Sticky pork spare ribs
The secret the rib joints don't tell you: great ribs are cooked twice. Slow and gentle first until tender, then lacquered over the coals until sticky and burnished.
The secret the rib joints don't tell you: great ribs are cooked twice. Slow and gentle first until tender, then lacquered over the coals until sticky and burnished.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg pork spare ribs
- 125 ml tomato sauce
- 60 ml soy sauce
- 60 ml honey or smooth apricot jam
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- Black pepper
Method
- First cook: wrap the ribs in foil with a splash of water and cook in a 160 °C oven (or kettle braai, indirect) for about 1½ hours, until tender but not falling apart.
- Whisk everything else together into a basting sauce.
- Finish over medium coals: 10–15 minutes, basting and turning every few minutes, building up sticky layers until glossy and charred at the edges.
- Cut between the bones and serve with a stack of serviettes you will run out of anyway.
Engineer's view
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, steps merge into supper.
| Ingredient | Process → | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pork spare ribs 1.5 kg | Wrap in foil + a splash of water | 160 °C oven or kettle (indirect) · ±1½ h → tender | Finish over medium coals · 10–15 min · baste & turn → sticky lacquer, charred edges |
| Tomato sauce 125 ml | Whisk together → basting sauce | → | |
| Soy sauce 60 ml | |||
| Honey or apricot jam 60 ml | |||
| Worcestershire sauce 2 tbsp | |||
| Garlic 2 cloves | |||
| Smoked paprika & pepper 1 tsp | |||
Which fire, and which day? Medium coals for the finish, the 8-second hand test. The first cook is low and covered. Hold your palm at grid height and count: 4 seconds is hot, 6 is hot-medium, 8 is medium, 10 or more is gentle. The full reading is the hand test, and the wood that makes those coals is in the wood guide. Buying notes: pork cuts. Thursday 24 September is National Braai Day.
Questions the fire actually gets
Why are pork spare ribs cooked twice?
So they are tender before they ever see a fierce glaze. Wrap them in foil with a splash of water and cook at 160 °C in an oven, or in a kettle braai with indirect heat, for about 1½ hours. Then 10–15 minutes over medium coals, basting, until sticky and charred at the edges.
What is in the sticky rib baste?
Tomato sauce, soy sauce, honey or smooth apricot jam, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, smoked paprika and black pepper.
What hand test for the finish?
Medium, the 8-second test. Sugar in the baste burns on a hotter fire before the ribs are ready. Pork neck, if you are buying for the same fire, likes that same medium coal — see The Cuts.
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