South African Spare Ribs: Get the Perfect Flavour!

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around achieving the perfect flavor for South African-style spare ribs, with participants sharing their cooking techniques, recipes, and personal preferences. The scope includes culinary methods, flavor profiles, and variations in preparation styles.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant seeks recipes for spare ribs that replicate the flavor experienced in South Africa, expressing dissatisfaction with their current results.
  • Another participant shares a dry rub recipe that includes brown sugar, paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and sea salt, along with a cooking method involving low heat and basting with a sauce made from apple cider and ketchup.
  • A third participant describes a brining method using salt, brown sugar, and spices, followed by baking and grilling, emphasizing a spicy sauce that includes ketchup and habanero relish.
  • Another contributor mentions a more complex dry rub recipe and the use of a stovetop smoker to achieve a smoked flavor, discussing their favorite BBQ sauce combinations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants share various methods and recipes for cooking spare ribs, but there is no consensus on a single best approach. Different techniques and flavor profiles are presented, indicating a range of preferences and styles.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention specific ingredients and cooking methods that may depend on personal taste or availability, and there are references to varying levels of spiciness and complexity in recipes.

Who May Find This Useful

Readers interested in cooking, particularly those looking to enhance their BBQ skills or replicate specific regional flavors in spare ribs.

_Muddy_
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Hey guys,

my brother tells me some of you are into your cooking and so i ask for some helps.

When in South Africa wheneverI ordered some spare ribs i got something like this:

(I need 15 posts to post urls unfortunately so if you type "spare ribs" into google images look for an image from bunrab.com)

This is what I'm after, i can't find any reciped giving me that kind of result i always get ribs with the faintest of flavour.

So does anyone know any good reciped for this?

thanks _Muddy_
 
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I cook my ribs with a dry rub. Mix it all together well 1. brown sugar, about 1/4 cup
2. 4 teaspoons paprika
3. 2 teaspoons onion powder
4. 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
5. 1 teaspoon sea salt

First I trim all the fat and the white membrain on the back of the ribs, then I rub the dry mix over the front and back. Put it in the oven on very low heat{less then 300 degrees} for 2 hours.
While its cooking, I mix apple cider, Brown sugar{1/2 cup each}, a good pinch of cayenne pepper and a few tablespoons of catsup. Put it into a small pot cook until sugar is disolved.
Then I move the ribs out to the BBQ grill. On very low heat, I cook them another hour, turning often. After a hour start basteing with the sause, every 10 minutes flip and baste more, I often will let them cook another hour while basteing. Low heat and slow cooking is the secret. These come out so tender, they melt in your mouth!
 
That's my brother's way of doing them too, hypatia, and they are always very tasty and tender.

I cut apart the ribs and soak them overnight in a brine of salt, brown sugar, peppercorns and whole allspice with some candied ginger. The next day, tent the ribs with aluminum foil in a roasting pan and bake for a couple of hours at low temperature. Then it's out to the grill. I baste them with a mix of ketchup, molasses, prepared mustard, cayenne, black pepper and my special home-made habanero relish.

I love his ribs and he loves mine. Mine are quite a bit hotter than his, so his wife and kid give them a wide berth. :-p
 
I have a much more complicated dry rub recipe, but it's saved on another computer than the one I'm on now. I prefer to put it on the night before, but if in a hurry, an hour or two will suffice. I also have a stovetop smoker now too, so I can get that smoked taste without having to go outside and fire up the grill (I'm not one of those cold-hardy sorts who will grill in the dead of winter otherwise). And, then I have two different bbq sauce recipes...one with Jack Daniel's in it, and the other is a Kansas City style sauce (or I presume so...I'll have to trust that the recipe writer has accurately named their sauce since I've never been to Kansas City). After trying both sauces, and then at one point just having a little of each leftover, I dumped them together to stretch what I had to make something bbq'd and found that the combination of the two is my new favorite bbq sauce. :biggrin:

The smoking makes all the difference though. I have been playing with different woods, and for ribs, kind of like a blend of hickory and oak with just a touch of mesquite.

Dangit, now I'm hungry! Off to go make dinner.
 

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