Achiote Grilled Ribs from down under

One of the challanges of being empty nesters is having to cook for only two. For all of our married lives we were cooking for a crowd - and now, suddenly, it's down to the two of us.

I found a web site http://www.fooddownunder.com/ which has a feature to enter the number of servings and it will adjust the quantities accordingly. So, I tried one of their recipe's last week. I had to find an online food calculator to convert some of the adjusted quantities, like 1/12 cup (which is 8 teaspoons). Also, I ended up making a few adaptations.

• Couldn't find annato seeds, so I left them out


• Didn't have any tomato paste, it was only 1/3 cup, so I left it out


• The original recipe called for a 2/3 ham hock (after reduced to 2 servings). I thought about using bacon, but I decided to just leave it out since I was using pork ribs which would provide it's own flavor


• 2/3 gallon of beef broth seemed excessive for the small amount of ribs I was cooking; so, I reduced this to 1 quart


• I was afraid that 4 teaspoons of cayenne pepper would make it too spicy for Linda; so, I reduced this to 1 teaspoon


• 1/2 cup ground cumin seems excessive - I'm not a big fan of cumin, so I reduced to 1/4 cup


• One of the ingredients was for achiote paste for which a recipe was provided. After dutifully making the achiote paste, it occurred to me I could have just added all of the ingredients for the paste direcly to the braising liquid

So, here is my adjusted recipe for

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Achiote Grilled Ribs

• 2-3 pounds of pork ribs



• Braising liquid

1 qt beef stock
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup ground ancho chilies
1/4 cup ground cumin
4 Tbl lime juice (juice from 2 limes)
2 Tbl garlic powder
1 Tbl tabasco
1 Tbl honey
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp oregano (preferably mexican oregano)
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground allspice
4 garlic cloves, pressed
3 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, cut up

Add all braising liquid ingredients to a covered baking dish and mix together. Add ribs, cover and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 2 hours, or until tender. Remove ribs from the braising liquid, cut ribs into sections of 2 bones each, then grill for a few minutes.

Optional: Brush ribs with honey or BBQ sauce before grilling, careful not to burn.

Note: The braising liquid can be frozen (after straining) and used again.

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The recipe said to brush the ribs with Ancho Chili Barbecue Sauce before grilling. I didn't end up making the BBQ sauce, but I may try it next time

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Ancho Chili Barbeque Sauce

1 Tbl olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 dried ancho chilies, seeded and chopped
1 cup apple joice
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup cideer vinegar
1 can tomato sauce (assume 8 oz can)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Cook onions and garlic in oil until crisp tender (about 3-4 minutes). Add remaining ingrecients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer (stirring occasionally) for one hour, or until sauce is reduced to the desired consistency.
8 tsp chili sauce

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