Pork Ribs with Apples and London Vegetables

A German Mother’s Instructions to Her Son’s Wife — London, 1838

My dear daughter,

Now I shall teach you how to make pork ribs properly, because pork is forgiving, but only up to a point.

It wants slow heat, good seasoning, and patience. If you rush it, the meat will cling stubbornly to the bone and everyone at table will pretend not to notice while sawing at it with a knife.

For a supper of six persons, you will require four to five pounds of meaty pork ribs, preferably cut into manageable sections; four firm cooking apples, two onions, four carrots, two turnips, four or five potatoes, half a green cabbage, and some peas or beans if they are in season.

You will also need salt, black pepper, thyme, sage, parsley, a little mustard, one or two cloves of garlic, a spoonful of flour, pork dripping or butter, and about one pint of good broth.

Keep a bottle of red wine or light Rhine wine for the table.

Preparing the Pork

Take the ribs and wipe them clean with a damp cloth.

If there is a great deal of loose fat, trim some away, but not all of it. Pork without fat is a foolish thing.

Rub the ribs well with salt and black pepper.

Mix together a spoonful of mustard, some chopped thyme and sage, and a little crushed garlic.

Rub this over the meat.

Let the ribs rest for perhaps half an hour while you prepare the vegetables.

This gives the seasoning time to behave itself.

Preparing the Apples

Peel the apples if their skins are tough.

Cut them into quarters and remove the cores.

Do not slice them too thinly, or they will disappear into sauce before the meat is ready.

Set half the apples aside for roasting with the pork and keep the remainder for the vegetables or for serving beside the meat.

Apples and pork belong together.

Anyone who tells you otherwise has been badly educated.

Preparing the Vegetables

Peel the carrots, turnips, and potatoes.

Cut them into large pieces.

Slice one onion thickly.

Cut the cabbage into broad strips after removing the heavy stalk.

If you have peas or green beans, keep those for cooking separately near the end.

Do not put every vegetable into the roasting pan simply because there is space.

Some things deserve their own pot.

Beginning the Roast

Put a spoonful of pork dripping or butter into a heavy roasting pan.

Lay the sliced onion across the bottom.

Set the ribs on top.

Arrange half the apples around the meat.

Pour in about half a pint of broth.

Cover the pan loosely with a lid or foil if using a modern oven.

Place it into a moderate oven, approximately 325°F / 165°C.

Cook slowly for about two to two and a half hours.

During the Cooking

Every half-hour, uncover the ribs and spoon the cooking juices over them.

Turn the ribs once during the roasting.

If the pan begins to dry, add a little more broth.

During the final forty-five minutes, remove the cover so that the meat can brown.

Add the remaining apple pieces around the ribs at this stage.

If you wish, brush a little mustard mixed with pan juices over the top.

The ribs are ready when the meat is tender and beginning to pull easily away from the bone.

That is what you are looking for.

Not charcoal.

The Potatoes, Carrots, and Turnips

You may roast these in a second pan with a little pork dripping, salt, pepper, and thyme.

Put them into the oven for the final hour or so of cooking.

Turn them once or twice so they brown evenly.

The potatoes should be crisp at the edges.

The carrots and turnips should be tender without collapsing.

If the oven is crowded, boil them first for ten minutes and then finish them in the roasting pan.

The Cabbage

Put a spoonful of pork dripping or butter into a heavy saucepan.

Add a little chopped onion and cook gently until soft.

Add the cabbage with a little salt, pepper, and several spoonfuls of broth.

Cover and cook for about twenty to thirty minutes.

A small splash of vinegar may be added near the end.

That gives the cabbage some life.

Do not cook it until it is grey.

A vegetable should still look like something one might willingly eat.

Peas or Green Beans

Fresh peas need only a little water, salt, and perhaps parsley.

Green beans may be boiled until tender and then tossed with a little butter or dripping.

Do not overcomplicate either of them.

They are there to balance the richness of the pork.

Making the Apple Gravy

When the ribs are finished, remove them to a warm platter.

Leave the onions, apple pieces, and juices in the roasting pan.

Spoon away excessive fat, but leave a little behind.

Stir in one spoonful of flour.

Cook briefly over gentle heat.

Then slowly add the remaining broth, stirring all the while.

Mash some of the cooked apple and onion into the gravy.

Add a small splash of wine if you like.

Let it simmer until slightly thickened.

Taste it.

If it needs more salt, add some.

If it tastes good already, leave it alone.

This is a rule many cooks would do well to learn.

Serving the Supper

Place the ribs on a large warmed platter.

Arrange the roasted apples around them.

Set the potatoes, carrots, and turnips nearby, either on the same platter or in separate dishes.

Bring the cabbage and peas or beans to table in bowls.

Serve the apple gravy in a warmed jug.

Have bread on the table as well.

Pork ribs are not elegant food, and that is precisely why people enjoy them.

No one should be embarrassed to use his fingers once the knives have done what they can.

Even gentlemen have hands.

The Wine

With pork and apples, serve either a light red wine or a dry Rhine wine.

A good German white wine suits the sweetness of the apples very well, especially if your household has family ties to the old country.

A light claret will also do nicely.

Do not pour a heavy wine that overwhelms the food.

The wine should make the pork taste better, not announce itself from the other end of the table.

Serve water as well.

And if my son tells you his mother made the ribs differently, remind him that his mother also expects him to praise the woman who has just cooked his supper.

What to Do With What Remains

Save any leftover meat.

Pull it from the bones the following day and warm it with onions and potatoes.

It may also be chopped and folded into cabbage.

Save the bones for broth.

Save the pork fat for cooking.

And if there are leftover apples, crush them into the remaining gravy and serve them with cold pork the next day.

Nothing good should be thrown away merely because it has already appeared at supper once.

Remember, daughter:

Slow heat, good apples, and enough time.

That is how you make pork ribs tender.

And if the men at table become quiet while eating, do not worry.

That usually means you have done it correctly.

— From your mother, London, 1838