Pork Spare Ribs Adobo

If you have never tried Pork Spare Ribs Adobo, you are missing out. This is a dish that you will never forget. It doesn't take long to prepare. And you are more than rewarded for that effort by the absolutely mouth watering and smooth flavor of this dish. And, let me warn you now, you will find yourself sucking the meat and sauce right off the bone. 

Pork Spare Ribs Adobo is a multinational dish. You will find it in Latin America, as well as Asia. There are so many different twists to the recipe. But one thing is for certain, regardless of the recipe, they are all outstanding. Here is mine....

Pork Spare Ribs Adobo 

Ingredients 

• 1 rack of spare ribs cut into 3 inch pieces.
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (Kikkoman).
• ½ cup of water.
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar.
• ½ medium onion, diced.
• 6 cloves of garlic, diced.
• 1 tbsp ground black pepper.
• 5 bay leaves, crumpled.
• 1 cup of achote seeds soaked in water, or 1 package of achote powder (like Mama Sita’s brand).
• 2 to 3 tbsp of olive oil or just enough to cover the bottom of the pot.
• 1 large potato cubed cut into ½ inch cubes (optional).
• 1 small can of tomato sauce (optional).

Instructions 

• Cut up, rinse and drain the spare ribs
• Cut the onions and garlic
• Heat oil in pot over medium heat.
• Sauté the onions, garlic and black pepper.
• Add the spare ribs, turn heat to high and brown the spare ribs.
• With the heat remaining on high add the rest of the ingredients except the optional items.
• Crumble up the dried bay leaves when adding.
• Bring to a boil, then cook another 5 minutes, before reducing the heat to low.
• Cook about 20 minutes more, stirring constantly, then add the cubed potatoes and tomato sauce at this time if you are going to use them.
• If you do use the tomato sauce, then eliminate the achote.
• Cook another 10 minutes until the potatoes are cooked but not disintegrating.
• The spare ribs should be cooked tender but not falling off the bone. Just firm enough to stay on the bone.

Serve with steaming hot white rice and lemon finadene. Here is the recipe and instructions for lemon finadenne':

http://guamfirehousecook.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-finadene-guam-bbq-dipping-sauce.html. 

Note: For the achote coloring, you will soak the achote seeds in two cups of water, stirring constantly until the water is a deep red color. Once you are satisfied with the color, then you can add the achote water in with the rest of the ingredients at the proper time.

This adobo is so good, you will find yourself making numerous trips back to the pot. And like some dishes, it is even better the next day. So you might want to double up on the recipe, because I am sure this won't be enough for the family.

Hope you enjoy the Pork Spare Ribs Adobo as much as we do!!

Until next time....

Firehouse Burgers.....A little taste of Heat!!

Well we enjoyed another weekly burger night as is the custom every Wednesday night. And this week I threw down some Firehouse burgers. Of course being a firefighter had nothing to do with it.

This burger had to be hot!!! But as with anything I cook, it also had to be palatable. I mean, come on now, I am not cooking for the frat boys at the bar. So here is how I prepared and cooked this burger.

First off I use regular ground beef. I don't use lean because it is not nearly as juicy as the fattier regular ground beef. It weighed in a little over one pound. I mixed in one heaping tablespoon of Donne' Denanche (Guam Hot Pepper Paste).

I chopped up about 3/4 cup of fresh cilantro and mixed this in the ground beef. It was already looking and smelling good. 

The last addition was adding freshly ground black pepper. No measurement here. Just to my liking.

I let this sit in the refrigerator for about 4 hours. I wanted to make sure everything blended well. 

You probably noticed that I didn't add any other seasoning or salt. I usually only do this when the burger is just about done cooking. Salt has a tendency of toughening up meat. That is why I add it, if needed, just prior to removing the burger from the grill.

Come grilling time, all I had to do was insert the hot peppers into the meat. Because my wife Lupe loves her patties thin, I placed her peppers on top of her patty. On thicker patties like mine, it is easy to insert the peppers into the middle. Just use a chop stick to poke a hole into the patty and insert the pepper. Insert as many as you like.

Grill your burger and buns.

I used 100% whole wheat sesame buns for this go round. I like to change up the buns every Wednesday also.

I caramelized the onions with slices of jalapeno peppers in butter and hot chili oil. You can buy hot chili oil at the store usually in the oriental section. This was a great addition.

Now here are the fixings and condiments. Iceberg lettuce for my burger and green butter lettuce for Lupe's. Chamorro (name for the indigenous people of Guam) pickles aka Jalapeno slices, tomatoes, baby sprouts, pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, and the usual ketchup, mayo and mustard.

This was served with onion rings and Rueben's Slaw on the side.

Onion ring batter consisted of buttermilk, buttermilk pancake mix, self rising flour, one teaspoon sugar, salt, black pepper, onion and garlic powder, cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. Of course the onion rings were dipped and deep fried to a nice golden brown.

All in all, another great burger dining experience. Well except for one thing......Lupe said the burger wasn't hot enough for her so she had to munch on some fresh hot peppers picked right off the hot pepper tree. She is my Hot Tamale!!!

Lupe wasn't doing too much talking at the dinner table.

Next Wednesday's burger.....the Chamorro burger. Chamorro is all about heat and this burger will make the Firehouse burger look like an Popsicle.

Until next time....