Indoor Baby Back Ribs

I call them “indoor” ribs because they’re braised in the oven instead of cooked in a smoker or on an outdoor grill. They aren’t smoky but, what they lack in smoky flavor is more than made up by the tenderness and the great porky flavor that you get after a long, slow braise in the oven. I don’t say baked because even though no extra liquid is added, the ribs will release plenty of liquid on their own (thanks to the rub) and that liquid will help them braise when wrapped up in foil (I poured almost a cup of liquid from the foil pouch after cooking).

The key is to let the seasoned ribs sit in the refrigerator at least 8 hours prior to cooking. This will allow the salt to denature and firm up the meat. What results is a tasty meat that retains texture even though it’s so tender. One thing you do not want in ribs is for the meat to fall off the bone, so cooking them more than what I suggest will result in ribs that won’t hold on to the bone long enough to make the trip from the plate to your mouth. What you do want is tender meat that pulls away cleanly from the bone yet retains texture, and that’s exactly what you’ll get from this recipe. Once you try these ribs, you won’t want to eat the ones from that place with the awful rib song ever again.

I would normally cook the St. Louis style ribs (baby backs are St. Louis ribs with the ends trimmed off) because I like the extra meat and fat, but they didn’t have any at my local grocery store so I went with the baby backs. If you want to use this recipe for St. Louis style ribs, you should probably add 20 minutes to the braise time.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: Use whatever BBQ sauce you like the most. I prefer Dinosaur BBQ sauce because of the lack of HFCS, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Also, if you think you’ll miss the smoky flavor, try adding 1/4 tsp of liquid smoke to the BBQ sauce before basting the ribs with it.

Ingredients:

One rack of Baby Back ribs
1/3 cup barbecue sauce for basting

For the rub (enough for two racks):
2 tbsp brown sugar
1.5 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp oregano

Procedure:

Build the rub by placing all the rub ingredients together in a bowl and mixing thoroughly. Place a double layer of Heavy Duty aluminum foil on a sheet pan. Place the ribs on the foil, bone side up, and take a sharp knife and cut some shallow cross hatches into the bottom membrane without cutting into the meat (just make a few diamond shaped cuts). Place some of the rub on the bone side of the ribs and rub it in. Turn the ribs so that they are meat side up and apply enough rub to completely cover the meat. Wrap the ribs up tightly and place in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Here is what your ribs should look like after rubbing:

Remove them 45 minutes before placing in the oven. Place them in a cold oven and then set the temperature to 250 degrees. Let them cook for 2 hours and 30 minutes, then remove and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Once the oven reaches 350, open the ribs and baste them with 1/3 of the BBQ sauce then place them back in the oven, uncovered for 10 minutes (you don’t have to baste the bone side more than once). Repeat this step twice more, until the ribs have a nice BBQ glaze on them. Here’s what mine looked like right before I cut them:

Buen Provecho!

Baked Buffalo Wings

It’s NFL Playoff season and everyone knows that nothing says football more than buffalo wings and beer (especially during the Superbowl!). Buffalo wings are normally fried to ensure that they have a crispy enough skin to hold up to the sauce they are then drenched in. Most baked wings become soggy because by the time the exterior gets crispy enough the wings are overcooked and dry. I’ve found a way to bake them and get them just as crispy as fried wings but without adding any oil, which ensures that the wings are nice and flavorful, yet never greasy. This recipe allows you to enjoy your wings and not have to feel guilty about eating fried food.

The key to getting them crispy in the oven is to dry them out and to coat them in a bit of baking powder to ensure the skin blisters when baked. The easiest way to dry the wings is to first pat them dry, then season them and place them in the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least 4 hours (overnight is best). I guarantee you will never fry your wings again!

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40-45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You can make your own buffalo sauce by combining equal parts melted butter and your favorite hot sauce.

Ingredients:

12 chicken wings
1/4 cup buffalo wing sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Procedure:

Remove the wings from their packaging and pat them dry with paper towels. Toss the wings in a bowl with the salt and baking powder, then lay them on a cooling rack, placed over a sheet pan, and set them on the lowest shelf in your refrigerator, uncovered, for at least 4 hours. Remove 30 minutes prior to baking.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to ensure the wings don’t stick. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees and place the wings on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet and then into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes, flip the wings over, and bake for another 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your wings. Remove them and toss with your favorite buffalo wing sauce. Serve with blue cheese dressing.

Buen Provecho!

Review: Jake’s Wayback Burgers

Jake’s Wayback Burgers is a chain that just opened a location close to where I work; they are known for fresh (i.e. never frozen), hand-formed patties and their hand-spun milkshakes. I’d heard quite a bit of buzz concerning the new burger joint in town so I decided to give it a try.

The location is quite small, with maybe a dozen two-person tables and four stools at a counter. A coworker and I went at lunchtime on a Friday and every seat in the house was occupied and there was a line of 8-9 people waiting to order. After waiting in line about 10 minutes, we finally reached the registers and placed our orders. I ordered the Jake Cheeseburger (two patties and American cheese) with onion rings and my coworker ordered the Jake Burger with fries, plus a couple of drinks. All burgers are served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, raw onions, ketchup, and mustard, plus you can add mayonnaise, grilled onions, mushrooms, and a few other toppings (I went with the included toppings but substituted grilled onions for the raw ones). We found a seat and waited for our food to be brought out to us.

The food came out rather quickly, maybe 5 minutes after ordering it (not bad for a cooked-to-order burger). The patties were about 2.5 ounces each, so the double-patty burger is definitely the way to go. The meat looked like it was smashed on the grill and had a nice crust on it (a definite plus!). To be totally honest, the burger tasted very similar to that of Five Guys, only a lot less greasy. The meat tasted fresh and it remained juicy, even though it was smashed on a griddle. The cheese was a great addition and didn’t overpower the meat one bit. It actually added a layer of flavor that I think is necessary in a burger. All told, it was a great burger and I’d definitely recommend it to any burger lover.

The fries, however, were a different story. They were stiff and undercooked, even though they just came out of the fryer, and you could tell they were bought frozen and not cut fresh at the store like Five Guys. I’m glad I got the onion rings (which were decent, but not great), because I don’t think I could’ve eaten more than five fries, to be honest. As a control experiment, I returned on a Wednesday afternoon with another co-worker and he ordered the fries (there were only four people inside on that day). I asked him what he thought and he said the same thing I just wrote: they tasted undercooked. My suggestion is to stick with the onion rings or no side at all.

The price was a bit steeper than I would expect. The total for my double cheeseburger, onion rings, and medium drink (plus tax) came to $9.68, or about $1.50 more than I normally pay at Char-Grill (my co-favorite fast food burger, tied with Only Burger). The bottom line: if you like Five Guys’ burgers then you will definitely like Jake’s.

Grade:

Taste: 8.5/10
Value: 7.5/10
Would I eat it again? Yes, if I don’t feel like driving to Char-Grill.

Jake’s Wayback Burgers
4104 Surles Court
Durham, NC 27703
(919) 474-9922
waybackburgers.com

Crab Cakes

Most people think of crab cakes as either too expensive to order when eating out or too difficult to make at home (or both!). Truth be told, they’re quite easy to make at home, but they can be a bit messy, so I suggest wearing rubber gloves when forming the patties. Few other dishes make my wife as happy as a good crab cake meal; the only shame is that we don’t get to eat them as often as she’d like. Hopefully, this recipe will prove simple enough that most readers will want to give it a try this weekend. Just make sure you use Ritz crackers, as they are the “secret” ingredient that make a world of difference (compared to regular bread crumbs).

As for which crab meat to buy, I suggest going with a brand that sells local Blue Crab if you’re on the East coast or a nice Dungeness crab if you’re on the West coast. Just read the label and it will tell you where it’s from. As for Phillips (the most well-known brand), most of their crab is from Thailand, so consider yourself warned keep that in mind. Edit: If you can get fresh crab then that is always the way to go. However, if you cannot, then at least make sure you trust the company you purchase from.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: These are delicious all by themselves but, if you’re in the mood, you can also make a bit of hollandaise sauce to go with them.

Ingredients:

8 oz lump crab meat
1 tbsp each shallots and green peppers, finely minced
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp Old Bay
1/2 tsp each prepared mustard and Worcestershire sauce
1/2 egg, beaten
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp hot sauce
8 Ritz crackers, crushed plus 12 more for breading
Salt to taste

Procedure:

Add the butter to a small skillet and melt it over medium-low heat. Add the minced shallots and peppers and let them sweat for 5-6 minutes, until they soften. Add them to a bowl, along with all the other ingredients except the crab and the 12 crushed Ritz, stir to combine. Add the crab and carefully fold together to prevent the lumps from breaking up, then divide it into four equal patties.

Place the 12 crushed Ritz crackers on a plate and dredge each crab cake in the cracker so that it forms a nice exterior breading. Refrigerate the cakes for 45-60 minutes to ensure that they stay together when cooked. Set your oven to it’s highest broil setting and place the crab cakes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the bakig sheet in the pre-heated oven (about 5-6 inches below the heating elements). Allow them to cook for 4-5 minutes a side, depending on how dark you want the exterior to be. Be very careful when flipping them, though, as they might try to fall apart on you. Just use the parchment paper to lift them a onto a spatula for turning.

Buen Provecho!

Beef Stroganoff

As you know, I made a Standing Rib Roast for Christmas dinner.  We had quite a bit left over and I was looking for a way to use some of the leftover beef in a different way (variety is the spice of life, after all).  I came up with the idea of slicing the beef thinly and using it in a beef stroganoff recipe.  It resulted in the most tender version of this dish that I have every had.  I wouldn’t recommend making a standing rib roast solely for this purpose, but if you have the leftovers, why not?

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: None.

Ingredients:

6 oz cooked beef, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, julienned
6 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1/4 tsp each paprika, salt, and black pepper, plus a bit more salt to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
2/3 cup beef stock
1 tbsp parsely, finely chopped (for garnish)
8 oz cooked egg noodles

Procedure:

Place one tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt, saute until they begin to caramelized (about 15 minutes), stirring as needed. Remove the onions to a plate and add another tablespoon of butter to the skillet, along with the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Cook the mushrooms, stiring occasionally, until they have released all their liquid and most of it has evaporated. Remove them to a plate and set aside.

Add one tablespoon of butter to the skillet and place it over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and whisk to combine. Let the flour cook for 2-3 minutes, until a nice roux has formed and the raw taste has cooked out. Slowly whisk in the beef broth until it’s incorporated. Increase heat slightly and cook until it begins to bubble. Add the salt, pepper, paprika, mustard and sour cream and whisk to combine. Lastly, add the beef and allow it to just heat through, about 3-4 minutes.

Serve over the cooked egg noodles and garnish it with parsley.

Buen Provecho!

Chicken and Mushrooms with Balsamic Reduction

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love breaking with tradition and doing my own thing, and my eclectic cooking style is as much a testament to that as anything else I’ve ever done in my life. I love to take traditional and established recipes and play around with them a bit and see what I can come up with. In this case, I opted to switch up a few ingredients in a chicken marsala recipe and was very happy with the results.

I’d never attempted to make chicken marsala at home but I figured it had to be better than the bland, often mushy versions that I’ve had in many restaurants. Usually, I’m so disappointed in the flavors and textures of restaurant chicken marsala that I’ve stopped ordering it altogether, leaving me no option but to make it at home if I ever want to have it again. I toyed with the idea of using other cooking wines (such as sherry, or even making an “Asian” version with rice wine vinegar and saki) but settled on going the Italian route and using balsamic vinegar instead. Since balsamic tends to be a much stronger flavor than any cooking wine, I decided to reduce the amount in the recipe significantly.

I used one very large chicken breast (about 9-10 oz) so I decided to cut it in half and just use the one breast rather than using two and pounding them out to ensure even cooking. However, feel free to use two smaller breasts (say, 4-5 oz) if you don’t feel comfortable butterflying a chicken breast.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: I used dry herbs in this preparation but feel free to use fresh herbs if you have them on hand. Just make sure and use about twice the amounts in the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 large chicken breast, butterflied in half
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp butter
1/2 plus 1/4 tsp salt

Procedure:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed straight-sided skillet over medium-high heat. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the 1/2 tsp of salt and then dredge in the flour (the flour is here to help thicken the sauce). Place the chicken in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes per side (do not move the chicken around after placing it in the skillet to ensure proper browning takes place).

Once the chicken has cooked for 3 minutes on the second side, lower the temperature to medium and add the sliced mushrooms, garlic, herbs, vinegar, broth, and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken and wrap it in foil. Raise the temperature to medium-high, add 1/4 tsp of salt and whisk to combine. Continue to reduce the sauce, uncovered, for 5-7 minutes. Once the sauce has reduced by half, turn off the the heat, remove the bay leaf, add the butter, and whisk to incorporate. Return the chicken to the skillet briefly to coat it in the sauce before plating. Serve with your favorite side, in this case some fresh pasta coated in garlic, browned butter, olive oil, and pecorino Romano cheese.

Buen Provecho!