Sticky and sweet ribs

My son (the eldest, not the baby one – that would be weird) has taken to saying goodbye to everything. When we leave the bathroom he says ‘bye bath.’ When we get out of the car he says ‘bye car.’ When we leave the sitting room he says ‘bye baby Mass.’ (Mass is a toddler version of the name Max, his baby brother, don’t you know.) And so on and so forth…

What I like about this is his equal respect for human beings, inanimate objects, dogs, even his dinner gets a bye bye just before it’s devoured. Unless it’s biscuits, in which case he often says bye bye once they’re safely in his tummy, away from Daddy’s potentially thieving mitts.

Now these ribs are the kind of food you’ll probably wolf down so quickly it’s nigh on impossible to say bye bye to them until they’re safely stored in your tummy. They’re tender and sticky and slightly sweet to boot. Mr B made like a caveman and ate them with his hands, tearing the meat off the bone. Not in front of a fire though, in front of the TV. So maybe not that caveman like after all.

This serves 2 with rice or one person with some green veg I think.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp lemon juice (Just the stuff from a bottle, not fresh, though you could go fresh if you’re so inclined to.)
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 very generous tbsp apricot jam
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 1 tbsp black treacle
• 7 or so pork ribs

Start the day before you fancy the ribs. Mix all the ingredients together and put into a deep oven proof dish with a lid. I used a Le Creuset casserole dish. Pop the ribs in and stir until covered all over in the sticky sauce then leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day get the ribs out about 2 hours before you want to cook them and leave in the kitchen to get back to room temperature. Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/350F and pop the dish with lid on into the middle of the oven for about an hour. Give them a stir half way through. Then up the temp to Gas 5/190C/375F and remove the lid. Leave at that temp for another 30 mins. Lastly up the heat to Gas 6/200C/400F and keeping the lid off, cook for another 30 mins. You need to watch the ribs at this stage as they can easily char and burn so keep spying on them and if needs be give them a turn and a stir.

The ribs are done when the sticky sauce is soldered to the ribs, the meat is tender and the fat crispy. Serve on a bed of green veggies or on some steamed white rice with the sauce drizzled over the top. NB: A large sheet of kitchen roll is required in order to eat these monsters.

P.S. Expect the sweet sticky sauce to stay soldered to the dish for a few days. Mine has only just recovered after the 3rd scrub – but oh so worth it.

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