Brined and Roasted Fun-try Style Ribs

Fun fans have been clamoring for something to go w/ my mashed rutabagas w/ bacon and butter. Well, it definitely pairs well w/ pork so I got some country ribs, brined 'em, roasted 'em, cut 'em up and put 'em on a homemade roll.

That's some fun stuff right there.Alright, so the real main reason I posted this was to give you a basic recipe for pork brine. This can be scaled really easily depending on how much you make. This was enough for three pounds of country ribs or a small loin roast. It takes only a few minutes to prepare plus possibly some additional time to cool.

Here is what you need:

1 cup water + 1 cup ice water
2 tbsp salt
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp mustard seeds, ground 
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika

(3 country ribs, approx. 3 lbs)

This is simple enough. Throw the ingredients in a small pot w/ one cup water, simmer for a few minutes, remove from heat and throw in the ice water to cool. You don't want to put any meat in this until it is about room temperature. The key here is you want one tablespoon of salt per one cup of water. I like my pork brines, esp. for barbecue, slightly sweet. Reduce the brown sugar if you don't. Really, the rest of the ingredients are too taste and you can add whatever the heck you like. Another favorite ingredient of mine is cumin if you are looking for ideas. Again, the critical ratio is one tablespoon of salt to one cup of water.

The other critical aspect is the time spent brining. For ribs, including these country ribs, I got about six to twelve hours. Basically, if I want them for lunch, I brine overnight and if I want them for dinner, I brine in the morning. If you want to do a roast, twenty four hours is more like it. Err on the side of caution here. A big mistake I made early one was brining ribs for twenty-four hours or roasts for several days and I'd frequently end up w/ salt bombs (which admittedly were still pretty good).

I leave the meat in the fridge for brining and take it out about an hour before cooking to rise to room temperature. When I cook pork inside, I generally go for about 300 F in the oven. It is a good mix of slow cooking and not having it take all day like it does at 200 F, which is the temperature I smoke at. (Note: I hope to get instructions on how I smoke up in not too long.) Cook until the pork reaches 160-170F, which should take an hour and a half or two hours, if you want to slice the ribs up like I did below. If you like pulled pork, keep it in there for another hour or so until the meat reaches 190-200F and it should be fork tender and ready for shredding. 

If you have a problem w/ brine recipe, let me know in comments. Nobody's perfect.