Bruce Aidells Tuscan-Style Spareribs with Balsamic Glaze

I've been eating out a lot lately, I mean, a LOT. Doing so can be pretty freaking expensive. Trying to keep the food expedition costs down, I wound up eating a lot of crap. Don't get me wrong, the food was edible, but when regularly frequenting fast food-ish sort of places, it simply gets old. And thus, eating out for me has over time "turned" to crap.

Since the imposed apartment experiment seems to be over, I wanted something that would warm my kitchen (and subsequently my entire apartment), something comforting, something GOOD. Something meaty. Over the past couple months, I've eaten tons of pizza and sandwiches while browsing different food recipe sources, including my own blog and, when appropriate, the magazines my trials were sourced from.

While browsing I've learned that Chef Bruce Aidells, the man behind the sausages I like, the man who authored the California Beef Stew with Zinfandel I found in Costco Connections and wanted to bathe in, is also the chef behind my all-time favorite chicken recipe, which I was forced to adapt for broiling: Lemon-Saffron Broiled Chicken Thighs. Now worshiping Chef Bruce Aidells, I thought there could be no better way to kick-off cooking again than to start with another recipe of Aidells's.

I tried staying true to the ingredients and execution, but there are a couple of adaptations. First, I rearranged the ingredients list. I prefer to do dry ingredients followed by wet so I don't have to wash between or dig out another set of measuring spoons. Second, while I like fennel seed, I was concerned they'd be overpowering and thus reduced the quantity from 1.5 to 1 tablespoon. And because I didn't have ground allspice and didn't care to apply the effort to grind allspice from berries (as my pestle died a Humpty-Dumptyish death), I skipped it altogether. $5 says the ribs will still be kick-ass in flavor.

Instead of 6 pounds of spareribs, I used 5. I might be wrong, but I'm sort of guessing Chef Aidells intended for 6 lbs of St. Louis style spareribs. I simply used one whole spare rib slab and didn't do much for trimming except to make it fit on the baking sheet. Another $5 says the ribs will still be fall-off-the-bone tender or damn close, and still freaking delicious.

Finally, I didn't run the slab under the broiler post balsamic brushing. I simply returned the meat to the oven.

During the last 30 minutes of ribs-having-been-rubbed-and-stood-at-room-temperature I cranked up my oven to 325°F. Wow, I can't believe how much I've missed that gas+residual-stuff-in-the-oven smell.

Tuscan-Style Spareribs with Balsamic Glaze

adapted from Food and Wine

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp fennel seeds

2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground allspice

2 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves

2 tsp chopped sage

2 tsp chopped thyme
6 pounds pork spareribs
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar, preferably one aged for at least 5 years

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, rosemary, kosher salt, fennel, black pepper, sage, thyme, paprika, crushed red pepper and coriander.

Rub the spice paste all over the spareribs.

I blotted the entire slab with paper towel, leaving it bone-side up. The membrane was removed and the skirt trimmed off before the slab and skirt were rubbed with spice paste.


The slab was flipped meaty-side up, and the narrow boneless tip trimmed to allow the majority of the slab room on the baking sheet. Excess fat was trimmed and the remaining spice paste smeared over the meat.

Let stand at room temperature for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Roast the ribs for 2 hours, or until tender.

Drain fat from baking sheet.

Brush the meaty side of the ribs with the balsamic vinegar and return to oven until browned (I couldn't wait for browning and waited four minutes.

Let stand for 5 minutes, then cut between the ribs and serve.


Once in the oven, the fresh herbs were most prevalent in odoriferous deliciousness. After 15 minutes, the pepper was apparent. Within 30 minutes of roasting, the dry seasoning smells combined with the fresh herbs and pepper, causing me to thump my tail in anticipation. After 40 minutes, the fennel was introduced. I couldn't stand waiting to eat!

Execution is pretty straightforward and prep work is minimal. The majority of time is spent waiting, during room temperature, during roasting, and finally during resting.

The flavors were kick-ass on the actual ribs but overwhelming on the skirt and boneless end I'd trimmed from the slab to make it fit on the baking sheet. Seems that using those smaller pieces as mops resulted in them having the highest concentration of seasoning. I am glad I cut the quantity of fennel seeds as they are fairly pronounced. I loved the balsamic, even with my Kirkland stuff which has no indication of being aged at all. I think doing the 6 minute finish under the broiler would have been a good thing to follow through on, but as is my tendency, I waited until too late to start dinner and wound up running out of patience (and consciousness).

Cost:

• ribs: $7.42 for 5.05 lbs
• fresh herbs: $1.29 (as I only used a portion of each package)
• everything else, SWAG: $1

Total: $9.71, or about $3.24 for each of three big servings.

Click for the printable

Pin It