Friday, June 10, 2011

Cola & Jam Spareribs

As we have often found with the FFwD recipes, the higher the expectations....the greater the disappointment. 
These ribs cooked to perfection and were "fall off the bone"
tender, while having a lovely thick glaze and crust ~
what a great combination.  Unfortunately, none of us cared for
the flavor of apricot and ginger.  While we will not be revisiting
this recipe, it did inspire us to cook ribs more frequently -
since our guys all LOVE them ~





Per Tricia~
                                                            
I knew I was in trouble when my 15 year old said
he was actually concerned about this one because he
 did not like the smell coming out of the kitchen. 
 Normally he would not have cared so much, but
he LOVES ribs and could not bear the thought of this
 actually turning out to be a disappointment.

The ribs looked magnificent as they marinated and 
cooked, but we could not get our heads (or tastebuds)
 around the ginger~apricot~cola combo.





 We are big fans of BBQ'd ribs and tend to look for well
known "rib joints" - esp when we travel in the South. 
"Sticky Fingers", "Germantown Commissary", "Calhoun's"
and others dictate our stops while traveling :) 
While we did not think it actually possible for us
to dislike a rib recipe, this one ended up coming the closest.


  My 15 year old made it through only two ribs and did
not finish his plate - a first.   My husband and older son
were more gracious about how well they thought
 Dorie's cooking time and method were, but also
 agreed they did not care for the sauce. 
Rather than protecting my feelings at dinner
not turning out as hoped, I think they were actually
 defending Dorie more than me :)  They do not want the
FFwD gravy train of goodies to halt no matter how
 unusual a rib dish may turn out......




Per Nana ~

To tackle the recipe for this week's spareribs, I bought
a small rack of baby back ribs at our local Wegman's supermarket.
  It was just the perfect size for Hubby and myself.



Following the recipe was easy, since there was not
 a lot of prep work.  I made the rub using the spice called
"Chinese Five Spice Powder".  I thought it it might be
 something really exotic, but when I found it in the
Giant supermarket, I decided it wasn't.


I cooked the ribs according to Dorie's instructions, and
 they cooked to perfection.  The ribs were served with coleslaw,
which was a nice side dish.



 Overall, however, we were disappointed
with the flavoring of the ribs.  While I would use this recipe
 for a reference in cooking ribs, I would definitely
 not repeat the spices, cola or jam portion. 


17 comments:

  1. Wow, this is a resounding thumbs down review on this recipe, too bad you didn't enjoy it. We like the flavors but I wouldn't rush out to recreate it ;-)

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  2. Not our favorite either. My husband has a really great asian rib recipe that we love so the 5 spice and ginger we didn't question. Add in the jam and the chemical tasting soda and blech.

    Your ribs look really beautiful though! Now to find a recipe that tastes as good as those ribs look.

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  3. Sorry to hear you didn't care for these - we really liked them. I'm not a huge fan of ribs, in general, but I did like this flavor combination.

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  4. I'm right there with you both on this one. It was a major disappointment at our house. It was much more so because it was the first major failure from this book, after all these months. I didn't think it was possible. Well, there's always next week!

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  5. Both your ribs look terrific, but it's sad to hear that the flavor combo didn't mesh well with you. This just means you get to play around with spice combos from now on for ribs! Yay to more ribs!

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  6. My 14 year old son, also a big eater and lover of ribs, felt the same way! None of us finished them and they ended up in the trash. I HATE to waste food!!! They looked good, but smelled and tasted quite awful. Looking forward to next week...

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  7. I was actually shocked that the ginger and 5 Spice didn't turn my hubby off...he loved these. My oldest son wasn't thrilled with the flavor...but I thought they were quite nice. On to next week :)

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  8. Oh dear - and I was so looking forward to trying these! I couldn't even fathom turning on the oven this week, however. We are big rib lovers around here, too, so I'll have to try Dorie's cooking method with a different sauce - maybe leaving out the ginger or five spice powder?

    Thank you both so much for sharing your local favorites with me! I'm excited that over here in Phoenixville we are getting another bakery next to Iron Hill Brewery - hope they'll make some great bread. We also recently discovered Brown's Cow on Main Street and it has that incredible Bassett's ice cream.

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  9. I enjoyed the ribs even though they needed a bit more bite! I enjoyed the ginger and 5 Spice flavoring. I would just kick them up a notch next time. Like them or not yours both look amazing!!

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  10. I enjoyed these ribs as written, but cooking them on a smoker/charcoal grill would have elevated the taste so much. Ribs beg to be barbecued.

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  11. I had to smile at the thought of the guys defending Dorie... Sorry these weren't a hit for you.
    Nana's comment about Chinese Five Spice not being exotic because of where she found it also made me chuckle.

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  12. I enjoyed reading both your reviews and agree that we can use this method of cooking ribs again.

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  13. YEP I agree. I wish I had purchased baby back ribs and...this recipe had no flavor. We just added lots of BBQ sauce...from a jar because we were already eating them...and the sauce rescued the ribs, however, baby back are way better. I won't be using this recipe again either. The meat was tender and juicy and falling off the bones, but just cooking it right will do that. This recipe is a NO for our family too.

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  14. I'm sorry these didn't suit you both this week. For what it is worth, ALL of them look fantastic. I'm not much of a bbq sauce fan so these appealed to me despite the trashy Coke ingredient.

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  15. So true, 'the higher the expectation, the greater the disappointment.' I was really excited about the flavor combination, but didn't care for the end result.

    Both of your ribs look really tasty though. Love the glaze on both!

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  16. It seems like the method was more popular than the flavours in this recipe. We liked these a lot, but seem to be in the minority this time!

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  17. I agree with you both on this one! I made the ribs but didn't post as we flew to Melbourne early the next morning. And I really didn't like them! The meat was incredibly tender, but the flavour was just weird. Glad I wasn't the only who thought that!

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