First Ribs

All that talk about cooking and grilling with Terry yesterday got me thinking about ribs, so when I went to Kroger after chatting with him, I picked up a slab of Baby Backs. Woke up this morning with an agenda. Three things: clean out the fridge, awaken the sauce from under its layer of pig fat (the famous sauce confit), and cook a slab of ribs. I put on water to heat, for cleaning containers and jars, and composted the solids from the fridge, but I also keep bits of marinade and interesting liquids for adding to the sauce. I put the liquids on to boil while I went about the composting, covering it with a goodly layer of stove ash. Removed the plug of fat from the two jars of sauce, and threw them onto the compost pile, added the sauce to the pan of liquids, brought it to a boil again, then pulled it of the heat far enough that it just barely bubbled. I pasteurize it this way three or four times a year, keep it under a layer of pork fat, and keep it in the fridge. I believe it's ten years old now. Rinsed out the jars with pomegranate juice, added a healthy squirt of lime juice, everything is good in the sauce, but no tomatoes; it's more of a fruit and chili thing. If I'm going to be cooking for other people, I extend it out with red wine and a bottle of stout, a blenderized onion, tamarind paste, then reduce it back down. I like it to be fairly thick, like cream, but not as thick as something that would be classified as a Bingham fluid, like ketchup or mayo. Wash dishes and sterilize the two jars for the sauce. I had over-wintered a quart and a pint, but I figure to end up with over two quarts, since, at the end of cooking the ribs, I add all the liquids and fat I've collected, from the cooking process back to the sauce. My syastem is odd but the product is incredible. Either come up with or buy a decent rub, add some instant espresso powder, and, you know, some wild fennel pollen.