Oven Roasted Spare Ribs (spareribs)

When it comes to home cooked comfort foods you can't beat spare ribs (spareribs, rack of ribs). We love visiting North American ribfests where we enjoy wonderfully barbequed racks of ribs. Our favourite cooking method for spare ribs at home is a long, slow barbeque. I have discovered that this method can be almost duplicated in the oven for those times during the winter months when running the outdoor grill for long periods of time is not all that appealing especially when you have to dig through the snow.

Preparation

Spareribs are the most inexpensive cut of pork and beef ribs. Typically they are a long cut from the lower portion of the pig or cattle, from the belly to breastbone, behind the shoulder including 11 to 13 long bones. Typically they are barbequed long and slow with or without a rub and quite often finished with a mop (wet sauce).

There was very little in the way of preparing the ribs.
I use both a slow braising and roasting method when cooking spareribs in the oven. I place the ribs in a roaster without a lid with about 2 c of water and sliced onions. I place the prepared on the lowest rack in the oven at 112ºC (250ºF) for 1½ hr. Then I pour on the desired barbeque sauce. This time I used Bulls-Eye Hickory flavoured barbeque sauce. I covered the ribs and continue cooking at the same temperature for 3 hours. Then I removed the lid, raised the temperature to 176ºC ª350ºF) and allowed the sauce to caramelize.

Cooked Rack of Ribs

The beauty of combining braising with roasting is you can enjoy great ribs without using the barbeque in the colder months. The end result using this method is richly flavoured ribs with meat that literally falls off the bone. The meat is very moist and tender. Pictured are the two steaming hot rack of ribs just out of the oven. There is not nearly as much sauce as it looks on the bottom but enough to spoon a little sauce over the ribs if desired.

Usually 4 - 6 ribs is a good sized serving although at ribfests and in many restaurants they sell full or half rack of ribs. A half rack of ribs would be about 6 ribs. Two rack of ribs are enough to feed 4 to 6 people but some have been known to eat an entire rack of ribs themselves.

Rack of Ribs Dinner

Dinner consisted of a 4 rib piece from one rack of ribs which was more than sufficient. I didn't cut it into individual ribs because cutting it is part of the fun of eating ribs. The ribs were served with home canned green beans and oven baked potatoes. Since the oven was already heated cooking the ribs it was only logical to put potatoes in for baking. Oven baked potatoes with their crispy skins and soft flesh are always delightful!

The sauce was true to form deep and richly flavoured while a nice hickory smoke aroma filled the house. The meat was melt in your mouth tender. It was a lovely, comfort meal that was easy to put together bringing the tastes of summer barbeque into the kitchen during the cooler weather.