Kev's Kitchen: Slow Cooking !

I have been very lucky with travel during my time when I was working as a Photographer. Not only did it give me the chance to see a lot of Britain but I counted the other day I must have had over 70 foreign assignments during my 14 years working as a photographer. In fact my first foreign job was photographing RAF Tornado Jets being refuelled over the Mediterranean Sea on their way out to the first Gulf war from the window of an RAF VC-10 Tanker aeroplane. The VC-10 stayed over in Sicily for 2 days and so did I. Not much to do apart from eat pizza, drink Sambuca and check out the beach at Mondello for two days !
Probably the best Foreign jobs were the trips to the USA. I loved the place from New York to Sante Fe and a few little places in between I really did get to see quite a bit of one of the Empires little colonies ! ha ha !
Although I was not a massive Foodie at the time I do remember having an awesome Chili Dog at a petrol station in Texas which had a slab of melting cheese on it and was just the thing for a hair of the dog breakfast ! I also remember going to Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Boston where they shot the film Jaws and one evening sitting on the beach while some local guy dug a pit on the beach and cooked some of the largest Lobsters I have ever seen. They were the most delicious shellfish I have ever eaten also.
It was the other day while resting between jobs luvy I started watching the Hairy Bikers trip through Mississippi. I drove the length of Mississippi on a Job once and it was truly an eyeopener. Lots of flat roads and little run down shacks with beat up cars outside is how I remember it but it did have a lot of charm too. Anyway while watching one episode of the Hairy Bikers show they made some Barbecued Ribs and it brought back some memories of the great ribs I had while travelling through the area and thought today I would have a go at making some.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT THIS RECIPE IS ONLY TO BE DONE IF YOU ARE PREPARED TO STAY IN THE HOUSE FOR 5 HOURS WATCHING SPORT !

These ribs cannot be rushed so to start you need to make a dry spice mix to rub into the ribs bare flesh.
To coat 900g of Ribs you need to mix together,
2 TSP of Mustard powder, dried Thyme, paprika, cayenne pepper, and black pepper, 1 Tsp of sea salt and 25g of light soft brown sugar.

The spice rub not as expensive as the old Coloumbian nose candy but just as potent !

Make sure you keep about 2 tsp of the powder back to use when making the wet glaze. When you have massaged the mix into every nook and cranny place onto a metal rack over a tray. In the bottom of the tray pour some water and then cover the ribs with foil to prevent the ribs from drying out. Now place the lot into a oven set at 150 degree C and cook for about 4 hours. Every hour turn the ribs over.

Just liked the pretty pattern and colours in the oil !

Ok after 4 hours and two Heineken Cup rugby matches the first stage of the rib alchemy was complete. Now you will have to make the glaze you will need for the next stage.

In a pan saute off in a little bit of olive oil 2 cloves of crushed garlic. Now add the spice powder you reserved from before and cook for about a minute. Now pour 150mls of cider viniger and 100 mls of water into the pan. Next pour 200mls of tomato ketchup into your pan and stir well. Add 3 tbsp of clear honey and 150g of light brown soft sugar. Allow the mix to reduce by about one third. Pour some of the sauce into a ramekin to use as a dipping sauce for your ribs.
Now get your paint brush into the sauce and start glazing the ribs.

Cook the ribs in an oven set at about 170 degrees for about 8 minutes and then take out of the oven and spread some more glaze over the ribs and put back into the oven for a further 8 minutes. Repeat this process 2 more times.
If you are standing outside on Bonfire night glazing these ribs on the barbi then you do exactly the same way as if you had done them in the oven. You can also cook the ribs in the oven first then take them out and finish them on the barb to impress your friends !