Smoked pork ribs are the key ingredient in flavouring pasulj (red bean soup), sarma (sour cabbage rolls), podvarak (sauerkraut) and many other common Western Balkan national cuisine dishes. Rib racks are salted and after few sessions in cold smoke, are hung up and air dried. I normally cut the racks, vacuum seal portions, and keep frozen for future use. This way they are readily available at any time.
This process is limited to the winter months, requiring cool and dry weather. Warm spells and high humidity could easily cause a spoilage.
However, there is also another method whereby ribs are barbecued, possibly smoked and then readily served at any time of the year. This is one of those recipes. The ribs are tender, falling of the bones and the barbecue sauce is a true star! It is insanely tasty and gives ribs the flavor to die for! Without doubt the most tasty barbecue sauce I ever had! Reportedly this sauce and rib recipe also won some major barbecue competitions.
The whole process is rather lengthily and therefore has to be carefully planned, but most of the time is just passive cooking time. No need to do anything.
The barbecue sauce is obtained by the thickening of the broth that rib racks were cooked in. The ribs can be warmed up and smoked either on stove top smoker or even better, on a charcoal grill.
I find that the best part is that you can have rib racks pre-cooked and stored in refrigerator. The same is with the barbecue sauce. All it takes is 10-15 minute of warming up and smoking. Ribs just need to be glazed with barbecue sauce and are ready to be served, sprinkled over with freshly chopped scallions. A definitely very useful and time saving recipe feature, when expecting guests.
The recipe has been adapted from chef Greg Easter and his channel and book “Cooking In Russia”.
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 2-3 hours |
| Servings |
servings
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- 1.4 kg pork baby back ribs membrane removed
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp ajwain
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 500 ml red wine dry
- 90 g carrots sliced
- 90 g onion sliced
- 1 whole garlic head unpeeled, horizontally sliced in two
- 1-2 red chili peepers chopped
Ingredients
Spice Mix - Day 1
Pressure Cooker - Day 2
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- In a spice grinder process black peppercorns, ajwain and brown sugar. Transfer ground spices to a small Mason jar.
- Add sweet paprika, smoked paprika, coarse sea salt, ground cumin to the jar, close lid and shake to combine all the ingredients.
- Remove membrane from ribs, divide into 4 smaller racks. Place the racks into big plastic container, sprinkle with spice mix, close the container and shake until all the spice mix is absorbed by the ribs. If necessary massage the last of the spice mix by hand into the ribs.
- Keep refrigerated overnight in the closed plastic container.
- Line the bottom of 6 liter pressure cooker with sliced onion, carrots, chopped red chili peppers and the whole head of garlic cut horizontally across the cloves.
- Place rib racks in the cooker in a such pattern to minimize overlap.
- Use red wine to rinse the plastic box where the ribs were held and pour into the cooker.
- Over medium high heat (8 out of 10) and without lid, bring the wine to simmer. Close the pressure cooker and over medium heat (5 out of 10) bring the cooker slowly to the full pressure, in about 30 minutes.
- When cooker is at pressure, start counting time for the following 45 minutes.
- Remove cooker from heat, leave the lid on and let rest and depressurize for 15-30 minutes.
- Carefully remove the racks and place on tray, let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to firm up the ribs.
- Strain all the liquid to the container, cool off in a water bath. Cover the container and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove layer of fat from the refrigerated broth. Measure the weight of the broth. It should be in the range of 400-450 g. If the weight is different than that adjust the rest of the ingredients up or down accordingly.
- Transfer broth to the medium size sauce pan. Add ketchup, sugar, red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and mustard.
- Over medium heat (5 out of 10) bring it to simmer and then reduce heat to low simmer. You should see just small bubbles gently rising to the surface. Keep reducing for couple of hours and stir occasionally. When you get dark brown, glossy and thick liquid you are done.
- Let cool off and then stir in the liquid smoke. Pour in Mason jar and keep refrigerated.
- Heat up the ribs over indirect fire on a charcoal grill. Sprinkle soaked wood chips over the hot embers. Smoke the the ribs for 10 -15 minutes, depending on a heat level.
- Brush the rib racks with barbecue sauce, garnish with freshly cut scallions and serve warm.
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