Ribs

Today I used my slow cooker as a water bath to cook ribs.  As previously mentioned, it will stay at exactly 160F when on "warm".  This is near the temperature at which collagen melts, which made me think that it would work well for "sous vide"ing certain types of meats.

The recipe was simple, a rack of pork ribs were left unwrapped in the fridge with a dry rub of mustard, brown sugar, various peppers, and salt for 48 hours; placed in a ziploc bag with all the air removed and 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke added; then cooked in the slow cooker for ~6 hours.  During that time they gave off 30% of their weight in water and rendered fat.

To give some malliardy char I seared them in a hot pan right before serving.  They were great!  Not at all fatty, but very moist with a soft but not mushy texture, and way less work than any oven or bbq ribs I have made.  This is definitely a nice weekday meal in terms of 15min total effort and it can cook while I am at work.  I also believe the same principle would work for pulled pork or any meat with lots of fat and connective tissue.

I tried reducing the liquid from the bags to make a bbq sauce with some molasses and cider vinegar, but this did not work well AT ALL.  I think because of the high fat content.  Luckily I love Trader Joe's bbq sauce and can use that in the future.