Baked Spareribs with Lemon Confit Rub

Fit for Company, Fit for a Crowd

A staple in Mediterranean cooking, Moroccan preserved lemons have a distinctive sweet-salty-tart flavor. They’re quite expensive in specialty markets, and some advance thought is required to make them at home. As a substitute, my wife, Nancy, came up with a clever and thrifty way to microwave the lemons. While they taste different from true pickled lemons, they are quick and a reasonable facsimile. The rub that I use here is equally good on lamb and chicken. If you use back ribs, these make a great hors d’oeuvre, especially for stand-up parties.

Serves 6 as a main course, or 10 as an hors d’oeuvre

INGREDIENTS:

LEMON CONFIT RUB:

• 4 lemons (see Cook’s Notes)
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tablespoons crushed fennel seeds
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 2½-pound slabs St. Louis–style spareribs (about 5 pounds total), 2 slabs regular spareribs (about 6 pounds total), or 3 slabs back ribs (about 4½ pounds total)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Rub: Cut 4 or 5 deep lengthwise slashes—equally spaced—into each lemon. Put the lemons and garlic cloves in a microwavable container, cover, and cook on high for 2 minutes, or until the skins are quite soft and juice has exuded from the lemons. If the lemons are not quite soft, continue to microwave, checking every 30 seconds. Pour the lemon juice into a measuring cup and set aside. When the lemons are cool enough to handle, cut through the slashes into sections and, using a spoon, scrape away the pulp and white pith from the lemon rind; discard the pulp and pith. (The pith is bitter, so scrape away as much as possible.) Put ⅓ cup of the reserved lemon juice in a blender with the lemon rinds, garlic, rosemary, thyme, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and oil. Puree, scraping down the sides of the blender once or twice, until the mixture forms a thick paste.
2. Generously smear some of the paste on both sides of each slab of ribs; reserve the remainder. Put the ribs on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 16 hours to 24 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
4. Arrange the ribs, fat side down, on a rack over a baking sheet or a roasting pan (you may need two pans). Bake for 20 minutes. Turn over the ribs and baste with the reserved paste. Bake for 20 minutes more, turn, and baste again. Bake for 20 minutes more, turn, baste, and continue to cook until the ribs are done, 1¼ to 2½ hours total (back ribs will take the least amount of time, regular spareribs the most). If you have two pans on separate oven racks, reverse the positions of the pans halfway through. The ribs are done when the meat begins to pull away from the bones. Remove from the oven, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and set aside for 15 minutes.
5. Cut into individual ribs and serve.

ALTERNATIVE CUTS:

• Country-style pork ribs, thick-cut blade pork chops, breast of lamb, or beef back ribs.

COOK’S NOTES:

• If you can find them, use Meyer lemons.
• If you have preserved lemons in your pantry, you can substitute them for the lemon confit in this recipe. Use 2 preserved lemons and reduce the salt to 1 tablespoon. Squeeze enough fresh lemon juice to equal ⅓ cup.
• If you’d like to make authentic preserved lemons.
• You can also grill-roast these ribs.
• You can also use this versatile rub for pork kebabs, chops, and leg or loin roasts.
  (For roasts, cut deep slashes into the fat and meat and stuff the paste into the slashes.)