Fricasé de Costillitas (Baby Back Ribs Fricassée)
Where have Fricasé de Costillitas en cazuela been all of my life? That is exactly what I said to myself after making this recipe and then taking the first bite! I was inspired to make these oh so tender baby back ribs after trying them at a local Cuban restaurant. So far I have made them three times and each time I mumble to myself, "Where have you been all of my life?" Now
you might be asking yourself……
What Is Cuban Baby Back Ribs Fricassée?
Let's start with how Julia Child defines a fricassée. She states a fricassée is half way between a sauté and a stew. A sauté has no liquid and a stew starts with a liquid. A fricassée sautés the meat first and then some liquid is added and simmered to finish. Just like
Cuban Chicken Fricassée (Fricasé de Pollo) we are going to do exactly that.
We are going to sauté pieces of baby back ribs until a golden brown color is achieved on each section of ribs. Then, we are going to make a light sofrito sauce for the ribs to simmer in until fall-off-the-bone tender.
I say a
light sofrito sauce because when making
Cuban Chicken Fricassée the sauce is thicker and has the addition of potatoes. The sofrito sauce for these baby back ribs is much lighter and allows the ribs to really tenderize as they cook without potatoes. However, once again I like to make a lot because the next day when the flavors really combine the taste is amazing. I am all about cooking once and having leftovers or making 2 different meals out of one recipe.
If you are new to Cuban cooking this is a great recipe to start with. It has classic Cuban flavors in the sofrito. A sofrito is a base of onions, bell peppers and garlic. The second reason is that you essentially cannot overcook the meat because the ribs braise in a beautiful flavorful broth.
I am positive once you take your first bite of Fricasé de Costillitas (Baby Back Ribs Fricassée) you are going to be mumbling to yourself the same thing, "Where have you been all of my life?"
Recipe Tip
When cooking baby back ribs the membrane or silver skin needs to be removed. Watch the video below for easy instructions on how to remove it.
[embed]https://youtu.be/ZM2l2xr0Zhc[/embed]
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