"I got first place on my ribs Sunday using your Vermont Maple Glazed Pig Candy recipe!"
Steve Triplet, Galatia, IL
This method makes extremely tender, juicy, flaky meat with a beautiful mirror like glaze. More than one cook has written me to tell me that they make the best ribs he ever tasted. The secret is mmmmmmaple syrup.
Ingredients
1 slab ribs, baby backs, spares, or St. Louis cut
4-6 teaspoons of Meathead's Magic Dust or Rendezvous Rub
1 cup apple juice
1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons hot sauce
1/4 cup real maple syrup. Make sure to use real maple syrup, not the fake stuff. Interestingly, the less expensive, darker, Grade B maple syrup is slightly better for this recipe and most cooking
Do this
1) Skin 'n' trim your ribs. Coat liberally with Meathead's Magic Dust or Rendezvous Rub and massage it in. If you can, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 hours or more.
2) Cook the ribs for three hours and then wrap them in foil with the apple juice as described in the Texas Crutch technique article.
3) Take the meat out of the foil, pour the apple juice into a sauce pan. It will be heavily flavored with rub spices. Boil it until about 1/3 cup remains. Add 1/4 cup of maple syrup and boil gently until it foams aggressively. Then turn down the heat until it stops foaming and boil until it reduces and thickens almost to the consistency of honey.
4) Add the salt and hot sauce.
5) Paint the ribs with one coat of the pig candy. It should make a thick shiny glaze. Don't use too much. Heat for a few minutes and serve.
This page revised 6/13/08
