The Pork and I

Last weekend was the opening of the summer Farmers market at Old south Pearl and as you should know I simply love going to this market every week.
As I was perusing around I encountered a new vendor Four Sisters Farm, from Hotchkiss CO, these ladies have the goods...Pork! Well, they also have beef, chicken and eggs, but I was pretty stoked to have found a local vendor with organically raised piggy.  
Chatting with them you can sense how well their animals are raised, they explained to me that their pork is not the leaner kind you will find at the grocery store because it has not been genetically altered to be learner, as they said "Our pork is not your other white meat", fine by me!
I dove in head first into their Country Style Ribs, which aren't technically ribs as they come from the top end of the ribs closest to the shoulder or Boston butt. These are bone-in, but many times you will also find them boneless at the store. I personally prefer the bone in because the bone imparts a good amount of flavor.
Another confession is that I am not a grill master, in fact, I never grill! That is "husband territory" and he wasn't around when I was testing the recipe, so I did what I do best, used the oven!
Long ago I had seen Alton Brown make some baby back ribs that looked spectacular and have been wanting to use his techniques as it involves the oven. 
So I did and this is what we had for dinner that night, enjoy!

Country style Pork Ribs



4 large bone-in "rib chops" (roughly 2 pounds)
1tbsp of Kosher salt
2 tbsp of homemade spice mix (recipe below)
Olive oil just enough to make the rub easy to stick to the meet
Braising liquid
1/2 cup white wine
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 clove of garlic, finely minced

1/4 cup apricot preserve

Season the meat with the salt, spice mix and oil, cover and let rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
In a small pot heat up the wine, soy sauce, honey, tomato paste and garlic, don't boil.
Turn your oven on roast to 250F, on a sheet pan using a large sheet of tinfoil make a pouch for the meat  leaving a little opening to pour in the warm liquid, close the pouch tightly. Cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Turn the oven of and let cool in the oven for 30 minutes.

Drain out the braising liquid from the pouch and reduce by half over medium-high, add the reserved apricot preserve and cook a few more minutes to make it into a glaze.

Baste the meat with the glaze and put under the broil for just a few minutes. Enjoy with mashed potatoes, a salad and a glass of wine.

Homemade spice mix
My husband and I love to make spice mix jars for Christmas gifts using our favorite spices. Here is a variation of our pork spice mix.
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground rosemary
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp black pepper
Mix all in a jar, use on any pork cuts or chicken