Oven spareribs feature jerk spice

Why wait for summer to enjoy pork ribs cooked slow and low on the grill? If you cook them in the oven, you can enjoy them right now. They won’t boast the trademark smokiness produced by grilling, but otherwise they’ll be as tender, succulent and finger-licking good as ever.
The key to making great baked ribs is to follow the same prep as for grilled ribs. Season them with a rub, paste or marinade containing salt, then bake them at a low temperature for many hours or until they become tender. The salted mixture acts as a brine, which helps keep the pork juicy and infuses it with flavor. Cooking slow and low makes the meat tender.
The marinade used here is a jerk paste, a spicy Jamaican flavoring that Jamaicans typically apply to pork and chicken, but which can be found glorifying everything from beef and lamb to fish and seafood to vegetables and tofu. Jerk is based on three key ingredients: Scotch Bonnet chiles, allspice (a dried berry native to Jamaica) and thyme.
Scotch Bonnets are some of the hottest chiles in the world. They’re in the same family as habaneros, so feel free to swap in the latter if you can’t find the former. The rub will be hotter or less hot depending on the number of chiles in it, your choice. And no matter the number of chiles, you’ll want to tame their heat with at least a little bit of sugar. I happen to love Scotch bonnets not only for their heat, but also for their fruitiness. They’ve always struck me as a kind of cross between a mango and very hot chile.
The labor-intensive part of this recipe is gathering all the ingredients and making the marinade, but then it’s easygoing.
Here I’ve finished them with a sweet/sour/spicy glaze. It’s not traditional, but I think it adds the perfect last touch.
OVEN BAKED JERK SPARERIBS
Start to finish:
20 hours, 40 minutes
(30 minutes hands-on)
½ cup coarsely chopped onion
1 cup coarsely chopped scallions (white and green part)
1 to 3 Scotch bonnet chiles, or to taste
6 cloves garlic, smashed
¼ cup fresh lime juice, divided
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup soy sauce (low-sodium if you prefer)
2 Tbsp. fresh thyme leaves
3 Tbsp. packed dark brown sugar, divided
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. ground allspice
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
5 to 6 pounds pork spareribs (preferably St Louis style)
In a blender combine onion, scallions, chiles, garlic, 2½ tablespoons lime juice, oil, soy sauce, thyme, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, salt, allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon, and puree until smooth. Set aside ¼ cup for the glaze.
Pull off and discard the silver skin from the bone side of the ribs and cut them into 6- to 8-rib lengths. Coat both sides of the ribs with pureed marinade and put them in a shallow container. Cover and chill 16 hours, turning occasionally.
Preheat oven to 275 F. Remove ribs from marinade allowing the excess to drip off. Discard excess marinade.
Arrange ribs, meat side up, on two racks set into each of two baking pans. Put pans on the middle shelves of the oven and bake, switching pans midway through cooking time, until the meat is very tender when stuck with a fork, 4 to 4½ hours.
While ribs are baking, in a small bowl combine reserved jerk paste with remaining 1½ tablespoons lime juice and remaining 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Remove ribs from the oven when they are tender and brush tops evenly with glaze. Return ribs to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Servings: 8
—Nutrition information per serving: 1,105 calories; 838 calories from fat; 93 g fat (27 g saturated; 1 g trans fats); 272 mg cholesterol; 1,047 mg sodium; 10 g carbohydrates; 1 g fiber; 6 g sugar; 54 g protein.
—Editor’s Note: Sara Moulton is host of public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.” She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine and hosted hosting several Food Network shows including “Cooking Live.” Her latest cookbook is “HomeCooking 101.”