Country Style Spare Ribs

2-3 pounds country-style pork ribs. (Half a pound per person.)

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup cider vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup good red wine

¼ cup stone ground mustard

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

1½ TBSP (roasted) garlic powder

1 tsp (roasted) onion powder.

1 TBSP rhubarb powder (dried, ground)

1 TBSP roasted bell pepper powder

¼ tsp red pepper powder

1½ TBSP low salt soy sauce

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 tsp Tabasco smoked chipotle sauce

Combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth. Pour over the ribs, making sure all ribs are covered on all sides with sauce. Marinate at room temperature for an hour, or in the refrigerator overnight.

Barbecue on medium grille; spoon extra sauce onto ribs on the grille (but make sure that the sauce all gets cooked before serving).

Cook ribs until they’re no longer pink, but are still moist inside. Serve with grilled corn on the cob, grilled jojo’s, grilled bell peppers and maybe a nice amber ale.

Share with good friends.

Pork Chops in Applesauce, with Bourbon & Clementines

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 each pork loin chops, ½” thick

½ large sweet onion, sliced

1 quart home-made applesauce

1 ounce good bourbon (substitution: ⅓ cup white wine, but the bourbon is better!)

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 large sprig fresh rosemary (2 – 3 TBSP, chopped)

2 Clementine oranges (or mandarins), divided into sections,

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1 fully-loaded black pepper grinder.

Generously season pork loin chops with fresh ground pepper. In a large cast iron pan brown pork loin chops and onion in canola oil. Sear chops well on both sides.

When the chops are almost cooked through add applesauce, bourbon, cinnamon, nutmeg, a rosemary and Clementine orange slices.

Continue to heat for 20 minutes or so cooking down the applesauce, adjusting seasoning to taste. In the last 5 minutes add dried cranberries and finish cooking. We serve this in the cast iron pan.

Serve with freshly baked acorn squash; covering the squash with the applesauce gravy. Yumm! 

Mint & Oregano Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 4 Large pork chops, filleted
• 8 Strips bacon, cooked, medium
• 4 TBSP fresh peppermint, washed, stemmed an, finely chopped
• 3 TBSP fresh oregano, washed, stemmed and chopped medium
• 4 tsp raspberry chipotle sauce
• 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions:
Preheat the barbecue on high while you’re preparing the meat.

Since I used frozen pork chops, I defrosted them in the microwave while I fried the bacon in a cast iron pan and dry it in paper towels. When the chicken is thawed, slice them in half horizontally, like sandwich bread. Salt and pepper generously both inside and out.

Spread the jam on one side of the pork chop, inside. Spread chopped mint and oregano evenly on both sides of the inside of the pork chops. Then stuff ¼ cup parmesan cheese inside of the pork chop. Layer the bacon on top of the parmesan cheese. Close the pork chops, now stuffed with yummy things; press it tightly closed with a spatula to seal it shut.

Place the chops on the grille and immediately turn the flame down to medium. I recommend preparing a good salad while the meat cooks. It’ll be different on every barbecue, but I cooked the chicken about seven minutes on each side; it got a good sear on it and stayed moist. Make sure the chicken is completely cooked, of course.

Review: this was fairly flavorful, but not as tender as I’d like. I think I over-defrosted it, and over-cooked it on the BBQ: be careful with both of those. Mint jam would have been a good substitution, but these could have benefited from a little more zing in the filling as well: maybe add some lemon juice for tartness, or some cayenne or Tabasco for heat.

Pork Pot Roast in Cider

¼ lb fresh bacon, in pieces

1 pork roast (I use one about 2½ or 3 pounds). Trim off the fat, all the fat.
1 TBSP olive oil.
8 - 10 cloves garlic, peeled, halved

2 cups apple cider
1 TBSP beef stock concentrate or bouillon granules
¼ tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary leaves
1 tsp powdered mustard

Sauté the bacon in the bottom of a cast iron Dutch oven. When done and still soft, remove the bacon and set it aside. Add 1 or 2 TBSP olive oil. Keep the Dutch oven hot.

Season the pot roast on all sides with salt and pepper. Sear all sides. Add the garlic cloves to cook in and flavor the oil while the roast is searing.

While it is searing, combine: cider, beef bouillon, pepper, rosemary, mustard.

When the garlic is beginning to be browned, remove from the oil and set aside. This happens for me before the roast is completely seared.

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

If you’re watching your fat content, pour off the bacon grease/oil mixture. When the roast is well browned on all sides, add the broth mixture. Bring it back to a boil and add the garlic and bacon that had been set aside earlier. When the broth is boiling again, cover the Dutch oven, and load it into the preheated oven for 70 minutes. I reach in with a spoon two or three times to ladle the liquid over the roast.

While the pot roast is simmering in the oven, prepare the veggies:

5 modest size potatoes, quartered lengthwise.
1 large yellow onion, in similar size large chunks
½ pound of small baby carrots, or five or six fresh carrots washed and cut into pieces.

1 parsnip, scrubbed, cut into pieces (optional)
Season all the veggies with salt and fresh ground pepper.

When the 70 minute timer goes off, add the veggies, and load it back into the oven, this time at 300 degrees, for another 40 minutes.

When you’re satisfied that the meat is done enough (I use a meat thermometer, looking for at least 155: it will cook a little more after removing it), pull the whole pot out of the oven. Pour the juices off into a frypan and make gravy out of them, but keep them separate from your wife’s portion of the meal. Serve while it’s hot.