated in a wet rub made from minced garlic, brown sugar, rosemary, cayenne, balsamic vinegar, kosher salt, and black pepper. A veritable roster of pantry staples, which proves that you don’t need a long list of specialty ingredients to make a really fantastic rub, wet or dry. The glaze is equally accessible. All you’ll need is brown sugar, more balsamic, and the pan drippings from the roasting step of the ribs.
As for the ribs, this particular take on the roasting process flies in the face of the conventional “low and slow” technique and does something that we love and admire: It throws caution to the wind and turns up the heat. Given that the ribs are marinated for 8-24 hours, then placed in the roasting pan with a little liquid and covered tightly with foil so that they “steam roast” in under two hours (?!?), there’s no danger that they’ll dry out or fall apart. That’s right, kiddies. In under two hours, you have fully cooked ribs ready for a stint on the grill (or under the broiler, if there isn’t a grill available) until you get those lovely grill or char marks.
Rest assured, the ribs will remain sturdy throughout the roasting process. They’ll even survive flipping. They’ll be ready for a good dowsing with that sweet, sticky, tangy glaze in no time at all, and are likely to disappear fairly quickly after that. This recipe is a triple play of simple, delicious, and truly genius. Pair it with some Basil Lemonade and call it a party. Enjoy!
Adapted from Food 52 Genius Recipes.
- 4 large cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon packed dark brown sugar, divided
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, divided
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 4 pounds baby back pork ribs
- ½ cup water plus 1 cup hot water
- Mince and mash garlic to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt. Stir together with rosemary, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon vinegar, cayenne, remaining teaspoon salt, and pepper. Rub evenly all over ribs and transfer to roasting pan, meaty side up. Marinate, chilled, 8 to 24 hours. Alternately, marinate in a zippered bag or bowl covered with plastic wrap.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Pour ½ cup water into roasting pan and tightly cover pan with foil. Roast ribs until meat is very tender, about 1¾ hours. Remove pan from oven and transfer ribs to a platter.
- Add 1 cup hot water to the roasting pan and scrape up brown bits. Skim off and discard fat, then transfer liquid to a 10-inch skillet. Add remaining ½ cup vinegar and ¼ cup brown sugar and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil until thick and syrupy and reduced to about 1 cup, about 15 minutes.
- Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium heat for gas).Brush some of glaze onto both sides of racks of ribs. Grill, turning occasionally, until ribs are hot and grill marks appear, about 6 minutes. Alternatively, the rbs can be broiled 3 to 4 inches from heat for about 8 minutes.
- Brush ribs with more glaze and serve remaining glaze on the side.
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