Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2014 16:25
Final word on my attempt to save freezer burned spare ribs. Previous post:
To finish up on my freezer burned ribs story - I salted them and let them sit in the fridge for 6 or so hours, then rinsed them, resalted, and let them go another 6. I knew I'd have hammy ribs, but I like them that way sometimes. They smelled about the same after this salt treatment. I put a rub on them and bbq'd them as usual. They came out too salty to eat (not surprising...I should have made a salt-free rub), but otherwise tasty, with no taint of freezer burn. So I'm going to strip the meat off the bones, make some BBQ sauce without salt, and simmer them in that. We'll see how that goes.
I simmered the ribs, bone-in actually, in a lot of water for a about an hour, then added tomato paste and kept simmering another hour. No herbs or spices added except a couple bay leaves, since the ribs were seasoned already, and no bbq sauce ingredients except tomato. Still a bit too salty, so I removed half the broth, added some thick, salt-free strained tomatoes, and plenty of pressed garlic. Removed the bones from the pot after the meat fell off. Well, it came out great. No freezer burn flavor, and a really tasty red gravy. The salty broth that I removed proved useful in another dish containing sausage, potatoes, carrots, and celery, to which I once again added salt free strained tomatoes.
Normally I just cut away any discolored freezer burned meat, and I did that in the few places on these ribs where it showed, but they still smelled like freezer burn. I guess you could say these were "medium" burned. Now I know what to do in the future, because...freezer burn happens.
So now I have a recipe for BBQ Ribs in Red Gravy. This would be good to serve at an event where people don't want to get messy eating ribs off the bone.
1. Rub a rack of spare ribs with your favorite dry rub, including salt.
2. BBQ low and slow.
3. Cut the ribs into individual pieces, add water to cover, and simmer till the meat is falling off the bones. Add water occasionally if necessary to keep the ribs covered.
4. Add 1 can tomato paste and 4 cloves pressed garlic. More tomato paste can be added if you like a thicker sauce, or if the gravy is too salty.
5. Season with salt, if necessary, and pepper, simmer another 10 minutes, remove the bones, and serve.
Cheers,
Jeff
To finish up on my freezer burned ribs story - I salted them and let them sit in the fridge for 6 or so hours, then rinsed them, resalted, and let them go another 6. I knew I'd have hammy ribs, but I like them that way sometimes. They smelled about the same after this salt treatment. I put a rub on them and bbq'd them as usual. They came out too salty to eat (not surprising...I should have made a salt-free rub), but otherwise tasty, with no taint of freezer burn. So I'm going to strip the meat off the bones, make some BBQ sauce without salt, and simmer them in that. We'll see how that goes.
I simmered the ribs, bone-in actually, in a lot of water for a about an hour, then added tomato paste and kept simmering another hour. No herbs or spices added except a couple bay leaves, since the ribs were seasoned already, and no bbq sauce ingredients except tomato. Still a bit too salty, so I removed half the broth, added some thick, salt-free strained tomatoes, and plenty of pressed garlic. Removed the bones from the pot after the meat fell off. Well, it came out great. No freezer burn flavor, and a really tasty red gravy. The salty broth that I removed proved useful in another dish containing sausage, potatoes, carrots, and celery, to which I once again added salt free strained tomatoes.
Normally I just cut away any discolored freezer burned meat, and I did that in the few places on these ribs where it showed, but they still smelled like freezer burn. I guess you could say these were "medium" burned. Now I know what to do in the future, because...freezer burn happens.
So now I have a recipe for BBQ Ribs in Red Gravy. This would be good to serve at an event where people don't want to get messy eating ribs off the bone.
1. Rub a rack of spare ribs with your favorite dry rub, including salt.
2. BBQ low and slow.
3. Cut the ribs into individual pieces, add water to cover, and simmer till the meat is falling off the bones. Add water occasionally if necessary to keep the ribs covered.
4. Add 1 can tomato paste and 4 cloves pressed garlic. More tomato paste can be added if you like a thicker sauce, or if the gravy is too salty.
5. Season with salt, if necessary, and pepper, simmer another 10 minutes, remove the bones, and serve.
Cheers,
Jeff