So I’m watching a video of Andrew Zimmern grilling chicken wings using an apricot-mustard glaze after he marinated them in yogurt and threw them on a hot grill. They looked amazing. But I had ribs already thawed in my fridge (Curve ball 1). I thought: How bad could this recipe be on pork? I gave it a shot.
Apricot-mustard glaze…
1/2 cup apricot preserves
1/2 cup mustard (I used Gulden’s, but Dijon works well, too)
Combine the ingredients in a bowl, whisking them together. Set it aside.
I got a large bowl out, and cut the ribs into smaller pieces, about 3 ribs per piece. I placed them in the bowl, threw in about a 1/2 cup of plain yogurt, and mixed it around until all sides of the ribs were coated. I let the ribs stand this way at room temperature for about an hour, while I headed to the grill to set it up.
The plan was to light a decent amount of coals that would ash over and then be pushed to one side of the grill, placing the ribs over indirect heat on the other side. They would cook this way until done, with a nice grilled smokey char on the edges.
That’s the little mouse home on the left.
Unfortunately, when I opened my grill, I found that a family of mice had made themselves a happy home inside my grill, and I didn’t have the heart to toss them out, babies and all. (Curve ball 2.) So I needed to find another way to cook the ribs. I headed to my smoker.
I have an electric digital smoker, which allows me to set the temperature and basically walk away, only returning to add smoking chips every hour so. I set the temperature to 275 degrees.
I removed the ribs from the bowl, placing them on a cutting board, sprinkling one seasoning on half the ribs, and another seasoning on the other half. The first half got my favorite basic seasoning: Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. The second half received my favorite Cajun seasoning: Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning. The ribs went into the smoker for about 2 hours.
I thought I would smoke the ribs longer than 2 hours, but then I realized it would soon be time to pick my daughter up from school and take her to guitar lessons. (Curve ball 3.)
Out of the smoker.
I took the ribs out of the smoker, one half batch at a time, and placed them under the broiler of my toaster oven, flipping them over once I saw the edges of the ribs get nice and dark. This gave them a bit of that char I was looking for that the grill would’ve given me…had I not had a family of mice in my way!
After a few minutes under the broiler.
After broiling the ribs on both sides, I placed them in aluminum foil, brushing them on both sides with the apricot-mustard glaze, wrapping the aluminum tightly around them in 2 packages. I placed them on a baking sheet and into a pre-heated 175-degree oven.
Tightly wrapped and into the oven they go.
The low temperature in the oven would continue to cook the ribs low and slow, and the glaze would add a little steam to make them tender, and hopefully, delicious. Off to school and guitar lessons I went.
Unwrapping the ribs after a few hours.
We returned a few hours later, and I placed the sheet pan with the ribs on the top of the stove to cool for a bit, allowing the ribs to rest.
One of each: with Lawry’s and Tony Chachere’s.
Using a bit more of the apricot-mustard glaze, I brushed the ribs one more time and placed them under the broiler one last time before feasting. It was worth that extra effort to get them nice and caramelized.
The final verdict: They came out great, but I preferred the ribs seasoned with Tony Cachere’s better. The Cajun seasoning added a nice kick of heat to counterbalance the sweetness of the apricot-mustard glaze.
Live the Live ™ 