A family reunion in Donegal inspires a recipe for brined and baked smokey pork ribs, writes DOMINI KEMP
I RECENTLY ATTENDED A large reunion of my husband’s father’s family in Donegal. It’s one of those things that families talk about but rarely get around to doing. Everyone is just too darned busy. But if anyone is sitting on the fence about organising one, I’d urge you to do so. It’s fascinating looking at old photos and films and seeing all the grand-uncles and grand-aunts and the striking resemblances that occur with all the children crawling around the floor. It really brings it home how amazing genes are and how important family is.
The drive up to Buncrana itself wasn’t too bad, what with new roads and bypasses, but the lack of good places to stop to eat was pretty depressing. It’s as though the past 10 years of developments and improvements within our food industry have not travelled to road-side hotels and restaurants. Maybe it’s a ridiculous notion to think that good places to eat can be located on the side of the road.
Perhaps there would be a negative economic impact on local businesses in towns if there were genuinely good pit-stops conveniently located on the main roads. But isn’t there room for both? It would be great if we were presented with really strong signage to direct cars to the best places to eat in local towns. And it goes without saying that roadside hotels and cafes should get their act together and start providing better grub.
One particular roadside hotel on our journey stood out as a perfect example of what is wrong with the grub in these places. We ordered two soups, two ham and cheese toasties and an open prawn sandwich.
Our soups were pretty unappetising, although they did taste home-made. The toasted sambos were edible, but the open prawn sandwich for €7 was the most bizarre concoction. A giant portion of prawns in cocktail sauce so pale that it can only be described as mayonnaise, was surrounded by equally large portions of potato salad (in mayonnaise), hard-boiled eggs (slathered in mayonnaise) and coleslaw, soaking in – you guessed it – mayonnaise. It took us a while to locate the poor, sodden slice of brown bread, ferrying all those prawns around.
It was inconceivable how they could put this much food on the plate for €7, or that anyone could possibly want to eat that much mayonnaise, let alone the array of poor ingredients drowning in it.
Poor food aside, everywhere we went, that Irish welcome that you hear people saying is disappearing was alive and well. My brother-in-law and his wife asked a man in Buncrana who was driving by for directions to the ferry across Lough Swilly. He did one better. He gave them a lift, waited until they got their ferry times sorted, and then dropped them to a local cafe for lunch. He told them his daughter was getting married that day, and when they insisted that he’d done far too much for them already, he burst out laughing and said the diversion was doing him a favour because it was like a “mad house” at home, with all the women getting ready.
I chuckled away at this story, thinking these are the anecdotal stories that make tourists come back to Ireland.
As a nod to the organiser of the family reunion – Richard Grant – and their grandfather’s bacon and ham company, William Grant, go forth and cook some ribs.
Smokey ribs
Serves four
Of course there are quicker ways to do this. You can eliminate the brining in vinegar stage and go straight to the rubbing in spices, but I did like the effect the brining had on the ribs.
8-10 ribs (approximately 1.2kg), separated
300ml white wine vinegar
50g soft brown sugar
Good few pinches of salt
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
Lots of black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
Good pinch cayenne powder or a few splashes of Tabasco sauce
Splash olive oil
Toss the ribs in the vinegar and leave to marinate for a few hours or overnight. Rinse them and pat dry on kitchen paper. Wash your sink out very well as you should always get rid of bacteria from raw meat and poultry.
Mix the rest of the ingredients together and, using a little olive oil to form a thick paste, rub on to the ribs and leave to marinate for a bit longer (an hour or two would be ideal).
Preheat an oven to 180 degrees/gas mark four. Bake the ribs for 45 minutes. I put some tin foil on them for about 20 minutes. Spoon some of the barbecue sauce generously onto the ribs and bake without any foil for another 20 minutes or so until they are starting to char. Serve with extra barbecue sauce on the side.
Barbecue sauce
If you can’t get passata, use a tin of chopped tomatoes and a splash of water.
1 bottle of passata (approx 680g)
100ml honey
50ml Worcestershire sauce
50ml tomato ketchup
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
Pinch of cayenne pepper or more Tabasco
Salt and pepper
Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Simmer gently for 20 minutes. Let it reduce but watch it doesn’t burn (the honey can be the culprit). Allow the sauce to cool down before serving.
Super quick courgette salad
Feel free to change the herb to mint, add chives or spring onions, and basil is also delicious with this. The main thing is the lemons cold cook the courgettes, making them soft and zingy, so there is no need to cook them.
4 courgettes
50ml olive oil
Juice of 1-2 lemons
1 good tsp Dijon mustard
Pinch sugar or squeeze of honey
Salt and pepper
Some chopped dill
Slice the courgettes very thinly. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, mustard and honey. Season and taste. It should be lemony, but if you find it too sharp, add a splash more olive oil and honey. Pour the dressing over the courgettes, toss and leave to marinate for 10 minutes. Toss again, season if necessary, and serve straight away.
dkemp@irishtimes.com
See also www.itsa.ie
DOMINI RECOMMENDS: Knockdrinna Gold goats’ cheese with a slice of apple. The best kind of fast food.
