Cooking Lesson #659: Ed’s MacRib* Sandwich

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Over the years, Perspectives has worked with most of the major fast food chains in creating new products. As you would expect some were more successful than others. You have to be impressed when someone “invents” or reinvents something as long lasting as Pan Pizza for Pizza Hut, Fish Taco for Rubio’s and McRib for McDonalds.
 
The downside to the rib sandwich for McDonald’s is that they originally formalized McRib with over 60 unique and mysterious ingredients ribs not necessarily being one of them. Easy for them to make; difficult for competitors to copy.
 
With a little reverse engineering and not having to put it through freezing, distribution, and easy-to-make-in-McDonald’s mandate, I developed a home-made-easy recipe that you should try with real ribs. While it takes little active prep time, you do have to allow time for cooking, cooling and cutting—bake, chill, cut, sauce, finish on the grill, and voila, one of the best BBQ sandwiches for your family.
 
McDonald’s sold so many McRib Sandwiches that they had to “bank” the cut of meat so as not to destroy the wholesale pork market. If you knew when they would bring this favorite sandwich back you could make a fortune on pork futures. All of the vendors were sworn to strict secrecy so as not to inflate prices.
 
My recipe only has 10 ingredients and one of them is really baby back ribs instead of shaped ground pork.  You’ll love the flavor of my Ed’s MacRib* Sandwich.
 
Prep time:  10 minutes
Cook time:  3 hours
Cool time:  8 hours
Yield:  8 sandwich halves
 
Ingredients 
For the Dry Rub
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
 
For the Sandwiches
2 racks baby back pork ribs (extra meaty and well-trimmed)
1 cup barbecue sauce, divided (your choice—I prefer Masterpiece Original)
1 tablespoon liquid smoke (I prefer Wrights Liquid Smoke)
4 long French-style long sandwich rolls, split and toasted
1 cup coleslaw (store bought or your favorite recipe)
Optional: white onion rings and bread and butter pickles.
 
Directions 

1. Preheat an oven to 325⁰ F.
2. Mix the salt, brown sugar, chili powder, pepper, cumin, garlic and cayenne together to make the rub.
3. Place rib racks on a foil-lined rimmed sheet pan. Season both sides generously with some of the rub. Save the remaining rub for next time.
4. Cover the tops of the rib racks with parchment paper and wrap foil over the edges.
5. Cover the whole baking sheet with another large sheet of foil sealing the sides.
6. Bake in the preheated oven until tender, about 3 hours.
7. Remove the ribs from the oven and unwrap ribs to cool briefly until safe to handle.
8. Carefully twist out the bones, stuffing any loose pieces of meat back into the holes. Checking carefully for bone fragments and pieces of cartilage.
9. Wrap ribs back up and refrigerate until cold, 8 hours to overnight.
10. Cut each rack in half.
11. Brush both sides generously with barbecue sauce.
12. Preheat a charcoal grill for high heat and lightly oil the grate.
13. Grill ribs until heated through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove from grill and brush with more barbecue sauce.
14. Drizzle more barbecue sauce onto each roll.
15. Sandwich each rib section between a roll and top with coleslaw. Add onions and pickles to taste.
16. Cut in half to make 8 portions.

ChefSecret:  Make sure you don't use the larger St. Louis-style ribs. Use a sweet mayonnaise coleslaw. Use extra-large sesame seed hamburger buns (5-inch) as an option to the French rolls.

Quip of the Day:  Inflation has gotten so bad in the last year; McDonald’s is selling the 1/4-Ouncer.

*Disclaimer: Not wanting to infringe on anyone’s trademark I have named my masterpiece, Ed’s MacRib Sandwich.
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Do you have a question or comment? Send your thoughts to [email protected]. All recipes and cooking tips are posted on our website https://www.perspectives-la.com/covid-19-survival-guide.
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To you and everyone dear to you, be strong, be positive, stay well, stay safe and be kind. Take a breath and count your blessings, and if you have a little extra to share with others, please consider donating to Feeding America and/or American Red Cross.
 
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                                                                        ©PERSPECTIVES/The Consulting Group, LLC, 2023

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