What’s on the Grill #77

Asian rubbed ribs with a hoisin barbeque sauce!  Yesterday was my birthday, and after having a fairly blah day at work, I decided to treat myself to a mid week treat (NOTE: Zoe was working because we are doing our true celebrating this weekend in Las Vegas!).  I picked up a rack of babyback ribs from Kroger and quickly headed home to heat up the grill.

I went through my usual rib prep process.  I removed the membrane by inserting my knife just under the membrane and over one of the rib bones.

From there, I used a papertowel to hold onto the membrane as I pulled it free and clear of the rack.

Next, I applied the rub.  At first, I thought about making something Thai in the wok.  However, after all of the barbeque talk from the weekend, I decided to blend the best of both worlds and do Asian on pork.  That’s how I decided on an Asian rub.  I have also been dying to try some Chinese five spice powder I have, so I pulled a rub from the new Weber charcoal cookbook.

For the sauce, I knew I wanted to do more than just dump some hoisin in a pre-made barbeque sauce.  Fortunately, I found a great recipe over at Epicurious.  It involved caramelizing sugar, and then adding a mix of hoisin, fish sauce, soy, honey, ginger, shallots, and rice vinegar. 

Since I was short on time, I was unable to add smoke to the kettle.  Unfortunately, not enough time to smoke some apple chips.  With my ribs rubbed and at room temperature, I added them to my 250 degree kettle.  The ribs cooked for about 2 1/2 hours.  At that point, I started to baste them with the sauce.  At 3 hours, the meat had pulled back from the bone enough…and I was hungry…so, I pulled them off.

The taste was extraordinary.  I loved the sauce and I know I will use it again.  Unfortunately, the rack was not as tender as I would have liked.  I felt it was average.  Nonetheless, the ribs, along with the red cabbage coleslaw I whipped up made for a nice meal.  Oh, and I almost forgot.  The star of the night was the jalapeno poppers!  I saw this device in the latest Williams-Sonoma catalog that allows you to grill jalapenos vertically.  Although the rack is cheap ($20….and I will probably still get one….lol.  Come to think of it, I just watched their video.  I like the grill tray too!  Although, the grill chick is not doing it for me.  They need to use that 650 a little more too.  It looks too clean!), aluminum foil is even cheaper, and on hand.  I stuffed some large peppers with cheddar and chives and ta da…Grilled poppers!