Pimp My McRib Slideshow
We take the most pride in the ingredients of our recipe, because they're as close to natural as possible and give our sandwich its robust flavor. We took a cue from Wilbur for our sauce, because he conducted his own taste test and deemed Hunt's barbecue sauce as the closest to the original. Because he had already done the leg work for us, we tried Hunt's and decided to use it as well. Our rub is a classic barbecue blend with spices like nutmeg and cinnamon mixed in to give it a hint of sweetness.
Braising
To braise our rack of St. Louis spareribs, we rubbed them down with our spice rub and then painted them with the barbecue sauce so that they were extra flavorful and tender.
Bone-Picking
Here's where the actual bone-picking takes place. After about two hours in a 325-degree oven, the ribs are so tender that the bone can be pulled away from the meat. As Callaghan explains it, if the ribs are almost cooked, the bones will not pull away, at just cooked and they'll start to pull, but at fully cooked they'll slide completely out. To get the ribs out, we cut down the center of each rib to break the seal of the tendon and pulled them out.
The Sidekicks
The McRib is a pretty simple creature, topped with only a few slices of pickles and onions to complete it, so of course these sidekicks were a part of our recipe as well.
The Pimped-Out McRib
And finally, we present our pimped-out McRib. A real serving of three spareribs slathered in a tangy, ketchup-based barbecue sauce, topped with pickles and onions, and sandwiched between a center-cut deli roll. For those of you who have always been in search of the truth when it came to the McRib, you can thank us later.