Recipe: JAH's 500 Mile Race Day Jamaican Jerk Baby-Back Ribs

JAH'S 500 MILE RACE DAY
JAMAICAN JERK BABY-BACK RIBS
Source: rec.food.cooking/James Harvey (1993)

"This is a recipe for Jamaican Jerk ribs that I've been making for a few years. Traditionally I do this up on the Sunday before Memorial day (500 Mile Race Day here in Indy), 4th of July, Labor Day, and also sometimes on a portable gas grill at baseball game tailgate parties.

Purists be forewarned: this is a marinate/parboil/quick-grill recipe. If you don't like that, please hit "n" now. The idea is to minimize the amount of work that has to be done at the cooking site in order to serve a lot of tasty ribs to a large number of people fairly quickly.

One batch of this recipe is enough to marinate 10 to 12 pounds of ribs. The last time I did these for a race day party I did two batches each of six slabs of baby-backs (about 2 lbs. per slab). I marinate and parboil each batch in its own covered 8 quart enameled steel roasting pot. For baby-backs I allow about 1 lb. (half of a full slab) per person. Your experience may vary. I have noticed that baby-backs from the grocery store tend to weigh less per slab and have a lot more fat on them than the ones I get from my butcher. Some leanness is desirable, since this cooking method will get the ribs literally falling-off-the-bone done."

Marinade Ingredients (enough for 10 to 12 lbs. of baby-back ribs):
1 large onion, chopped (or 3 medium onions - about 2 cups)
6 shallots, chopped (or another medium onion)
6 scallions (green onions), chopped
6 cloves garlic, pressed or chopped
5 TBSP fresh ginger root, grated or chopped
4 TBSP freshly ground whole Jamaican allspice
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 or 3 habenero peppers <= (or substitute 3 to 5 TBSP caliente sauce)
4 or 5 chiles pequin <= (minced jalapeno) for all dried peppers)
2 TBSP peanut oil (or other vegetable oil)
1 pint lime juice (I like Nellie and Joe's Key Lime juice)

For parboiling:
2 bottles (12 oz. each) beer

For grilling:
Your "tools of the trade" (tongs, meat fork, basting brush)
Your favorite BBQ sauce (optional, or use marinade)
More beer

Ranges and substitution recommendations within parentheses represent variations I have tried before. I'm not real picky about measurements when I make this, and I substitute according to what I have at hand. If you like it hot, use the larger quantities of the dried peppers. If you don't, use the lesser amount of caliente. If you can't get shallots or scallions, use more onion. There really isn't any acceptable substitute for allspice and fresh grated ginger root.

Preparation:
Please be careful when handling hot peppers. You may wish to use latex kitchen gloves. You should not touch your eyes or any sensitive area after handling hot peppers without very thoroughly washing your hands first. Believe me, I learned this the hard way!

To prepare the dried peppers, boil 2 cups of water. Turn off heat and steep the peppers 10 minutes in the hot water. Stem, seed, and chop the peppers finely.

Unwrap the ribs and use a heavy kitchen knife or cleaver to chop each slab in half about in the middle (6-7 ribs down). Or if you like, you can have your butcher do this for you.

Put all marinade ingredients except beer in food processor or blender and blend or process until thoroughly mixed and chopped. It doesn't have to be pureed -- I prefer it a bit on the chunky side. Place a layer half-slabs into the pot. Pour on some marinade, then poke with a fork, turn, and rub the marinade well into the meat. If you made it hot hot, wear the gloves, watch the eyes, etc. Repeat layers for the remaining meat and marinade. Pour any remaining marinade over the top. Cover and marinate either four hours at room temperature, or overnight in the refrigerator.

In the morning, preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Pour the beers slowly down the side of the pot. Cover and cook 2 hours. Baste occasionally to keep ribs on top moist. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about a half an hour. For transport to the grilling site, either remove slabs from the pot or put each pot in a plastic garbage bag to prevent grease and marinade from sloshing out. To finish, grill about five minutes per side or more over low heat, basting with your favorite BBQ sauce or the marinade.

Now pour yourself a beer, chomp into a slab, and raise a toast to the pig...

Background:
This recipe was born when I tired of using bottled Jerk marinades, which were becoming a significant expense for the quantities I was getting involved with as well. So I decided to try out the Frug's Jamaican Jerk Pork marinade recipe. After a summer of experimentation it had evolved into this. I do not claim this is authentic Jamaican. I've had many people tell me that it is quite good and I get lots of requests for the recipe.