Hand Me Down Recipes

Do you have any hand me down recipes? You those that seem to get passed down from generation to generation? I have a few of those in my family passed down from my grandma. I think one of the best things about them are the stories that my grandma and mom told me in regards to those recipes.

You see...my grandma grew up very poor in the mountains of Northern California. So every recipe comes with a story about how resourceful or in my grandma's case how conniving she was. Hey this is a woman at the age of 7 would pour warm water down snake holes and wait by with an axe so she could chop their heads off in order to sell the rattles. See what I mean?

One of the recipes that I absolutely adore are stove top ribs. It's a quick and easy recipe and the ingredients are fairly inexpensive. It's easy to make a little or a lot of. Throughout the years I've adjusted and tweaked the recipe to suit both my and my husband's taste. Every friend I have made this for have loved it as well. My poor husband never has a chance at the leftovers. MINE! I do not share them. 

Since I don't have children, I don't have anyone to pass these recipes down to along with the stories so I'm going to share it with you.

Stove Top Ribs

1 - 2 pounds of Country style pork ribs (I prefer boneless. You can use beef if you really wanted but the sauce is more suited to pork ribs.)

1 29 oz can of tomato sauce

1 T of mustard

1/2 t of Worcestershire sauce

1/2 t Mexican oregano

Maple syrup to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the ribs into large bite size pieces, liberally season them with salt and pepper (lemon pepper is a nice little variation to use as well). Cooke them over medium heat until 3/4ths of the way done.

While meat is cooking, combine the tomato sauce, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings in a large bowl. Give it a good whisk to combine. Now comes the syrup. Add as little or as much as you want. I do suggest to add it in small quantities. I make mine slightly on the sweet side because I find the seasonings as it cooks will balance it out.

Take a dutch oven with a lid. After draining the grease from the ribs, add them and the sauce in the dutch oven. Cover and let simmer for a minimum of one hour, stirring occasionally. This will allow the ribs to braise in the sauce and literally become melt in your mouth tender. The longer you let it simmer the more tender they will be and the thicker the sauce will become.

Traditional we serve it with either mashed or baked potatoes and a side of vegetables along with biscuits. I always spoon extra sauce onto my potatoes. So yummy!

Guess what I'm making for dinner tonight?