Food

How to cook sticky spare ribs – recipe

The American barbecue classic gets the Felicity Cloake treatment

If some food tastes better eaten with the fingers, then, for omnivores at least, that pleasure is doubled if it’s also straight from the bone. There’s a curious satisfaction in teasing off every last morsel of meat before reaching those sticky fingers out for more. No cut seems so perfectly designed for this express purpose as ribs.

Prep 10 min + marinating
Cook 2 hr 45 min
Serves 4

2 racks baby back or loin ribs
1 tbsp Marmite
1 tbsp English mustard
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1½ tsp smoked paprika
2½ tbsp dark muscovado sugar

1 Choose your ribs carefully

Try to get loin ribs for this recipe: sure, meaty spare ribs may be bigger, but this way you can serve whole racks, which look way more impressive. They’re also easier to cook to the requisite tenderness and, in my opinion, at least, have a superior flavour too. Note that they’re also occasionally sold by their American name, baby back ribs.

2 Remove the membrane

You could ask your butcher to do this for you but, failing that, you’ll need to start by removing the membrane that holds the rack together or you’ll be chewing until doomsday. If you’re not sure whether it’s still there, turn the racks over curved side down, with the wider end facing you. If there’s a pale pink, translucent layer over the bones, that’s it.

3 Finish prepping the ribs

Fortunately, this layer is pretty simple to remove, if not always easy – use a small, sharp knife to peel a little bit of membrane off the smaller end of the rack, and use this as a tab to grip on to, pulling it sharply towards you and holding the rack steady as you do so – it should come away in one clean piece – and discard.

4 Make the marinade

Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl until you have a smooth paste – I find it easiest to beat together the wet ingredients first, because Marmite can be quite thick – then stir in the paprika and sugar. The Marmite gives the ribs a savoury flavour, but if you’re not a fan, don’t worry; you could use Bovril or soy sauce for a similar effect, if you prefer.

5 Marinate the ribs

Lay the ribs in a shallow baking dish, then pour or spoon roughly half the marinade on top (you’ll be using the rest later). Rub the sauce into the meat on both sides – I find it easiest to use my hands – then refrigerate for at least an hour, and ideally a bit longer, turning the ribs occasionally and rubbing the marinade into them as the sauce drips off.

6 Get the ribs ready for the oven

An hour or so before you want to cook, heat the oven to 160C (140C fan)/325F/gas 3 and take the ribs out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Though this is a barbecue classic, the barbecue in question is the American kind, in which meat is cooked for hours at a low temperature – throw raw ribs on a hot British grill, and they’ll be tough as old boots, so it’s worth slow-roasting them first.

7 Bake the ribs

Cover the dish of ribs tightly with foil and cook for about two and a half hours, basting the ribs once or twice with any marinade that’s run off into the bottom of the pan, until the meat is very tender. Once they’re done, remove the foil and cook for another 15 minutes; the racks should be floppy.

8 Barbecue or griddle?

At this point, if you’re working ahead, you could refrigerate the ribs for a couple of days; just remember to get them out to come to room temperature before finishing them off. Heat a barbecue or greased griddle pan to cooking temperature, brush the ribs with the reserved marinade and cook until hot, caramelised and beginning to char.

9 Variations

Two other marinade ideas: coat the ribs in a mixture of four tablespoons each of soy sauce, honey, Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry) and four teaspoons of Chinese five-spice. Or dress them in a sauce made with a small handful of finely chopped woody herbs, a tablespoon of lightly crushed fennel seeds, a teaspoon of coarse salt and two teaspoons of chilli flakes mixed with four tablespoons of olive oil: if you go down this latter route, brush the ribs with balsamic vinegar before their final grilling.