Ribs and Slaw

It was My Charming Companion's birthday this weekend, and I happened to have bought some St Louis style ribs that were needing to get made - so we celebrated with ribs, coleslaw, and mini pumpkin pies. (On the actual date we made enormous steaks and baked potatoes with iceburg lettuce wedges and homemade thousand island dressing - it was a steak house dinner replica, but better and at home!) The rest of the weekend has been spent in a very laid back sort of manner, partially necessitated by my main drain backing up and needing to wait for Ron the Sewer Rat to come and take care of it. But that seems unseemly to talk about in the same paragraph as food...

Ribs! There was that one set of ribs that I made in a smoker, but this was my first attempt at oven baking them. It was simple and they turned out great. Not quite as amazing as the smoked ones (those were to die for), but close. I also used a marinade rather than a dry rub this time, primarily because I didn't have any onion powder and decided to just blend up some onion instead.

Pork Ribs!
2-3 lbs St Louis style (or baby back) ribs
1/4 c (half a small) onion
1 T raw honey
1 T warm water 
1 T cumin 
1 T paprika
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper

Here they are covered in the marinade.

1. Chop/grind the onion in a food processor, and add the remaining ingredients until a thick paste is formed. Spread it all over both sides of the ribs, wrap in plastic or put in a ziplock and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Get two large pieces of tin foil and set the ribs in the middle of the first one. Make sure the ribs are spread out/not folded over. Cover the ribs with your second piece of foil and crimp the edges so you create a nice seal and put the foil package on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I removed the top piece of foil in the last 15 minutes of cooking just to dry them out a bit, and also spread on some paleo bbq sauce on top.
3. Let rest for a few minutes after removing from the oven and serve!

I also made some Really Good Slaw to go with - I didn't measure much, but here is a general idea. Note: This slaw gets better with a little sitting, so if you can make it a few hours in advance, all the better. 

Really Good Slaw
1/4 head green cabbage
1 carrot
1/2 red pepper
1 large shallot
handful of parsley, chopped
Homemade mayo
Mustard
Cider Vinegar
Salt & pepper

1. Using a mandoline, slice the cabbage, carrots, red pepper and shallot very thinly. You may need to also just slice or finely chop the shallot depending on your mandoline. Put veggies in a medium sized bowl along with parsley.
2. In a small bowl, mix together about 1/2 c. mayo with 2-3 T cider vinegar and another 1-2 T mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste. It should be tangy and a bit creamy. Pour dressing over the veggies and stir to combine.

Best Meat Rub Ever

My Charming Companion was given a hand-me-down smoker sometime recently, and last weekend was its inaugural adventure. The plan was to smoke two deer necks and some pork ribs to have copious quantities of meat to eat, freeze and share. The smoker was a big success - it's like a giant slow cooker that is outside and that imparts delicious smoky flavor not in the form of liquid smoke.  We tried two different rubs, and one of them was the clear winner: lots of paprika! The other rub was a cumin, oregano, chili powder blend that was just not as delicious. The paprika one went on one of the roasts and the ribs, much to my delight because it was so tasty.

Pre-smoked venison - this rub recipe is up front

Pork or Beef Rub
4 T sea salt
4 T paprika
2 T pepper
2 T garlic
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ground celery seed (I used celery salt and reduced the salt)
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp ground chipotle pepper

Mix spices together thoroughly. It will make almost a cup's worth of rub, which will cover a lot of meat - you can save any extra in a jar with your other spices. You want the meat to be quite dry, so either press it with a towel, or let it sit out in the fridge uncovered for several hours to dry a bit. Sprinkle/press the rub all over the meat (no need to actually rub). Beef brisket, neck, or pork roast or ribs would all be great. *Be more sparing on ribs so that they aren't over salty.

I have never made ribs before, and there was something so delectable about eating them at home, fresh out of the smoker with some sugar free bbq sauce and homemade slaw. Who needs to go out to eat? The ribs we used were ones from the half hog Pastures a Plenty purchase - these were the one set of full ribs in the whole package. But now I want to get more because they are so incredibly delicious! All we had to do was sprinkle them with the rub, stick them in the smoker for 6 hours, and than eat them. You could do the same in an oven, slow cooking the ribs at a low temp.