Spare Ribs
Always parboil spare-ribs: then broil with pepper and salt cut in pieces three or four bones each.--Mrs. W.
Spare-Ribs.
Cut them into pieces of two or three ribs each; put them into a covered stewpan and boil or stew until perfectly done. Just before you take them out, add salt, pepper, and minced parsley.
Put on the cover and simmer until well seasoned.
Take them out of the pan, drain and dry them. For one moment let them scorch on a gridiron over a bed of hot coals; lay on a hot dish; butter each one; pepper added; sift over browned cracker and serve.--Mrs. S. T. TO COOK SPARE-RIBS AND GRISKIN OR SHORT-RIBS.
Put them on in a small quantity of water and boil for fifteen or twenty minutes. Gash them with a knife; sprinkle with pepper and put them on a hot gridiron as near the fire as possible; broil quickly, but not too brown. Have some butter melted and pour over the meat and shut it up in the dish. These are good for breakfast.--Mrs. P. W.
Three cooks' versions of the same idea: pork ribs boiled tender first, then finished fast over coals so the outside crisps. The method still works, and it is faster than a modern low-and-slow rack.
- The hingeThe parboil does the cooking; the fire only colors and crisps. If the meat is not genuinely tender when it comes out of the water, no amount of time on the grill will fix it without drying it out.
- How long to parboilMrs. P. W. gives fifteen or twenty minutes, which is brief for pork ribs; the other two cooks simply say to boil or stew until perfectly done. For pieces of two or three bones, expect to simmer longer -- roughly 45 to 60 minutes -- until the meat gives at the bone, then finish over high heat.
- GriskinAn older butcher's term, chiefly British, for the lean strip along the pork loin or the neck end after the fat has been taken for lard. Ask for country-style ribs or a boneless loin end; it is a lean cut and overcooks quickly.
- Gridiron and coalsAn iron frame of parallel bars, usually on short legs, set over the coals. A charcoal grill raked to a single hot layer is the direct equivalent; a broiler with the rack at the top position also works. "For one moment let them scorch" implies the briefest contact with the fire -- no more than a minute or two a side.
- Browned crackerPlain soda or water crackers dried in the oven until tan, then rolled or crushed fine. Unseasoned cracker meal or panko toasted dry in a skillet gives the same effect; commercial seasoned crumbs will fight the parsley and butter.
- "Shut it up in the dish"Cover the buttered ribs and let them sit off the heat for a few minutes so the butter and juices settle into the meat. It is a resting step, not a further cooking step.
- TemperaturePork is done at 145F, and boiled-then-broiled ribs will be well past that. Take them off the fire as soon as they have color rather than aiming for a further stage of doneness.
- YieldA rack of spare ribs of about 3 lb serves three or four as a main dish, more as the breakfast meat the last cook intends.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was assembled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions credited only by initials, drawn from ladies of Virginia and neighbouring states, which is why the same cut appears three times with three sets of initials attached; the book preserves the disagreement rather than settling it. All three follow one common treatment of fresh pork ribs: boil first in the pot that is already over the fire, then finish on the gridiron, though by 1879 cookstoves were widespread and many contemporary recipes roast spare ribs rather than parboil them. Spare ribs were seasonal work in a pork-raising state, coming off the hog at winter killing time along with the griskin and the fat destined for lard, and being fresh rather than cured they had to be eaten within days. Mrs. P. W. notes that they are good for breakfast.