On Saturdays, I go to the Ardmore Farmer’s Market to shop with my buddy, Barbecue Bob. I typically pick up some pork product at Stoltzfus Meats because they have the freshest pork around. This weekend I picked up some Country Style ribs that were described to me as “big pork chops that have been cut in half so they look like ribs.” They were meaty, about 1 pound each.

I noticed from the cover of my June/July edition of Fine Cooking they were talking about a new way of grilling called “Sear, Braise & Glaze”. I’ve been reading about this technique lately in some other cooking articles. Basically you sear the meat on the grill, braise it in a Dutch oven or heavy bottomed pot and finish it on the grill as a barbecue.

There are many advantages to this somewhat new cooking technique and a couple of disadvantages but I’ll write about all of them another time. For now I want to tell you how I used their recipe to braise the country style ribs in my outdoor wood burning oven for some pretty good ribs and show you how you can braise them in your oven.

Country Style Ribs - What Are They?

These ribs are really not ribs at all but pork chops cut from the blade (think shoulder) end of the loin that are then butterflied so they look like a big, meaty ribs. There is enough fat on them so they can be braised or slow cooked barbecue style on the grill. Cuts with less fat would just get tough during a braise and are better suited to shorter, higher heat dry cooking methods.

These aren’t your pick up with your fingers type of ribs that you may be used to. You more or less need a knife and fork, and if you braise them, be sure to have your spoon ready. The sauce from the braising liquids is incredible.

Did I mention they are not that expensive? I think I paid under $5.00 per pound.

Dry Rub & Braising Liquid

Basically I followed Fine Cooking’s recipe for the rub, and it was very tasty. I encourage you, however, to come up with your own brand of rubs by experimenting with different ingredients. If you look at 100 cookbooks that have rib rub recipes, you are going to find many with similar ingredients, but they will all be a little different. I typically go with what I like and what I have on hand.

One of the key ingredients for the braise is beer. You may remember my post called Bert’s Barbecue Baby Back Ribs. This is one of my favorite and quickest ways to make barbecued ribs in a hurry by starting them in the oven and finishing them on the grill. Bert’s recipe also calls for a bottle of beer.

Braised Country Style Ribs with Orzo & Sauteed Broccoli Rabe

Dry Rub Ingredients

• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dry sage
• Salt & Pepper, to taste

Braising Liquid Ingredients

• 4 strips of bacon, cut into pieces
• 2 medium yellow onions, cut into thin slices
• 4 medium cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 bottle of beer, stout or dark lager if possible
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• I also added a few drops of Asian hot sauce to give it a little kick.

Meat
6 Country Style Ribs

How to Prepare

Start by preparing the rub for the ribs. You’ll want to cover the ribs with the rub and let sit for a minimum of a couple of hours up to overnight. I used a large stainless steel utility bowl to mix all the rub ingredients and one at a time added a rib to cover. Be sure to knock off any excess rub off the rib before starting the next. After each one was covered, I placed them into a large Ziploc bag and stuck the bag in the refrigerator.

The Fine Cooking recipe calls for searing the ribs on your grill, then braising them in a heavy duty pot on the cooler part of your grill for indirect heating. You then finish the ribs using direct heat over medium-low heat. This is a great method and one I can’t wait to try, but since I was firing up the wood burning oven to make pizza for friends, I wanted to take advantage of the residual oven heat to slow cook (braise) the ribs overnight at a constant 200 degrees F.

So I browned the ribs in the house on my stove top in a large fry pan. In fact, I did all the prep in a large fry pan and then transferred everything to a large Dutch oven that was used for braising the ribs overnight. One of the advantages of doing everything on the grill, especially during a hot summer is keeping some of the heat out of the house. I suppose I could have seared and prepped the other ingredients in a sauce pan in the hot wood burning oven, but it is easier to control on a stove top. I could have also used my grill to brown the meat and prepare the other ingredients.

Isn’t it great to have so many options?

Browning the Ribs

I heated up the pan before browning the meat. I also didn’t use any oil. When the meat starts browning and forming a caramelized crust, you turn it. It takes about 4 minutes to brown each piece and I worked in batches of two.

When all the ribs were browned, removed and reserved on a plate, I deglazed the pan with half of the cider vinegar being sure to scrape up any of the little pieces of meat (fond) stuck to the pan. I immediately added the bacon and let it cook over medium heat until it began to crisp.

Next, I added the onions and cooked for 6 - 8 minutes until they began to soften. Next, I added the garlic and carrots and continued cooking for a couple of minutes. Once the aromatics were softened, I added the chicken stock, beer, bay leaves, caraway seeds and the rest of the vinegar, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon so I wouldn’t lose any of the fond. I brought everything up to a boil, then lowered the heat and simmered for about 12 minutes.

NOTE: I started this in a fry pan and transferred everything to a Dutch oven. Not sure why, but If I were to do this again, I would skip the fry pan and do everything in the Dutch oven. Less clean up and just as effective.

Braising

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

After the braising liquid simmers, remove from heat and add the reserved ribs back into the liquid and cover. When I was done making pizza and the oven cooled off a little, I placed the Dutch oven into the wood burning oven, covered the front entry way and let it cook all night at about 200 degrees F.

Since you probably won’t be cooking the ribs outside in a wood burning oven, place the Dutch oven into the preheated oven and cook for about 2 hours until they are fork tender. Give them a turn after the first 45 minutes of cooking. When they are fork tender, follow my Next Day steps below.

The Next Day

In the morning, I removed the Dutch oven from the wood burning oven. In the kitchen I removed the cover and, wow! The aroma that hit me was amazing. Remove all the meat and reserve in a container with a lid or zip lock bag.

And yes, the meat does fall apart. You will be tempted to enjoy the ribs for breakfast but you may want to wait and serve them for dinner. With all the meat removed, strain the sauce through a fine meshed strainer using the back of a spoon to push all the liquid into another container. I used a plastic take-out food container with a lid.

Since I wasn’t serving this meal until dinner, I put the ribs and sauce into the refrigerator. By the time I was ready to serve, the fat separated from the rest of the sauce and sat at the top of the container. I used a spoon to scrape out the fat leaving me with an incredibly flavorful sauce.

Use the sauce to reheat the meat and serve with your side dishes. I served sauteed broccoli rabe and orzo.

Do Overs

Although the country style ribs have more fat than baby back ribs, I’m not sure I would cook them for as long as I did. They were a little dry but that can be remedied by shredding the meat with a fork and serving with lots of the sauce similar to how you serve pulled pork. I bet the leftovers would be great with barbecue sauce too.

When I asked my friend Chef Jenni Field to look over this recipe, she informed me it was a mistake to chill the meat and the sauce in two separate containers. She said to always cool braised meat in the braising liquid, otherwise the meat will dry out. Once it’s chilled you can separate the two, if you want. Great cooking tip Jenni.

Braising them for 2 hours at 300 degrees F. should be plenty enough time to keep them moist but still tender. If you do decide to grill them after braising, be sure to tie them with butcher string after you brown them so they don’t fall apart on you while grilling. The recipe in Fine Cooking included a mustard glaze for grilling but you could also use your favorite barbecue sauce.

Resources

I personally like Jim Tarantino’s Marinades, Rubs, Brines, Cures & Glazes as a source for anything to do with barbecue. Jim is a master at this and his cookbook provides more suggestions and ideas than most of us will ever need.

Also, one of my favorite books on meat, Bruce Aidell and Denis Kelly’s The Complete Meat Cookbook is a valuable source for everything having to do with cooking meat as well as suggestions for rubs. It turns out this recipe I’m working with was written for Fine Cooking by Bruce Aidell.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

It’s kind of interesting that a meal closely associated with St. Patrick’s Day in America, corned beef and cabbage, is rarely eaten in Ireland. Historically, pork was the favored meat, and cows were kept mainly for milk production. An Irishman’s wealth used to be based on the number of cattle in his herd, and killing a cow to eat it effectively diminished a person’s wealth, and status. In later years, beef was still much too expensive for most people, and corned beef was considered a delicacy to maybe be eaten at Easter.

Where Did Corned Beef Get Its Name?

You might be wondering where corned beef got its name. After all, it doesn’t contain any corn! Beef used to be cured by packing it with corn-sized rock salt, and the name just stuck.

While the Irish were the first exporters of corned beef, many Irishmen got their first real taste of it for themselves upon emigrating to America at the end of the 19th Century, where both beef and salt were much cheaper. They tended to cook this salt-cured (corned) beef much as they would pork back home: soaking it to remove some of the salt and then braising it with some cabbage.

If you are lucky enough to be in Ireland for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration, you will certainly find corned beef and cabbage, but most of it is prepared for North American tourists. Oddly enough, on this decidedly Irish holiday, the Irish themselves don’t really seem to have a traditional dish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Since I live in the United States and intend to celebrate as an Irish-American, I will be serving corned beef and cabbage on Tuesday. At its heart, it is a very simple dish and is often simply spiced. To make it a true celebratory meal, I’ve added some complexity by beer braising and enriched the dish by finishing it with some melted butter.

How To Make Your Own Corned Beef From Scratch

Ingredients:

• 1 pound kosher salt
• 1 gallon water
• 8 pounds beef brisket, trimmed of most of its fat

How to Prepare at Home:

1) Heat water and salt together until salt is dissolved. Cool, and put in a large container. Submerge the meat in the brine for seven days. The meat must be completely submerged, so either place a weight on top of the meat (such as a heavy jar or can in a plastic bag) or double the water and salt.

2) After a week, rinse the brine off the meat and pat dry. Discard the brine, and continue with the recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage.

3) A true corned beef is cured with sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. This is what gives the cooked beef its traditional pink color. If you want to corn beef using a sodium nitrate mixture, rub the brisket with a mixture of 5 tablespoons Morton’s Sugar Cure , 2 tablespoons light brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of corned beef spices.

4) Place in a plastic zip top bag, squeeze out the air and place the meat in a dish in the refrigerator for 6 days, flipping the bag over twice a day. Liquid will collect in the bag; do not drain it. After six days, rinse the meat off and soak it in water for an hour to remove some of the salt.

Corned Beef and Cabbage Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 beef brisket (6-8 pounds), patted dry
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1½ teaspoons whole peppercorns
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 1 heads of cabbage, trimmed of outer leaves, cored and cut in quarters
• 12-15 medium red potatoes, skin on, halved or quarterd, depending on the size
• ½ pound carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Harp’s lager (or similar lager)
• Water
• 3 Tablespoons fresh minced parsley
• 3 Tablespoons melted butter
• Fleur de Sel, to taste*

How to Make Corned Beef & Cabbage

Preheat oven to 275F.

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add oil and butter and heat.

Sear brisket on all sides until deep golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Pour beer over the beef. Add enough water to come halfway up the meat.

Wrap the peppercorns and bay leaves in a square of cheesecloth and place in the Dutch oven with the meat. Cover the pot tightly, and braise for 2½ hours, or until meat is tender.

Remove the peppercorns and bay leaves. Place the potatoes around the meat, followed by the garlic, carrots and cabbage. Add enough water to barely cover. Bring to a simmer on the stovetop, then cover the Dutch oven and braise until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

To serve, drain the vegetables with a spider or a slotted spoon, and arrange them on a serving platter. Drizzle melted butter over the vegetables.

Thinly slice the beef across the grain and place on top of the vegetables. Garnish with minced parsley and lightly sprinkle with just a pinch or two of Fleur de Sel.

*Generally speaking, corned beef and cabbage does not need any extra salt during the cooking process. Taste yours, though, to see if you think it needs a little kosher salt during cooking. If not, finishing with a sprinkle of flake salt, such as Fleur de Sel, will be sufficient.

Valentine’s Day Meat Course

photo credit

I hope you are enjoying my recent posts on preparing a Valentine’s Day Feast for that special person in your life. I know many of you are planning to go out but with the economy being as it is, this might be the perfect opportunity to dine in. I’ve created a special Squidoo lens that focuses in on this concept called A Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner and it includes recipes and suggestions for flowers, movies, music and cooking videos. I think you will enjoy it.

So far I have posted the following recipes and articles on the Reluctant Gourmet Cooking Blog:

Romantic Valentine’s Day Meal Suggestions

Romantic Cheese Course

Lobster Bisque Recipe

How to Make a Great Salad

and now we can look at an easy meat course.

When trying to come up with a meat dish, I looked at the rich cheese and the rich bisque and decided to lighten things up a little for the meat course. I chose pork because of its mild sweetness. After all, Valentine’s Day is all about sweets for the sweet. To up the sweetness ante, we’ll pair the pork with a very simple and flavorful apricot glaze that will play on the sweetness of the meat. Don’t worry, it won’t taste like candy. We’ll temper the apricot with some vinegar for a little zing and balance.

Pork Medallions with Apricot Glaze

Ingredients:

• Pork tenderloin, cut in 2” slices, 1-2 per person, depending on how many courses you are serving
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• Vegetable oil
• ½ cup chicken or vegetable stock
• ½ cup Apricot jam
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ cup Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon butter

How to Make at Home:

1) Sprinkle both sides of the pork medallions with a little salt and pepper.

2) Heat a lidded sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil to the pan.

3) Sear the medallions in the oil until nicely browned on each side, about 3 minutes per side.

4) Add chicken or vegetable stock, jam, mustard, ginger and vinegar to the pan. Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer over low heat until the internal temperature of the pork is 155-157 degrees F, about 15-20 minutes, depending on your stove.

5) Remove the pork to a platter and cover with foil.

6) Return the pan to the heat, and turn the heat up to medium high. Bring to a boil and reduce the sauce until thick and syrupy. Taste, and adjust seasonings, if necessary.

7) Remove from the heat and swirl in the butter, just until melted. This will enrich the sauce a bit and give it a really nice sheen.

Plate the pork and spoon the glaze over the medallions. You may serve this along with the Pear, Walnut and Goat Cheese Salad. The two will complement each other nicely.

Alternatives:

Beef Course

If pork doesn’t work for you and you are looking for a decadent beef course, you may be interested in my Chateaubriand for Two recipe. Made from beef tenderloin, this dish will melt in your mouth. It’s a natural for Valentine’s Day, because it is the perfect size for sharing. I also have a recipe for Béarnaise Sauce on my Squidoo: A Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner.

Crock Pot Short Ribs

Let’s say you don’t have time to cook a big meal because you work late or don’t want to eat at 9 pm, why not try preparing something in a crock pot? You might be thinking what can you cook in a crock pot that will be elegant enough for Valentine’s Day and I say any recipe that calls for braising like short ribs. I’m finding slow cooked short ribs on some of the fanciest restaurants all over the country.

All you have to do is take a half hour to prep all the ingredients in the morning, stick them in the crock pot and when you come home, you will have a delicious and romantic meal. All you’ll have to do is serve it up and then bask in the adoration of your Valentine. You can read my Crock Pot Short Ribs recipe here.