Maple Glazed Baby-Back Ribs

Maple Glazed Jerk Ribs

Spicy, sweet, satisfying.

Category: Omakase

Difficulty: Easy

Cooking time: 4 Hours

Serves 5

Who doesn’t love a rack of tender, fragrant baby back ribs? Probably a lot of people, but that's because they’ve never tried ours. We powder a custom Jamaican jerk spice blend and dust it over our ribs, essentially steam it for 2 hours covered in an oven and then blast it under a broiler at the end to bring out the flavors of the spices now deep-seated in our ribs

We’re adding maple syrup to our barbecue sauce for those deep, robust undertones that come with authentic maple, but it'll also help balance out the heat of our spices and leave you with a sweet, sticky, fall off the bone rack perfect for your next family gathering or jamboree or night home alone

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 - 2 ½ Full rack of baby back ribs, extra meaty if possible (about 6 pounds)

  • Note you can easily scale this up or down, as a general rule of thumb I do a half-rack a person if it’s the main course 

  • I normally do ½ racks by buying a ton of ribs per shopping trip and freezing the excess so I have enough frozen for a meal another day

• ½ cup Maple syrup 

  • If you can’t get this, skip the glaze-making step and use straight barbecue sauce

• 3/4 -1 cup Barbecue sauce of your choice, we personally only use Sweet Baby Ray’s | Gourmet Sauces | Original Award Winning Sauce™ (Not sponsored)

• 3 Tbsp Apple cider Vinegar

• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1 Tsp Liquid smoke (optional)

Spices (Per Full rack)

• 2 total inches Cinnamon stick (2 Tsp ground)

• 3 Tbsp whole Coriander (2 ½ Tbsp ground)

• 2 Star anise (2 Tsp ground)

• 2 Tbsp whole Black peppercorns (2 Tbsp ground)

• 3 Tbsp Cumin seed (2 ½ Tbsp ground)

• 2 Tbsp whole Mustard seed (1 Tbsp ground)

• 4-5 Cloves (1 ½ Tsp ground)

• 3 Tbsp Chili powder

• 1 Tsp Cayenne pepper

• Salt to season

The Process:

Spice Rub:

1. If you’re using whole spices, preheat a heavy bottom steel pan or iron skillet over medium heat until toasty

2. Add in your spices in the order: Cinnamon stick, coriander, star anise, black peppercorn, cumin seed, mustard seed, and cloves, toasting each for about a minute each before adding in the next spice and letting toast to fragrancy

3. Once all have spent at least a minute or more in the pan, empty out into a heatproof bowl and let cool

4. Add the blend along with the rest of the powdered spices into a spice grinder or miniature blender, pulsing until as fine as possible (not including the salt)

5. Pat dry your ribs of any blood or juices present on the racks, or even rinse with cold water and pat dry depending on the cleanliness of your meat

6. Take a heavy pinch of salt (about 2 Tsp per side) and salt both sides of the ribs

7. Dust both sides of the rack liberally with the spice rub on a foil-lined baking sheet before letting rest for an hour or up to overnight

8. Repeat for all the racks you plan to make. Reserve any leftover spice for later batches or for the sauce

The Ribs:

1. Place the ribs on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet (one rack per sheet, or 2 if it fits without overlapping them) facing meat side down

2. Cover each baking sheet with a layer of foil wrapped around the edges so as to create a loose foil top 

   1. This is to essentially “dry braise” our ribs as the low heat tenderizes the meat, but the lid keeps our ribs moist. 

3. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 Celsius) and place each sheet on a separate rack, spacing out as necessary at bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes

4. Once finished, take off the foil tops of the baking sheets and flip the ribs so the meat side faces up. Turn up the temperature to 375 Fahrenheit (190 Celsius) and roast for 1 hour

5. Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler at around 500 degrees, or medium heat. Turn the ribs over so they’re meat side down

6. One by one, broil the back of the ribs, and once they’re all broiled, flip them over and do the same on the meat sides of the racks. 

7. Flip over the ribs again so the meat side is down and this time, brush down each rack generously with barbecue sauce to create a thin layer of sauce before broiling

8. Repeat for the meat sides of the ribs

9. Reapply glaze and broil either side as needed to achieve a glossy, sticky sheen or until all your sauce is gone. 

   1. You may need more barbecue sauce depending on how many ribs and for this, we would recommend Sweet Baby Ray’s | Gourmet Sauces | Original Award Winning Sauce™ (Not sponsored)

10. Take out and let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting the ribs apart, best served with an acidic compliment such as coleslaw, or a plain carb such as cornbread or thick slices of white bread. 

    1. Offer additional sauce on the side such as Sweet Baby Ray’s | Gourmet Sauces | Original Award Winning Sauce™ (Not sponsored)

The Glaze:

1. Heat up the maple syrup in a small pan along with the apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke to a boil and reduce down until about half its original volume, or resembles almost like a molasses

2. Add a tablespoon of your leftover spice mix if you have any leftover 

3. Pour out the maple syrup mixture into a small bowl and add the barbecue sauce you have selected, we’re using Sweet Baby Ray’s | Gourmet Sauces | Original Award Winning Sauce™ (Not sponsored)

4. Reserve for the broiling step of the ribs