Easy Pork Spare Rib Stew

[BobH]

My mother discovered this recipe more than 50 years ago. It has been a staple for generations of our rather large family. She called it . . .

Hungarian Ghoulash

pork spare rib slab (large or small, your choice)
2 cans of vegetarian vegetable soup (yes, it does make a difference)
2 cans of beans (I use one each of pinto beans and kidney beans)
1 cup diced onion (a small yellow onion smaller than my fists)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
(some might recognize that vegetable trinity as a mirepoix)

season to taste: I never add salt because the canned ingredients are pretty salty. If I want black pepper I use a grinder at the plate. Today, I added a handful of thyme from my kitchen door herb garden and two bay leaves off the bush we have. No other seasoning.

I buy a whole spare rib slab and use a boning knife to take off the fat that is always left on it. I then separate each rib from the slab. There is usually a flap of meat without bone. I cut it off and use it for seasoning vegetables.

Mix fresh veg and canned beans and soup.

Layer ribs and mix veg and beans in a large pot (cast iron is great for this), an 8 quart Dutch (sorry, Hans) oven works great. A 6 qt. pot might also work depending on the size of your pork slab.

Place over a medium high to high heat on the range top until the stew begins to bubble, then cut back to between medium and low and allow to simmer for hours, until the bones can be pulled easily from the meat.

As an alternative, use a Crock-Pot ceramic slow cooker. Layer the pot as stated and place on High heat until the stew bubbles. This can be 2-3 hours. Once you see bubbling, turn down to low and allow to cook until the bones are free and the veggies are soft.

Fill a generous bowl and eat with a good crusty bread or with hard cornbread. I am told that this can be refrigerated and even frozen, but there have never been any leftovers in our household; so I cannot state a case definitively.

Enjoy.

[Rudi]

Bob, thanks for the recipe. I hope you have not inadvertently published some secret ingredients to this meal as your mom would then be very !!
I am not to keen on pork (except for bacon ) and would like to get your opinion on using beef instead. Will I have to change anything in the recipe to compensate for this? Any ideas, suggestions?

Another thing that caught my attention was the mention of eating it with cornbread. That sounds delicious. I am so used to eating stews on rice and this sounds like a great alternative as the bread can be used to soak up the gravy and really clean the plate at the end.



BTW:
If you are really going all out with a home cooked meal, why not make the cornbread too...

Ingredients
500ml flour
15ml Baking powder
3ml salt
(Sift these three together into your mixing bowl)
12.5ml sugar
1 large egg
1 410g tin creamed sweetcorn

Method:
In your mixing bowl, add your wet ingredients to the dry dry ingredients.
Place the mixture in a well-greased loaf tin.
Bake at 180C for 1 hr.

[hlewton]

My mother discovered this recipe more than 50 years ago. It has been a staple for generations of our rather large family. She called it . . .

Hungarian Ghoulash

pork spare rib slab (large or small, your choice)
2 cans of vegetarian vegetable soup (yes, it does make a difference)
2 cans of beans (I use one each of pinto beans and kidney beans)
1 cup diced onion (a small yellow onion smaller than my fists)
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrot
(some might recognize that vegetable trinity as a mirepoix)

season to taste: I never add salt because the canned ingredients are pretty salty. If I want black pepper I use a grinder at the plate. Today, I added a handful of thyme from my kitchen door herb garden and two bay leaves off the bush we have. No other seasoning.

I buy a whole spare rib slab and use a boning knife to take off the fat that is always left on it. I then separate each rib from the slab. There is usually a flap of meat without bone. I cut it off and use it for seasoning vegetables.

Mix fresh veg and canned beans and soup.

Layer ribs and mix veg and beans in a large pot (cast iron is great for this), an 8 quart Dutch (sorry, Hans) oven works great. A 6 qt. pot might also work depending on the size of your pork slab.

Place over a medium high to high heat on the range top until the stew begins to bubble, then cut back to between medium and low and allow to simmer for hours, until the bones can be pulled easily from the meat.

As an alternative, use a Crock-Pot ceramic slow cooker. Layer the pot as stated and place on High heat until the stew bubbles. This can be 2-3 hours. Once you see bubbling, turn down to low and allow to cook until the bones are free and the veggies are soft.

Fill a generous bowl and eat with a good crusty bread or with hard cornbread. I am told that this can be refrigerated and even frozen, but there have never been any leftovers in our household; so I cannot state a case definitively.

Enjoy.

That sounds delicious.