Flesh of the Pig Ala (And Secret Sauce)
Submitted by srandsr
Hickory-smoked pork ribs marinated in cider vinegar and garlic salt, grilled over charcoal, then dunked in a warm BBQ-and-steak sauce with molasses. Backyard classic.
YIELD
4 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
1 hrsREADY
This is backyard grilling distilled to its essentials. No fussy rubs, no overnight marinades. Just cider vinegar, garlic salt, cracked black pepper, and the smoke of hickory chips doing the real talking.
The vinegar soak is the whole trick. It tenderizes the pork and mellows the gamey edge without overpowering it. Cider vinegar specifically, since the fruitiness reads sweeter than distilled white.
Even thickness across every piece matters more than any fancy technique here. Uneven ribs means some burn while others go underdone.
The finishing sauce comes into play after the grill. Bottled barbecue sauce and steak sauce get mixed with molasses and warmed to a slow simmer, then cold pork from the fridge goes right in to soak up the glaze.
Pit Tips
- Feed hickory chips steadily to the coals. A quick burst of smoke early won’t penetrate, but a slow steady feed over the hour builds real flavor.
- Keep the meat a couple of inches off the coals and turn often. Flare-ups from pork fat are the main cause of burnt ribs.
- Cut a small test strip and slice it open to check doneness. The moment it goes from pink to light brown all the way through, pull everything off.
- Don’t cover the grill. You want radiant heat and direct smoke contact, not an oven effect.
Variations
- Replace the garlic salt with a mix of plain salt and fresh minced garlic for a less processed flavor.
- Stir bourbon or a shot of whiskey into the reheating sauce for a boozy, caramelized edge.
- Swap hickory chips for apple or cherry wood for a sweeter, lighter smoke profile.
Ingredients
Directions
Regular old supermarket pork.
Spare ribs, country ribs, or any other pork Not too much fat.
Cut off any gross excess, and cut them to EVEN thickness.
You’ll ruin everything if you cook the meat unevenly.
You may compensate by scoring the meat.
In a large baking pan, soak the ribs with cider vinegar, after which sprinkle them with garlic salt and finely ground black pepper.
(Don’t use pepper mills, or other peppers.
) It doesn’t seem to matter how long the ribs soak, or how much vinegar is on them.
Just make sure it hits all sides, you don’t have to puncture them.
This sweetens the meat.
The key to the fire is the hickory chips.
Keep feeding these amazing little fellows to the charcoal.
The flavor comes out of these chips and you cannot do without Make sure the fat and chips don’t light up your whole dinner and ruin it. Cooking: A moderate hot fire a couple of inches or more from the meat, and a grill of reasonable cleanness. As the meat cooks turn it often, do not let it burn, do not baste it with anything. Don’t cover the grill and don’t stray too far -- fire is always hiding in the wings. Here is the catch -- the trick -- the hard part, is the timing. You may ruin some meals before you hit it, but the time to take them off the grill is one minute after trichina danger is past. As soon as the meat turns brown it’s time to eat. You can use the small strips you cut off to judge just when things are perfect. Special Purpose Sauce: (don’t eat it cold, it’s awful) 1 bottle BBQ sauce, One bottle steak sauce, ¼ cup of molasses. Start re-heating the sauce until slow boil, dump in the cold pork from the fridge. Sauce can be stored and re-used, but remember it will have pork fat in it now.
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