Baby back ribs on the Food Channel

[bobmac]

I just witnessed a woman on the Food Channel emersing baby backs in beef broth (!) in which she said she was going to cook them for three hours before grilling them. I quickly turned it off.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Too early in the day for horror stories?

[fifi]

WTF? What show was this? Who is this person? Did you ever hear why one would do such a thing? Oh... the horror.

[Jinmyo]

Egad.

[bilrus]

WTF? What show was this? Who is this person? Did you ever hear why one would do such a thing? Oh... the horror.

At this time of day it was proably Paula Deen. No surprise there.

[Dave the Cook]

Well, I'll tiptoe in here and ask, what's wrong with this? I don't think it's something I'd do, but I'm not seeing the tragedy (aside from the three-hour thing, which will most likely leave them FOB and unable to make it to the grill). Skimmed and reduced, the jus should be mighty tasty.

Should I be ducking now? Why?

[Chris Cognac]

Dont knock it till you've tried it....Not that I have ever tried it...but hey, might work for her.

[fifi]

Well, I'll tiptoe in here and ask, what's wrong with this? I don't think it's something I'd do, but I'm not seeing the tragedy (aside from the three-hour thing, which will most likely leave them FOB and unable to make it to the grill). Skimmed and reduced, the jus should be mighty tasty.

Should I be ducking now? Why?

Oh... I wouldn't duck, Dave. You are right. The jus could be tasty. Though I doubt if the pork would shine through the beef.

The thing that hits me is that this idea is just so... what is the word... um... STUPID. Especially given the cost of baby back ribs.

[mnebergall]

What's really tragic is that a lot of people are going to watch that show, go out and buy some really expensive back ribs and a shit load of beef broth and make a big mistake.

[Mabelline]

It was--no blatant surprise here--Sandra Lee.

[Dave the Cook]

OK, I'll grant that it's not the best use of an expensive cut of meat -- I'd use spares or shoulder chops -- and if I were going to do this, I'd at least treat them to real stock. But no one's explained why this is fundamentally a bad idea. Braising ribs is an honored technique that predates Weber grills and pellet-fed smokers.

(In a rare disagreement with fifi, I can't concur that beef stock is a bad choice. It's usually weaker in taste than chicken stock. If you don't believe me, make a cocktail of half chicken and half beef and tell me which dominates.)

[tommy]

OK, I'll grant that it's not the best use of an expensive cut of meat -- I'd use spares or shoulder chops -- and if I were going to do this,

by "not the best use of an expensive cut of meat" do you mean "not the best use of a cut of meat that's not fatty"? i hope so, because the expensive doesn't bother a lot of people. i mean how much money are we talking here?

on another note, i think people buy baby back ribs because they think they're supposed to. they think they're better. they have no idea why, or when they might be better, nor do they care. kind of like the way i buy Dell computers. probably not the best. not the best value. i don't get what i really need at the end of the day. but "they" say i should get Dell. luckily we know better (and we know not to ever use canned beef broth), and we can snicker from the sidelines whilst throwing our 7 lb picnic into the smoker or weber.

Edited June 5, 2004 by tommy (log)

[mrbigjas]

It was--no blatant surprise here--Sandra Lee.

That's a strange coincidence. Just this morning I was lying around and turned on Sandra Lee (whose show is like a trainwreck to me--I have to stop for 10 minutes or so at stare at it, but then I get too grossed out by it and have to move on). I thought to myself, "you know, this show is still on food tv, but there hasn't been a good Sandra Lee-bashing thread on egullet in a while. Maybe I'll go start one."

No need as it turns out. I have a question about her: why is everything she makes so damn sweet? In this same episode she took a can of baked beans (which are sweet to start with), and added honey, molasses, brown sugar, and ketchup to it. Good god.

[john b]

I've seen so much rib abuse on cooking shows that I've given up getting bothered by it. "Hey, we're cooking BBQ today! First, bring a pot of water to a boil; next, throw the ribs in for twenty minutes."

I was pleasantly surprised to find out (last night on Into the Fire) that the House of Blues has a smoker on premises. I don't know if this goes for all locations, since it was only the Hollywood episode which they showed.

[kechefs]

At our restaurant we prepare Babybacks by first rubbing them with a dry rub then let them sit for 24 hours. I then braise them at 275 degrees for 5 hours in a mixture of Chicken stock, Beef stock, Mango Puree, Brown Sugar, Garlic and a few other seasonings. Then at pickup brush them with Mango Bbq Sauce that we make and grill them. We serve them with Purple Potato and Roasted Corn Salad, Jicama Slaw and crispy onions. We have received no complaints about our Ribs so don't knock until you have tried it.

[phaelon56]

I think there are two schools of thought / taste preferences in ribs. Many restaurants that aren't in a position to set up and maintain smokers follow a system akin to what kechefs describes. Some do it more successfully than others. I often hear people (not here in eGullet - I refer to people in the workaday Northeastern US middle class milieu where I spend my workday) saying how great the ribs are at one restaurant or another because "the meat is so tender it falls off the bone". Lots of people like that quality and I suspect the brasing method is great for them. I always found ribs prepared that way to lack the texture and character I look for in meat - they were very rich and too fatty for my taste.

Properly prepped and slow smoked ribs are an entirely different story - the meat is tender enough, has loads of good texture and the fat is cooked off. Thanks to eGullet I've now been converted to KC style prepped spareribs and won't go back to babybacks. It's worth noting, when considering what people think good ribs are, that here in the Northeast, the great majority of people have never had proper barbecued ribs and simply like what they know, not having a reference poitn for comparison (not much good 'cue up here unless you do it yourself).

[Kim WB]

I braise my ribs in a crock pot, and then grill them. Usually use beef broth and some vietnamese hot sauce. This means that I can spend 2 minutes on prep in the morning, and 5 minutes cooking time..its not real Q, or even close..but it is a way to prepare ribs that are quick, easy and produce a tasty result. I don't htink Ms. Lee is presenting it as an autehntic wasy to prepare them, just an easy way with limited fuss and muss. Yes, my husband has done real smoking and grilling, and they are great..but that's not going to happen on a busy Wednesday evening between work and play practrice and whatever else the kid have going.

[Mabelline]

The only 'beef' I had was her boiling time. 3 HOURS! Hello, she couldn't put them on the grill without bones jus' jumping out. One thing I have done for Chinese ribs--steam them for 30 minutes, then baste with a hoisin, plum, blackbean sauce and slow cook. They come out excellent.

[challah-baker]

I have par-boiled ribs before, although I have stopped now in favor of slow cooking on the grill. But 3 hours? Wouldn't that make them a tad more than tasteless? Then again, the beef/pork stock that resulted might be tasty...maybe she used them for greens?

[tommy]

it seems to me that if you have three hours to boil ribs then you have 3 hours to put them on the grill at 200 degrees. i've never done a side-by-side taste test, but i'm guessing the latter would produce a better product.

i've only heard of people boiling ribs when they want to save time. this 3 hours business sounds a little odd.

[gouramanda]

First post, so who knows where it'll end up! I checked out the Sandra Lee backribs show and found her recipe. It calls for only an hour(!) of simmering... but usually her recipes sound dreadful and don't actually save time.