Sauceless spare-ribs?

[fishinchicks]

Our foreign exchange student does not like sauce on her spare-ribs. Any suggestions on how to prepare them so she can have hers sauceless, and we can sauce ours plate-side?

We have a gas grill, but no smoker...

[reinhard1]

well the easiest way to describe it would be to season it with your favorite rub. place it in double foil meat side down and wrap the foil so the meat is sealed. this keeps the meat moist and keep on the grill until you check it and its done. you can do the same thing in the oven, just keep the baking dish coverd with foil until done, turning it over a couple of times and then take the foil off and let it brown a little. now if you got someone from germany thats another story and i got something for that too. good luck.

[fishinchicks]

Thank you!

As a matter of fact, she is from Germany. We have introduced her to a few things, but so far it is root beer and heavy tomato based sauces that she doesn't really care for.

We have 4-5 packages of ribs and bacon to use up before the next hog is finished at the butcher shop within a couple weeks. We'll have to give the foil wrapping a shot.

[jeffreyd]

I know it goes against all BBQ methods and thoughts but try boiling them and then just throwing on the grill for the smoke flavor. My father in law is the same way so I will boil them and then who ever wants sauce can add it as they go. I usually boil until the meat pulls from the bone then put rub on and throw on the grill or finish in oven.

[reinhard1]

ask her this for me. do you ever recall eating this. say 2 pacs of sourkrout{the refrigerated type in plastic bags] and one pound of bacon. take the krout with a couple of onions cut up and simmer in a pot. while thats going on take the bacon and cut it small as you can in pieces. fry until golden brown. drain the krout put back in the pot and add the bacon and grease. yeah i know the fat, but its only once in awhile. now this is a topping on brats in octoberfest or backyard fest. no ketchup or mustard needed. for ribs just put a little salt,pepper, and garlic powder on your ribs and bake until almost tender. top with the above sourkrout mix and put back in the oven for 30 minutes and serve. learn how to make real dumplings and it will be a bonus with a pot roast meal. good luck.

[fishinchicks]

Sooooo. Got any advice on how to make real dumplings? My dad and birth mom were of German heritage, but my second mom was Norwegian. Not many dumplings were made at our house growing up.

I will say, though, my Norwegian hubby makes Belgian cookies, and this German/Dutch mixture makes lefse.

[bucketmouth64]

emeril legassee has a good dry rib rub.

[reinhard1]

my youngest daughter is the champ she's 32. it's all in the hands for the feel of the texture. potatoes with the skin on, boil till soft, peel, put through a riser, place on flat surface that is lightly dusted with flour. now here comes the tricky part. i only add one egg and then there is salt to taste and more flour. i wish i could tell you so many potatoes with one egg and so much flour. but say 5 pound of potatoes done as above. after the rising proccess let the potatoes cool add one egg and dust with salt. mix everything together with your hands and add flour till it becomes like a soft bread dough. its realy hard to explain [texture]. when you add flour so you can roll the potato mix into a salami type roll you are ready to cut in in one inch chunks. bring salted water to a boil and drop say a dozen at a time in the water. they will sink and when they rise to the top test one for doneness. you should be able to cut it with a fork without the dumpling falling apart. normaly when they rise to the top they are done. reapeat with the others. make sure you have the most important part of the meal ready. THE GRAVEY. we actualy serve the sourkrout as on the other post with this meal along with red cabage with apples and the pot roast. this is a tradition with us on hollidays. i'm sorry this is not exact but nothing i make is. cold dumplings the next day i fry in bacon grease for breakfast nice and golden brown in slices. not a diet thing but i do this twice a year. good luck.

[Smoker]

Here is our family recipe for potato dumplings. It has been around for years.My Grandpa brought it with him from Germany.

2 QTs Grated Raw Potatoes (reds work best)

3 Eggs

1 Cup Milk

1/2 t. Baking soda

4 t. salt

4 1/2 cup Flour

Mix it together well and drop by big spoon full it a pot of sauerkraut and pig hocks, Cover and let it cook for 30 minutes on med. heat.

It makes a big kettle full so be hungery. You must let the sauerkraut and pig hocks simmer for a few hours before hand to cook it all and do the dumplings at the end. I have made it with pork chops or pork ribs also and it all taste great and of corse home made sauerkraute is an added plus. You can also just boil the dumplings in water but it tast better in the sauerkraut. A nother favorite of mine is sauerkraut pie.

[McGurk]

Back to the ribs, a simple dry rub can be 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/8 cup salt, 1/8 cup ground black pepper, 1/8 cup garlic powder, plus whatever else she might think makes sense to her (paprika, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, onion powder, etc...). Mix it up, cover them good, wrap them in saran wrap and put them in the fridge for the night.

Are you looking to employ the gas grill, or not? If so, get a grate thermometer and some cheap aluminum trays and set it up for indirect cooking. If you have a 2 burner grill, set it up so you can have one disposable aluminum tray mostly filled with water on the grate over the "on" burner, and a disp. alum. tray underneath the grate but above the burner on the "off" burner to catch drippings. For a 3 burner do the same using only one burner on one side.

If you want a smoke flavor you can make a "smoke bomb" by doubling up some heavy duty tin foil (or 4 layers of regular foil) and making a flat square. Lay it out flat, get a handful of hardwood chips and lay them in the middle, and wrap the ends up and seal it up as tight as you can. Poke 3-4 holes in the top with a toothpick. Lay it on top of or as close to your "on" burner as you can. directly above the buner is best.

Turn on your "on" burner to medium and see what kind of temps you can get using the grate thermometer on the "off" side. You want to be between 225-275 deg, and I like it closer to 225 if you have time. If you are happy with you temps, put you meat on and let her go!

Using spares at 225, I like to go with about a 6 hour cook (3-2-1 method). Put them on bare (NO SAUCE!!!) for 3 hours, spraying them down every 30 to 60 minutes with 100% apple juice (no added sugars). At this point some people will wrap them tightly in tin foil with a good shot of apple juice, and put them back on for 2 more hours, but you can just continue to do what you are doing. For the last hour, unwrap them if they are wrapped and put them back on for 1 more hour. At this time, you could put your sauce on if you so choose.

[reinhard1]

great reciepe. forgot about the sourkrout hocks thing. never tried putting dumplings in the water at the end but its on the agenda. the krout pork hocks meal was very common with us when we were kids. that krout puts incredible flavor to pork. good luck.

[reinhard1]

good tasty information. good luck.

[fishinchicks]

Now I am really hungry! Thanks guys!

She did bring along a German cookbook, so I may try your dumplings and compare them with what her cookbook says. So far, things we have made from her recipes have not turned out as they do at her house. Some of the ingredients are just a little different.

[Harmonica Bear]

My parents and sister all born and raised in Germany. Pork hocks and/or spareribs and kraut rock! It's been a while since I've had that. I might have to call my sister and have her make me some one of these days. Hmmmm Good.

As far as cooking ribs without sauce; the sauce to the meat is the finishing step in my rib cooking process. In fact I'm 50/50 eating my ribs with or with out sauce. A good rib rub can do wonders and add tons of flavor. As saome BBQ'ers say "sauce covers mistakes" take that for what it's worth.

[Harmonica Bear]

A gas grill set up for ribs I used before the upgrade

[reinhard1]

cookbooks are a great refrence but then you start adding this and taking away that and so on. thats probably why what your cooking isn't the same as germany. with dumplings for example you can have 5 people make similiar dumplings we have spoken of here and they would all turn out differnt. its all about texture and knowing it. i still mess up but my daughter got it down. good luck.

[Jim Almquist]

Now I am really hungry! Thanks guys!

She did bring along a German cookbook, so I may try your dumplings and compare them with what her cookbook says. So far, things we have made from her recipes have not turned out as they do at her house. Some of the ingredients are just a little different.

Has she made any breads for you ? Just curious if she might have a recipe for Kaisersemmeln or Brötchen. That was some of the best tasting bread/rolls with fresh butter and some summer sausage. We would always have a few along when we went skiing in the Alps when I was stationed in Germany.

[fishinchicks]

The only things she has made so far are a white wine sauce, and brownies. The brownies did not turn out right, but that may be due to differences in the brown sugar and the amount of butter she used. The white wine sauce was very good, but the basil wasn't like what she is used to, so the flavor was different for her.

She just turned 16, and I think does not do a lot of cooking at home. Her two sisters are vegetarians, but she and her parents are not. They have roasts on Sundays, but not a lot of meat based meals during the week. Unlike here. We love our pork, and have a little beef or chicken thrown in the rotation for a change.

Jim...if you have access to recipes for those breads, I'd love to try them. I just got a new bread machine, and have been cranking out many loaves and buns - much to the delight of my family!

[Jim Almquist]

They definitely have a different style of eating in Germany. It was not uncommon for people to be eating a wiesse wurst(white sausage)with a slice of bread and a blob of course ground mustard while riding the train very early in the morning.

I am not sure if the mixture for the bread was any different but the shape was more like a bun but it always had the feel of a crust while still very tender on the inside. If you do a search for Brotchen you will find a site that will ship them from Germany but they have pictures of the different styles of bread along with there German names. If I do come across a recipe I will post it.