"Fish Fingers and Custard" - Happy Heinz and Honey Beef Chuck Riblets

Still on about Alton Brown ... I told you he was a geek. So I was looking through his new cookbook and saw this recipe:

In my opinion as a Whovian and super-annuated geek myself, you can't get much geekier than that. I suppose I'll have to try it one of these days.

Lately, there are a lot of things going on in my life, or so it seems, involving family.  Specifically, family I never knew I had. In the very recent past, I have been contacted by two entirely separate branches of family, seeking information I might have about mutual relatives.  Having taken the same path some years back, culminating in discovery of my birth father's family, I have been more than happy to help where I can. Through one of these recent inquiries, I was also reconnected with family, this time on my birth mother's maternal branch, after 40 or more years.  I realize I have a bit more to say on the subject of family, long lost and otherwise, but that post will have to be a couple of days down the road.  At this moment, I am in the throes of a nasty fibro flare, and after the last 3 days getting up too early to run to too many places to take care of too many things, all I can think of is sending this post off for publishing and taking a nap.


Happy Heinz and Honey Beef Chuck Riblets

2 pkg. beef chuck riblets, about 1 3/4 lb. each package (Walmart carries these. Look for a sale, and you will really have good cheap eats)

1 bottle Heinz ketchup

1/4 cup Heinz 57 sauce, plus enough honey to bring level in glass measuring cup to 1/3 cup total

Any seasoning blend or spice rub that you love on beef.  I chose Mild Jamaican Jolt, which I have used on chicken and goat in the past. You can find the recipe on the blog.

This is the method of cooking Emeril used for his Pork Candy Ribs.

Each package has 2 half-racks of the riblets. Remove them from the packaging and pat dry with paper towels.  Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap each half rack snugly.

Lay each slab, bone side up, on a piece of foil. Spread a small amount of ketchup across the backs, using a spoon to smooth the ketchup around.  Sprinkle some of the spice rub onto the ketchup. Turn the rack over and repeat on the meaty side.  Wrap the ribs in the foil as air tight as possible.  Repeat with the remaining racks of ribs, then place all of the packets in the refrigerator and allow them to chill overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Place the packets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 3 hours, reversing the baking sheet front to back one time at the halfway point.  After 3 hours, open each foil packet but do not remove from the baking sheet.  The meat should be very tender.

Divide the combined Heinz 57 sauce and honey evenly over the ribs.  Return the uncovered ribs to the oven for just 10 more minutes to set the sauce. I did not cut into individual ribs, but if you want to do so, let them cool at room temperature about 15 minutes.