Year Old Ribs

Not that the recipe called for these but I did have year old ribs in the freezer. Yes, that's me again, the Madam who eats and cooks with expired goods. 

Digging deep into the freezer for something to eat, I found this. No, these. There were two of them. Two.

At RM33.29, I do not want to throw this out. So. How long can meat stay fresh in the freezer? Google yielded 12 months tops but mine was way past 12 months.

Is it still safe to eat? There is only one way to find out. Eat it!

I made a dry rub with brown sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder and salt. Then I just rubbed the mix onto the ribs and put it into a large freezer bag to marinate overnight.

Before baking.

Previously I made BBQ ribs using my slow cooker but these baby back ribs cannot fit into the cooker. So I had to use the oven. I lined a baking dish with greaseproof paper and placed the ribs in top.

Then I sealed the baking dish with heavy duty aluminum foil. This was baked at 160C for 3 hours. Yup, 3 hours.

The recipe I referred to called for baking at 93C (200F) for 4 hours and then at 79C (175F) for another 2 hours. No, no. I cannot bake for that long but I bet Tenaga Nasional would love it if I did.

After baking.

At the end of 3 hours, the meat was tender and falling off the bone and it smelled wonderful. I removed the slab of ribs from the baking dish and placed it on a lined baking tray.

Then I brushed my homemade Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce all over the ribs. It went into the oven again for another 10 minutes or so at 200C.

The finished product in all its glory.

Let me tell you something about the juices in the roasting pan. It was splendid! I took a spoon to it, shamelessly (after all I was in my own kitchen and no one was watching).

It was sweet, smoky and sticky and would have been glorious as the sauce by itself. But then, there was none left after I was done. Ah, next time perhaps. I must exercise restraint.

Now I hereby confirm that yes, it is safe to eat meat frozen after a year but please, try not to do that because the quality of the meat does deteriorate over time. My ribs did suffer from some freezer burn but overall, this was still a great rack of ribs.

Sweet and Smoky Oven Baby Back Ribs

Recipe source : Adapted from  Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients : 

- 1 rack baby back ribs (approximately 1kg)

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 2 tbsp smoked paprika

- 2 tsp sea salt

- 2 tsp garlic powder

- Some BBQ sauce

Method :

1. To make the dry rub, mix brown sugar, smoked paprika, salt and garlic powder.

2. Coat the ribs all over with the dry rub.

3. Place in a freezer bag and leave in the fridge overnight.

4. The next day, take out from the fridge to stand to room temperature.

5. Place ribs in a lined baking dish and seal top with heavy duty aluminum foil.

6. Bake in the oven at 160C for 3 hours.

7. Remove ribs to a lined baking tray.

8. Brush with BBQ sauce and finish in the oven at 200C for about 10 minutes for some caramelization.

Note : Instead of BBQ sauce, you can collect the pan juices and boil in a saucepan to make a syrupy sauce.