Braised and Grilled or Broiled Pork Ribs

Name: Braised and Grilled or Broiled Pork Ribs
Total time: 2 h
Yield: 4 to 8 servings
Cuisine: barbecue
Ingredients: 3 to 4 pounds spare ribs; Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 10 allspice berries; 2 or 3 3-inch cinnamon sticks; 10 nickel-sized slices unpeeled fresh ginger or 1 tablespoon ground ginger; 5 dried red chiles or a teaspoon of cayenne; 5 cloves garlic, lightly smashed; 1 bottle dark beer, like Guinness or any porter

By Mark Bittman

Total Time: About 2 hours
Rating: 4(370)
Comments: Read comments

The barbecued ribs I like best are cooked all the way through, using moist, relatively low heat, then finished over a high flame for a final browning. And you can nicely, if imperfectly, replicate this process by braising the ribs and then finishing them over the grill or in the broiler. Of course the broiler won’t add wood flavor, but then neither will a gas grill or briquettes.

What I did for the ribs in the recipe here was brown them, then slowly braise them in the oven (the top of the stove would work as well). When they were nearly falling off the bone I took them straight from the braising liquid and ran them under the broiler, just until they crisped up.

Featured in: Oven Adds Flavor When the Grill Can’t

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 8 servings

3 to 4pounds spare ribs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2tablespoons vegetable oil
10allspice berries
2 or 33-inch cinnamon sticks
10nickel-sized slices unpeeled fresh ginger or 1 tablespoon ground ginger
5dried red chiles or a teaspoon of cayenne
5cloves garlic, lightly smashed
1bottle dark beer, like Guinness or any porter

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cut meat into two racks if necessary; season with salt and pepper. Put oil in a large, deep ovenproof skillet or casserole that can later be covered. Turn heat to medium-high and, when oil shimmers, sear meat on both sides until nicely browned, turning as necessary.
Step 2
Add allspice, cinnamon, ginger, chiles and garlic and stir; add beer. Bring to a boil; cover pan and adjust heat so mixture simmers steadily. Put in oven and cook until meat is tender, 1 hour or more. (You can prepare meat up to a day or two ahead; if you are not going to grill or broil immediately, put whole pan in refrigerator after it cools a bit.)
Step 3
Light a charcoal or gas grill or heat broiler; rack should be about 4 inches away from heat source. Drain meat and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Grill or broil on both sides until brown and crisp, just a few minutes. Meanwhile, skim cooking liquid of fat, bring to a boil, and use as sauce.

Ratings

4 out of 5

370 user ratings

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Comments

Fred7 years ago

How long in oven if using baby back ribs?

Dave W7 years ago

Should have set oven at 350 degrees and cooked for 2 hours

John7 years ago

In the oven, I find that it takes 5-6 hours at 225F or even 200F for the meat to fall off the bone (or close to this).

Yuri1 year ago

Used dark ale instead of porter + 2 tbsp of molasses as someone suggested. Cooked in the oven for 1 hour 45 min, then brushed with the home made bbq sauce and grilled for 5 min on the BBQ at 375. Delicious!

Tracy1 year ago

2 hours in the oven at 300. Perfect.

NanB1 year ago

Am I the only one who didn’t like this? I thought the ribs were “ok” but the sauce was really bitter. I tried the recipe twice bcs the ingredients sounded so good and I thought I probably did something wrong the first time. The second time I followed it exactly with the same result. Not for me.

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