Tuesday, May 26, 2009

ODEL'S SOLAR COOKED PORK RIBS

Our Texas friends, Norma and Larry, asked for Odel's rib recipe. We like "dry" ribs, no sauce, so we can taste the flavor of the meat. Here's the recipe:

1 slab of good lookin' pork ribs (raw)
Lowry's Black Pepper Seasoned Salt (see photo)*

Rub ingredient #1 well with ingredient #2. Cook in the solar oven or crock pot for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Slice apart and fall upon them with slurpy abandon.

*Lowry's makes both "Seasoned Salt" and "Black Pepper Seasoned Salt" (BPSS). We search around for the BPSS, and usually buy 3-4 containers when we find it, as it is also the "secret ingredient" in Odel's best-in-the-world grilled chicken thighs.

In a pinch, you can make your own BPSS using the common Lowry's Seasoned Salt and cracked black pepper - but the BPSS has just the right mix of the two.

5 comments:

  1. When you cook them in a crockpot, how much (and what kind) of liquid do you add?

    They sure look tempting!

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  2. Gypsy, don't add any liquid at all. There is enough grease in ribs that they will baste themselves, staying nice and moist.

    In the crockpot, cook the ribs on LOW, not high. Long, slow cooking is the key - plus the loving anticipation Odel heaps upon them as he prepares the ribs for cooking. :)

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  3. Sounds absolutely yummy and well worth trying -- have you ever tried putting anything else in the crock pot with them, like onions or greens or beans? Sounds like it would be a great way to infuse flavor into side dishes! And are there any stores you've found that are more likely to have the BPSS than others? (If you keep this up I'm going to have to move this from the "Travel Blog" section in my Bookmarks to the "Food Blog" section!)

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  4. Margaret, a quote from Odel: "You never know which store you're going to find it in". When we go grocery shopping as we travel, he wanders off to look for the BPSS while I am shopping from the list. We have never found it at Safeway or Raley's, but have seen it at SaveMart (he was walking by and stopped in to check!). We saw it just the other day at Fred Meyer here in Oregon.

    As for cooking sides with the ribs - I would recommend (strongly) against it. It is mind-boggling how much grease renders off those ribs - not "pan juices" or "pot likker", just plain old melted fat. Anything you add to the pot will be soaked in it. In fact, one of the reasons I like ribs done this way is that you leave SO MUCH of the fat in the pan!

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  5. Thanks, Laurie -- of course, you're right. I got caught up in the flavor anticipation and wasn't thinking about the fat part. Fat in the pan is much better than fat on the hips (or in the arteries)! And I'll be on the lookout for BPSS -- sounds like it's good for more than ribs.

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