My new Big Green Egg arrived and I have been giddy with excitement for weeks about this and plotting and planning what to make in it first. Excited as well as a little insecure. I have never owned my own braai (barbecue), and I wanted to make sure that I did something that went beyond what a normal braai could do, and to show off the immense capabilities of this cooking phenomenon. I also wanted to make sure Ididn’tmess things up.I decided to do ribs. I wanted slowly braised pork ribs, with a chipotle barbecue sauce. I imagined gooey, sticky sauce over succulent ribs that fell off the bone.
I was alerted to a recipe on Bon Appetite about an amazing meat rub that could change the way you cook meat forever. I was completely sold. Who am I to argue with such aconvincingrecipeand as a rookie onthegrill, I made no alterations. The recipeforthe ‘Midyett rub’ is a guide based on ratios so I decided on my mine, rushed out, and bought a spice grinder to whip this up.
A little about what the creator says about the rub: (you will notice when you click on the article that Midyett is cooking on a Big Green Egg)
‘The secret ingredient, Midyett says, is sumac. He came up with the rub while trying to recreate the flavours of acclaimed Chicago barbeque jointLems. Midyett had already incorporated many of the expected ingredients–salt, pepper, the nowde rigueurcoffee–when he stumbled upon the traditional Middle Eastern spice at the bottom of a carryout bag. “We get delivery from this local Persian restaurant, Noon-O-Kabab,” in Chicago’s Albany Park neighbourhood, “and they always include little packets of sumac,” Midyett says. “I tried some, and it had a distinctively tangyumamitaste. My wife said, ‘You should put that on steaks,’ and when I did, I was shocked. It really enriched the primal, animal flavour of the beef. It makes steak taste more like steak.”
The next thing was sourcing the best pork ribs in town. After contacting a few people and checking out a few butcheries, this started to become a slightly more challengingtaskthan initially expected. Most retailersdon’tstock amazing pork belly ribs. They seem to stock a lot of par-cooked, basted andvacuum-packed options. I would have had to order in advance but I needed the ribs on a given day. Luckily I found an incredible 1.5kg rack at Raith’s in Garden’s Centre.
The sauce was the easiest part. I had already developed a fabulous barbecue sauce last year when I wrote my book, but I ended up notincludingit with myrecipefor a seven-hour ginger beer pulled pork banh mi. The meat had so much flavour, itdidn’tneed the extra sauce. So I used this as my base and added a few other bits including Chipotle.
I then needed to find proper wood charcoal,becausethat isthefuel that fires uptheBig Green Egg.
Isn’t she just too beautiful? I think I need to give her a name.
So the date was planned and theingredients were sourced. The ribs were basted in rub and marinaded overnight for optimum flavour, and I was ready.
The ‘Midyett’ Rub recipe | enough to baste 1.5kg of pork belly ribs
- 2 T Sea Salt (I used Maldon)
- 1 T black peppercorns
- 1.5 t sumac
- 1.5 t ground coffee
- 1 t garlic powder
- 1.5 t cocoa powder
Place all the ingredients in a spice grinder and pulse until it turns into a fine powder. Be careful not to inhale this when you open the lid. Rub both sides of your pork belly ribs with the rub, place in a Ziploc bag and store in the fridge to marinade over night.
Chipotle barbecue sauce: (enough for this quantity of ribs, but you might want to make more and use it on other things)
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 T olive oil
- 1/4 cup red winevinegar
- 2 T tomato paste
- 2 TWorcestershiresauce
- 1 T + 1 t Dijon mustard
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1/4 cup of tomato sauce
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 3/4 cup of honey
- 1 – 2 T of chopped chipotle chilli in adobo sauce (2 = quite hot)
- 1/2 cumin
- 1/2 t smokedpaprika
Saute theonionin the olive oil until soft – about 5 minutes. Add the red wine vinegar and allow the liquid to almost cook off. Add all the other ingredients and cook on a low simmer until the sauce thickens – about an hour. If you find it is too thick, thin it down with a bit more water. Allow it to cool and then process this to a smooth consistency using a hand-held blender.
Remove your ribs from the fridge about an hour before you cook them, bringing them back to room temperature.Light your Big Green egg according to the manufacturer’s guidelines, and get it to a temperature of 180C. Yes, that is right, you canaccuratelyset the temperature of this outdoor ceramic oven.
Whenit’s settled on 180C, place the ribs in a metal oven dish and cook for 2.5 hours. Here you are gettingthebenefit of smoke plus controlled oven temperature rolled into one. About 30 minutes beforecompletion baste both sides of the ribs with the sauce, turning once during this time. Attheend of this, cook the ribs over the grill for about 3 – 5 minutes a side until the sauce starts to brown and caramelise. This is a quick processbecauseof the high sugar content. Youdon’twant the sauce to burn.
When they come off the grill, baste once again with more sauce and cut the ribs into individual shards. I served these with my chipotle and apple slaw from my book and baked potatoes.
My friend proclaimed thesethebest ribs he’d ever eaten. I think they were pretty damn fine and I willdefinitelybe making them again. The rub totally rocks, adding a base layer of flavour with huge depth. The sauce is the right amount of sweetness and spicy that will have you licking your lips and cheeks when you are finished eating. A wet napkin is highly recommended here.
As for my Big Green Egg, I have fallen totally in love with it. I can see why topchefsare now bringingtheminto their kitchens and why it has a cult following in the USA. I baked a loaf of bread after I made the ribs which came out beautifully, so watch this space as I create more recipes. It goes so far beyond a braai / barbecue, its an outdoor cooking system. It can grill, roast, slow cook, smoke and bake.
I had a few ribs left over so I pulled the meat ofthebones and piled these shards on top of grilled toast slices with the slaw. Aridiculouslytasty open sandwich.
*My Big Green Egg has been sponsored
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