Although my parents are usually quiet and relatively well behaved there are times when their eccentricities come out. Like when my father first interacted with Aura, Mr NQN’s new 14 month old niece. Whenever small children are around he generally pays them no attention (sometimes he does this with adults too) but he was faced with baby Aura and forced to interact with her, if only for a moment.
Adults can play with a child one of several ways. See if you can choose the way generally not recommended to interact with a child.
1. Say hello and make waving gestures and talk in baby voice
2. Pinch cheeks and tickle a child
3. Threaten with planting your palm on their face
If you chose number 3 yes that’s the one my dad chose. He means well but he is just not a kid person and when he lunged at her face with an outstretched palm she reacted as you would expect – with a genuine “W.T.F.” face. Mr NQN laughed and recalled the story to me and then added “I guess you didn’t turn out too badly after all, considering!”
Well these ribs were a recipe that worked out all things considering. This past Monday felt like the hottest day of summer in Sydney and with a lack of air conditioning I didn’t want to turn on the oven at all. I was frantically busy having just come back from a trip and had done three loads of washing which had all dried within an hour. But these ribs needed making and I was out of tricks up my sleeve. So I looked at the stash of items that I was recently sent and my eye fell upon the blood orange marmalade from Beerenberg and thought that combining the tart sweetness of the marmalade with the pork ribs would be ideal. There were marmalade rib recipes out there already and so I set about doing my own. I thought that I was out of ginger but luckily a fishing expedition in my freezer yielded some pieces stashed away in case of emergency. And it was with reluctance that I turned the oven on for the hour that these needed (in between soaking in a cold water tub of water).
So what were they like? They were marvellously good with the sweetness never overpowering as we used marmalade rather than a jam but the tartness and sweetness mimicked a barbecue sauce. There were Asian flavours from the ginger and soy and we soon forgot the heat when we were eating these which I never really wanted to end. The flavour permeated the ribs very nicely indeed and this was after only marinating these for an hour!
So tell me Dear Reader, are you good with kids? And do you turn on the oven less in hot weather?
Sticky Marmalade Ribs
Serves 2-3 people (depending on how many ribs you can eat)
- 500g/1 pound American style baby back pork ribs (I used American style free range Ormiston pork ribs)
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup marmalade (I used a Beerenberg Blood Orange marmalade)
- 1/2 cup apple or orange juice
- 2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with the flat side of knife
- 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1. In a ziplock bag place the soy sauce, marmalade, juice, garlic and ginger and massage the bag to combine the ingredients and break up the marmalade. Place the ribs in the bag and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour (or overnight) turning the bag over once or twice to distribute the marinade.
Place the ribs meat side down
2. Preheat oven to 180C/350F fan forced and line a baking tray with foil-this will get sticky and you definitely want to do a better job than I did of lining it. Tip the contents of the ziplock bag including the sauce and ginger and garlic bits onto the baking tray and bake the ribs meat side down for 30 minutes uncovered. Then turn down the oven to 170C/338F and remove the ribs from the oven.
After turning over to meat side up and basting
Just 10 minutes after the photo above and a second basting
3. Turn over so that the meat side is facing upwards and then baste with the marinade. The marinade around the edges will have started to caramelise so use this and it gives a nice glaze. Place back in the oven for another 25 minutes making sure to baste every ten minutes. This helps to build up a lovely glaze and to add flavour, especially if you haven’t had time to marinate it overnight. Slice and serve.
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62 Comments | Add your own
Oh yummy! I love ribs
BBQ flavoured ones especially but marmalade sounds just as good and I’d love to try some ~
Hmmm i don’t really think I’m a kids person…considering the fact my 18 month nephew likes to smile at me and as soon as I go close to him, he’ll pinch, bite or slap my face…i swear i’ve never anything bad to him!
as for the oven…i love baking so much that i still turn it on
Your marmalade ribs look irresistble!!
Cheers,
Rosa
I love ribs in all there many forms, but marmalade sounds extra delicious. My dad is the opposite of your dad. Mine is Mr. Tough Guy around adults, but you put a baby near him and he is a total pile of mush. He will play with a little kid for hours.
This will definately be on my list of things to cook this week. I use Berkshire ree ange pork so am off to a good start with taste, right there! Marmalade and pork – great combination. Thanks Lorraine – love your style!
Not that I like ribs , but these look scrumptious.
I try not to use the oven when it is hot, but as we had 3 reverse cycle air conditioners put in before last summer I will use it. Also because we are in a very old house , built in 1892, a lot of the heat rises to the 4 meter high ceilings. Also I can close the kitchen off after cooking to contain any heat away from the lounge.
Im not a big fan of ribs….but I am a big fan of marmalade!!!
What do you know, I picked up a jar of this very marmalade on my recent trip to the Beerenberg Farm! Your ribs look great!
They look delicious! It’s amazing any of us survived our Chinese fathers..
While we don’t have kids, we are surrounded by nieces, nephews and godchildren so I’ve had a chance to be quite interactive and play with my loved little ones. I do think I am good with them but I don’t stand for tantrums and will walk away and just let them get on with it if I see a quivering lip starting.
When it comes to the oven and summer, I definitely try to think of more ways I can cook outside on the bbq so as to try and avoid the oven but there are times it’s inevitable.
The sticky ribs look delicious so I’m glad you were able to put up with a hot oven.
Oh how fantastic, delicious and sticky! Marmalade was an inspiration indeed!
It gets ridiculously hot in a commercial kitchen, so I’m used to using my oven year round. At one place I would sweat so much that my waterproof watch would fog up and stop working until it dried out. I should so be thinner with all the kilos I’ve sweated off
I thought the ribs were soaking in the tub not you!! These look wonderful, such a fabulous colour and the flavours sound delicious, sweet and tart. GG
Yummo! I turn the oven on regardless – I am addicted to baking.
If you do to a dog what your dad did to the little girl, you get bit.
Now why haven’t I ever made ribs? I could chomp on these and lick the bones.
Hi. Always looking for a good ribs recipe. You mention soaking in cold water? Did you soak yours in cold water before marinating? cooking? I had ribs in Bali once & they were soaked in water, then cooked over a hot bbq & basted with marinade.Pls advise
Fiona
Have to make these for my man! He’s ribs mad. I am good with kids…usually
haha your poor dad!
Heidi xo
Drool! The orange would be divine with these ribs. I would like to be gnawing on a couple of these right now!
These look delicious! I like how you come up with recipes just looking at what you have! It’s freezing in London at the moment and summer never really gets that hot. Either way I think I bake equally whatever the weather, I just can’t help it!
Yum! These ribs look amazing. Although I’m very hesitant to turn on the oven in summer I might have to give these a go soon
I remember Monday and it was very hot. Not unbearably hot though; I just think we’re not used to hot weather anymore with this being the coldest and wettest summer on record. In summer we definitely prefer to cook outside to avoid the temperature in the kitchen climbing. And am I good with kids? Well…I practise everyday!
I like to stare at kids and they like to stare at me with a huge grin planted on their faces. I think that’s pretty good.
Fantastic recipe, Lorraine! It looks inviting enough to put on the menu as soon as I can get my hands on some ribs. Am not a ‘jam’ girl by any manner of means, but love the tartness of marmalade. Think this will be a winner
! Living alone the oven is not my closest friend, but babies, small children and animals are. Eha’s BIG secret: don’t approach them, let them approach you 
! Do something interesting whilst just smiling at them, and, next thing little arms or paws are going to be all over you. Then seriously [even if they are six months old!] make them part of the ‘play’ and you honestly won’t get ‘rid’ of the darlings forever! Works [almost] every time 
!
Sticky Marmalade Ribs. Read no more. I was hooked on the title. Yum. And then came the actual photos. Yes!
I’m pretty good with small kids, in small doses,that is. As for turning on the oven, I still do, but I also make a lot of salads and cold soups as well.
Yum yum! I’ve been looking for a nice rib recipe and yours look amazing.
Toddlers absolutely love me -perhaps it’s because I’m so small and they’re so adorable when they start to talk. I get bored with babies before they’ve started to talk haha
Dear Lorraine,
This recipe looks beautiful and I’m definitely considering this dish for an upcoming wine tasting dinner at a friend’s house.
I like when ribs have that sweet taste, but muy son doesn’t, so each time my made ribs, he has to do it savory…I miss sweet ribs…
Looks yum! Anther must try recipe for me.
I’ve just been given a jar of lovely homemade marmalade and was wondering what to do with it and now I have the perfect recipe!
Although my mum would have a pink fit at the thought of turning on her oven in the heat(it’s a defenite no no), I still use my oven in hot weather, I love cooking so I just turn my aircon up!
I love ribs and kids! But I only put one in the oven!
(which I do use in the heat despite not having air con )
They look finger lickin’ good Lorraine!
Looks delightful! Perfect recipe to aid my current rib obsession.
)
Just looking at those ribs made the American in me perk up and go “MMmmmm”. They look wonderful.
Your dad is a riot and I do think you turned out all right – considering.
Love Beerenberg products and love ribs – I can’t wait to give this one a try.
Now, that’s delicious ingenuity. Marmalade-glazed ribs would be ideal this weekend for the Super Bowl. Heck, they’d be great just about any day of the week.
Awesome recipe! I would love to see how big your pantry is to hold all the wonderful ingredients you get sent and collect from your travels! Do you have one like Nigella’s??
Those short ribs look finger licking good! I would lick all that great glaze!
That just looks amazing!!!
oh my a cute boding , i loved kids also but i hate it when they start to cry its hard to stop it so noisy.
This perfect ribs will be definitely on my list this coming week i cant wait to taste that supper yummy marmalade ribs.
the glaze is so beautiful!! I’m so going to make and have this over the weekend! =D
OH – I still have marmalade left over from Christmas(ham glaze). Might have to acquire some pork ribs and give this recipe a whirl!
I love ribs, they look delicious Lorraine. A recipe worth giving a go.
wow these look incredibly moreish!
i still turn the oven on in hot weather, doesn’t both me.
Awesome ribs! That will be may next target.
I also like kids but i hate it in many ways.
Great recipe, definitely on the menu for the weekend as my Vietnamese butcher sells the best pork ribs and never without marmalade being a pom!
Im not much for a sticky rib recipe but the marmalade surely is intriguing! No, I generally don’t turn on the oven in the heat, we grill a lot instead!
Love any and all ribs.
Your ribs look wonderful! And your post made me laugh – I used to have very chubby cheeks as a child and HATED having my cheeks pinched by adults. Hopefully I’m a lot better with kids now because of it
I love using jams on savoury meat dishes, my favourite is using ginger jam with pork chops!
Droool! Those look fabulous! I’d want to try it in my slow cooker or on the BBQ for summer. We have winter right now, so I may have to get some ribs and marmalade next shopping trip!
Great use for marmalade and I bet the addition of ginger was delicious too! It’s funny, in the summer I don’t like to turn on the oven unless it’s truly opressively hot — I guess I figure at that point it’s already so hot, the oven doesn’t make a difference! (Doesn’t make much sense, I know, lol!)
This recipe looks amazing, I will definitely give it a go!
As for communicating with kids, I have a limited conversation repertoire I use with them, and then I am stumped. My husband usually steps in as he seems to be able to bond with them more easily.
Sorry to hear about the heat up north – we seem to have escaped that heatwave (touchwood). I am not really into pinching babies’ cheeks but would prefer that to a slap in the face
Lorraine, my husband is going to LOVE you! His favourite dish is about to get a whole lot better
If I have a big enough craving I’ll turn the oven on in any weather!
Pre my own kids? I was only ever good with kids I was really closely related to, and which I could hand back! I adored babysitting my nieces and nephews, and was always a favoured aunt because I did silly things like cook with them and play cricket, but I would be a basket case by the end of the day/night. But can I tell you a secret? I never liked anyone else’s kids ever. I’m still a bit that way, thought not always. Shhhh! And I totally avoid turning on the oven on in hot weather.
Currently cooking these in my Turbo oven and smell alone is just amazing. Couldn’t get the American style pork ribs at local butcher, but went with the normal spare ribs and marinated them for 24 hrs. If smell is anything to go by, these are going to be a winner! Thanks for another great easy recipe.
This looks amazing, I can so go a piece of that rib right now mmm
kids seem to like me, and i can’t figure out why? maybe it’s the aroma of cinnamon coming out of my pores.
Mmmm Lorraine, these look delicious. Bookmarked.
I tend to do okay with kids under 6. Old than that and they tend to get to that over-excited, wound-up stage….
…which is when I pass them back to their folks.
This marinade looks like a nice switch up from my usual rib-enade (I made a word there), and the stickiness of the marmelade will give that restaurant-style sauce. Imma try this!
Making these again for the 2nd time. Using Ginger marmalade as well as adding Mama Sitas BBQ marinade. Smelling delish! Love your recipes Lorraine, so achievable. Thank you.
Thanks Dirtgirl! And using ginger marmalade is a brilliant idea!! It’s comments like these that made this place great
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