Beef Back Ribs

I’ve lost count on how many times I’ve craved those juicy ribs they show on commercials, only to be told that the restaurant serves only babyback/pork ribs. I’m also not sure why I’ve waited so long to try making these at home. Here goes my first attempt at fall of the bones Beef Ribs!

Grocery shopping is often so distracting to me, especially these days when more ethnic foods are making their way onto the shelves. I passed by harissa, and was tempted to pick it up. Honestly, I’ve never used harissa before but decided to risk using it with barbeque sauce to give the ribs an extra kick.

If you are on a diet, this is not the best for you although I will say that the fat in the beef gets rendered in the pressure cooker and you can skim it off the final gravy if needed. Strain the final liquid, cook it down and thicken it with some flour/cornflour. Voila! Serve it up as gravy with some mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

4 lbs beef ribs
Dry rub:
4-5 tablespoons Steak seasoning
2 tablespoons Taco seasoning
2 teaspoons paprika powder
1 tsp salt
Marinade
¼ cup water + 1/4 cup beef stock ( I freeze them in cubes to use later)
Handful of baby carrots
5-6 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons harissa
Final basting sauce
5-6 tablespoons spicy barbeque sauce
2 teaspoons harissa

1. Coat the ribs with the dry rub and pan fry in some oil on high heat to give it a nice sear. About a minute per side.
2. In a pressure cooker/instapot, add the marinade ingredients and put the seared dry ribs on top. Pressure for 40 minutes with a natural release of an additional 10 mins. After that force release it. The meat should be very tender.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add the final basting sauce and coat the ribs.
4. Layer the ribs on a cookie sheet and stick it under the broiler for 3 mins to brown up.
5. Optional: Serve up with some garlic mashed potatoes and gravy made from the leftover marinade sauce.
   

Final verdict:

Delicious! The meat was fall of the bone tender. There were just slight overtones of harissa. I purposely did not want to overpower the beef flavor with it. This was a big hit with my boys. I think I might have managed to impress them 😊

If you are looking for other indulgent main course options, try Lobster and scallops!