Stewed Pork Ribs

These stewed ribs are a great side-dish for your next family dinner or it can certainly make an impression the next time you hit a potluck at work. You can always start the “stewing” process on the stove-top and finish off in a slow cooker if you want.

You will need:

3-4 lbs pork ribs
3/ 4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/ 2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 slices ginger
1 medium onion (diced)
1 medium tomato (diced)
2 hot pepper (chopped)optional
1 tablespoon veg oil
1 1/ 2 tablespoon golden brown sugar
2.5 – 3 cups water
4 sprigs thyme

Method:

Give the ribs a quick wash with cool water and the juice of a lime or lemon. Drain and get to seasoning. Add everything to the bowl EXCEPT the thyme, veg oil, brown sugar and water. Mix well and allow to marinate in the fridge for at least a couple hours.

In a heavy pot over a high flame heat the vegetable oil, then go in with the brown sugar. This step is crucial (we DON’t want to BURN the sugar). Using a dry spoon, stir the sugar until it starts to melt. It will go frothy, then amber in color (act fast).

Here is where you add the seasoned pork ribs to the pot. If the sugar goes black. STOP and start over or it will have a bitter taste. Yes, it’s ok if the marinade goes into the pot as you add the pieces of ribs. But try to keep some back in the bowl. In the same bowl in which you marinated the ribs add the water and swish around so you can pick up all that goodness to add to the pot later.

Stir well to coat the ribs with the ‘stew’ base we started off with. Turn the heat down to medium/low, cover the pot and let that go for about 10 minutes (stir a couple times) after which it’s time to infuse the ribs with the color and flavor of the brown-stew.

Remove the lid and crank up the heat to high – we want to burn off all that liquid. Be sure to stir. It will take about 4-6 minutes.

After all the water is gone and you start seeing the oil we started off with at the bottom of the pot, it’s time to add the water we had in the bowl in which we marinated the ribs. Stir and bring to a boil. As it comes to a boil, top with the sprigs of thyme, reduce the heat to a simmer and place the lid on the pot. Stir every 10-15 minutes. After about 1 hour and 25 minutes, you can now personalize this dish a bit. Taste for salt and adjust to your liking and you can now crank up the heat and burn off the liquid until you have a gravy the consistency you like.