Saucy ribs
I made ribs last night for a photo shoot Don Seabrook will do today at work. It was the first time I had attempted to make them and they turned out tasting fine. The meat didn’t fall off the bone, but it wasn’t too tough either. Overall, for quicker (3 hour) oven-roasted ribs, they were definitely worth eating. I used Alton Brown’s recipe, Who Loves Ya Baby-Back?, as a guide, placing the ribs in the bottom of a broiler pan and sealing with foil. I’ll try them in our smoker or at least on a grill, next time when I have more time to devote to perfection. I guess they technically wouldn’t be considered barbecued because I did them in the oven, but I did make barbecue sauce.
I like spicy foods and I like spicy sauce, so my barbecue sauce, adapted from James Peterson’s book, “Cooking,” was spicy. I’ve made the sauce a couple of times now and really like using a half pint of homemade apricot jam to sweeten it and make it fruitier. Lots of ginger, garlic and soy sauce make it taste really good. The addition of dried, ground chipotle peppers give it the smoky heat that makes barbecue sauce barbecue sauce. For a little more heat, I like to add cayenne pepper too. This sauce is a keeper in my book, and also keeps well in the fridge for a long time.
With apricot season approaching in a month or two, now is the time to use up your stock of jam, if you have any left. If you don’t have any left, you’ll just have to wait, although peach jam or orange marmalade might work well.
Try the sauce over sweet meatballs with a hoagie roll, sliced red onion, pepper Jack cheese and homemade cole slaw. That’s a good sandwich.
Recipe
Apricot Chipotle Barbecue Sauce
Adapted from “Cooking” by James Peterson
2 cups ketchup
1/2 pint apricot jam
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 soy sauce
1 tablespoon dried chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 1 hour.