If the crowd to the Annual Ribfest at Riverside Park is any indicator, Canadians love pork ribs! Of course they never had the best, Hungarian ribs; ribs the way our grandmothers used to make them. It was never slathered with paprika sauce or with sauerkraut. Sauerkraut ribs are actually German and it doesn’t make it a Hungarian dish if your Hungarian friend or relation made it that way. Shared mistaken factual assumption is a pet peeve of mine… If a Hungarian makes pizza, it doesn’t make pizza Hungarian… right? The sauce on ribs is only to give some flavor to bland ribs and Hungarian ribs are anything but bland. And take that slow cooker away from here that is no way to cook anything… ever. The three requirements to roasting Hungarian ribs are; pre-salting, lard and roasting covered at 300 degrees Fahrenheit. I don’t list garlic, because garlic is a given; no ribs of any kind should ever be prepared without it.
Hungarian ribs are generally short ribs, unfortunately short ribs are not always available. I had a strip of long rib and a smaller piece of short rib and I made these two beauties yesterday. I am not sure how we like it more, hot out of the oven or cold… with a piece of rustic white bread and a crunchy dill pickle. Oh and don’t throw away the lard drippings… have a zsíroskenyér or jazz up the roux for a főzelék.
HUNGARIAN GARLIC RIBS
fresh pork ribs or fully defrosted
salt
garlic
lard
• Depending on size, it may take longer than overnight to fully defrost in the fridge.
• Wash and pat dry with paper towels. Be mindful not to cross contaminate, wash the sink, hands and utensils with hot soapy water. Juice from raw meat must not come into contact with other foods not destined for the pot or the oven.
• Place the meat on a tray.
• Salt both side of the ribs and sat them on the counter for at least 2 but no longer than 4 hours.
• Peel several cloves of garlic and cut them into slivers.
• Transfer the salted ribs to a clean roasting pan.
• Slice into the meaty parts and slide the garlic slivers inside.
• Top the ribs with bits of lard; I used 1/4 of a cup for mine.
• Fully cover with a lid or with aluminum foil and place in the oven.
• Turn the oven to 300F and leave it for a couple of hours.
• After two hours check on the ribs every hour until they have roasted to a nice golden colour. Mine took 3 hours. More ribs take longer roasting time.
• Do NOT increase oven temperature.
• Do NOT remove covering except for checking the progress.
• When ribs are done, remove from the oven and with the lid on let them rest for 10 minutes before serving.
