Turn Your Summer Blueberry Meal Into a Sweet & Savory BBQ Sauce
Welcome back to Sunday Sus maintenance! Last week, the culinary highlight of our time travel was delicious decadence and dozens of disgruntled dentists. Let’s go back to the present. The biggest American BBQ holiday is here and you’ll need a call. You can stick with the same old burgers and dogs, or try something new. Borrowed something. Something blue. Blueberry season officially kicks off on July 5 in my home state of Massachusetts, but since March we’ve been inundated with both domestic and imported ones. I’ve gone through a few cupcakes, countless crumbs, and loads of pies, but enough alliteration. Here’s the thing: ribs are good, they’re easy, pretty hard to ruin, and they’re damn cheap in many places right now. Barbecue sauce, on the other hand, is not. The cheapest product is just ketchup and brown sugar, while the most expensive product is the ingredients that make up ketchup and brown sugar. So today we’re going to make our very own cool Blue-BQ sauce, grate the ribs and put them in the oven. Look, I know some of you are going to scold me for suggesting that you cook the ribs in the oven. I know they can be “better” if you use a different kitchen appliance. But not everyone has charcoal, pellets, a smokehouse, or even a gas grill. However, almost everyone who reads this has an oven. If you have access to any of these ribs, I implore you to use them. I like to cook the ribs in the oven because it frees up space on the grill and I can be sure everything will be served at the same time. Nothing spoils a barbecue like waiting for a hot dog. Whatever you do, we need a temperature of 250 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours in cling film, and then another 50 minutes, pouring our lovely, lovely sauce every ten minutes.
For ribs and rub:
- 2 child backrest ribs, approximately 3 lbs each, membranes removed *
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packaged
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
- 1 tablespoon + ¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt. If you don’t have kosher salt on hand, use this conversion table to determine how much table salt you need .
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
* If you’ve never removed a membrane from your ribs, try this technique from Amazing Ribs .
If you leave the membrane on, with such a short cooking time, the membrane will still be stiff and ruin the good experience. If you are unsure how to clean it, you can ask a butcher or local grocer to clean it up for you. Either way, blot your ribs dry and set them aside for a moment.
In a small bowl, combine all the rubbing ingredients and really rub them into the ribs. Don’t be stingy – use all the rub and rub it in. There is a reason this is called “rubbing” and not “tickling.” The brown sugar will caramelize and turn into a crust, but more importantly, it will become sticky. And oh god, do we want stickiness?The liquid hot sugar magma will later help glue our sauce to the ribs like molten sticky.
If you have time, place the ribs on a wire rack above the baking sheet and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Leaving them open will allow more air to circulate and give the salt some time to draw moisture out of the meat. It’s just a really quick “dry pickle” that will help remove some of the moisture from the ribs. Preheat the oven and line the baking sheet with foil. Wrap the ribs separately in foil, place them in the skillet and place in the oven. If you chose dry brine, check the ribs after an hour. The moisture extracted from the salt shortens the cooking time.
Now that we have some free time, we need to talk about barbecue sauce. There are several great sauces available in stores across the country, online, and around the world. I am not discounting these sauces. But it’s worth trying to make your own at least once. It’s amazingly simple, and you probably already have most of the ingredients.
For Blue-BQ sauce
- 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- ¾ cup of ketchup
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon light molasses
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ glass of water
Transfer everything to a medium saucepan and stir. I do not know what the average size is – it varies depending on the dishes, but it is not small. It will seem a little too large at first, but the extra space will help the sauce spread faster by making the more contact with the pan.
Gently bring the sauce to a boil. We are working with a lot of sugar, bubbles will appear and bubbles * burst * all over the place. Poor bladder shrapnel spot – skin / eyes – use a splash shield if you have one. After boiling, reduce to a boil and stir from time to time until it becomes syrupy – about 30-40 minutes. Remove from heat and cover with foil. The sauce may appear runny, but it will thicken as it cools.
When the ribs are “ready”, remove them from the foil wrappers and drain any accumulated liquid from the saucepan. Place them back on the foil-lined dish and lightly drizzle with the sauce, then place them back in the oven for 50 minutes, brushing them with the sauce every ten minutes. However, don’t use all the sauce – leave some for the table.
Place the ribs under the broiler for a few minutes, until the sauce begins to bubble and caramelize. Let them rest for about ten minutes, pour the remaining sauce over them and dig in. As I made this sauce (constantly burning my fingers and various parts of my mouth, tasting it), I was thinking about replacing blueberries with apricots, peaches, or blackberries. I think blueberries give it a great tart and sweet taste, but other fruits will still have great flavor characteristics. Here’s what I love about making sauces at home: you can customize one little ingredient and it’s a whole new world. Buying these things in the store is usually “honey”, “spicy” or “classic”, which can be quite boring and not boring.