GROWING UP IN the South, I
always associated ribs with sweet, tangy
barbecue sauce. But for a midwinter
game-day rib feast in my adopted
hometown of Boston, I decided to look
for something a little more surprising:
something sticky, glossy, and tropical,
with sweet and spicy notes of citrus,
ginger, and jalapeño.
My first decision was to use baby
back ribs. I chose them because they
cook relatively quickly and pack tons of
pork flavor. A couple of 2-pound racks
of baby backs would be plenty for a
crew of four to six people, so I started
there. Some people get finicky and pre-
treat their ribs with a rub, a marinade,
or even a brine (I do that sometimes,
too). But I wanted to give this a swing
without the extra time and effort of
those steps.
Instead, I simply spread the racks
on a rimmed baking sheet, seasoned
them with salt and pepper, brushed on
a healthy coating of sauce (more on
this later), and popped them into the
oven. A few rounds of experimentation
showed me that I would have to be
precise about the temperature: Too low
and the ribs didn’t achieve a beauti-
ful burnished color before drying out;
too high and they turned black before
cooking through.
A 325-degree oven was just right.
After 2½ hours, the ribs turned a
beautiful, rusty shade of brown.
When I tugged at the meat with a
pair of tongs, it slipped off in juicy
chunks. Perfect. A quick check with
the digital thermometer identified
this sweet-spot internal temperature:
205 degrees.
As for the sauce, getting the balance
right—neither overly sweet nor harshly
sour, with just enough heat and salt—
took some doing. I relied on a cup of
orange juice for a vibrant citrus base.
For fresh, aromatic bite and bright,
spicy heat, I sautéed garlic and ginger
with sliced jalapeños. A half-cup of
white sugar and ⅓ cup of tart cider
vinegar delivered the sweet and sour
portions of the promise.
But I needed some complexity, so
I turned to savory ketchup, salty soy
sauce, and, surprisingly, fish sauce.
This addition was a revelation. The
fish sauce (a cousin of Worcestershire)
introduced a strong savory background
flavor that played well with the other
ingredients, and it tasted nothing like
fish on the ribs.
Brushing the sauce onto the ribs in
two stages—once before roasting and
again 10 minutes before they came
out of the oven—gave me beautifully
lacquered racks. I cut them intoindividual ribs and then, because I
wanted supremely sticky ribs, tossed
them in the remainder of the sauce.
With a final gilding of bright green
scallions, these ribs were an irresistible
sight. But take my advice: Hand out
plenty of paper towels when you serve
these ribs. They make the most beauti-
ful kind of mess.We bake some
sauce onto the
racks, cut them into
individual ribs, and
then toss ’em with
more sauce.Sweet-and-Sour
Baby Back Ribs
Grab a napkin—these indoor ribs are sticky, flavorful, and impossibly tender.
by Matthew Fairman
Take the Temperature
How do you know when the ribs are tender
and ready to be glazed? Use a digital
thermometer. Simply insert the tip of the
probe into the center of a rib in the middle
of the rack at an angle that is parallel to
the bones. If the temperature registers
205 degrees, the target temperature for
tenderness, go ahead and glaze.