Happy weekend, y’all! I have become a huge proponent of dinner all on the grill lately. If it’s fired up and ready to go, why not utilize all the heat that’s been created? Not to mention, it’s a delicious way to get a meal on the table in a snap with very little cleanup. I used to shy away from grilling for whatever reason, probably because it’s more my husband’s thing and he has such a knack for it. However, the cavewoman/feminist in me insisted on learning my own fire-wielding ways. Why have men historically been the ones to “man the grill” anyways? I’m sure there’s some anthropological explanation behind this, but we live in 2017, after all.
With the realization that I was missing out on a big chunk of cooking excitement (matches! lighter fluid! pitchforks! oh my!) and a healthy dose of determination to bridge this widely accepted gender divide, I set out to learn. And I’m so glad I did! While grilling takes a little practice, once you get the basics tenants of it down (creating a hotter and cooler part of the grill, keeping the lid down, no excessive flipping, etc.) you’re golden. There are a plethora of great resources out there to help, too. Here’s a really useful guide to get you going if grilling is newer pursuit.
Anyhow, onto the good stuff. Decadent, cherry and balsamic glazed ribs to be exact. The combination of the sweet, slightly spicy glaze and smokey ribs simply screams summer to me. And, unlike smoked beef ribs that take forever and a day (which I still adore, don’t get me wrong), these pork ribs take less than 30 minutes to grill from start to finish.
¡Buen provecho and happy grilling!
- 1 large rack pork baby back ribs
- a couple hefty tablespoons sea or kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted or 1 /2 cups frozen cherries
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 Tablespoon gochujang paste (optional, for a little kick)
- Start by removing the thin membrane from the back of the ribs. Then, generously salt and pepper both sides of the rib rack and let it rest.
- Build a fire in your grill by adding charcoal and lighting. Your charcoal grill will be ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the coals for about 5 seconds. If using gas, light all burners to high and lower cover for about 15 minutes.
- While grill is heating up, make the cherry balsamic glaze by combining cherries, brown sugar, garam masala, balsamic vinegar and water in a medium saucepan and bringing to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the mixture is a glaze-like consistency, about 15 minutes. If it's too thick, add a little more water. If it's too thin, simmer it down a bit more.
- Bring your ribs, the glaze and a basting brush out to the grill with you. Start by grilling ribs about 5 minutes on either side without any of the glaze. Then, continue flipping ribs every 5 minutes or so and basting the glaze on as you go (closing the grill between flips), until you've grilled them about 25 minutes total. Be sure to reserve a little of the glaze for serving. Ribs should have no more pink in the center.
- Serve hot with remaining glaze and lots of napkins!
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