Thursday, January 7, 2016

A Pot that Exceeded My Expectations - St. Louis Style Ribs


I never cave to Wes's random urges to purchase the latest gadgets and shiny new toys, even if they are kitchen gadgets and cooking toys.  I like my wok and wooden paddle and I barely know how to operate half the things in our place, whether it is the patio grill or the waffle maker.  It's half my embarrassment of the consumeristic indulgence of it all and half fear of feeling more and more clueless in my own kitchen.  But anyway, Wes decides on Black Friday that he really wants to have an Instant Pot pressure cooker.  And of course, I rejected the idea without even finding out what the contraption did.  The reason I actually typed in my credit card numbers and clicked "Place Order" was that Wes gave in and stopped bugging me about it.  I was impressed with his self-restraint and wanted to reward him.  Or maybe it's because I knew that with a chef like him around, there's no way we can't win with a new piece of kitchen equipment.




Little did I know what a GREAT investment this arbitrary purchase was.  With one look at the ribs that Wes pulled out of there, I was sold.  We used chunky St. Louis style ribs, and even those were cooked to utter tenderness.  After he lifted them out of the pot, Wes brushed barbecue sauce on and transferred them into the oven for just a few minutes to finish them off.  The transfer itself was a testament to the phrase, "Fall off the bone."  The rack was practically folding all over itself.


Instant Pot St. Louis Style Ribs

Ingredients
1 cup apple cider vinegar
4 cups apple juice
Full rack of ribs

Directions
1.  Clean the ribs and pull the membrane away from the back of the rack using a sharp blade.
2.  Pour the cider vinegar and apple juice into the pot.
3.  Cut in half and submerge the halves into the cider vinegar and apple juice.
4.  Turn on the Meat/Stew function and set the timer for 32 minutes.
5.  Cook at high pressure for 32 minutes.
6.  After it's ready, release the pressure and open the lid.  Ta-da! Ribs in 32 minutes!
7.  Pull out the ribs and brush with your favorite BBQ sauce.  We like Stubb's.
8.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.







So, the ribs were a success, but I will give all the credit to Wes for them, even though I got the pot.  I'm still figuring out where to store it in our increasingly cluttered kitchen area, but for this meal alone, it was worth it.  Can't wait to see what else this little pot can do!


Oh, and here's my modest contribution to dinner.  Gotta have the green.

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