Pressure cooked pork ribs, Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai
Meat, always seems to be on Little Weed’s mind. As parents we know this, so when NoFrills offered pork ribs for $1.99/lb there was no question we would be going home with a sizable hunk of pig. But how to cook it, Eschewing the usual 3 hr bake time, the pressure cooker did it in 25 minutes, followed by a sauce glaze and 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven. It came out great.
I don’t like having our gas oven on for 3 hours called for by most recipes . I’m in general not patient, and worry about off gas pollution in the house. For tough but flavourful meat the pressure cooker is an option.
After searching for a long time I did not have a proper metal rack that would fit into my pressure cooker. Little Weed suggested that I use 3 flat plates, stacked on top of each other, instead. As they would be covered mostly in chicken stock they would keep relatively cool, and besides, they are oven proof. In the 3 plates went. The ribs were cut into 5″ sections. Salt, pepper, paprika and garlic were rubbed in. The rib sections were arranged standing up, so that each section would touch the bottom and would also see the top. Chicken stock was added instead of water. The top went on and we pressure cooked it for 25 mins, letting in cool down and release by itself.
We were pleasantly surprised when the ribs came out almost fall off the bone. Another 5 mins would have done the trick, if you like it that soft. We laid the ribs on 2 cookie sheets, bone side up and basted with a combo sauce of bbq sauce, ketchup and brown sugar. 400 degree oven for 10 mins, flip, baste and another 10 mins and it was done. Use aluminum foil on the tray, oiled, for an easy non-stick cleanup.
The results were really good. Not so fragile that you damaged the meat, so you can handle it, but still very tender to eat.
The pork fat ran down to the bottom of the pressure cooker instead of being absorbed by the ribs, making them taste much lighter. We refrigerated the chicken stock and was able to easily remove the pork fat the next day. Overall, a great way to do pork ribs, and much faster than the 3 hrs in an oven.
Pressure cooked pork ribs, Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai
