hello this is chef john from food wishes comm with some pepper spareribs that's
right they say whoever makes the most delicious thing using the fewest number
of ingredients wins which was the idea that inspired these amazing ribs and i
know i'm not completely impartial but i think i might have won as these ribs
really were absolutely incredible plus this has to be the easiest method i've
ever shared for doing ribs so with that let's go ahead and get started
by mixing up our salt and pepper rub which is basically just gonna be salt
and pepper although we are gonna use three different kinds of pepper which
would be some freshly ground black pepper
some freshly ground white pepper which I always thought should be called tan
pepper and then of course we're gonna add some cayenne and then last but not
least a little touch of garlic powder which is not a salt or pepper but it is
really good in a spice rub for ribs and that's it we'll go ahead and give that a
quick mix and our salt and pepper rub is done and by the way we call these things
rubs but as you'll see they're really actually sprinkles and then once that's
set the only other thing we need to do is stir together a little bit of Dijon
mustard with a couple tablespoons of white distilled vinegar and what we'll
do is brush this over our ribs so that our salt and pepper rub sticks on a
little better and also that little touch of acidity will help balance the
fattiness of the pork speaking of which let's go ahead and place one big
beautiful slab of st. louis-style pork ribs down on a foil lined baking sheet
and we'll go ahead and flip that over and start with the underside and some
people like to pull off that membrane that covers the ribs but I don't
although I do like to make some very shallow slashes wherever it's exposed as
well as give it the old poka poka with the tip of the knife which is gonna help
all our seasonings penetrate deeper inside and then once that's been
properly pierced including under that little meat flap we'll go ahead and
paint over our vinegar mustard mixture and then once that's been covered with
about half of the mixture we'll go ahead and sprinkle over about 40% of our salt
and pepper rub which like I said we really don't rub we always sprinkle
since that's gonna give you a much more even coating and yes of course you could
do a couple slabs of those smaller baby back ribs instead I mean you guys are
after all the LeBron James of your salt and pepper rib games
but personally my vote is to use the st. louis-style ribs which i think work
really well here and that's it once just about half of that mixtures been applied
we'll go ahead and flip this over and repeat that exact same process on this
side and the reason I said to only do about 40% of that salt and pepper
mixture on the bottom is because I think we want a little more on this side which
is the meteor side but we're not gonna quite use all the remaining 60% since I
generally like to reserve a teaspoon or two in case we want to do a little bit
of seasoning after these are cooked and if we don't end up using it we could
just save it to use for our coleslaw and or potato salad but anyway we'll go
ahead and paint and salt and pepper this side and then what we should do time
permitting is transfer this into the fridge uncovered for about four hours or
so or if you want you can even go overnight and that's going to give that
salt and pepper enough time to work its way into the meat and you will
definitely end up with a juicier more flavorful product but if you have to
cook it right away go ahead it will still come out really good and then once
we are ready to go we're gonna cook these using the easiest route method
ever invented we are simply gonna place these into the center of a 300 degree
oven for about three hours or until tender that's it no start high finish
low or start low finish high or wrapping and unwrapping and re wrapping we are
just going to simply cook these until they're done but one quick thing I do
like to do is about half way through pull them out and give them a quick
basting with the accumulated juices okay so after about an hour and a half you
should have a decent puddle of rendered pork fat which we'll go ahead and brush
over the top and don't worry about the other side it's fine and that's it after
that brief basting we will pop that back in for another hour and a half or until
perfectly tender and hopefully looking a little something like this
oh yeah and by the way when I say perfectly tender I do not mean falling
off the bone okay how we test these is with the tip of a knife which is slide
into that meat with almost no pressure okay we definitely want that meat to
come very cleanly off the bone once we bite it but if that meat is falling and
collapsing off the bone when we cut it its overcooked and then what we'll do at
this point is let it rest for about 50 minutes before we cut them and while
they sit we might as well give them one more base with those beautiful
accumulated juices and that's it once these have rested we'll go ahead and
slice them up and while these are incredibly flavorful
on their own I went ahead and paired mine with our famous all-american
barbecue sauce which of course we have a video for which you've hopefully already
seen and since that sauce is a sweet and tangy Kansas City style it is the
perfect complement to these intensely flavored pepper spice ribs
so I slathered some on and that my friends despite featuring only a couple
ingredients were some of the best ribs I've tasted in a very long time okay
this recipe was a great reminder to me of just how delicious pork ribs are when
we don't try to do too much to them and I'm as guilty as anyone making these
with marinades and rubs that have like 20 ingredients but the fairly minimalist
approach here really was an eye opener and taste bud opener oh and not to brag
we you can see just how clean that me comes off the bone when you bite that is
a perfectly cooked rib and I think as far as service goes just serve them
right off the cutting board with your sauce or sauces nearby is perfectly
acceptable but as you might know I'm contractually obligated to take some
pictures so I went ahead and plated some up and squeezed over some more of our
all-american barbecue sauce which is called that because all Americans love
it and after taking a few too many pictures I proceeded to enjoy these and
I know I already said it a few times but let me say it one more time these really
were amazing oh and just because I did mine in a 300-degree oven doesn't mean
you can do yours over indirect heat and your cover charcoal or gas grill okay
should work out just about the same which reminds me I'm now saying all
those overly complicated fussy rib recipes are wrong but what I am saying
is lot of that might be unnecessary since all we did here is put these in
the oven and other than a quick basting all we did is let these slowly roast
until tender and yet they're still very moist and juicy and not dry at all so
not only did our simple ingredient list pay off but our very simple cooking
method did as well which is why I really do hope you give these a try soon so
please follow the links below for the ingredient amongst a principle written
recipe a much more info as usual and as always enjoy
you