Sticky ribs

We had a very nice bbq round at my parents house today, and a couple of things came up. Firstly was that my aunt and mum like margaritas. Second was cooking with booze. One of the marinades for the chicken on the bbq was tequila and lime based. I think it also had some tomato base and a bit of chilli - will have to investigate that one further. However, I was also chatting with my aunt about a new sauce that mum had which was a Jack Daniels table sauce with chilli (not bad, basically bbq sauce with a bit of a kick) and we got onto the subject of cooking with JD. A good friend has had success in marinading beef in JD for a couple of hours before cooking (although if on a bbq I might suggest ensuring it is drained well and using long tongs). This was all good but it put me in mind of a recipe I had made last summer for pork ribs which my aunt was very keen to try.

It is one of those recipes for really sticky ribs where the meat is falling off the bone (more American style than Chinese) and is best done with a full rack of ribs rather than individuals, although I suppose there is no reason why individual ribs can't be used. A note of caution, do line your roasting pan with foil or it will be a bugger to clean.

Anyway, with thanks to Diana Henry for this one, for each rack of ribs mix up equally quantities of Jack Daniels (although I have done this successfully with straight whiskey too, bourbon is better here) and maple syrup, to make about a quarter pint of liquid and add 2 or 3 cloves of crushed garlic and about the same volume of grated ginger. You can leave the marinade there as I have done when I couldn't remember the whole recipe and it works well. If you want some extra punch the whole recipe then calls for adding a generous teaspoon of mustard (mild like Dijon as English is too strong), and the same of Tabasco (depending on taste) and Worcestershire sauce. Chuck most of the marinade over the ribs and roast in a moderate oven (170-180) for about 30 minutes, turn down to a low oven (140-150) and then cook for 1.5-2hours basting with the balance of the marinade every so often.

Very sticky, very yummy and with a little kick if you add the extra sauces to the marinade.

If you wanted to adapt for bbq season I would suggest poaching the ribs gently in water until tender and then bbq in the marinade to finish basting liberally and being careful not to burn them as the sugar content will probably caramelise and burn quite quickly.