Bowl Game Grub: Deep Fried Boneless Ribs
This recipe is a nice departure from the typical New Year’s Day good luck meal. It’s also great for game day because, well, fried pig! It’s also darned easy to make. I guess I would be remiss if I did not point out that boneless spare ribs are not ribs at all. It is actually a Boston butt but to resemble ribs. Just go with it.
Deep Fried Boneless Ribs |
- 3 pounds (or so) of boneless pork spare ribs or Boston butt cut into 4 inch by 1 inch strips
- Salt, pepper & garlic powder to taste
- Oil for frying
- Hot sauce (optional)
Review: Burger King Ribs
I was, to put it mildly, apprehensive when I saw a commercial for Burger King’s new “Fire Grilled Ribs.” I have survived the McRib, Hardee’s Fried Chicken, Popeye’s Chicken Pita, KFC’s Double Down, Taco Bell’s BLT Taco and the results of the “King’s” other atrocities from the Kitchen of Dr. Moreau, Chicken Fries and those infamous BK Tacos (a kid burger inside a half-cooked taco shell).
Last week, whilst in the throws of moving from my apartment to my new house, I decided I would give the BK Ribs a try. I was hungry so I opted for the 8 piece combo over the 6 piece. With tax I dropped $10 and with the service I also lost 30 minutes of my life waiting for the only other person in the drive-thru to get their Whopper Jr. combo meal.
Now clearly I was not expecting pork ribs to be healthy. It’s called a splurge. So once I was able to track down the carefully hidden nutritional information I was not surprised by the 12g of saturated fat (6 piece portion) nor the 66% of calories from fat.
However, I was surprised to find that though they looked a good deal like pork ribs they did not taste like pork ribs. The texture was quite off-putting. It was somewhere between a dry rib and those beef jerky steak bites. They were gnaw off the bone tender. They certainly were not smoked but rather roasted with a touch of liquid smoke and brown sugar but no detectable spices or rub. They come dry (which has two different meanings in the case) with BBQ sauce dipping cups on the side. Use as much sauce as possible as it is the only thing that makes these palatable.
It isn’t bad enough that these fast food ribs taste like, well fast food ribs, but they cost as much a REAL ribs. I live in Alabama, there is no shortage of great barbecue and if I am going to plop down $10 for ribs I want great ribs. But what should I expect from a company that professes to let you “have it your way” but that has never been the case.
I once walked into a Burger King and ordered a Whopper made my way, “Fresh ground grass-fed beef, a whole wheat bun free of High Fructose Corn Syrup and hydrogenated oil, vegetables that were allowed to fully ripen on the vine at a farm within 150 miles and REAL cheddar cheese.” They looked at me like I had asked them to fix me something that wasn’t poisonous.
Have your tried BK Ribs? Culinary revolution or porcine abomination? Use the comments below to tell the world what you thought of them.