Ingredients
- For Brine
- 2 bunches Spring onions, coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup Coriander seeds, whole and toasted
- 3/4 cup Kosher salt
- ¼ cup Sugar in the raw
- 3 tbsp Whole black peppercorns, toasted
- 6 Fresh bay leaves
- Water to cover
For Gastrique
- 2½ lbs Rhubarb, medium dice
- 3 pints Tristar strawberries, hulled and cut in half, if large
- 1 to 1½ cups Best local spring honey you can find
- 1 bottle Good Provencal Rose
- 3½ to 4 cups Champagne, wine, or vinegar, depending on how tart your rhubarb is/li>
- 4 or 5 Dried chipotle peppers, whole
- Water to just barely cover
Pork Ribs in Strawberry-Rhubarb Gastrique
Meal: Dinner
Cuisine: American
Ingredient: Pork
Season: Spring
Contributor: Liza Queen
Directions
Makes 6 Servings
For Brine
- Preparation
- Combine brine ingredients, add washed pork ribs, and let sit overnight.
- In the morning, pull and dry ribs, and return to refrigerator, uncovered, to continue to dry further. (This is optional, but certainly preferable, as we don't want the ribs to steam.)
- Cooking
- Rub: Salt and pepper to coat, plus 1 cup animal fat (e.g., bacon drippings, duck fat, fat skimmed from any braise or stock.)
- Lay ribs in a single layer in a roasting pan and coat well with salt and pepper and fat.
- Cook at 200°F for 3 hours
- Turn ribs over, and continue to cook until you can pull meat from the bone with no effort whatsoever. This can take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the pig. You can cheat the time at 220°F to make it cook faster, but no higher!
For Gastrique
- Cooking
- Heat and stir mixture until it comes to a boil
- Continue to cook at the barest simmer for 1 1/2 hours
- Strain, and press well on solids through a fine sieve. Taste and adjust for vinegar and honey
- Return strained mixture to stove and cook until it is reduced by almost half, or it is thick and syrupy.
- To Serve
- Let ribs cool, then slice, and put in a saucepan.
- Add enough gastrique to coat and leave a good layer on the bottom of pan, heat and coat.
- Serve.
