JBug's Kitchen Antics: Sticky Ribs with Apricot BBQ Sauce

08/11/2010

Sticky Ribs with Apricot BBQ Sauce

OK here's the deal. Every once in a while I try a recipe that looks good - no it looks fabulous on paper, but doesn't translate to fabulous at the finish. That's what happened last night with these pork ribs.

The ribs were relieved of the membrane on the back of the bone, dusted in garlic powder, salt and pepper, soused up with a bottle of beer, sprinkled with whole cloves then wrapped in foil and cooked low and slow in a 300 oven for 2 hours. Sounds great so far, right?

When the roasting time was up, the liquid was strained off the ribs and added to a pot with equal parts ketchup and apricot jam. Tarted up with the juice of a lemon, the whole shebang boiled down to a thick rich consistency before coating the ribs for their final finish under a hot broiler. Shoulda' been knock down drag out delish right? I mean they look good enough to eat don't they?

Well, they were good enough to eat but strangely lacking in complexity. The flavor of the cloves came through loud and clear - too loud and way too clear. Oh, the ribs were tender enough and definitely sticky even though a tad "over caramelized" if you know what I mean. The sugar content of the barbecue sauce meant I should have been watching the broiler far more than I was which is the other complaint I have. The recipe indicated they'd require a total of 27 minutes under the broiler at a distance of 4 inches from the flame - guess my broiler's better'n I thought cause these puppies were plum fried.

Anyway, in my opinion the ribs needed a lot more spice including fresh garlic, some heat from pepper flakes or hot sauce and for sure you can save the whole cloves for your Easter ham, cause in this case they really spoiled the show. Needless to say there will be no recipe posted.

Aw shucks! A failure. How humbling!

Aug 11, 2010 7:41:42 AM