Serves: 4–6
5 lb (2.3 kg) bone-in pork ribs, cut about 1-inch thick
Rub
4 Tbs sea salt
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 Tbs black Tellicherry pepper
Season the ribs and grill them long enough to mark them off. Place the ribs in a roasting pan, cover with parchment and foil, and roast in a 240°F (115°C) oven for about 6 hours.
Beer Caramel
1 cup sugar
1½ cup (12 fl oz/355 ml) pale lager beer
1 Tbs butter
½ cup (4 fl oz/118 ml) heavy cream
1 Tbs salt
1 Tbs garlic, minced
1 Tbs fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp sambal (a spicy Southeast Asian condiment that you can find at your local Asian market)
Caramelize the sugar in a heavy-bottom pan over low heat until it is golden and smooth. Add the beer, butter, cream, salt, garlic, ginger, and sambal. Simmer and stir until combined evenly.
Winter Melon Pickle
Winter melons are, as their name implies, cold-season melons. They have a hard, thin, green skin with a waxy feel. Their white flesh is mild flavored with a similar water-rich texture of a watermelon. Find them at your local Asian market or in the specialty produce section of your grocery store.
6 cup (48 fl oz/1.4 l) water
2 cup (16 fl oz/473 ml) vinegar
2 Tbs salt
2 cup sugar
1 Tbs toasted coriander seed
2 lemon rinds
1 winter melon, peeled and diced
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, torn
Combine all the ingredients except the winter melon and mint leaves in a nonreactive saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool and stir in the winter melon and mint leaves. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
Place 4–5 ribs on each plate, top with Beer Caramel and Winter Melon Pickle, and garnish with sliced red onion.
Beer suggestions: For the pale lager in the beer caramel, we suggest Victory Lager (Downingtown, Pennsylvania). For pairing, to stand up to the smoky sweetness of the ribs, we suggest an intense beer such as Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale (Longmont, Colorado, and Brevard, North Carolina).