Pork Shoulder Western Style Ribs - Grilled

When I made the Pork Shoulder Western Style Ribs in the oven (discussed in my June 2, 2010 post), I had about half the package of raw meat remaining.  I tossed the pork pieces into a gallon sized Ziploc bag with 1 /2 cup of apple vinegar, 1 /4 cup of grape seed oil, two tablespoons of lemon juice and one tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.  I sealed the bag and kneaded to mix all the ingredients into the meat and then put the bag in the freezer.

A few days ago, I was planning for dinners and I removed some steak to grill (see June 15, 2010 post).  I also removed the bag of pork shoulder pieces and put it in the refrigerator to thaw.  I figured that if I was going to use the barbeque for grilling the steak, I may as well also grill the pork once the steak finished.

While the steak was cooking, in a coffee mug I mixed a marinade for basting the pork while it cooked.  I mixed 1 /2 cup of apple vinegar, 1 /4 cup water, two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon of sea salt, and two tablespoons of olive oil in a mug.  I knew the oil would not mix with the rest of the liquids, but I use a silicon basting brush that has a bunch of little fingers that I would use each time I basted to mix the ingredients then slather them on the meat.

I placed the pork pieces in the center of the grill over the indirect heat and let them cook for 90 minutes.  Every fifteen minutes I would turn the meat over and slap on another layer of the marinade.  Last year I grilled some pork ribs (on direct heat) and I didn’t give them a basting every fifteen minutes, I ended up with some very dry and tough ribs to chew.

We ate the grilled pork ribs for dinner the following night accompanied by brown rice, broccoli, apples slices and green salad.  While they were moist and very tasty, they still had a lot of the connective tissue attached that didn’t soften when they cooked, so we would hit some very rubbery places.  The recipe that I cooked in the oven seemed to break down that tissue so that all the pieces were soft.  Both recipes left quite a bit of fat on the pork that has to be cut off when eating, but it is less than ten percent of the total volume and it comes off easily.

I don’t think I would grill the pork shoulder pieces again, but I will try one of the crock pot recipes and see how they turn out using a different cooking method.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Freezer Marinated Steak

The last time I purchased  a package containing four pieces of top sirloin steak from our mega-supermarket,  I filleted the one inch thick pieces into pieces one half inch thick so I could make sure they were cooked medium well for my wife.  That night I cooked one-half of the pieces and decided to freeze the remainder for another time.

Into a sealable bag I placed the pieces of steak, 1/4-cup of apple vinegar, 1-tablespoon of lemon juice, two tablespoons of grape seed oil, a pinch of salt and pepper, and one sprig of fresh rosemary.  This made a nice marinade that contains the three necessary ingredients: acid, oil, and seasoning.  Before I sealed the bag, I got as much air out as I could, and then I sealed the bag.  Next, I kneaded the marinade into the meat through the bag, making sure the marinade was covering the steak.  I popped the bag of steak into the freezer until the next time the weather would allow grilling.

This week I saw in the paper that we would finally have a few days of sunshine, so I removed the package of steak from the freezer and let it thaw for two days in the refrigerator.  The day I went to cook the steak, I found that it was still just a little frozen, so I let it soak for about fifteen minutes in a pan of cold water while I waited for the briquettes to get hot.

I split the briquettes and moved them off to each side of the bottom of the barbeque so there was an area in the center of the grill that had no briquettes below it.  I watched an Alton Brown Good Eats TV show where he said that when the fat cooking out of the meat and lands on the briquettes, it creates carcinogens that coat the meat (bad for you), but when you use indirect heat, the meat would still cook, but without the carcinogens.

I opened the bag of steak and drained off the marinade, and then I placed the steak pieces on the center of the grill and put the lid on the barbeque.  I grilled the steak for eight minutes on each side until they were just cooked a little beyond medium.  I placed all the pieces in a glass Pyrex pan, covered with foil and let the steaks rest for five minutes before serving.

I accompanied the steak with brown rice, sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, and a green salad.  Unlike my normal direct heat cooking of the steak, this steak was very moist and tender.  The marinade added just a little extra flavor that really complemented the meat.  The marinade and the indirect heat had made a fairly inexpensive pieces of meat into quite a meal.  I just have to remember to do this the next time.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell

Pork Shoulder Western Style Ribs

A few days ago, I made a trip to Costco to get a few items.  I picked up some fresh tilapia so that I could make some broiled tilapia and I wanted another meat product that I could cook.  I looked at the steak but it was more expensive than I wanted to pay, (help me buy some steak - click some of my sponsors Google ads).  I looked into the pork area and saw something new (at least new to me), they were western style pork shoulder boneless pork ribs.  Not only did they look and sound good, but they were also a great price!

I purchased a package of about six pounds, took it home, and placed it in the refrigerator.  I got out my copy of How to Cook Everything and looked in the index: nothing, no mention of how to cook western style ribs.  So, off I went to check the internet and learned some interesting facts:
1.    The western style boneless ribs are actually pieces of the pork shoulder (Costco had truth in labeling) that are cut into strips to look like ribs. 
2.    They have a similar taste to ribs. 
3.    They are very easy to cook. 
4.    They are very inexpensive to purchase.

I reviewed several recipes and finally used a variation of an article titled: How to cook pork shoulder western ribs in the oven.  Here is the recipe that I used:

Ingredients:
  2-3 pounds of western pork ribs
  3 large cloves of garlic, chopped
  3 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
  3/4 cup brown sugar
  1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
  1/4 cup lemon juice (I used bottled lemon juice)
  1 6-ounce can tomato paste (mine was less a tablespoon I used in another recipe)
  1 Tablespoon paprika
  2 teaspoons salt
  1/2 teaspoon black pepper

In a large bowl, I mixed all the ingredients for the marinade (except the pork ribs) until they were combined to make a creamy sauce.  I got out my large glass Pyrex (9 x 13 inch) glass pan and placed as many of the ribs as would comfortably fit into the pan.  Then I poured the entire marinade over the ribs in the pan.  I made sure that some of the marinade was under each piece and all the pieces had a covering of the marinade.  I covered the pan with plastic wrap and placed it in the refrigerator to marinade for twenty-four hours.

The next day I started by heating the oven to 375 degrees in convection mode (400 degrees for non-convection).  I placed a wire rack over our roasting pan and sprayed the wire rack and the roasting pan with cooking spray.  I placed all the rib pieces on the wire rack.  Once the oven was hot, I put the pan with the ribs in the center of the oven to cook for 15 minutes.

After fifteen minutes was over, I turned over all the ribs and placed the pan back in the oven.  Our Electrolux oven has a built in temperature probe, so I inserted the probe into the thickest rib and set the oven to 165 degrees.  That way when the internal temperature of the rib reaches 165, the oven will automatically switch to a keep warm function.  If you don’t have this function, roast the ribs for another 15 minutes.

When the ribs finished cooking, I let them rest for 5 minutes then served with some optional Sweet Baby Rays barbeque sauce on the side.  The marinade made with this recipe has a sweet and tangy taste and doesn’t really need any other sauce.  The ribs were very moist and juicy; some of the very thin edges were darker in color, but not burned.  These shoulder pieces do have some fat that you will have to remove when you eat them, but it was very easy to see and remove.

I am very glad that I sprayed the roasting pan with the cooking spray as it really helped when it was time to clean the pan, we let it soak in a little hot soapy water, and most of the residue washed away.

I will make this recipe again, next time I may try grilling the pieces on indirect heat in the barbeque, though I will make sure to swab them with the marinade several times while cooking to keep them from drying out.  Now I have another three pounds of the raw ribs in the refrigerator for another recipe.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell