The key is slow roasting back ribs in the oven before a quick braise to enrich the sauce. The slow roasting browns the ribs and contributes the always important Maillard flavour compounds (those flavours you can only get by browning your meat). With any other meat you can brown in the pot but back ribs are curved. You can’t brown them evenly. Nice thing about this dish is you can cook the ribs ahead and be ready for a dinner party. You can prep the sauce as well. When you are ready to serve you can simply warm the sauce then add the ribs to simmer for 20-25 minutes to let it all come together while you make the grits. Takes some of the pressure off… Credit goes to the kitchn.com for the idea to cook the back ribs initially. A solid cookie sheet and a bakers rack lets air circulate around the ribs, promoting browning. The cheese grits are really cheese polenta. You can’t get grits up where I live. But the fine ground cornmeal works well here. You are going for rich, smooth and creamy. No grit needed.
This dish plates up easily. Spoon some of the grits in the centre of a plate and place two ribs on the grits. Spoon some sauce around the ribs and you have a dish that puts most Mexican restaurants to shame. Worthy of a dinner party. Mexican pork ribs, fire roasted tomatoes, cheese grits. Could be on a menu somewhere.
