BBQ ribs

As I've always liked to cook different things and try out different recipes, I often find myself forgetting what kind of mistakes I've made last time I cook , and what recipes I've used. So, I'm blogging, hopefully the start of a long series, on my culinary experiences (or, perhaps, how I made all these bad mistakes), which serves to preserve my memory more than, really, sharing my thoughts.

Last weekend Sunny Supermarket has ribs on sale. I've always liked ribs, and want to "innovate" my own killer BBQ sauce (inspired by my dad's great BBQ sauce -- ribs is one of his specialty -- which I'd say is better than a lot of ribs out there in restaurants!), so off we go.

The ribs were huge and wouldn't fit into any baking dish, so I decided to half it. Then, I figure, I may as well make two different sauces, one for each half, so I can compare between them. Off I google and improvise on the recipes I got.

Sauce A (based on food-network):

•1/4 cup of soy sauce
•2 tbsp of oyster sauce
•1 tbsp of honey
•1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
•1 tbsp of brown sugar
•1 garlic, minced
•1 tsp ginger, freshly grated
•1/4 cup of orange juice
•2 tbsp of vegetable oil
*1 star anise

Sauce B ("memphis style", based on about.com):

•For Rub:
•2 teaspoons paprika
•1 teaspoons salt
•1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

•For Sauce:
•1/2 cups ketchup
•1/2 chopped onion, small
•1/4 cup red wine vinegar
•1 cloves garlic, minced
•1 tbsp of yellow mustard
•2 tbsp of brown sugar
•1 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
•some hot sauce

I prepared the sauces, rubbed them on, and put it in the fridge overnight. On Monday, I had Cindy take it out of the fridge for 1/2 hour, and then into 370F oven for 1 1/2 hours covered, and then about 35 minutes uncovered (recipe asks for 350F, with 30 min uncovered, but we weren't sure, esp the thicker half which we left in the oven for about 15 minutes more). It turns out it doesn't need the extra time; even juice-based sauce A is burnt at the bakingware. But the meat is still fall-off-the-bone good, but could be more tender I think.

Sauce A is more mild, less intense in terms of flavour. It definitely lacks the "kick" that I'd want in a BBQ sauce, but the orange juice brings out a round, juiced flavour.

Sauce B is more dry, more "traditional" western BBQ sauce flavour. The ketchup and the onion fairly dominates the sour tone, which I think shall be counter-balance by something else. Perhaps I didn't add enough sriracha which may cut into the acidic flavour well. Also the dryness of the sauce has made the ribs less tender/juicy.

Next time, I think I should try to combine the two recipes together in some way. I see elements in sauce A such as soy sauce, honey and ginger being able to round out the necessary acidity of any good BBQ sauce. At the same time, sauce A needs ketchup bad. Also I may turn the oven down all the way to 325F for a juicier meat.

Till next time!