Sticky braai lamb ribs (lamb ribbetjies)

Name: Sticky braai lamb ribs (lamb ribbetjies)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients: 2 whole lamb rib racks or breast-of-lamb flaps, about 1 kg (2.2 lb) each (ask for lamb ribs, lamb breast or riblets outside South Africa); 2 teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 1 onion, roughly chopped; 500 ml (2 cups) water; 2 tablespoons chicken stock powder, or 2 stock cubes; 125 ml (1/2 cup) fruit chutney, such as Mrs Ball's (or mango chutney, or apricot jam loosened with a splash of vinegar); 60 ml (1/4 cup) tomato ketchup; 60 ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce; 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey; 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 2 teaspoons ground coriander; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Fatty lamb ribs cooked soft in the oven first, then finished over medium coals with a dark chutney glaze until the fat crisps.

Coals: Medium coals
Prep: 15 min
On the fire: 1 hr 30 min
Plan ahead: 2 hours to overnight in the glaze
Serves: 6

Ingredients

2 whole lamb rib racks or breast-of-lamb flaps, about 1 kg (2.2 lb) each (ask for lamb ribs, lamb breast or riblets outside South Africa)
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

For the oven stage

1 onion, roughly chopped
500 ml (2 cups) water
2 tablespoons chicken stock powder, or 2 stock cubes

Sticky glaze, about 375 ml (1 1/2 cups)

125 ml (1/2 cup) fruit chutney, such as Mrs Ball's (or mango chutney, or apricot jam loosened with a splash of vinegar)
60 ml (1/4 cup) tomato ketchup
60 ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Season the ribs all over with the salt and pepper.
Spread the onion in a roasting pan, pour in the water and stir in the stock powder. Lay the ribs on top, fat side up.
Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour, until the meat gives easily when pressed and a knife slides in without resistance.
While the ribs cook, stir all the glaze ingredients together in a bowl. Pour a third of it into a clean jar and put it in the fridge for basting.
Lift the hot ribs out of the pan and coat them in the rest of the glaze. Cool, cover and keep in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Keep the stock from the pan.
Take the ribs out of the fridge 30 minutes before you cook. Make a fire with a medium zone and a cooler zone to one side.
Lay the ribs on the grid over medium coals, bone side down. Cook for 25 to 35 minutes, turning every 5 minutes and brushing with the glaze from the jar after each turn.
When the fat flares, move the ribs to the cooler side of the grid until the flames die, then bring them back.
Rest the racks for 5 minutes, then cut between the bones to serve.

Done when: the fat has rendered and crisped, the glaze is dark and tacky, and the meat pulls cleanly from the bone. Whole lamb is safe at 63°C (145°F), but ribs eat best at about 88°C (190°F), when a fork turns easily in the meat.

Tips

Lamb ribs are fatty. Over hot coals the outside burns while the fat inside stays rubbery. Pre-cook them or go low and slow.
Braai-only version: rub the raw ribs with 2 teaspoons each of ground coriander and cumin plus salt and pepper, clamp them in a hinged grid, and cook for 2 to 3 hours over a low fire, set well back from the coals. Turn often and baste with a bundle of rosemary, thyme and sage. Brush on the glaze only in the last 20 minutes.
Sugar and tomato burn. The glaze goes on at the end of cooking, never at the start.
Never baste with the glaze the raw meat sat in. That is why a third goes into a jar first.
The stock left in the roasting pan makes a good base for soup or a potjie.

Fatty lamb rib is the braai cut of the Karoo and the Free State. The old way is to clamp it in a stand-up grid, the staanrib, and lean it beside the fire for a few hours rather than cooking it directly over the coals. The sticky chutney glaze is a mid-century South African addition that has become the way most people expect their ribbetjies.

Lamb rib needs time more than heat. If you are not sure of your fire, read reading your coals, and check safe braai temperatures and salting and resting meat before you start.