Sweet Tea Ribs | Food Wishes

Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with sweet tea ribs. That's right. I'm about to spill the tea on a barbecue sauce that's new to me. And that would be one that's infused with tea. And besides that, I'm also going to show you a cooking method for finishing the ribs in the sauce so we can get those flavors going all the way to the bone. And to get started, we will transfer a rack of baby back ribs onto a foil line pan. And we will flip it over to show you the membrane that covers the rib bones on the back, which some people peel off. But I prefer just to slash and then poke. And by the way, for this recipe, it really does not matter if you take it off or not. But I think a little bit of a poke and slash does help the flavors get in a little easier. And what we'll do once that's been accomplished is flip this back over with the meat side up. And if there was any bonus meat flaps attached, we will just unfurl those before we paint this top surface with about a tablespoon of mustard. And that's dealer's choice. I'm using Dijon, but regular yellow mustard will also work beautifully. And the reason we're doing this, besides flavor and moisture, is that it's going to help the next ingredient stick, which is going to be a combination of salt, freshly ground black pepper, and paprika, which we will very generously sprinkle over the entire surface. And as usual, all the ingredients and amounts will be on the written recipe. Oh, and it doesn't matter if you use smoked paprika or regular paprika. They're both going to work out the same in this. So, go ahead and use whatever you want. I mean, you guys are after all the Uncle Billies of your dried chilies. But either way, once that meat is seasoned, we will transfer it into the center of a 325°ree oven for exactly 1 hour, at which point it's probably going to look something like this. And yes, it does almost look good enough to eat, but it's not. Although, the tip of that bonus meat flap might be okay. So, I pulled that off and had a little chef's snack. And then what we need to do is let this cool completely before we cut it up, which we can do at room temp, but personally I think it's way way easier if we refrigerate it until it's nice and chilled, which really firms up the meat. It makes for some nice clean cuts. So that's what I did. And about an hour later, I pulled it out. And then as far as where to cut, I want you to remember this four-word poem, valley bone, hill meetat. Meaning, wherever there's a little dip or valley, that's where the bone is. And where you see the little bumps or hills, that's where the meat is, which is where we want to put our knife. And if you cut down the middle of those meat hills, you should not be hitting any bone. And what we'll do is slice up the whole rack. Oh, by the way, when you get down to one of the ends, you're going to see there's more bone and cartilage involved. So, what we can do after I trim off the last of that bonus meat is flip it over, which is going to let us see those last few bones. and it might make it a little easier to see where you can cut through. But anyway, one way or another, we will cut those ribs apart and we will set them aside for a few minutes while we start to build our barbecue sauce, which we'll start by adding three cups of cold fresh water to whatever pan we're going to cook our ribs in. And what we'll do is place that over mediumigh heat and bring it up to a simmer. And then for each cup of water, I like to add two tea bags, which means I'm going to be adding six. And yes, I do like to tie the strings together to make it a little bit easier to fish them out. And what we'll do after giving those a stir is turn off our heat. And we will let those steep for anywhere between 10 to 15 minutes. And as far as what I'm using, I went with a black tea called constant comment, which has a little bit of orange peel and sweet spice in it. And it is absolutely perfect for this sauce. And people will constantly comment how good it is. But having said that, any black tea will do. And what we'll do once our timer rings is fish that out and squeeze out as much liquid as we can. At which point we can add the rest of the sauce ingredients. And now we'll start with a touch of white sugar. And if you think that's a lot, you should watch some of our southern friends make actual sweet tea. All right, that was nothing. And then to balance that out, we will also add some cider vinegar, followed by some chili powder, some paprika, and again you can use regular or smoked. We will also want a little touch of cumin, as well as some freshly ground black pepper, and then we'll finish up with some garlic powder, some onion powder, and last but not least, a few shakes of cayenne. And what we'll do is turn our heat back on to high, and we'll give that a stir. And we'll wait for things to start to simmer. And once it does, we will let it simmer for about 3 minutes before we reduce our heat to low. And we'll go ahead and transfer our ribs back in. And in case you're wondering, is it okay to slice the ribs and finish cooking them in the sauce like this? Well, no, it is not. At least according to Grand Champion Pit Masters, who absolutely hate this technique. But that's okay because anyone that does it and tries it absolutely loves it. And I'm sure you will, too. And then what we'll do once all our ribs have been transferred in is we'll give those a little bit of a basting with our brush, which is probably unnecessary, but I feel better if I do it. And then we will cover this and let it simmer on low for 20 minutes, at which point we'll uncover it, flip all the ribs over, and repeat the same step. Oh, and this would be the perfect time to mention. I hope you do. But if you just can't bring yourself to cook your ribs like this, and you've already perfected your baby back rib technique, just simply do the sauce part of this recipe and then finish your ribs with that. And trust me, you'll be very happy you did. But anyway, if you are using this method, once those ribs have cooked covered on low for about 40 minutes total, we will uncover and we will flip those ribs over again. And we'll bump our heat up slightly to medium low. And then to finish these off, we will simply keep cooking them uncovered for another 20, 30, or 40 minutes or whatever it takes for them to become very tender but not falling off the bone. And during that time, feel free to baste and turn and do whatever you want. And then once we think we're getting close, we'll start checking with the tip of a knife. And once they're done, that should slide in with virtually no effort. And be careful you're not poking a bone. Make sure you get that into the meat so you can tell what's happening. And obviously, there's going to be pieces that aren't as thick and don't have as much meat, which we'll finish first. And whenever we think a rib is done, we will transfer that onto a plate and we'll reserve it until the rest of the ribs are done. And then as far as final production goes, once all our ribs are eventually cooked to our liking and have been transferred onto a plate, we will turn our heat up to medium high and we'll reduce the sauce for about 5 minutes or until it starts to thicken up. And don't go anywhere. Sauces that have this much sugar in it will burn quickly. So, we want to make sure we catch it right at this point where it's reduced down to the point where it's getting a little bit syrupy. And once it does, we'll reduce our heat back down to low and we will transfer our ribs in along with of course any and all accumulated juices. All right. If you throw those away, I will find out and I will let everybody know. Yes, by spilling the tea. And that's it. We'll simply let those simmer gently for about 5 to 10 minutes or until they're heated through. And while we do, we will basee those or brush those with the sauce, which not to spoil things, is going to taste every bit as good as it looks. Right. Some food colors look more delicious than others. And this is one of those extremely delicious looking colors. And that's it. Once we're happy with how everything's looking, tasting, and feeling, we will pull that off the heat. And I'm going to garnish very simply with a little scattering of freshly sliced green onions just for a little bit of color and a little bit of contrast. And that's it. My sweet tea ribs are ready to enjoy. And that, my friends, is going to be one of the most delicious and unique barbecue sauces you've ever tasted. And I really do wish I could figure out a way to accurately describe the flavor. But I don't really think I can. Okay, there's definitely a sweet tea flavor, but when it's combined with all those other ingredients and spices, it's transformed into something else unlike the actual drink, but still somehow reminiscent of the original drink. So, unfortunately, and by unfortunately, I mean fortunately, you're just going to have to make these and taste them for yourself. And yes, technically the pit masters are correct. If you cut up a partially cooked rib and then finish it by simmering it in the sauce, the meat can get slightly drier than a perfectly smoked rack of baby back ribs. But since this is swimming in sauce and there's so much moisture involved in every bite, it is not something that's going to be noticed. And the trade-off is we get that flavor penetrating all the way down to the bone. So, as the philosopher once said, life is a compromise. And I am perfectly fine with all the compromises we made here since it really does produce a batch of incredibly gorgeous and extremely delicious and tender ribs. Which is why I really do hope you give this a try soon. So, please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And is always enjoy. Oh boy.