BBQ Beef Ribs

It has been a very long time since I posted on here. I had a manic week at work orientating a new set of students, drinking a lot with them and sleeping little. I'm back now though and eager to start cooking again. I recently purchased the Levi Roots cookbook Spice it Up so be prepared for a lot of scotch bonnets in the upcoming recipes!

For today though, here's a post from a couple of weeks back when it was actually sunny of BBQ beef ribs. I bought these from East London Steak Company and I honestly wish they were more widely available in the supermarkets as the meat on them is thick, fatty but delicious. One rib is definitely enough per person, so for my partner and I this is a greedy dinner. ;)

This has a long long cooking time to render all the fat off the the outside and inside of the meat. You are definitely going to need a rack at the bottom of your roasting tray for this one as so much dripping comes off at the end you could store it up in the freezer for yorkshires and roasted potatoes another time! I've tried cooking this in two methods, one is in a 160 degree oven for four hours, the other by simmering the meat for 2 hours and then putting in the oven for another 2 hours to get that sticky sauce on the outside. As you can see, both ways requires a four hour cooking time!

I've invested in a new Le Creuset dutch oven, so I'm going to try braising my next cut and see how long that takes. Maybe I can shave the time off by oh 60 minutes.

I cheated a little using ready made BBQ sauce to baste the meat as I didn't really have time and was a little tipsy from my Gin & Tonic's to make a proper sauce. I added a little chipotle paste to the BBQ sauce to spice it up a little though.

And on the side, I made a simple salad of cucumber, baby gems and tomatoes in a balsamic and olive oil dressing. As well as the obligatory potato salad. :)

The meat turned out to be divine, succulent with small blobs of charded sticky BBQ fat, it was delicious, I definitely recommend trying these!

Ingredients
4x bones of beef short Ribs, underside scored
1 Cucumber
2 baby gem Lettuce
3 Tomatoes
1/2 bottle of BBQ sauce
1/2 kilo of baby Potatoes
2 tbsp Mayonnaise
1 tbsp chopped Chives
Salt, Pepper
1 tbsp Chipotle Paste
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Recipe
Heat some water in a pan that is large enough to fit the ribs, I used a wok because that was the largest pan I had. When the water starts to boil, drop the ribs in and lower the heat to simmer for 2 hours.

When the ribs are done simmering, put them onto a roasting tray and brush with the BBQ sauce and chipotle paste. Cook in a pre-heated oven for 2 hours, basting with more sauce every 20-30 minutes.

Begin your potato salad by washing new potatoes and setting them to boil from cold water. When they are tender (about 15 minutes in), drain them. Add salt and pepper and then mix in mayonnaise and chives. Leave in the fridge until ready to eat.

Score your cucumber with a fork so that it will hold some of the dressing, and chop the remaining ingredients. In a small jar, mix the balsamic and olive oil with a bit of salt and pepper. Dress the salad just before serving.

When the ribs are ready, give them another basting and transfer to a chopping board. Let them rest for 10 minutes before carving to allow 1 rib per portion. Enjoy!