Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Asian-style baby back ribs perfect for summer barbecue
The tastes of summer are bountiful. Colorful fruits and vegetables abound, and barbecuing is a welcome technique to complement summer’s best produce.
Pork ribs have a permanent place on my summer menu — particularly baby back ribs that are meaty and happily take on the Asian flavors of this zesty marinade. Growing up, summer barbecues at our house always meant a barbecue blazing with big steaks and plenty of baby back ribs. My mom liked the bottled teriyaki sauce for the steaks and for the ribs.
The following recipe came about after trying many other barbecue techniques. I have found that first marinating the ribs and then baking them enclosed in aluminum foil, essentially steaming them, in a 325-degree oven results in a moist, tender slab of ribs.
I appreciate that this dish can be made a day ahead, cooled and refrigerated. The day of cooking just requires some time on the barbecue to
finish heating and glazing the ribs. This technique creates a juicy result.
The marinade combines slightly sweet hoisin sauce with honey and rice wine vinegar for an Asian-style glaze, a fun surprise twist on classic sweet American barbecue sauce. You can do this technique with any glaze or sauce you prefer. You can also use this marinade on pork tenderloin or chicken.
When you are selecting ribs, look for the meaty and less fatty baby back ribs,
sometimes called loin ribs. They have a covering of meat over the bones and between them that makes them leaner and meatier than spareribs. They are shorter and smaller than spareribs, too. It’s also best to purchase fresh ribs that have not been frozen.
My favorite side dish with these ribs is a simple cabbage salad flavored with fresh cilantro, rice wine vinegar and oil. And of course, grilled fresh corn. Serve your favorite Asian beer or a chilled rose.