Hold The Sauce

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

After shopping one of his recent meat sales, hubby brought home some spare ribs. Now, I think it may have been years since we’ve had ribs for dinner. Nothing against ribs—they just haven’t been high on my radar or menu selections lately!

Now, as you probably know, spare ribs usually go hand-in-hand with barbecue sauce. No matter if they’re on the grill or in the crockpot, that’s gotta be the numero uno way that folks like ‘em. After all, it’s that finger-licking goodness of barbecue sauce that makes an A-1 combination. But here’s the catch: hubby doesn’t care for barbecue sauce. Not any kind at all.

Oh, he loves the barbecue grilled flavor of meat—it’s just the tangy sweetness of the sauce that he’d rather pass on. You name it: from Heinz and Jack Daniel’s to Emeril’s and Smokin’ Willie’s Shanghai Style, it really doesn’t matter (Now the kids and I are totally different: we LOVE barbecue sauce and although it doesn’t taste the same as a grilling sauce, we will actually bring the bottle to the table to slather it on as a condiment too).

Spare ribs are perfect for a slow cooker barbecue though—if your crew likes that flavor, go for it! They’re easy to make (toss ‘em into the slow cooker with selected sauce). There’s little to do except prep in a couple minutes and remember to eat 6 to 8 hours later.

Spare ribs are an excellent choice for cooking in the slow cooker since they have traditionally been cooked on a spear or spit, slowly turned over a fire. Their name actually is derived from the German Rippenspeer, which means spear ribs. It was only a matter of time before it became ribspare and sparerib in English. Today they are referred to as both spareribs and spare ribs – whether compound word or two words, the same thing.

Spare ribs are meat from a pig (pork). This section of meat is cut from the bottom section of the ribs above the belly. Spare rib sections usually measure between 2 and 5 pounds, and some (like the ones that hubby bought), have had the bone removed, but many will have the bone intact.

So, here I was, with a 3½-pound package of spare ribs, looking for some inspiration. I found it in my trusty Fix-It and Forget-It Cookbook—that’s a cookbook that has something for everyone in it. Now to find an idea that didn’t have sauce and sweet-n-sour written all over it.

Lo and behold, it seems the Italians do have a different take on how to prepare spare ribs. They don’t just go the sauce route like everyone else. Nope, they brown ‘em in olive oil, deglaze the pan with diced tomatoes and add some classic spices. Simmered all day and it’s a country-style way to make spare ribs that doesn’t have barbecue sauce anywhere on the ingredient list.

So if you have a hankerin’ for a new slow-cooked way to make spare ribs, try this. It smells divine when it’s cooking and goes well with rice on the side.

Serves/Makes: 6

• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 3 1/2 pounds boneless spareribs
• 1 can (28-35 ounce size) diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup pearl onions (frozen or canned)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (6 ounce size) black olives